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John Brown aggregates all the most recent public diplomacy related news, including current issues in U.S. foreign policy, international broadcasting and media, propaganda, cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, anti-Americanism, and the reception of American popular culture abroad.

PDPBR FOR SEPTEMBER 18-19, 2007
by John H. Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS AND BLOG REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 18-19

“House of Wisdom.”

--Name given by the US military to a facility in Iraq which provides “religious enlightenment” and other education programs for Iraqi detainees, some of whom are as young as 11; cited in Walter Pincus, “U.S. Working to Reshape Iraqi Detainees: Moderate Muslims Enlisted to Steer Adults and Children Away From Insurgency” (Washington, September 19)
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“Youth Enrichment Program (YEP)”

--A program, launched this summer in 13 countries and in the West Bank and Gaza, initiated by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, that reaches out to an audience of 8-to-14-years old; cited in Media Note, “Under Secretary of State Karen P. Hughes to Visit Youth Programs in Morocco “(Office of the Spokesman, U.S. State Department, August 13)
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VIDEOS

a) Keith Olbermann: “No Truth, No Consequences for Whitehouse’s Iraq Hawks.” Includes a brief clip picturing Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes.
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b) The recent glut of video communiques from Osama bin Laden reminded us of this classic “Family Guy” spoof (truthdig, September 13)
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BOOK REVIEW

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War [review of Andrew Bacevich, The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War] - Gerald Loftus (Book Review, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, September 19)
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PICTURE OF THE DAY

Picture of the Day—3—mikevotes (Born at the Crest of the Empire, September 19): PHOTO: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes talks with members of military support organizations on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007, as they waited for President Bush to arrive. COMMENT: Did you know that Karen Hughes is still working for this White House trying to win Muslim “Hearts and Minds?”
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SITE OF INTEREST

Zombie Defense Training
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A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-27)

