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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.

PDPR FOR SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2005
by John Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 28-29

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“I GO OUT WITH MY DRIVER.”

--One Saudi female student, reacting to Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes’s concern that women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia; cited in Guy Dinmore, “Saudi Students Rebuff US Communications Guru” (Financial Times, September 28)
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SEE ALSO BELOW ITEM 6

For more quotations for the day, please scroll down to Section C

EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT

by Elizabeth Nagem Kuhn
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REPORT

A PDPR subscriber has kindly provided a report on “The Power of Great Music in the Revival of U.S. Public Diplomacy,” an event held at the Library of Congress on September 28. Please scroll down to Section D for the text of the report.

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

1. US BEGINS NEW PITCH TO MUSLIM WORLD: CLOSE BUSH ADVISER KAREN HUGHES IS TOURING EGYPT, SAUDI ARABIA, AND TURKEY - DAN MURPHY (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 28): Karen Hughes, a folksy Texan and longtime confidante of President Bush, has one of the toughest jobs in the US government: convincing the rest of the world, particularly the Arab world, that US policies are in their best interests. She started her first week as the State Department’s top public relations officer with a “listening tour” of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. But she won’t have to listen too closely to hear the widespread anger over perceived US arrogance and heavyhandedness—perceptions difficult to undo as she engages with the Middle East for the first time in her career.
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2. TURKISH WOMEN BLAST KAREN HUGHES WITH IRAQ WAR CRITICISM - GLENN KESSLER (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 28): A group of Turkish female activists confronted Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes Wednesday with heated complaints about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, turning a session designed to highlight the empowering of women into a raw display of the anger at U.S. policy in the region. Hughes later flew had meetings with religious leaders—part of an effort to promote interfaith dialogue—and with Turks who have participated in U.S. exchange programs. She returns to Washington Thursday.
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3. U.S. ENVOY’S MESSAGE FALLS FLAT AGAIN, THIS TIME IN TURKEY - STEVEN R. WEISMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 28): Under Secretary of State Karen P. Hughes, seeking common ground with leading women’s rights advocates in Turkey, was confronted instead today with anguished denunciations of the war in Iraq and what the women said were American efforts to export democracy by force. It was the second straight day that Ms. Hughes found herself at odds with groups of women on her “public diplomacy” tour, aimed at improving the American image in the Middle East. On Tuesday, she told Saudi Arabian women she would support efforts to raise their status, but she was taken aback when some of them responded that Americans misunderstand their embrace of traditions. She also held an “interfaith dialogue” with Muslim, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Jewish leaders. It was another staple of this trip, which is intended to emphasize that Muslim countries with large devout populations should understand that Americans are also guided by religious convictions.
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SEE ALSO
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4. GUL SUGGESTS US STEP FORWARD ON PKK FOR POSITIVE IMAGE - SULEYMAN KURT (ZAMAN.COM, SEPTEMBER 29): Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has suggested to Karen Hughes, the US Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs that she “take a concrete step in the fight against PKK. This will be effective on Turkish public opinion as well.”
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5. SAUDI WOMEN HAVE MESSAGE FOR U.S. ENVOY - STEVEN R. WEISMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 28): Ms. Hughes has churned through meetings in which she has tirelessly introduced herself as “a mom,” explained that Americans are people of faith and called for more cultural and educational exchanges. Her efforts to explain policies in Iraq and the Middle East have been polite and cautious. At meeting with Saudi women, Ms. Hughes found herself on the defensive simply by saying that she hoped women would be able to vote in future elections.
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6. HUGHES RAISES DRIVING BAN WITH SAUDIS: MORE POLITICAL FREEDOM FOR WOMEN ALSO URGED - GLENN KESSLER (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 28): Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes questioned Tuesday the Saudi ban on driving by women, telling a crowd of several hundred Saudi women, covered head to toe in black clothing, that it had negatively shaped the image of Saudi society in the United States. “We in America take our freedoms very seriously,” Hughes said. “I believe women should be free and equal participants in society. I feel that as an American woman that my ability to drive is an important part of my freedom.”
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7. WALKING A MILE IN THEIR ABAYA: UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES GETS AN EARFUL IN JIDDAH - PAUL D. KRETKOWSKI (BEACON NO. 67, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005): Karen Hughes spoke on September 27 to an all-women audience at a university in Jidda, Saudi Arabia. Whereas audience participation at her Egypt stops went pretty well according to plan—mild, respectful, friendly comments given and received—some in the Jidda audience questioned the very underpinnings of the under secretary’s “listening tour” in the Middle East. While the people planning the under secretary’s events may have been mortified I hope Ms. Hughes sees that this session is actually an excellent development for both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
