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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 8-10, 2007
by John H. Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS AND BLOG REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 8-10

“They especially wanted to get to children while they were young.”

--Professor Brian Peterson from the History Department at Florida International University, about the use of propaganda in Nazi and Soviet totalitarian societies; cited in Daniella Bacigalupo, “Exhibit reveals propaganda in children’s books” (beaconnewspaper.com, September 10)
LINK

“The State Department is launching what it says will be the first comprehensive public diplomacy effort targeting children, hoping to shape the views of Muslim youths ages 8 to 14 with a series of summer camps and enrichment programs designed to counter negative images of the United States.”

--Farah Stockman, “Diplomacy effort reaches out to Muslim youths: Strives to create positive views of United States” (Boston Globe, August 18)
LINK
SEE ALSO
LINK [includes photo of Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes with children]

OPEN LETTER

John Brown, “Walk Away from the Lies: A Recommendation to General Petraeus from a Foreign Service Officer” (Common Dreams, September 9): “When you speak before the Congress, General, may I suggest that, instead of promising ‘victory’ in Iraq ... you should announce your resignation from your commission, as one more effort to help bring an illegitimate war to an end.”
LINK
SEE ALSO
LINK

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: BOOKS, ARTICLES, WEBSITES #36

Intended for teachers of public diplomacy and related courses, here is an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions for future updates are welcome.

Bruce Gregory
Director, Public Diplomacy Institute
George Washington University
(202) 994-0389
BGregory@gwu.edu

Please scroll down to Section D for this valuable bibliography kindly provided by Mr. Gregory.

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-11)

1. ARE WE SAFER TODAY? SIX YEARS AFTER 9/11 AND THREE YEARS AFTER THE 9/11 REPORT, IS THE U.S. READY TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT TERRORISM? - THOMAS H. KEAN AND LEE H. HAMILTON (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 9, 2007): Military power is essential to our security, but if the only tool is a hammer, pretty soon every problem looks like a nail. We must use all the tools of U.S. power—including foreign aid, educational assistance and vigorous public diplomacy that emphasizes scholarship, libraries and exchange programs—to shape a Middle East and a Muslim world that are less hostile to our interests and values. America’s long-term security relies on being viewed not as a threat but as a source of opportunity and hope.
LINK
SEE ALSO
LINK