(1-11): COMMENTS ON KAREN HUGHES ARTICLE IN THE WASHINGTON POST (SEPTEMBER 17), “SINKING IN THE POLLS”
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1. SPREAD THE WORD - HELLE DALE (WASHINGTON TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): Under Mrs. Hughes a good deal of work has been done to remedy some of the damage done when the U.S. Information Agency was folded into the State Department in 1999. Yet, while Mrs. Hughes extols the empowering of young Arabs by teaching them English, the Bush administration has shortsightedly proposed effective cuts in its international broadcasting budget at a time when growth is needed. In the 2008 state and foreign operations appropriations bill, which is currently in conference, Congress added $14 million to the president’s budget for international broadcasting for a total budget of $682.3 million for 2008. This has meant not only a reduction in languages (Georgian, for instance), but also the elimination of English-language programs. What is needed in the fight for hearts and minds of Muslims throughout the world is coordinated leadership from the White House.
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2. MIS-CONGENIALITY - AL KAMEN (IN THE LOOP, WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 19): Polls overseas show Muslims’ views of the United States going through the floor. Even in NATO ally Turkey, the United States’ favorable rating is down to 9 percent, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, down from 30 percent five years ago and 52 percent in 2000. But public diplomacy czarina Karen Hughes says she’s determined to keep plugging away to turn this around. Actually, her job there became easier a while back when the administration’s push for democracy in the Middle East finally succeeded, and there were democratic elections in Gaza. The voters messed up, elected the wrong people, and now we do business with only one Palestinian territory.
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3. POPULARITY CONTEST - DANIEL LARISON (EUNOMIA, SEPTEMBER 17): Karen Hughes has good news: Al Qaeda’s popularity in Islamic countries is dropping even more quickly than our own. If such an overwhelming majority of people in both Iraq and Afghanistan hate Al Qaeda so, there seems little chance of a terrorist haven being established in either place. How can anyone still believe the claim that our soldiers must remain to prevent the creation of an Al Qaeda sanctuary?
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4. KAREN P. HUGHES: I DON’T NEED NO DOTS – (MOUNTAIN RUNNER BLOG, SEPTEMBER 17): Karen Hughes doesn’t feel a need to attack Al Qaeda’s “glorification of violence” or counter the local grievances that Osama Bin Laden is effectively exploiting. No, she believes young people are the only answer. Ms. Hughes makes it crystal clear she doesn’t connect the dots between enemy propaganda and her mission. Ignoring action-reaction, the struggle for minds and wills and even hearts, she views her mission as having little potential impact in the near future and relegated to helping children.
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5. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO KAREN P. HUGHES - TONY CARSON (CARSON’S POST, SEPTEMBER 17): From the simplistic drivel file, here is Karen Hughes in full throat: “People in America and many other Western nations have expressed strong disapproval of bin Laden and al-Qaeda since the Sept. 11 attacks.” The above was the second para in Hughes’s WashPo op-ed, Sinking in the Polls—that’s Osama bin Laden sinking, not George W.
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6. BIN LADEN SINKING IN POLLS? – (FULL METAL NOVELIST: I’M ALWAYS WRITE): “I thought I smelled bullshit when I was reading this [Hughes’s] article. Maybe I did, maybe I was faking it. But the writer of this column is the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs—she’s an administration mouthpiece. Normally I wouldn’t drop all PR people’s credibility, but with this administration, yes. She’s saying that bin Laden is dropping in Muslim polls, yet when she cites WorldPublicOpinion.Org, it seems that they aren’t. At least in Pakistan, anyways. I dunno what you’ll think, but personally, this just smells like bullshit to me.”
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7. HE’S A TERRORIST MASTERMIND AND A STINKY POO-POO HEAD – BYOOLIN (LIVE JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 17): In an op-ed in Monday’s Washington Post, former Counselor to President Bush Karen Hughes argues in her current role as yet another shill for the Administration Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs that the War On Terror is hitting Osama right where it hurts: in his poll numbers. Nearly four thousand dead Americans, a hundred thousand dead civilians, hundreds of billions of dollars and two countries blown to hell and you’re telling us it’s good because his polls are down? Osama dyes his hair and nobody likes him—what is this, grade six?
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8. KAREN HUGHES: LEAPING TO CONCLUSIONS - TAREK RIZK (EXCHANGE, SEPTEMBER 18): Hughes has lots of good stuff to talk about, though she may be interested in distracting people from her slow start. It’s good to see an outline of the kinds of public diplomacy she hopes to build in the year ahead: citizenships skills, English lessons, exchange programs and interactions with opinion leaders like newspaper editors and clerics. Hope is a strange thing, though. Where are these programs right now? It has been more than two years since her appointment, and as this attempt to take credit demonstrates, real progress is hard to come by. Why hasn’t more happened?
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9. THOUGHT OF THE DAY – (KHAZEN&CO., SEPTEMBER 18): “Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes wrote an uplifting article in the Washington Post yesterday. I first thought it revealed a positive trend then I had second thoughts. She quoted surveys in several Muslim countries that clearly showed a decline in support for al Qaeda and Usama bin Laden. I hope the terrorists would sink to the point of drowning. The numbers and percentages, however, are misleading.”
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10. AL QAEDA DOWN IN THE POLLS – (BILL T BLOG, SEPTEMBER 18): Karen P. Hughes writes a powerful opinion piece for the Washington Post today. In it, she points to a decreasing popularity for Al Qaeda in the Muslim World.
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11. KAREN HUGHES WELCOMES FALLING MUSLIM SUPPORT FOR TERROR - TIM MONTGOMERIE (BRITAINANDAMERICA.COM, SEPTEMBER 18): An encouraging development is the growing hostility of Muslim global opinion to terrorism.  Karen Hughes wrote about this in yesterday’s Washington Post.
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12. BUSH, CHAVEZ, CASTRO WIELD SCALPELS IN FIGHT FOR LATIN AMERICA - BILL FARIES (BLOOMBERG, SEPTEMBER 19): President George W. Bush, eager to limit fallout from congressional delays in approving trade deals with Peru, Panama and Colombia, has dispatched the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort to the region. Skeptics say the Comfort’s port calls won’t substantially enhance America’s influence in the hemisphere. U.S. officials counter that the Comfort’s mission ``is a very visible way to demonstrate our commitment to America’s friends and neighbors,’’ Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes said in a telephone interview.
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13. VOICES THAT TEHRAN FEARS - JEFFREY GEDMIN (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 19): News-hungry Iranians turn to USG-funded Radio Farda and the Voice of America for accurate news and information. (The writer is president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.)
