January 15

"Events do not speak for themselves."

Marc Lynch, "Tunisia and the New Arab Media Space," Foreign Policy; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

US Public Diplomacy: broken and getting worse - The Mideastwire Blog: "Something has come into greater focus here in Lebanon in the last few days – the contradictions of US Public Diplomacy – the rhetoric – has reached an extraordinary low point.


I think this is partially the result of an Obama Administration that is NOT as cocksure as the Bush team. When you don’t believe your rhetoric in your heart, the delivery is necessarily far less convincing. ... My sense is that after several years of failure, after being put in a series of tight spots and with some new people in the ranks and on top with the new admin….. the job of US public diplomacy in the mideast – hampered by the evident policy hypocrisy and the counterproductive nature of those policies for US interests – may have reached a decisive point." Image from

Human Rights and Sino-American Relations - Imara, Democracy & Society: Thoughts on democracy and civil society: "The tricks typically up a nation’s sleeve in the field of foreign relations when influencing another nation are hardly limitless. If military intervention isn’t an option (as it certainly should not be in China) and the threat of that intervention isn’t enough to influence a nation’s leadership, typically a nation falls back on economic influence, support of domestic opposition, public diplomacy or international pressure. We seem nationally neither capable nor deeply interested in economic action against China and the nation is relatively impervious to international pressures for a number of reasons. Thus we find the spheres of public diplomacy and support of domestic opposition remain. The US has long made its stance clear regarding the state of human rights in China through official and public statements. Further human rights and opposition groups are supported within China as much as might be expected given our non-hostile position with the nation. ... If not through economic influence, nor application of military power, how precisely should our government be expected to influence a nation as powerful as China? This question seldom seems addressed in the outcries over US impotence in supporting human rights. Clearly in the area of public diplomacy (or political rhetoric as one prefers) the US hasn’t slackened its support of human rights in China. What more should really be expected?"

An Almost Ambassador Encounters a Congressional Dead End - Samuel G. Freedman, New York Times: "[T]he Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook has had the habit of defying barriers. ... Then, last month, the arc of Ms. Cook’s career drastically plunged. The woman who had thrived against basketball elbows, macho newsrooms and sexist churchmen ran into the strange ways of the United States Congress. Without public debate or a formal vote, her nomination to be the Obama administration’s special ambassador for international religious liberty quietly and cryptically died. ... Like many major pastors, Ms. Cook has written motivational books and given motivational sermons. What her detractors — and, more surprisingly, many of her proponents — failed to point out was how much else she brought to the ambassadorial table. She is fluent in Spanish.


She lived two summers in Ghana and Nigeria, working on faith-based development projects. Her prominence in black Christianity, particularly as president of the Hampton conference, put her on a first-name basis with religious leaders domestically and abroad. As a woman who had struggled against gender bias in her own clerical career, she was well-suited to taking on issues of religious persecution against women. Her experience in television production suggested a talent for public diplomacy. And if the crux of the nomination decision was Ms. Cook’s diplomatic experience, or lack thereof, then one might have expected the skeptics on the Foreign Relations Committee to have raised that question. They never did." Cook image from

14 Jan, 2011, Friday, SoS Clinton and Diplomatic Schedule - Rush Limbaugh Report: "UNDER SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS JUDITH MCHALE 9:45 a.m. Under Secretary McHale attends the Inaugural Richard C. Holbrooke Lecture by Secretary Clinton on a Broad Vision of U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century, at the Department of State. (POOLED PRESS COVERAGE) 10:35 a.m. Under Secretary McHale joins Secretary Clinton’s bilateral meeting with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Muhyiddin Bin Mohd. Yassin, at the Department of State. (CAMERA SPRAY FOLLOWING BILATERAL MEETING) 3:00 p.m. Under Secretary McHale attends the memorial service for Richard C. Holbrooke, at the Kennedy Center. (MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOSTS)"

NAFSA Applauds Obama Administration’s Move to Expand Academic Travel to Cuba - Press Release, nafsa.org: "NAFSA: Association of International Educators applauds the Obama Administration’s action today to expand academic travel to Cuba. President Obama has directed changes to regulations and policies – expected in the next couple of weeks – to 'increase people-to-people contact; support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities.' In regard to educational exchanges specifically, the changes will allow colleges and universities to run credit-bearing study abroad programs under a general license; permit students to participate in study abroad programs sponsored by institutions other than their home campus; restore licenses for people-to-people exchanges; and expand travel for faculty and researchers, among other changes."