2. THE MEANING OF BIN LADEN’S NEW VIDEO – (LAURENCEJARVIKONLINE: A BLOG ABOUT INTERESTING IDEAS, THINGS, PEOPLE, AND EVENTS, SEPTEMBER 10): That six years after 9/11 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) senior correspondent Judy Woodruff even thought Bin Laden might have made some sense, demonstrates how skillful Al Qaeda propaganda—and how inept Bush administration “public diplomacy”—has been. Bin Laden’s speech is an example of what David Horowitz’ book calls an unholy alliance between the radical left and Islamist extremists.
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3. WHY THERE WILL PROBABLY NEVER BE A GEORGE W. BUSH SCHOOL OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY – (KIM ANDREW ELLIOTT DISCUSSING INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, ENTRY DATED SEPTEMBER 8): Bush calls APEC “OPEC,” refers to Australian forces as “Austrian,” and almost fell off the dais. AP, 7 September 2007. Gets into testy exchange with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. AP, 7 September 2007. Transcript and video. USA Today, 7 September 2007. “We’re kicking ass.” The Age, 6 September 2007. More to come? “The lame-duck two-termer is scheduling an exhausting year of focus on international relations and foreign travel that will keep him out of the country.” ABC News, 7 September 2007. Entry contains other items pertaining to public diplomacy.
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4. HEALTH DIPLOMACY - TALES FROM THE USNHS COMFORT – (MARS AND AESCULAPIUS, SEPTEMBER 9): LEVIATAN (ROBERT LEITCH): “Health Diplomacy: I am part of an experiment. The brain-child of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes, it’s called ‘health diplomacy’, the use of national healthcare assets, military and civilian volunteers, to ‘win the hearts and minds’ in strategically important parts of the world, in our case, Central and Latin America.”
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5. GREAT EXCHANGES – NICOLE WEIS (COUNCIL BLUFFS DAILY NONPAREIL, IA , SEPEMBER 9): “These (foreign exchange) students are giving American students and families a much better perspective of what life is like in their country than they can hope to get on CNN,” said John Doty, Executive Director of the non-profit Pacific Intercultural Exchange based in San Diego. “It’s the purist form of public diplomacy that this country has,” he said. “With everything going on in the world right now, it’s the purest form of reaching out. These teenagers are tomorrow’s business and government leaders in their countries.”
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6. THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES’ FOREIGN POLICY STATEMENTS: RUDOLPH GIULIANI – CHERYL ROFER (WHIRLED VIEW, SEPTEMBER 10): Among Giuliani’s foreign olicy statements: Make changes in the State Department and the Foreign Service. Refine the diplomats’ mission down to their core purpose: presenting U.S. policy to the rest of the world. Our ambassadors must clearly understand and clearly advocate for U.S. policies and be judged on the results. Strengthen and broaden the Voice of America; expand Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Upgrade and extend public diplomacy and strategic communications, with a greater focus on new media such as the Internet.
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7. UNITED STATES TRACES EVENTS IN YEMEN: US AMBASSADOR - SANA’A (NEWSYEMEN, SEPTEMBER 9): The US newly appointed ambassador to Yemen Stephen Seche said that security cooperation, fighting terrorism and social, political and economic reforms are the most priorities for his country in Yemen. The Ambassador is a career foreign-service officer who has spent most of his nearly 30 years with the Department of State engaged in the practice of public diplomacy.
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8. HOW TO DOWNSIZE AXIS OF EVIL – TOM PLATE (KOREA TIMES, SEPTEMBER 10): The US government has consistently downplayed political and economic normalization, much less a peace treaty, prior to denuclearization. But a funny thing happened in Sydney, Australia, at the conclusion of the APEC summit meeting Friday. At a press conference, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun sought to push Bush into the deep end of this diplomatic pool — headfirst. To be sure, Roh’s push was a rather awkward moment in the annals of public diplomacy. But the South Korean president, who happily fashions himself a kind of self-educated Everyman, is known for his public gaffes and rocks-and-rolls uncaringly with each one of them.
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9. LIFE AND TIMES OF A PONDERING VAGABOND – PRANAV GANESH (REMINISCENCE FROM THE LEVANT: PART TWO- FIRST BRUSH WITH SYRIA, SEPTEMBER 9):  “In India, we often treat the ‘masala’ Bollywood movies with a condescend… and yet I have seen them playing a huge role in public diplomacy (I was recently introduced to this term by my friend Raja Karthikeya, studying Diplomacy in Washington… according to Wikipedia- in international relations, the term describes aspects of international diplomacy other than the interactions between national governments.)...”
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10. QUOTING HISTORY #2 – (MOUNTAINRUNNER BLOG, SEPTEMBER 6): HR 3342 was the resolution put forward by a Representative Karl Mundt, conservative republican from South Dakota who, before Pearl Harbor, was an ardent isolationist. While serving on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Mundt worked vigorously with Senator H. Alexander Smith (R-NJ) to gain passage of what was officially known as Public Law 402: The United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948. Quotation from the Law: “Today…peace is endangered by the weapons of false propaganda and misinformation and the inability on the part of the United States to deal adequately with those weapons. Truth can be a powerful weapon on behalf of peace. It is the firm belief of the Committee that HR 3342, with all the safeguards included in the bill, will constitute an important step in the right direction toward the adequate dissemination of the truth about America, our ideals, and our people.”
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SEE ALSO
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11. TAKE GONZALES, PLEASE! – (PEOPLE’S WEEKLY WORLD, SEPTEMBER 6): Texas newspapers listed a rogue’s gallery of former Bushites already nesting in Texas’ bosom. Where do Americans think the underhanded Karl Rove will lurk? What about propagandist Karen Hughes?
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B) RELATED ITEMS (European views of U.S., 12; Iraq, 13-44; Iran, 45; Turkey, 46; Israel, 47; Guantanamo, 48; war on terror, 49-56; U.S. in world, 57-58; Las Vegas international image marketing, 59; 9/11 as an Americanism, 60; US passports backlog, 61; collage portrait of Bush made of cut-up porn magazines displayed in London, 62)