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14. RFE/RL JOURNALIST AZIMA ARRIVES IN UNITED STATES - (RFE/RL, SEPTEMBER 19): Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Parnaz Azima has arrived in the United States after being held in Iran as a virtual prisoner for eight months.
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15. (KIM ANDREW ELLIOTT DISCUSSING INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, latest edition)
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16. COLLEGE WORKING ON STUDENT EXCHANGE PARTNERSHIPS - ISSHIN TESHIMA (FLAT HAT, SEPTEMBER 18): The U.S. State Department recently provided the College of William and Mary with a $200,000 grant to help establish student exchange partnerships with universities in Syria, Egypt and Morocco. The new exchange programs are responding in part to an increased demand for people skilled in Middle Eastern and North African languages and are crafted to compete with foreign students who are already skilled in other cultures who come to the U.S. to study.
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17. GREEN SHOOTS - DAVID STEVEN (GLOBAL DASHBOARD, SEPTEMBER 18): What the U.S. needs to do is to bring together its private and its public diplomacy. It has to harmonise its short and longer term goals for the country. It also needs to find a more effective message for the Pakistani people than, ‘we’re hypocrites, get over it.’ And surely, somewhere, consistent and patient support for Pakistan’s democracy has to be added into its diplomatic mix’.
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18. MISSION: CITIZEN DIPLOMACY - CHRISTOPH HARTL (APEM, SEPTEMBER 17): “The concept of ‘Public Diplomacy’ is in practice partially congruent with ... ‘Citizen Diplomacy’ ... . The former, often termed ‘Soft Diplomacy’ after Joseph Nye, differs from classic “Hard Diplomacy” as it does not focus on influencing governments’, but citizens’ and NGOs’ opinions. Unlike Public Diplomacy, Citizen Diplomacy is not implicitly sponsored by the state—be it financially or ideologically. ... To be a diplomat—an ambassador of one’s community—one finally needs only the ability to peacefully deal with the vis-à-vis in an open-minded way. It need not necessarily be the marriage with a foreign princess.”
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19. LADIES WHO LUNCH WITH LAURA: IT’S NOT EVERY DAY REPORTERS ARE INVITED TO DINE WITH THE FIRST LADY – OR GET A PEEK AT THE LINCOLN BEDROOM - LINDA FELDMANN (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 19): “The phone call came out of the blue: Would I be interested in having lunch with Laura Bush in the White House residence? ... All told, about 20 female White House reporters were invited. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and Ambassador Karen Hughes, two of President Bush’s longtime aides from Texas, would join us. ...  After an on-the-record discussion on education and international public diplomacy, we filed into the cozy private dining room where the Bushes usually have breakfast. That’s when we went off the record, but I do have clearance to discuss the menu, the accoutrements, and the White House curator’s after-lunch tour.”
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20. FIRST DRAFT OF KEY JUDGEMENTS ON “CHINA THREAT” – SHAHNON (MEDIA AND INFORMATION WARFARE, SEPTEMBER 18): In an attempt to counter international fear of China’s growing economic and political strength, the Chinese government has launched a global public diplomacy campaign known as “peaceful rise.” This development suggests that China will not likely to adopt a forceful approach toward its regional neighbours.
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21. BRITISH COUNCIL AND LOS ANGELES AREA UNIVERSITIES PARTNER TO HOST TRANSATLANTIC DIALOGUES - BRITISH COUNCIL (PR NEWSWIRE, SEPTEMBER 17): The British Council, the UK’s international organization for cultural relations, will partner with three Los Angeles area universities to present an exciting program of events surrounding the US premiere of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch, the critically-acclaimed theater production that examines the war in Iraq as described by soldiers in Scotland’s legendary Black Watch regiment.
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22. ABOUT THE OSCE MAGAZINE - PAT SUTTER (IUN EDITORS’ GROUP, SEPTEMBER 17): The OSCE Magazine, launched in March 2004, is the flagship publication of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The Magazine is circulated widely in the OSCE’s 19 field operations in south-eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Now just over three years old, the publication has steadily evolved into a tool of public diplomacy.
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23. INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT 2007 – (KARAKUYASH, SEPTEMBER 18): Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes spoke at a state-sanctioned Chinese church service during her January 2007 visit to Beijing.
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24. THE EDUCATION OF ROBERT GATES - DAVID BROOKS (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): Again and again, Defense Secretary Robert Gates in an interview returned to the importance of soft power. The U.S. “made many mistakes after the end of the cold war,” he said. Two of the biggest were shrinking the Agency for International Development and dismantling the U.S. Information Agency.
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25.  PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND THE COLD WAR: LESSONS LEARNED - CARNES LORD AND HELLE C. DALE (BACKGROUNDER #2070, AMERICAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION): There is every reason to conclude that American public diplomacy and psychological operations at the end of the Cold War measurably hastened the fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Communist world. In the end, ideas made a difference. Today, America’s leaders need to draw on these lessons to rebuild the nation’s public diplomacy capabilities.
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26. JAZZ, AMERICA’S “BEST AMBASSADOR,” BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS: FEST HONORS ARTISTS ELLINGTON, GILLESPIE, JAZZ BROADCASTER WILLIS CONOVER - LOUISE FENNER (USINFO, SEPTEMBER 19): The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in Washington included events honoring Dizzie Gillespie and VOA jazz Cold War DJ Willis Conover. The final program was a concert September 17 in tribute to Conover, who hosted VOA’s American jazz and popular music programs from 1955 until shortly before his death in 1996. 
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SEE ALSO
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27. THE CONTRA CONNECTION – (BARAK OBAMA REPORT, SEPTEMBER 19): During the Reagan administration, the Cuban-born Miami businessman and ambassador to Venezuela Otto Reich headed the US State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy (OPD), whose task was to disseminate disinformation about the Sandinistas and discourage reporting critical of the contras.
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B) RELATED ITEMS (strategic communications, 28; U.S. and International Criminal Court, 29; Peace Corps, 30; U.S. working on its welcome, 31; Iraq, 32-52; Iran, 53-59; Egypt, 60; Middle East, 61-62; South America, 63; France, 64; Germany, 65; Russia, 66; India, 67; war on terror, 68-69; U.S. in world 70-71; vanishing languages, 72; State Department, 73; Rice, 74)