“Eagle Guardian” and the Strange Case of the Leak Without Legs (Part Two) - Jacob W. Kipp, georgiandaily.com: "[T]he leaks about 'Eagle Guardian' [see] had left the Medvedev administration in a no-win situation, since they suggested that NATO had hoodwinked the Russians with platitudes while proceeding with plans that treated Russia as a potential aggressor. ... These circumstances led to positive actions in the public diplomacy realm in order to deal with the consequences of the leaks.


In Brussels, the Russian Permanent Representative to the NATO-Russia Council, Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin, demanded from NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen clarification of the Alliance’s position in light of the leaks. ... It fell to the US Ambassador in Moscow, John Beyrle, and the Director of the NATO Information Center in Moscow, Robert Pszczel, to engage the Russian mass media and to mitigate any damage done by the leaks. ... The debate about 'Eagle Guardian' had almost run its course by December 20. US and NATO public diplomacy had mostly defused the issue for Russian mass media." Image from

Slovenia assumes the role of Contact Point Embassy in Montenegro‎ - Isria: "At the beginning of the year, Slovenia took over from Hungary the role of NATO Contact Point Embassy in Montenegro. By assuming this function for the period 2011–2012, Slovenia will have an excellent opportunity to further enhance cooperation with Montenegro. Slovenian priorities are aimed at public diplomacy and assistance in implementing defence and military reforms, particularly in light of the Montenegrin Membership Action Plan. In this regard, the Slovenian Embassy in Podgorica - in collaboration with the ministries of foreign affairs and defence and Slovenia's permanent mission to NATO - plans a number of activities to assist Montenegro in attaining the necessary criteria in the next two years, on the basis of which the Allies would extend an invitation for membership in NATO. ... A Contact Point Embassy is a vital link between NATO and the receiving state. Its basic tasks include acquainting the public and local institutions with NATO's activities."

The great blame game - M Saeed Khalid, The News International: "India’s tendency of blaming Pakistan is well known. ... The blame game against Pakistan reflects the desire to use public diplomacy as an instrument of pressure and propaganda against this country and its people. It helps in point scoring while avoiding serious diplomatic negotiation. Giving Pakistan a bad name helps prepare the ground for freezing the dialogue.


Having followed this methodology, India can subsequently claim that her public opinion has not yet recovered from the shock of Mumbai to resume the comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan. However, this strategy has run its course. India may be feeling that the policy of no dialogue needs to be revisited." Image from

The first Gulf War through time - Nachman Shai, Jerusalem Post: "In past wars, a military victory was enough, and on that front we were fortunate. Today’s wars, that have no beginning, no end and where victory is relative, are waged on various fronts: the economic front, the political front and even the public diplomacy front. A war plays out not only at the point of physical contact between us and our enemies, our territory and theirs, but has a global impact, in part because of the media."

The Ethics of Infiltration - marcestrin.blogspot.com: "On a wider scale, we have the current Israeli government support for a special undercover team of workers paid to surf the internet and spread positive news about Israel.


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14465
The deputy director of the Foreign Ministry's hasbara ('public diplomacy', aka propaganda) department has admitted the team will be working undercover: 'Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis,' he said. 'They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed.' The new team is expected to increase the ministry’s close coordination with a private advocacy group, giyus.org (Give Israel Your United Support). About 50,000 activists are reported to have downloaded a programme called Megaphone that sends an alert to their computers when an article critical of Israel is published. They are then supposed to bombard the site with comments supporting Israel.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaphone_desktop_tool." Image from

Turkey not becoming an Islamic country, state minister says - Hurriyet Daily News: "[State Minister Faruk] Çelik spoke to foreign journalists gathered at the Prime Ministry's office at Dolmabahçe Palace on Friday on a variety of subjects, from the so-called 'alcohol prohibition' to Ayşe Sucu’s removal from the Turkish Religious Affairs Foundation. However, new restrictions on Turkey’s alcohol laws and the 'shifting axis' issue dominated the press conference. Çelik and Public Diplomacy Coordinator Ibrahim Kalın replied to many questions about the new law, including queries on whether it was against human rights and freedoms and whether tourism would be affected."