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8. U.S. SEEKS SAUDIS’ AID IN COMBATING HATE TRACTS - TIMES WIRE SERVICES (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 28): U.S. envoy Karen Hughes said Tuesday that Washington was concerned about hate literature in American mosques and had asked the Saudi government for help in getting rid of it. The disclosure by Hughes, whose job as undersecretary of State for public diplomacy is to counter the negative U.S. image among Muslims and explain President Bush’s policies, came during a meeting with Saudi journalists.
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9. HUGHES OFFERS STEPS, NOT SPIN - GEOFFREY COWAN (USA TODAY, SEPTEMBER 29): After years of foundering, the Bush administration has put America’s public diplomacy in the hands of a team of talented professionals. As the Washington Post noted, the selection of Karen Hughes “is seen by many in Washington as a coup,” bringing to the job an almost unique combination of communication expertise and high-level credibility and clout, earned as a result of her close relationship with President Bush. Hughes understands that public diplomacy is not primarily about “spin.” It has more to do with: Accurately communicating American values and rebutting misinformation; helping international audiences learn about our people, institutions and polices; taking actions that improve our image in the world, as happened after the USA’s massive tsunami-relief efforts. In sum, she seems determined to implement “Murrow’s Law.” As legendary CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow famously noted when he headed the United States Information Agency for President Kennedy: “We need to be in on the takeoffs, not just the crash landings.” While there are limits to what public diplomacy can do in the face of unpopular or unwise policies, ideally Hughes will be involved in decision-making in order to improve our takeoffs and help us avoid so many crash landings.
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10. SALES PITCH FALLS FLAT – EDITORIAL (USA TODAY, SEPTEMBER 28): In the aftermath of 9/11, the world erupted in an outpouring of sympathy and support for the USA. The plummeting of regard ever since—opinion polls, even in friendly countries, record little admiration—is not just distressing. It’s dangerous. President Bush has an image czar—the official title is undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs—charged with turning that around: Karen Hughes. This week, Hughes, who has little foreign policy experience, has been on a “listening tour” of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Her trip has been much like a political campaign: She delivers a message to select audiences. She has at times come across as preachy and culturally insensitive and gotten, by charitable description, a lukewarm response. Changing the world’s “We Hate America” tone to “We Love America” won’t be easy. But the kind of ties that worked so well in the past could better bring about a genuine image makeover than a superficial PR blitz.
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11. THE UNDERSECRETARY’S DANGEROUS TRIP: KAREN HUGHES TAKES HER “INNOCENTS ABROAD” TOUR TO THE MIDDLE EAST—AND PLAYS INTO THE HANDS OF OSAMA BIN LADEN - SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL (SALON): After two undersecretaries of state for public diplomacy resigned in frustration in the face of the precipitous loss of U.S. prestige around the globe, Bush found a new slot for Hughes this year. She may be the most parochial person ever to hold a senior State Department appointment, but the president has confidence she can rebrand the United States. “Many people around the world do not understand the important role that faith plays in Americans’ lives,” says Hughes. With these well-meaning arguments, Hughes has provided the exact proof for what Osama bin Laden has claimed about American motives. Says Robert Pape, a University of Chicago political scientist who has conducted the most extensive research into the backgrounds and motives of suicide terrorists: “If you read Osama’s speeches, they begin with descriptions of the U.S. occupation of the Arabian Peninsula, driven by our religious goals, and that it is our religious purpose that must confronted. That argument is incredibly powerful not only to religious Muslims but secular Muslims. Everything Hughes says makes their case.”
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12. PUBLIC RELATIONS: MANIPULATION REPLACES AUTHORITY - M. ASADI (SELVES AND OTHERS, SEPTEMBER 29): Karen Hughes, the public face of the Bush Presidential Campaign (in 2000), was sworn in as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy recently. The president explained during the swearing in ceremony that Hughes is being appointed to explain “our policies and fundamental values” to people around the world, specifically to the Arab and Muslim world (Bush names aide to sell US image). Before embarking on this huge task, Ms. Hughes would do well to begin at home. Recent polls suggest that not only are people around the world weary of the policies pursued by this American administration, its own citizens are beginning to show discontent and are questioning its “values and policies.”
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13. KAREN OF ARABIA - JULIETTE KAYYEM (TPMCAFE, NY, SEPTEMBER 29): What is interesting about Hughes’ trip isn’t so much that she is facing criticism from the very part of the world where public diplomacy (so derided by her President, but now back in vogue because, well, the military mission has stalled) is badly needed, but instead her decision of where and who she has decided to talk to.
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14. KAREN HUGHES, AMERICAN RUBE: A NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT: WHITE HOUSE REBUKED BY THE VERY ARAB WOMEN THEY’RE TRYING TO “SAVE” - JEFF KOOPERSMITH (AMERICAN POLITICS JOURNAL, FL): What is she doing there, this Texas country bumpkin who pretends to be one of the geniuses who put George W. in the White House despite the fact that he is a dry drunk, a consistent destroyer of his own business interests, the biggest spender in Presidential history and, of course, the dumbest President ever? Well, Ms. Hughes, yesterday, was lecturing five hundred Saudi women at a local university, spreading the Bush line of absurdity that whatever’s American is better than anything else.
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15. ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF HUGHES’S MIDDLE EAST TRIP AT:

U.S. MEDIA

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FOREIGN MEDIA

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16. REPORT FINDS NEGATIVE IMAGE OF U.S. ABROAD - ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 28): As Karen Hughes works to repair the United States’ image in a trip overseas, her State Department colleagues have received a report by the Advisory Commmitee on Cultural Diplomacy underscoring how tough a task she faces. Based on their own travels to the Persian Gulf, Egypt and Britain, the nine-member advisory committee headed by former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff found widespread hostility toward the United States and its policies, especially the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
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17. JIHAD’S FELLOW TRAVELERS - SRDJA TRIFKOVIC (FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.COM, CA): Members of the West European and North American elite class approach the war on terrorism in a schizophrenic manner. Their worldview rejects any possibility that religious faith can be a prime motivating factor in human affairs. Having reduced religion, literature and art to “narratives” and “metaphors” which merely reflect prejudices based on the distribution of power, the elite class treats the jihadist mindset as a pathology that should be treated by treating causes external to Islam itself. The result is a plethora of proposed “cures” that are as likely to succeed in making us safe from terrorism as snake oil is likely to cure leukemia. Abroad, we are told, we need to address political and economic grievances of the impoverished masses, we need to spread democracy and free markets in the Muslim world, we need to invest more in public diplomacy.
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18. KILLING THE GOOSE THAT SPOKE ARABIC - PATRICIA LEE SHARPE (WHIRLED VIEW, SEPTEMBER 29): Once upon a time the United States Information Agency (USIA) published a number of magazines that were admired throughout the world. Each was targeted for a very well defined audience, but all were intelligently edited, beautifully composed and printed on quality paper. One of the most widely admired was designed for Africa. Another addressed highly educated English-speaking elites everywhere. The one I want to talk about was published in Arabic. It was called Al Majal and I used it extensively in countries that were primarily Muslim, even if the everyday language wasn’t Arabic. It also turned out to be useful in countries that had considerable Muslim enclaves or minorities, like Tanzania and Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
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19. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING CONTINUOUS: “ONE HUNDRED SOLDIERS MAKE EGYPTIANS ANGRY; ONE WORKSHOP MAKES FRIENDS” - PAUL D. KRETKOWSKI (BEACON, SEPTEMBER 27): It’s impossible to implement a serious cultural diplomacy program without continuity.
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PLEASE SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ARTICLE

20. FILM WITH WORD “MUSLIM” IN TITLE STIRS CONTROVERSY – REUTERS (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 29): In the film “Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World,” Comedian Albert Brookshe plays a comedian sent by the State Department to India and Pakistan with a couple of minders to find out what makes Muslims laugh, so everyone can get along better in the post-9/11 world. He says he got the idea before U.S. President George W. Bush appointed close adviser Karen Hughes to be undersecretary of state for public diplomacy charged with countering the negative U.S. image among Muslims. LINK