12. NUMBERS MATTER: EUROPEANS TELL BUSH - TRANS-ATLANTIC BRUISES LINGER - JOSH WARD (SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL, SEPTEMBER 7): A new survey of European attitudes toward America released this week holds that: We share your fear of terrorists. We don’t like Bush. And we don’t necessarily plan on being nice once he’s gone. At the same time, another world poll adds: And, please, leave Iraq.
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SEE ALSO
LINK

13. POLL HIGHLIGHTS DISCONNECT BETWEEN U.S. COMMANDERS, IRAQIS - MEGAN GREENWELL (WASHINGTON POST STAFF SEPTEMBER 10): Seven out of 10 Iraqis believe the U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad and Anbar province has made security worse in those areas, and nearly as many say their own lives are going badly, according to a new poll.
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14. WIDE SKEPTICISM AHEAD OF ASSESSMENT: POLL RESPONDENTS DOUBT PETRAEUS WILL GIVE TRUE PICTURE OF SITUATION IN IRAQ - JON COHEN AND JENNIFER AGIESTA (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 9)
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15. TOMGRAM: LAUNCHING BRAND PETRAEUS – TOM ENGELHARDT (TOMDISPATCH, SEPTEMBER 9): Think of it this way: The most political general in recent memory has been asked to assess his own work (as has our ambassador in Iraq), and then present “recommendations” to the White House in a “report” that is actually being written in the White House. You couldn’t call it a political version of “the honor system”; but perhaps the dishonor system would do.
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16. PETRAEUS REPORT ALREADY SEEN AS BS – WISCO (GRIPER BLADE: GRUMBLINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND, SEPTEMBER 10):  Bush’s propaganda is dismissed these days before it’s even presented.
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17. LYING LIARS – POLISHIFTER (PISSED OFF ON POLITICS, SEPTEMBER 10): Cheney ‘94 knew invading Iraq would create a quagmire and warring factions. General Shinseki knew it would take over 400,000 troops to stabilize Iraq. It’s absolutely shameful and disgraceful that these bastards are allowed to make the media rounds and continue catapulting the propaganda for Bush keeping the lies alive and the American people duped.
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18. THE FACE OF PROPAGANDA - ROB PAYNE (HALCYON DAYS, SEPTEMBER 8):  War and propaganda go together like peanut butter and jelly, freedom fries and ketchup, and it would seem you cannot have one without the other. What is needed is a little propaganda especially when there is no draft.
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19. SEPTEMBER PROPAGANDA SPECTACULAR – DAVE (SEPTEMBER 10, THE DAILY RECKONING’S DESIDOORU SALOON): So here we are, a day before the sixth anniversary of 9/11, at the launch of what could be an unprecedented week of Washington-generated propaganda. Gen. Petraeus will lie to Congress so as to keep the farce going:  He’ll say the “surge” needs more time to demonstrate its effectiveness.
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20. AS THE IRAQIS STAND DOWN, WE’LL STAND UP - FRANK RICH (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): The stay-the-surge propaganda offensive crests with this week’s Congressional testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, with history repeating itself in almost every particular.
LINK
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