Tunisia: yet another "Twitter Revolution"? Hold your horses... - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: Obviously, I'm far from being anything close to an 'expert' on Tunisian affairs. Yet, throughout the day, it's been interesting to watch the reaction - especially within the U.S. - as the news spread that President Ali had stepped down. One of the major highlights of the story was the media and social networking angle of it... At least they found something for the audience to relate to, right? More importantly, provides for some interesting headlines. Certainly, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube provided a great outlet for the people to express themselves, connect, communicate, and perhaps even coordinate. Yet, one should not over-hype their role. ... I just started reading the book [Net Delusion by Evgeny Morozov] ... but from what I see so far the overall argument is fairly predictable for anyone familiar with Morozov's overall stance regarding the uses and abuses of the Internet. When promoting a 'Net Freedom' agenda


as a major component of its public diplomacy, the West, and particularly the United States, should not fall into 'cyber-utopianism'. Rather, there needs to be a 'realist' recognition that the very same tools can be used by authoritarian governments against the 'cyber-activists': whether to identify, locate or silence them. In this sense, I agree with him. After all, Secretary Clinton has made Internet freedom one of the core issues of American diplomacy - especially public diplomacy - conspicuously promoting it as a tool that would, magically, strengthen human rights and bring freedom to the oppressed people. What about government crackdowns, however? Washington might find it easy to send condemning statements across the Atlantic or the Pacific, post factum. Yet, when matters of essence are at stake, cooperation with these very governments becomes an issue of 'national interest'. And this is where the American 'public diplomacy of deed' suffers." See also (1)(2). Image from

My view of diplomacy today - Mimi, The New Diplomacy D: A reflective group blog by some of the students on The New Diplomacy module at London Metropolitan University: "[W]hat I found most interesting topic of the course was the area of public diplomacy, which some argue is simply a fancy new name for propaganda. I do not completely agree with this view and believe that there is much more to it, from promoting once country to actually aiming to achieve long lasting friendly relationships. It is thus important to remember, that selling a bad product (as would be the case with propaganda) will not work in the long run!"

My understanding of diplomacy today - Minh, The New Diplomacy B: A reflective group blog by some of the students on The New Diplomacy module at London Metropolitan University: "[B]esides the emergence of new diplomatic actors such as international organisations and NGOs, there is also the significance of public diplomacy in contemporary world politics.


Public diplomacy has been used by states and NGOs as a practical device in shaping public opinion in order to achieve their objectives or promote their national brandings. Public diplomacy through the use of soft power, such as media, newspapers, radio and campaigns, has played an important role in contemporary diplomacy besides the traditional government to government channels. It has shown its effectiveness in engaging the public support for states' domestic and foreign policies. Public diplomacy has also strengthened the relationships between states by providing educational and cultural exchanges to citizens of the host countries." Image from

My Personal Understanding of Diplomacy Today; a summary - Xavier Oboy, The New Diplomacy F: A reflective group blog by some of the students on The New Diplomacy module at London Metropolitan University: "With regard to the conduct of th[e] 'new' public diplomacy, Berridge talks about the 'white propaganda' which aims to influence democratic regimes through their people, reflecting this conflictual situation (G. R. Berridge, 2010, 179). However, for Joseph Nye, it is becoming more difficult for some international actors to achieve such goals, because we are undergoing what he calls the 'paradox of plenty' in the new age of communication (Joseph S. Nye, 2004, 106). Indeed, the activity of the media, nowadays, is so intense that it is becoming harder for some international actors to be heard by the public to defend their interests."

Come work at the State Department! - GreatWhiteHope, The Spirit of The Law: A discussion of politics, society, and laws of the land, from an LDS or Mormon perspective: "So I was researching the State Department today to find out about what career opporunities are available, and I stumbled upon this video - 'I advocate for America.' Michelle and Mary, U.S. Diplomats, Public Diplomacy Career Track, Political Career Track 'Mary let her career development officer know that I was going to be starting A-100, which is the orientation class, immediately prior to me joining the service. And they assigned us to serve together in Jerusalem. And in fact, even before it became policy to work to try to keep us together the way they keep together married opposite sex couples the department has been very good to us in terms of working to keep us together and having us serve together.'