B) RELATED ITEMS (Bush communications strategy, 21; Pvt. England conviction, 22-23; war web postings, 24; Al-Jazeera, 25; Al Quaeda, 26; Iraq, 27-35; Iraq/Afghanistan, 36-38; Iran, 39-41; North Korea, 42-43; Vietnam, 44; China, 45-47; UN, 48; political posters, 49; Google library, 50)

21. A PRESIDENT IN NEED OF A BLUNT FRIEND - JIM HOAGLAND (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 29): As it has on Iraq, the Bush team has adopted a “look forward, not back” strategy of communication, relying on vague generalities about the future to smother the past and current setbacks. They try to mobilize the short national attention span as an ally in the era of the 24-7 news cycle. But that shortsighted approach can only erode confidence and support for the long-haul endeavors of reconstructing America’s Gulf Coast and providing stability in the Middle East’s Persian Gulf region.
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22. FIGHTING FOR OUR VALUES – EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 28): The conviction of Pvt. Lynndie R. England for abusing Iraqi inmates was a foregone conclusion. What remains an open question, unfortunately, is the extent of the damage done to America’s image abroad by the continued allegations of cruelty and mistreatment at the hands of U.S. soldiers.
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23. NOT ONE VICTIM WAS CALLED TO TESTIFY: THE INVENTION OF PORNO TORTURE - LIAQUAT ALI KHAN (COUNTERPUNCH): It is no surprise that the military court that convicted Lynddie England found no porno torture in the case. In fact, England was not even charged for committing any form of torture. She has been found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees, and one count of committing an indecent act. No Iraqi detainees were summoned as witnesses to tell their story of shame, degradation, pain and suffering that porno torture inflicted on their bodies, minds, and souls. Meanwhile, the Torture Establishment has buried thousands of pictures of porno torture in confidential files to avoid responsibility.
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24. ARMY INVESTIGATING WEB POSTINGS OF GRISLY WAR PHOTOS - JOSH WHITE (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 29): U.S. Army officials are looking into allegations that soldiers have been trading gruesome digital pictures of war victims in Iraq and Afghanistan for access to an amateur pornography Web site, but officials said yesterday that there is insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
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25. FORMER MARINE IN MEDIA GLARE AS HE JOINS AL-JAZEERA - MARK MEMMOTT (USA TODAY, SEPTEMBER 29): Former Marine captain Josh Rushing is going to work as a reporter for Al-Jazeera, which has an office in Washington. He will appear on a global, English-language news channel the network hopes to start by spring. That’s the Qatar-based network that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said is “perfectly willing to lie to the world” and has “a pattern of playing propaganda over and over and over again” for its 50 million viewers, most of them in the Arab world.
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26. “TALK TO AL-QAEDA” NO LONGER A TABOO IN US: EXPERTS (ISLAMONLINE, SEPTEMBER 28)
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27. REUTERS SAYS U.S. TROOPS OBSTRUCT REPORTING OF IRAQ - BARRY MOODY (REUTERS, SEPTEMBER 28): In a letter to Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Reuters said U.S. forces were limiting the ability of independent journalists to operate.
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28. TO STOP AN ARC OF VIOLENCE - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 29): This war is in many ways a series of disconnects. It’s a war in which U.S. troops remain upbeat, even as support deteriorates back home; in which the appearance of stability in much of Iraq is shattered by spasms of hideous violence; in which U.S. military strategy is confounded by Iraq’s political disarray.
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29. TWO IRAQI CAMPS—THEIR FRIENDS AND FOES IN THE WEST - AMIR TAHERI (JERUSALEM POST, SEPTEMBER 28): The “anti-war” crowds in Western capitals are right: Iraqis are unanimous in demanding that foreign fighters leave their land. But the foreign fighters they want to see the back of are the self-styled jihadists.
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30. HEART OF DARKNESS: FROM ZARQAWI TO THE MAN ON THE STREET, SUNNI ARABS FEAR SHIITE EMANCIPATION - FOUAD AJAMI (OPINION JOURNAL FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE, SEPTEMBER 28): Unreason, an indifference to the most basic of facts, and a spirit of belligerence have settled upon the Arab world. Those who, in Arab lands beyond Iraq, have taken to describing the Iraqi constitution as an “American-Iranian constitution,” give voice to a debilitating incoherence. At the heart of this incoherence lies an adamant determination to deny the Shiites of Iraq a claim to their rightful place in their country’s political order.
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31. POLITICS-IRAQ: CAN THE US MILITARY PRESENCE AVERT CIVIL WAR? - JIM LOBE (INTER PRESS SERVICE NEWS, SEPTEMBER 29): The growing spectre of a full-scale civil war in Iraq—and the likelihood that such a conflict will draw in neighbouring states—has intensified a summer-long debate here over whether and how to withdraw U.S. troops.
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32. IRAQ’S SCRAP OF PAPER - MICHAEL YOUNG (REASON, SEPTEMBER 28): The U.S. will still be able to prevent all-out war in Iraq by remaining (and we should understand that we are not halfway there yet); and even if American forces were to leave, would Washington be able to keep them away for long if Iraq turned into a regional free-for-all? I doubt it.
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PLEASE SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ARTICLE.