21. THE DC ESTABLISHMENT VERSUS AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION - GLENN GREENWALD (SALON, SEPTEMBER 9): The P.R. campaign to persuade the country that the Surge is Succeeding has been as intense and potent as any P.R. campaign since the one that justified the invasion itself.
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22. AMONG TOP OFFICIALS, ‘SURGE’ HAS SPARKED DISSENT, INFIGHTING - PETER BAKER, KAREN DEYOUNG, THOMAS E. RICKS, ANN SCOTT TYSON, JOBY WARRICK AND ROBIN WRIGHT AND RESEARCHER JULIE TATE (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 9): From the start of the Bush surge plan, the White House communications office had been blitzing an e-mail list of as many as 5,000 journalists, lawmakers, lobbyists, conservative bloggers, military groups and others with talking points or rebuttals of criticism. Between Jan. 10 and last week, the office put out 94 such documents in various categories—“Myths/Facts” or “Setting the Record Straight” to take issue with negative news articles, and “In Case You Missed It” to distribute positive articles or speeches.
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23. ARE PETRAEUS AND WESTMORELAND BIRDS OF A FEATHER? - RAY MCGOVERN (ANTIWAR.COM, SEPTEMBER 8): What Gen. David Petraeus has set in motion, or at least condoned, is the massaging of data to justify what his boss, President Bush, wants to do in Iraq; namely, to keep enough troops “in the fight” in order to stave off definitive defeat before he and Vice President Dick Cheney leave office in January 2009. That’s what the “surge” is all about, and Petraeus is smart enough to know that only too well.
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24. CROSS-EXAMINE PETRAEUS: THE GENERAL AND AMBASSADOR CROCKER MUST DO MORE THAN ARGUE THAT THE ‘SURGE’ IS WORKING; THEY MUST GIVE BUSH AN EXIT STRATEGY – EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 8)
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25. ACCEPTING IRAQI REALITY: BOTH PRESIDENT BUSH AND CONGRESS NEED TO ADJUST TO THE MIXED RESULTS OF THE ‘SURGE’ – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 9): If there is to be no political accord in the near future—and such an accord seems as distant today as it did in January—what will be the goals of the U.S. mission in Iraq? The president needs to spell out concrete and realistic aims for American forces—and limit troop levels to those necessary to accomplish them.
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26. PETRAEUS CANNOT SALVAGE A DEBACLE – EDITORIAL (FINANCIAL TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): Petraeus report on the “surge” of US troops is likely to be non-committal, and overshadowed by 9/11 anniversary stagecraft designed to eclipse any suggestion of failure in a surge of patriotism as Americans recall the atrocity visited upon them by the al-Qaeda attacks six years ago. Yet it is high time for a hard-nosed summary of the Iraq debacle.
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27. LETTING SOLDIERS DO THE THINKING - GEORGE F. WILL (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 9): The surge is a tactical success disconnected from the strategic objective it is supposed to serve.
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28. HOW TO VIEW THE REPORT ON THE SURGE - BRIAN KATULIS (WASHINGTONPOST.COM, SEPTEMBER 10): To end the conflict in Iraq, the U.S. must get Iraq’s national leaders to agree to share power and take responsibility for their own affairs—something not yet achieved by staying with the same strategy.
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29. THE ‘SURGE’ IS WORKING: CASUALTIES ARE DOWN AND SECURITY IS IMPROVING IN IRAQ; WASHINGTON MUST GIVE THE STRATEGY MORE TIME - MAX BOOT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 8)
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30. BACK FROM IRAQ, STILL FACING FIRE – (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 10): Today and tomorrow, the United States ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and the top American general there, David Petraeus, will appear before Congress to offer a progress report on the war. The Op-Ed page asked six experts on the Iraq conflict to come up with three questions they would pose to the two men.
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31. WILL BUSH’S TRAGEDY TRAP HIS SUCCESSOR IN IRAQ? - GRAHAM ALLISON (HUFFINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 7): No one should have any doubt about President Bush’s overriding operational objective. It is to hand over this war to his successor.
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32. WHAT’S MISSING IN BAGHDAD - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): Above all, Iraq teaches us that democracy is possible only when people want both pillars of it — liberty and self-government — and build both themselves. We’re miles away from that in Baghdad.
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33. US BRIBE INSURGENTS TO FIGHT AL-QAEDA -MARIE COLVIN AND SARAH BAXTER (TIMES, LONDON, SEPTEMBER 9): American forces are paying Sunni insurgents hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to switch sides and help them to defeat Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The tactic has boosted the efforts of American forces to restore some order to war-torn provinces around Baghdad in the run-up to a report by General David Petraeus to Congress.
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34. ‘YOU HAVE LIBERATED A PEOPLE’ - FOUAD AJAMI (WALL STREET JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 10): Peace has not come to Iraq, the feuds have not fully burned out, but the center holds.
LINK
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