This is an official video promoting the State Department's advocacy of homosexual couples wanting to serve together - http://careers.state.gov/learn/who-we-are/employee-experiences?movname=jayne Apparently the video has a masked direct link so I can't upload it on here, but I just wanted to get this blog's take on the promotional nature from within a government department of homosexuality in the workplace. It's another aspect of the 'Great gay debate' and this aspect to me comes off as....well unprofessional. Why? Because sexual orientation is not something to be discussed in a professional work environment." Image from

Shearer's exit included payout‎ - Krissi Khokhobashvili, Calaveras Enterprise: "At its Tuesday meeting, the Angels Camp City Council is expected to appoint Dave Richards as city manager, deleting the word 'interim' from his job title and replacing Tim Shearer, who will not return to the job after returning from military service in Iraq. ... Shearer left for deployment in August 2009, and after training arrived in Baghdad, Iraq, in January 2010. He served as deputy team leader for the Anbar Provincial Reconstruction Team in Anbar Province, working with experts in political and economic development, public diplomacy, governance and more to build civil capacity in Iraq, including overseeing infrastructure projects and guiding the transfer of control from the military to Iraqi civilians."

RELATED ITEMS

Chicago Tribune: “Italy and the UK are out. Peru and South Africa are in” — Lisa Retterath, alliance-exchange.org: A growing number of U.S. students are choosing places like Africa, Asia, and Latin America instead of Western Europe as study abroad destinations, the Chicago Tribune reports.


According to the article, study abroad opportunities in less developed countries are more affordable in terms of overall costs compared to traditional study abroad destinations such as the UK, Italy and France. According to international education consultant Carl Herrin, circumstances other than funding and finances, including improvements in cost and ease of travel as well as changes in political climates, have created more opportunities and contributed to the growth in the number of U.S. students studying abroad. Via LB. Image from

Al Qaeda's tentacles: President Obama has placed considerable pressure on Osama bin Laden and his gang with drone strikes in Pakistan, but the group is remarkably adaptive, agile and resilient - Bruce Riedel, latimes.com: Al Qaeda has been undeniably tenacious, but we should keep its successes in perspective. The organization is not Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. Smart policies that isolate it from the majority of Muslims, along with continued attacks on its havens and its ideology, are likely to eventually bring about the group's demise. Obama has embraced such an approach.

A Nation Against Islam: America’s New Crusade - Max Blumenthal, ISA Intel: Nonlinear thinking for a nonlinear world: The spasm of anti-Muslim bigotry, erupting so many years after the 11 September 2001 trauma, might seem oddly timed and unexpectedly spontaneous. But think again: it’s the fruit of an organised, long-term campaign by a tight confederation of rightwing activists and operatives who first focused on Islamophobia soon after the 9/11 attacks, but only attained critical mass during the Obama era.

In Afghanistan, a woman's place is at the peace table: Let women play a bigger role in the country's affairs and see what happens to the peace process - Ann Jones,latimes.com

"Why the Russian internet doesn't need the West" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Exhibitions: Art or propaganda? North Korea exhibit in Moscow - Amie Ferris-Rotman, Reuters: "And Water Flows Beneath the Ice" exhibits 40 works by 39 state-commissioned artists which have never been shown abroad and span 25 years of tight North Korean rule.All the art comes from Pyongyang's Mansudae Art Studio, set up in 1959 and whose 1,000 artists are at the core of North Korea's state-driven aesthetics. They designed the Pyongyang metro system and the capital's socialist-realist statues.


But the curators of the Moscow exhibit -- housed in the trendy Winzavod gallery, a revamped wine factory -- insist it is not to be confused with propaganda. "Pure propaganda is not art. We are hoping visitors will see this as a national art form," co-curator Anna Zaitseva told Reuters at the pink-carpeted and red lit exhibit, which runs until the end of January. Image of item from exhibit from

Laughing Matters: Soviet Propaganda in Khrushchev’s Thaw - Ren's Micro Diplomacy: USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has just unveiled a new exhibit featuring 16 late 50′s-mid 60′s propaganda posters from the Soviet Union. They’re from the collection of Monroe Price


(“a leading authority on issues relating to media and civil society, media law and policy advocacy, and the intersection between communication, development, and globalization.”) and, art historian, Aimée Brown-Price. “The posters in the exhibition provide a window onto this brief but historically crucial moment which commenced with Khrushchev’s ground-breaking denouncement of Stalin’s “personality cult” in his “Secret Speech” at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party on Feb 25, 1956.” (from the exhibition pamphlet) Official opening reception is January 18th. Image from article

IMPROVE YOUR FRENCH


Image from; via GD