33. IRAQ IS NOT WORLD WAR II – JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, SEPTEMBER 29): Gen. Richard Myers, outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, warned Wednesday that winning in Iraq was as important to the US as winning WW II had been, and that a withdrawal would lead to another 9/11- style attack. With all due respect, Gen. Myers is wrong on both counts. For the US to stay massively in Iraq, occupying a major Arab Muslim country, for very much longer is what will provoke another attack on the US mainland.
LINK
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ARTICLE.

34. DEFYING TERROR, FILMGOERS ATTEND A FESTIVAL IN BAGHDAD – SABRINA TAVERNISE (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 29): Baghdad’s first film festival since the American-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein was a six-day event that by Wednesday evening had produced hundreds of happy Iraqis and not a single casualty.
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35. LIMITED REACH: IRAQ’S NEIGHBORS WON’T SAVE IRAQ - JOSEPH BRAUDE (NEW REPUBLIC): Imploring Bush to reach out to Iraq’s neighbors makes for a great sound bite. But it’s really a formula for disaster.
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36. DIVIDED THEY STAND: THE ONLY REAL DEBATE OVER IRAQ IS AMONG CONSERVATIVES - DAVID FRUM (OPINION JOURNAL FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE, SEPTEMBER 28): Those Republicans who opposed the Iraq War certainly believed that Iraq was not a sufficient threat to American security to require military action. But that is only the beginning of what they believed. Many have been appalled by the whole course of U.S. policy since 9/11 and only grudgingly accepted the intervention in Afghanistan. As they saw it, the fundamental cause of the rise of anti-American extremism in the Muslim world has been the increasingly visible American presence in the region since 1990—and the best response to terrorism would have been a quick thrashing of the Taliban followed by a swift lowering of the American profile and a conspicuous return to work on the Palestinian problem.
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37. CRACKING DOWN ON TERROR’S CRONIES: THE U.S. MUST PUT PRESSURE ON ABETTING NATIONS SUCH AS PAKISTAN AND SYRIA - MAX BOOT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 28): Today, even as the U.S. is making considerable progress in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are failing to isolate the battlefield. The extremists attacking U.S. forces and our allies continue to receive sanctuary and support from neighboring states, notably Pakistan and Syria. It is, of course, difficult to close any border, but we could do more by going to the source of the trouble.
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38. GLIMMERS OF A MIDEAST DAWN - DONALD LAMBRO (WASHINGTON TIMES, SEPTEMBER 29): If democracy can take root in Afghanistan, without much of an economy or educational system, surely it can do so in Iraq, which has an economic, educational and civic infrastructure.
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39. IRAN’S TOUGH STANCE A HIT AT HOME: IRANIANS HELD PRO-NUCLEAR RALLY IN TEHRAN WEDNESDAY - SCOTT PETERSON (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 29)
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40. WHY IRAN ISN’T A GLOBAL THREAT - RAY TAKEYH (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 29): The notion that Iran’s foreign policy is entering a new radical state is yet another misreading of the Islamic Republic and its many paradoxes.
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41. EU CAN DO MORE TO BLOCK AN IRANIAN BOMB – MONITOR’S VIEW (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, SEPTEMBER 28): Why rely on the UN when the EU already can put sanctions on Iran’s elite, such as by denying them visas?
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42. STORMY OUTLOOK FOR KOREA ACCORD - JONATHAN POWER (BOSTON GLOBE, SEPTEMBER 29): Perhaps you need to be a long-range meteorologist to understand US-North Korean diplomacy on nuclear weapons. The scene changes as swiftly as the sky over the ocean on a windy autumn day. One thing we should all agree on: The weather is worse than a decade ago.
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43. TALKS WITHOUT END - JONATHAN SCHELL (NATION): An agreement between the United States and North Korea resolving longstanding differences on nuclear weapons and energy programs at first was cause for celebration. But in fact, no real breakthrough has occurred. There is only the appearance of an agreement.