35. SETTING THE TONE – OLIVER NORTH (WASHINGTON TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): In Iraq sectarian rivalries can be overcome and security restored in places previously thought to be hopeless.
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36. ACCEPTING IRAQI REALITY: BOTH PRESIDENT BUSH AND CONGRESS NEED TO ADJUST TO THE MIXED RESULTS OF THE ‘SURGE’ – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 9): If there is to be no political accord in the near future—and such an accord seems as distant today as it did in January—what will be the goals of the U.S. mission in Iraq? The president needs to spell out concrete and realistic aims for American forces—and limit troop levels to those necessary to accomplish them.
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37. REPORTERS: THE IRAQ REPORTS, SHORT - BARRON YOUNGSMITH, MARIN COGAN & MELANIE MASON (TNR ONLINE, SEPTEMBER 7): In recent weeks, a flood of highly-touted evaluations, studies, and analyses of the state of Iraq have generated numerous headlines. But which ones are the most trustworthy, and which ones are going to matter the most (two categories that are often, sadly, independent)? The below link contains handy summary of how to tell them apart, and what you need to know about their conclusions.
LINK

38. THE OTHER VICTIMS IN IRAQ - MOKHTAR LAMANI AND HE HANY BESADA (BOSTON GLOBE, SEPTEMBER 8): With precious time left, neighboring governments and occupying forces ought to muster enough courage, even to the detriment of their short-term foreign policy objectives, to treat Iraq’s minorities with special care and consideration.
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39. PLANNING FOR DEFEAT: HOW SHOULD WE WITHDRAW FROM IRAQ? - GEORGE PACKER (NEW YORKER, SEPTEMBER 17): America’s diplomatic leverage will be weakened by a withdrawal, and Iraq’s predatory neighbors will take advantage of the power vacuum to pursue their own interests. Whenever this country decides that the bloody experience in Iraq requires the departure of American troops, complete disengagement will be neither desirable nor possible. We might want to be rid of Iraq, but Iraq won’t let it happen.
LINK