28. TRANSFORMING STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS TO FIGHT TERRORISM SINCE 1492 - COLLEEN TURNER (HUFFINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 12): Until Americans offer a convincing narrative of the U.S. as a David image rather than that of a Goliath, anti-American sentiment will continue to be fueled not just in the Middle East, but in Russia, Asia, and Africa, for instance. Perhaps the power of transformational strategic communications lies in the fundamental appreciation of how the most inspirational messages are not about us or them, rather they are about the inclusive “we.”
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29. A WAY FOR AMERICA TO ASSERT ITS MORAL STRENGTH: IF THE US JOINED THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, IT WOULD SEND A DRAMATIC MESSAGE TO A WORLD SKEPTICAL OF AMERICA’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD - ALEX LITTLE (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 18)
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30. PEACE CORPS RECRUITS OLDER VOLUNTEERS: MORE RETIREES AND GRANDPARENTS ARE FINDING FULFILLMENT IN SERVING OVERSEAS - MARILYN GARDNER (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 10)
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31. U.S. WORKING ON ITS WELCOME - SARA J. WELCH (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): February 2006, the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security announced a program, called Secure Borders and Open Doors, aimed at balancing the increased need for security after the 2001 terrorist attacks with the desire to ease travel to the United States. Last February, the Homeland Security Department started the Traveler Redress Inquiry Program, or TRIP, which provides an online form travelers can use to file complaints electronically about any travel-related government entity. But while government officials say they are trying for change, there is no way to tell if progress has been made.
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32. NO WAY OUT – EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): Washington has a profound moral obligation, especially to those Iraqis who have risked their lives on America’s behalf. If America abandons them now, it will mean even more suffering and more shame for the United States from this shameful and disastrous war.
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33. CHECKBOOK IMPERIALISM - ROBERT SCHEER (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, SEPTEMBER 19): The US government purchases whatever army it needs, which has led to the dependence upon private contract firms such as Blackwater USA, with its $300 million-plus contract to protect U.S. State Department personnel in Iraq.
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34. RICE APOLOGIZES TO AL-MALIKI FOR BLACKWATER SHOOTINGS – JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, SEPTEMBER 19): The Iraqis are from all accounts absolutely furious about the Blackwater cowboys running around their country armed and dangerous and acting with impunity.
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35. BLACKWATER DOWN: THE U.S. NEEDS TO AVOID THE PERCEPTION OF ‘VICTOR’S JUSTICE’ AS IT INVESTIGATES THE SECURITY CONTRACTOR – EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): The Iraqis have grown more and more frustrated by what they see as the impunity with which private contractors have harmed civilians. And the Americans have done too little to regulate and control the contractors, who likely now outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq.
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36. WHAT HAPPENS TO PRIVATE CONTRACTORS WHO KILL IRAQIS? MAYBE NOTHING: BLACKWATER USA EMPLOYEES ARE ACCUSED OF KILLING SEVERAL CIVILIANS, BUT THERE MIGHT NOT BE ANYONE WITH THE AUTHORITY TO PROSECUTE THEM - ALEX KOPPELMAN AND MARK BENJAMIN (SALON, SEPTEMBER 18)
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37. U.S. BANS OVERLAND TRAVEL BY DIPLOMATS IN IRAQ AFTER SECURITY INCIDENT - ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by US diplomats and other civilian officials throughout Iraq, except in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone. The move follows a weekend incident involving private security guards protecting a diplomatic convoy in which a number of Iraqi civilians were killed.
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SEE ALSO
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38. NEW MILITARY REPORT ACKNOWLEDGES SIGNS OF POLICE STATE IN BAGHDAD - TOM HAYDEN (HUFFINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 18): Virtually ignored in last week’s national debate on the US military surge was a report by military experts recommending that the Iraqi police service be scrapped because of its brutal sectarian character.
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39. GUNS, NOT ROSES, FOR IRAQ: THE U.S. IS SELLING BILLIONS IN WEAPONS TO IRAQ. IS THE PENTAGON’S PLAN MAKING THE COUNTRY SECURE OR ARMING IT TO THE TEETH FOR CIVIL WAR? - MARK BENJAMIN (SALON, SEPTEMBER 18): With respect to Iraq, most experts agree that it very much remains an open question as to who in that country might be on our side in the future.
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40. BUSH CATAPULTS THE PRO-WAR PROPAGANDA ... AGAIN - B MERRYFIELD (DAILY KOS, SEPTEMBER 19): For less than ten minutes on the morning of September 18, 2007, President George W. Bush spoke to “about 850 members” of so-called “Military Support Organizations” who were gathered “at picnic tables” set up on the White House South Lawn, including Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission, Vets for Freedom, the American Legion, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, which had been, the Associated Press reported, “invited to the White House for coffee, juice and pastries.”
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41. THE HAPHAZARD WAR - H.D.S. GREENWAY (BOSTON GLOBE, SEPTEMBER 18): Nothing about the Iraq war has made the U.S. safer, and it never will. It is, and always will be, a detriment and a distraction to our struggle against Islamic extremism. The occupation itself is the cause of extremism and violence—a recruiting tool in Baghdad, Muslim enclaves in Europe, turbulent Pakistan, and on to the Far East.
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42. CRITICS KNEW PETRAEUS WAS ON POINT - ALAN NATHAN (WASHINGTON TIMES, SEPTEMBER 18): Since when should we permit the enemy’s resistance in Iraq to become the self-serving justification for our military’s acquiescence? By such a standard, the only way to deter an enemy’s growth in ranks is to grant them a victory with the forces they already possess. It’s like saying we’re only allowed to win providing we don’t defeat the enemy.