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44. FREE SPEECH ISSUES STILL PROBLEMATIC FOR VIETNAM: U.S. URGING RELEASE OF 5 ‘PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE’ - ELLEN NAKASHIMA (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 29): A business manager in Hanoi, Pham Hong Son, has spent 42 months in a Vietnamese prison. His crime: downloading an essay titled “What is Democracy?” from a U.S. State Department Web site, translating it and sending it to friends and senior Communist Party officials.
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45. CHINESE FILMS SHINE IN HOLLYWOOD – XINHUA (PEOPLE’S DAILY, BEIJING, SEPTEMBER 28): The ongoing Hollywood Chinese Film Festival, celebrating 100 years of Chinese film, has ended its North American run in Los Angeles. The first of its kind to be held in LA, the heart of celluloid entertainment, the event was jointly sponsored by Colombia College Hollywood and Hollywood International (China) Group Co. Ltd and was supported by China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).
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46. ON CHINESE TELEVISION, WHAT’S COOL IS NO LONGER CORRECT - EDWARD CODY (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 29): For nearly a year, the government broadcasting authority has been engaged in a purification project, designed to halt what officials feel is the creep of vulgarity and non-Chinese influences into programs offered by the country’s 3,000 national, provincial, city and county stations. The campaign fits into a general tightening of government controls over broadcasting and other media, including additional Internet rules banning “unhealthy news stories that will mislead the public.”
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47. CONFUCIANISM BLENDS WITH WORLD CULTURE – XINHUA (PEOPLE’S DAILY, BEIJING, SEPTEMBER 29)
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48. AT 60, UNITED NATIONS FAILS TO FULFILL PROMISE - RON SILVER AND DAVID BOSSIE (BALTIMORE SUN, SEPTEMBER 28): As the United Nations celebrates its 60th anniversary as a symbol of peace and a beacon of hope, we must offer a frank and critical assessment of its failure to deliver on the promise to halt global human rights abuses, improve economic and social development and significantly enhance world security.
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49. WARNING! POLITICAL POSTERS USE ART FOR SELFISH PURPOSES - KENNETH BAKER, CHRONICLE ART CRITIC (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, SEPTEMBER 29): “Revolutionary Tides: The Art of the Political Poster, 1914-1989” at Stanford University’s Cantor Center for Visual Arts makes a troubling point: The persuasive devices of the graphic arts—and implicitly of any visual art—are essentially amoral. They have been deployed compellingly on behalf of every cause from U.S. and British conscription in World Wars I and II to electoral support for Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. “Revolutionary Tides” implicitly argues that the visual arts at their most exalted owe their power to the same conundrum as the lowest visual exercise in propaganda: our inability—and possibly, reluctance—to know the difference between conscious and unconscious response in our reception of images. The engineer of political propaganda, like the advertising designer, banks on our preference for impact over understanding. Analysis spells disillusionment, which few of us relish.
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50. MEANWHILE: SEARCH AND RESCUE: PUTTING BOOKS ONLINE - TIM O’REILLY (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 29): Google promises a The Authors Guild claims that Google’s plan to make the collections of five major libraries searchable online violates copyright law and thus harms authors’ interests. As both an author and publisher, I find the Guild’s position to be exactly backwards. Google Library promises to be a boon to authors, publishers and readers if Google sticks to its stated goal of creating a tool that helps people discover (and potentially pay for) copyrighted works.
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C) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“I THINK KAREN MISSED HER CALLING. SHE CAN PREACH.”

--Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, regarding Karen Hughes; cited in Sidney Blumenthal, “The Undersecretary’s Dangerous Trip” (Salon) (see above item 11)

“AS THEY SAY IN THE MILITARY, I WILL FIND MY PLACE IN THE RANKS.”

--Russian President Vladimir Putin, regarding his plans after his second term ends; cited in Peter Finn, “Putin Says He Won’t Seek 3rd Term: On Call-In Show, President Hints at Continuing Political Role in Russia” (Washington Post, September 28)
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“CAPITALISM THRIVES ON CHANGE—IT INSPIRES NEW TECHNOLOGIES, PRODUCTS AND PROFIT OPPORTUNITIES. DEMOCRACY RESISTS CHANGE—IT CREATES POWERFUL CONSTITUENCIES WITH A STAKE IN THE STATUS QUO.”

--Commentator Robert J. Samuelson, “Capitalism Vs. Democracy” (Washington Post, September 28)
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“SO AFTER BEAUVOIR SLEPT WITH HER 17-YEAR-OLD STUDENT, OLGA KOSAKIEWICZ, SARTRE TRIED TO SEDUCE OLGA, TOO. WHEN OLGA REJECTED HIM, HE SEDUCED OLGA’S SISTER, WANDA. WHEN BEAUVOIR SLEPT WITH ANOTHER STUDENT, BIANCA BIENENFELD, SARTRE DID. HE ALSO SEDUCED BEAUVOIR’S FORMER STUDENT, NATHALIE SOROKINE, WITH WHOM BEAUVOIR WAS SLEEPING. WHEN BEAUVOIR HAD AN AFFAIR WITH CLAUDE LANZMANN, SARTRE STARTED ONE WITH LANZMANN’S SISTER, EVELYNE. THEY WOULD ALL BE A ‘FAMILY,’ SARTRE SAID.”

--Dinitia Smith, “Beauvoir and Sartre, and a Book in Dispute” (New York Times, September 29)
LINK

REPORT

“THE POWER OF GREAT MUSIC IN THE REVIVAL OF U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY:  CAN WE LIFT SPIRITS OVERSEAS WHILE MAKING FRIENDS AND SHOULD WE?”

John Robilette, Pianist
Music of Paderewski and Chopin

Speakers:

Letitia Baldridge
Senator Norman Coleman
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter
Marta Casals Istomin
Robert Schadler
Philip Hosford
General Edwin Rowny

COOLIDGE AUDITORIUM, THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Wednesday, September 28, 2005, 7:30pm

It was a wonderful evening at the Coolidge Auditorium in the Library of Congress on September 28th where the discussion centered around the concept: The power of great music in the revival of U.S. public diplomacy. Subtitle:  Can we lift spirits overseas while making friends and should we?, an important question given the abysmal state of U.S. public diplomacy. The speakers all recalled moments from the not too distant past when the reverse was true and the U.S. Information Agency understood the importance and impact of American culture on people throughout the world. It was an evening of nostalgic reminiscences emceed by former USIA employee Bob Schadler and focused on the excellent Artistic Ambassadors program which was demolished when USIA was subsumed in 1999 into the behemoth State Department. Letitia Baldridge spoke about the WH concerts during the presidency of John Kennedy. Martha Casals Istomin talked about Casals and Istomin concerts as well as the travels of the young students from the Manhattan School of Music. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota pointed out the great benefits of acquainting the world with the best of America’s music and General Rowney, a Polish-American talked about the honor of transporting Paderewski’s body back to Poland in 1992. The icing on the cake of this lovely evening was pianist John Robilette, the creator of the Artistic Ambassadors program at USIA who gave a concert of Chopin and Paderewski music.

Unfortunately, U.S. international broadcasting at the present time believes that the idiotic “music” broadcast on Radio Sawa to the Mideast is the way to go totally neglecting the magic of American classical music, as well as that unique and phenomenal American invention—jazz. Instead, the BBG believes that the way to influence the hearts and minds of people in the world is by playing mostly rap/big beat/acid rock and every other perverted variant.

If anything, the wonderful music played at the Coolidge Auditorium which brought the audience to its feet plainly showed that they are dead wrong.

If you believe in bringing more classical music to other nations, you might like to take part in the International Music Initiative whose aim is to resume a cultural exchange program revolving around classical music. For more information or to support this initiative, contact the IMI. Address:  2615 O Street, NW, Washington DC 20007 or e-mail: cwestciv@yahoo.com or phone: 202-338-3239.

This report was kindly provided by a PDPR subscriber who prefers to remain anonymous.

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