40. HIDING BEHIND THE GENERAL – EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): Mr. Bush, deeply unpopular with the American people, is counting on General Petraeus to restore credibility to his discredited Iraq policy. The United States needs a prudent exit strategy that will withdraw American forces and try to stop Iraq’s chaos from spreading.
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41. HOW TO WITHDRAW QUICKLY AND SAFELY - LAWRENCE J. KORB AND MAX A. BERGMANN (BOSTON GLOBE, SEPTEMBER 9): A withdrawal of US forces will be complex. But it can be accomplished safely within one year’s time through careful planning and by focusing on getting out sensitive and critical equipment.
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42. IRAQ REPORT INCLUDES TROOPS TIMETABLE: INSTITUTE SUPPORTS COMPLETE EXIT IN FIVE YEARS, PRESSES FACTIONS TO NEGOTIATE - ROBIN WRIGHT (WASHINGTON POST STAFF SEPTEMBER 9): In a report to be released today, a panel of experts assembled by the U.S. Institute of Peace calls for a 50 percent reduction in U.S. forces in Iraq within three years and a total withdrawal and handover of security to the Iraqi military in five years.
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43. WHY WE SHOULD EXIT IRAQ NOW - BILL RICHARDSON (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 8): The presence of American forces in Iraq weakens us in the war against al-Qaeda. It endows the anti-American propaganda of those who portray us as occupiers plundering Iraq’s oil and repressing Muslims. The day we leave, this myth collapses, and the Iraqis will drive foreign jihadists out of their country.
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44. WHY WE MUST LEAVE IRAQ – EDITORIAL (NATION, SEPTEMBER 6): Not only is withdrawing from Iraq in our national interest; it is also the moral, responsible thing to do. There is one way to atone for our illegal invasion and reckon with the human catastrophe our occupation has caused: End the occupation and abandon the pretense that only American power can bring order and democracy to the region.
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45. WILL THE US REALLY BOMB IRAN? - ALEXANDER COCKBURN (COUNTERPUNCH, SEPTEMBER 8/9): Weigh it all up, and you’d be foolish to bet that an attack on Iran won’t happen.
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46. US VIEWED AS TURKEY’S ‘GREATEST THREAT’ - JONATHAN BELL (ANTIWAR.COM, SEPTEMBER 7): Nearly two-thirds of the Turkish public named the United States as their country’s greatest future threat, a recent Pew Global Attitudes Project survey has revealed—the highest percentage of any Middle Eastern or Islamic country polled.
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47. THE ‘ISRAEL LOBBY’ MYTH - GEORGE P. SHULTZ (U.S. WORLD & NEWS REPORT, SEPTEMBER 9): Jewish groups are influential. They also largely agree that the United States should support Israel. But the notion that they have anything like a uniform agenda and that U.S. policy in Israel and the Middle East is the result of this influence is simply wrong.
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48. FORMER DETAINEES ABUSED BACK HOME: ‘I’D RATHER RETURN TO GUANTANAMO’ – (SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL, SEPTEMBER 6): When two Tunisian men were sent home after five years in Guantanamo, they thought they would be free. Instead, they faced imprisonment, abuse, threats and solitary confinement. Now they say things were better back in the US prison camp.
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49. THE NEW AL-QAEDA CENTRAL: FAR FROM DECLINING, THE NETWORK HAS REBUILT, WITH FRESH FACES AND A VIGOROUS MEDIA ARM - CRAIG WHITLOCK (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 9)
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50. EYE OF THE TERROR STORM - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON (COMMON DREAMS, SEPTEMBER 8): Six years of quiet at home have fooled some into thinking terrorists pose little danger here—or that we may be doing far too much rather than too little to stop such killers.
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51. HIS TOUGHNESS PROBLEM—AND OURS [REVIEW OF WORLD WAR IV: THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAMOFASCISM BY NORMAN PODHORETZ] - IAN BURUMA (NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, SEPTEMBER 27): World War IV expresses a weird longing for the state of war, for the clarity it brings, and for the chance to divide one’s fellow citizens, or indeed the whole world, neatly into friends and foes, comrades and traitors, warriors and appeasers, those who are with us and those who are against. When it comes to the specifics of the war, exactly whom we are supposed to be fighting, why it is a fourth world war, and how it relates to earlier wars,Podhoretz becomes fuzzy indeed.
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52. ENEMIES LIST [REVIEW OF WORLD WAR IV THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST ISLAMOFASCISM BY NORMAN PODHORETZ; THE IRANIAN TIME BOMB THE MULLAH ZEALOTS’ QUEST FOR DESTRUCTION BY MICHAEL A. LEDEEN] - PETER BEINART (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): Unlike Podhoretz, for whom “World War IV” is largely an excuse to insult his old foes on the left and titillate himself with fantasies of civic violence, Michael Ledeen has written an actual book on the Middle East. In particular, he is passionate about Iran. If Podhoretz is vague about whom exactly America is fighting, Ledeen is precise: everything traces back to Tehran.
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53. AN ANTITERRORISM LESSON – EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, SEPTEMBER 8): The arrest Tuesday of three suspects in a plot to carry out bombings in Germany offers crucial lessons about preventing terrorism. Some of those lessons have to do with the tactics of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. But the most beneficial insight Americans could gain from the German example is that war is the wrong metaphor for a nation’s defense against terrorism.
LINK

54. WAR ON TERROR IS WORKING - JEFF JACOBY (BOSTON GLOBE, SEPTEMBER 9): What is in the enemy’s mind we cannot know for sure. What we do know—what 9/11 made brutally clear—is that we are at war. The enemy is in this till the finish. We had better be, too.
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55. WHERE’S THE WAR? THE PLACIDITY OF THE DOMESTIC FRONT - MARK STEYN (NATIONAL REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 9): On this sixth anniversary, as 9/11 retreats into history, many Americans see no war at all.
LINK

56. A U.S. GENERAL’S DISQUIET - ROGER COHEN (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 10): “Our current problems raise the legitimate question of whether the U.S., or any democracy, can successfully prosecute an extended war without a true national commitment,” writes Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli. Unless you believe the United States can simply withdraw from the world, a popular but naïve view, that essential strategic question needs addressing beyond the Iraq tactics before Congress this week. An answer is the minimum the now overstretched shopping nation owes the long overstretched fighting nation it seldom notices.
LINK

57. FROM GONZO TO POTTYGATE: THE IRRATIONAL DRAMA OF A DECLINING EMPIRE - SAUL LANDAU (COUNTERPUNCH, SEPTEMBER 8/9): As Bush’s empire sink lower in world opinion polls, the drama moves from surrealism to cruel teenage comedy.
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58. FADING SUPERPOWER? LIKE ALL EMPIRES BEFORE IT, THE U.S. WILL SLIP FROM THE TOP OF THE HEAP. LET’S START GETTING READY - DAVID RIEFF (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): For the moment, the U.S. is the sole superpower. But instead of deluding ourselves that we will go on that way into the indeterminate future, an intelligently self-interested foreign policy would have us do everything in our power to shape, according to our most urgent priorities, the international rules that will govern relations between states after the American moment has passed—as it inevitably will.
LINK

59. LAS VEGAS BY THE NUMBERS - JOAN VOIGHT (ADWEEK, SEPTEMBER 3): Currently, 13 percent of Las Vegas visitors come from outside the U.S., down from 18 percent before the Sept. 11 attack. With the shift to international image marketing, the city hopes to boost international visits to 15 percent of the total by 2010. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority tourism group’s budget for international marketing is swelling from $12 million in 2006 to $17 million in 2008.
LINK

60. ON LANGUAGE: REDACT THIS - WILLIAM SAFIRE (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 9): 9/11 is an Americanism not picked up by the rest of the English-speaking world because we put the number of the month ahead of the number of the day; from Britain to Australia, 9/11 signifies not the 11th day of September, but the 9th day of November. Over there, they refer to “the attacks of 11 September 2001” or “the World Trade Center attack” (which leaves out the crash into the Pentagon and Flight 93).
LINK

61. OFFICIALS DECLARE PASSPORT BACKLOG OVER: CRITICS SAY DELAYS IN PROCESSING APPLICATIONS MAY RETURN WHEN THE STATE DEPARTMENT’S TASK FORCES ARE DISBANDED - MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 8)
LINK

62. PRESIDENT IN THE FLESH: ‘PORN BUSH’ ANGERS REPUBLICANS – (SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL AUGUST 30): Artist Jonathen Yeo has created a collage portrait of US President George W. Bush by cutting up porn magazines. The Bush portrait, currently on display in London, has attracted the wrath of Republicans.
LINK

C) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“colony collapse disorder (CCD)”

--An explanation for the mystery of disappearing honeybees, according to the journal Science; cited in Editorial, “The secret death of bees” (Washington Times, September 9)
LINK

“a deployment in search of a mission.”

--A US military officer, regarding the US presence in Iraq; cited in George F. