PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

JUN 24, 2008
ESPN’s decision is revolutionary
The Globe and Mail
The decision by ESPN to broadcast all of this month's European Soccer Championship from Austria and Switzerland is, possibly, a cultural watershed moment. And in-synch with that craving for change...In this year, of all years, it is surely significant that ESPN and ABC are airing all this. Some meaning can be extrapolated from it, because soccer acts as a cultural divide in the U.S. One the one hand, interest in the game and support for its expansion signals a progressive attitude, a willingness to see the U.S. as part of the larger world, not an isolated place, smug in its status as a world power.  Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Struggling Against al-Qaeda on the Airwaves
The Washington Post
Post foreign correspondent Craig Whitlock, was online Tuesday, June 24, to discuss his articles about how the U.S. is losing its battle with al-Qaeda for hearts and minds in the Middle East. The transcript follows.   Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Muslim Women Speak With Representative Gene Ward In Azerbaijan
The Honolulu Advertiser
This first-ever high level conference on "Expanding the Role of Women in Cross-Cultural Dialogue" was sponsored by Azerbaijan's Heydar Aliyeh Foundation...As tensions increase between Israel and Iran in the Middle East, the world is looking for good news between Muslim and non-Muslim countries and there are many reasons to find it in Azerbaijan.  Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Turkish flair at Euro 2008
USA Today
The armies of the Ottoman Empire could not conquer Vienna. Eleven soccer players from Turkey can. That's the way many Turks feel, a heady, near-mystical sense that Turkey's underdog run to the European Championship semifinals involves more than goal scoring..."There is an unwritten condition here in this country, the desire to show to the world what the Turks can do as a soft power," said Huseyin Bagci, a Turkish academic.   Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
On the move to tell the EU story
Turkish Daily News
The European Union’s new representative in Turkey is constantly on the move to explain to ordinary Turks how their lives are being changed by the membership process... Pierini seems to be conscious of the importance of public diplomacy. The fact that he worked in countries like Libya, Algeria and Tunisia, countries with predominantly Muslim populations certainly contributed to his understanding of different cultures.  Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
NATO Office Opens in Baku
Trend News Agency
A NATO office has been opened in Baku. "The office will enable Azerbaijani students to learn more about relationships between Azerbaijan and NATO. Moreover, they will be able to add to their diplomatic knowledge,” Jean-Francois Bureau, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, said at the opening ceremony on 24 June.   Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Beijing orders tighter media controls
Financial Times
China’s ruling Communist party has ordered a strengthening of its news media propaganda system, dashing hopes of a more liberal approach to censorship in the wake of relatively vigorous domestic reporting of the Sichuan earthquake.  Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
How to Win the War of Ideas
The Wall Street Journal
We do that by helping to build networks (virtual and physical) and countermovements – not just political but cultural, social, athletic and more: mothers against violence, video gamers, soccer enthusiasts, young entrepreneurs, Islamic democrats. For example, there is an emerging global network of families of Islamic victims of terrorist attacks. While winning hearts and minds would be an admirable feat, the war of ideas needs to adopt the more immediate and realistic goal of diverting impressionable segments of the population from being recruited into violent extremism.  Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Mao, Nixon and the ping-pong breakthrough
Times Online
But Mao was worried. Relations between Beijing and the Kremlin were at an all-time low. China could do with a powerful ally to stave off the possibility of war. At the same time President Nixon was looking for a way out of the war in Vietnam, and fearful that growing Chinese involvement in Laos might escalate. What to do on both sides, without losing face? The answer came: ping-pong.
  Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Branding a country calls for clear strategies
The Edge Financial Daily
Anholt also said that this requires constant work and, most importantly, coordination. “These three sectors need to tell the same story…Countries need to go through a plan — not a brand strategy, but a plan — to compete and participate in the global environment in the future. These three sectors need to identify which segment will drive the economy in the next 10 to 15 years, and strategy must be identified — What reputation must the country have in order to achieve those goals?” said Anholt.   Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Lively links between Vietnam and the US
Vietnam Net
Last year more than 400,000 Americans visited Vietnam, a rise of nearly 6 percent from 2006 and doubling the number in 2000...In the field of culture exchange, music performance, fine arts, literature and exhibitions have all been used to help convey ideas and cultural values. The United States has demonstrated its respect for Vietnam's culture by financing restoration at several pagodas such as the Dau Pagoda in Bac Ninh Province and the preservation of music of the Tay people in the northeastern region.   Read more...

JUN 24, 2008
Al-Qaeda’s Growing Online Offensive
The Washington Post
The exchange was part of the latest propaganda coup orchestrated by al-Qaeda: an online chat between Zawahiri -- one of the world's most wanted fugitives -- and hundreds of curious people around the globe. After announcing in a Web forum in December that he would entertain questions on virtually any topic, Zawahiri received 1,888 written queries from journalists and the public.   Read more...

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