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43. FAILURE IN IRAQ - HARLAN ULLMAN (WASHINGTON TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): Despite presidential optimism over the surge, using these measures, both we and Iraq are failing in our efforts to create a functioning state.
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44. IRAQ FOREVER? LAST WEEK’S INTENSE FOCUS ON WHETHER THE SURGE WAS WORKING OBSCURED THE REAL BUSH AGENDA—A LONG-TERM U.S. PRESENCE IN IRAQ - SPENCER ACKERMAN (AMERICAN PROSPECT, SEPTEMBER 18
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45. FOLLOWING MR. BUSH’S ‘WAY FORWARD’ IN IRAQ WILL GET US NOWHERE - TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORESUN.COM, SEPTEMBER 18): When he introduced the surge in January, the president declared that “we will use America’s full diplomatic resources to rally support for Iraq.” Yet the administration has made only faint gestures at international diplomacy.
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46. AN HONORABLE EXIT FROM IRAQ - POKA LAENUI (YES! MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 18/COMMON DREAMS): The continuation of this war will not resolve terrorism. If terrorism is to end, it will only come through a just peace. An end to U.S. government terrorism will decrease other forms of terrorism.
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47. BREAKING THE IRAQ STALEMATE: ONCE A MIGHTY WAR GOD, BUSH HAS RUN OUT OF TRICKS, TROOPS AND TIME. WILL AMERICANS FINALLY RISE UP TO STOP HIS ENDLESS WAR? - GARY KAMIYA (SALON, SEPTEMBER 18): The deepest, darkest fear of those opposed to the war is that Americans simply don’t care enough to end it.
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48. GREENSPAN: SO, WHAT IS THE IRAQ WAR ALL ABOUT AFTER ALL? – EDWARD M. GOMEZ (WORLD VIEWS, SF GATE, SEPTEMBER 17): The insistent protestations and propagandizing of the Cheney-Bush White House notwithstanding, the Iraq war really was or is about oil after all, not about ridding the world of a dictator who supposedly threatened his neighbors, the United Kingdom and the U.S. with a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, which were never found. Instead, notes former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, who served in that influential role from 1987 to 2006: “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”
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49. WAS THE IRAQ WAR ABOUT OIL? - PETER BEINART & JONAH GOLDBERG (TNR ONLINE, SEPTEMBER 18)
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50. IT WAS RIGHT TO DISSOLVE THE IRAQI ARMY: WE BROKE AMERICA’S TERRIBLE HABIT OF RULING BY PROXY THROUGH MILITARY REGIMES - CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS (SLATE, SEPTEMBER 17): It stands to the credit of the United States that it did not insult the population by grabbing and using the existing reins of repression, just as it stands to our credit that we adopted de-Baathification, or, in other words, the policy of demolishing the rule of a corrupt and fascistic party.
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51. NATION-BUILDING, R.I.P. - THOMAS SOWELL (BALTIMORESUN.COM, SEPTEMBER 19): If nothing else comes out of the Iraq war, it should banish the concept of “nation-building” from our language and our minds.
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52. AMERICAN FILMMAKERS HOPE TO BRING IMPACT OF IRAQ WAR HOME - JOE GAROFOLI (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19): Without a military draft, few middle-class Americans have been directly touched by the Iraq war, making the 4-year-old conflict seem distant compared with the war in Vietnam. But over the next few weeks, the war will land at the multiplex, thanks to prominent feature films starring Robert Redford, John Cusack, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones—and co-starring the war either in the background or in your face
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53. THE MIRAGE OF ‘VICTORY’ AMERICA’S REAL WAR AIMS IN IRAQ – JUSTIN RAIMONDO (ANTIWAR.COM, SEPTEMBER 18): The lunatics in charge of the asylum are bound and determined to attack Iran, and nothing – not Congress (in the unlikely event they object), not common sense (if our elites should suddenly have a surge of rationality), and not the American people (if they ever wake up from their O.J.-and-Britney-induced narcosis)—is going to stop them.
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54. PETER GALBRAITH, THE IRANIAN CONUNDRUM - TOM DISPATCH (SEPTEMBER 18): The U.S. has good reason to worry about Iran’s activities in Iraq. But contrary to the Bush administration’s allegations—supported by both General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker in their recent congressional testimony—Iran does not oppose Iraq’s new political order. In fact, Iran is the major beneficiary of the American-induced changes in Iraq since 2003.
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55. IRAN BLOWBACK? - TOM ENGELHARDT (NATION, SEPTEMBER 19): Who would be the beneficiary of a late-term Bush administration assault on Iran? Only one thing is clear at the moment—not the United States.
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56. AHMADINEJAD AT THE U.N. – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, SEPTEMBER 18): It is a disgrace to the founding principles and mission of the United Nations that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be allowed to speak before the body next week during the gathering of its General Assembly.
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57. U.S. SEES DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION ON IRAN – REUTERS (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 18)
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58. WHY BUSH WON’T ATTACK IRAN: DESPITE SABER-RATTLING, AND THE WASHINGTON BUZZ THAT A STRIKE IS COMING, THE PRESIDENT DOESN’T INTEND TO BOMB IRAN. CHENEY MAY HAVE OTHER IDEAS - STEVEN CLEMONS (SALON, SEPTEMBER 19): Bush’s war-prone team failed him on Iraq, and this time he’ll be more reserved, more cautious. That is why a classic buildup to war with Iran, one in which the decision to bomb has already been made, is not something we should be worried about today.
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59. U.S. ENGAGE OR ISOLATE IRAN? - AMAR C. BAKSHI (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 17): “Flying home from Los Angeles, I work to fit together the pieces of my visit with Iranian Americans there. It’s more complicated than I expected. There are some constants: Everyone I spoke to wanted the current theocracy in Iran to loosen up on its own people and open up to the world, including America. At the same time, they opposed war vehemently, saying it’d be catastrophic for both nations.”
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60. EGYPT EXTENDS CRACKDOWN TO PRESS: THE ARREST OF IBRAHIM EISSA AND THREE OTHER OPPOSITION JOURNALISTS IS THE LATEST SIGNAL OF TIGHTENING GOVERNMENT CONTROL, REFLECTING ANXIETY OVER PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION - DAN MURPHY (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 18)
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61. DOOMSDAY DEBUNKED: THE MIDDLE EAST IS NOT FALLING DOWN - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON (NATIONAL REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 19): Something quite strange is happening: Despite all the bad news about the Middle East from the European and American media, things actually seem to be improving. Bin Laden’s approval ratings are way down; polls show that the tactic of suicide bombing has suffered a similar fate of declining popularity.
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62. CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD OF U.S. MIDEAST POLICY - YU WANLI (PEOPLE’S DAILY, SEPTEMBER 14): The presence of the U.S. forces has provided anti-Americanism with a powerful spiritual motive power, while the pullout of American troops means a victory for anti-Americanism and will possibly result in the spread of Islamic extremism in the whole Middle East.
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63. U.S. MEDIA WAGES PROPAGANDA WAR IN SOUTH AMERICA - RANDY SHAW‚ (BEYOND CHRON, CA SEPTEMBER 19)
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64. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION – ROGER COHEN (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 19): The French Revolution of 2007 has not seen heads roll, but it has involved the destruction of 10 taboos as President Nicolas Sarkozy assumes the role of Europe’s most dynamic leader. 1. The American Taboo. Enthusiasm for the United States was unacceptable for a French political leader because always interpreted as an embrace of “Wild West” capitalism, “Anglo-Saxon” hegemony and vulgarity. De rigueur attitudes held sway: patronizing contempt in Paris met macho derision in Washington. Communication suffered. Sarko’s New Hampshire vacation, enthused American dreaming, iPod-accompanied jogging and in-your-face style cleared the air.
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65. FROM BROOKLYN TO BERLIN: NEW YORK ARTISTS ESCAPE TO GERMANY - DAMASO REYES (SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL, SEPTEMBER 17): Leonard Cohen famously sang “First we’ll take Manhattan, then we’ll take Berlin.” Now many New York artists are doing just that, turning their backs on excessive rents and the stifling conservativism of the post-9/11 city to carve out a niche for themselves in the thriving Berlin art scene.
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66. RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA POSTERS ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE: THEY ALSO HAVE THE EXACT SAME DESIGN - ALEX SHIFRIN (EXILE, SEPTEMBER 14)
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67. VOGUE HITS INDIAN NEWSSTANDS: THE BEAUTY BIBLE IS LATE TO INDIA’S FASHION PARTY, WHERE GLOBAL MAGAZINES COSMOPOLITAN AND ELLE AND LOCAL PLAYER VERVE ARRIVED A DECADE AGO - SAVITA IYER (BUSINESS WEEK, SEPTEMBER 18): The editor of one of Vogue’s biggest local rivals says she’s not spooked by the arrival of the Americans. Anuradha Mahindra, founder and editor-in-chief of Verve, India’s first high-end fashion magazine, says the industry has grown up a lot since she launched her magazine a decade ago.
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68. JUSTICE FOR DETAINEES: CONGRESS CAN RIGHT A WRONG IN THE WAR ON TERRORISM EDITORIAL (SEPTEMBER 18): Congress is once again poised to consider legislation to give those held as enemy combatants the right to challenge their detention in U.S. federal court. As a matter of law and conscience, lawmakers should act quickly to pass it.
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69. AL QAEDA’S THIRD DEFEAT - CLAUDE SALHANI (WASHINGTON TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): The defeat of al Qaeda by Sunni tribesmen in Iraq’s Anbar Province and of an al Qaeda-backed militia called Fatah al-Islam in North Lebanon’s Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp represents two of the most serious blows to the Islamist movement since the declaration of war on terrorism.
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70. A STRANGE AIR RAID IN SYRIA – EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, SEPTEMBER 19): The United States needs to engage in hard-nosed, deal-making diplomacy, not only to end the war in Iraq but also to prevent new wars across a large arc of the Middle East and central Asia.
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71. DOHA AND DALIAN - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 19): Yes, “Americans” are popping up all over now—people who once lived low-energy lifestyles but by dint of oil wealth or hard work are now moving into U.S.-style apartments, cars and appliances. Our planet cannot tolerate so many “Americans,” unless we take the lead and change what it means to be an American in energy terms.
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72. VANISHING LANGUAGES IDENTIFIED: OKLAHOMA IS AMONG PLACES WHERE TONGUES ARE DISAPPEARING - RICK WEISS (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 19): Of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken, about half are expected to disappear in this century, said K. David Harrison, a Swarthmore College linguist and co-director of the Enduring Voices project.
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73. STATE DEPT. OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING INQUIRY - DAVID STOUT (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 18): A top House Democrat began an inquiry on Tuesday into accusations that the State Department’s inspector general repeatedly interfered with investigations into fraud and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, including security defects at the new United States Embassy in Baghdad.
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74. DREAM TEAM - (PRINCESS SPARKLE PONY’S PHOTO BLOG: I KEEP TRACK OF CONDOLEEZZA’S HAIRDO SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO, SEPTEMBER 18): PHOTO: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates (R) look on as US President George W. Bush (not pictured) participates in a video teleconference in the White House. Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday demanded the ouster of all “criminal” foreign security companies from Iraq after private contractors gunned down civilians in a Baghdad square. COMMENT: “OMG, Condi looks dog-rough in today’s adventure, in which she and tiny (but perfectly formed) Gatesy got to sit at a table and watch George talk to a big TV set. Fun! But can you imagine how many times they had to rehearse that? No wonder our Princess Diploteezza looks tuckered-out!”
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C) ONLY IN AMERICA?

75. RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL TOSSER - (PRINCESS SPARKLE PONY’S PHOTO BLOG: I KEEP TRACK OF CONDOLEEZZA’S HAIRDO SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO, SEPTEMBER 19): The bathroom at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis where U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, was arrested in a sex sting has, according to Karen Evans, information specialist at the Airport, “become a tourist attraction.”
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D) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“Two hundred thousand Palestinian children began school in the Gaza Strip this month without a full complement of textbooks. Why? Because Israel, which maintains a stranglehold over this small strip of land along the Mediterranean ... considers paper, ink and binding materials not to be ‘fundamental humanitarian needs.’”

--George Bisharat, “A double standard on academic freedom in the Middle East” (baltimoresun.com, September 19)
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“Ranks Of Child Soldiers Swell Again In Congo: Fresh fighting in the east has ended a three-year lull in using child fighters”

--Headline in the Christian Science Monitor (September 19), for an article by Scott Baldauf
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“I don’t think you invade Iraq to bring liberty.”

--Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; cited in David Brooks, “The Education of Robert Gates” (New York Times, September 19)
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“I’m told researchers like to come and dig through my files, to see if anything interesting turns up. I want to wish them luck—(laughter)—but the files are pretty thin. I learned early on that if you don’t want your memos to get you in trouble some day, just don’t write any.’

--Vice President Richard Cheney; cited in Satyam, “Cheney On Secrecy: ‘If You Don’t Want Your Memos To Get You In Trouble, Don’t Write Any’” (Think Progress, September 17)
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“Can the son of a general become a general? Yes. Can he become a marshal? No, the marshal has his own sons.”

--Soviet era anecdote, as told by Russian President Vladimir Putin; cited in Serge Schmemann, “Vladimir Putin: Sure of His Power on the Verge of Leaving Office” (New York Times, September 19)
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“we were born into an analog world and will die in a digital one.”

Michael Antonoff, “’Baby Boomer’ Is a Badge Whose Time Has Come and Gone: How’s This for a Term to Describe the Generation Born Into the Analog Age and Living in the Digital Age: ‘Anadiggies’?” (AdvertisingAge, september 17)
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“blogging does have a tendency to elicit the worst in people.”

-- Steve Almond, “Blogged to death” (Boston Globe, September 19)
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“the Web is still an ethical adolescent.”

--Mark Lange, “Civilizing the Web’s ethical wildness” (Christian Science Monitor, September 19)
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“It’s the relationship that is valuable. It’s the relationship that is profitable, not the control of the content or the distribution. That is the essential media moral of the internet story.”

--Jeff Jarvis, “Times deselected” (BuzzMachine,
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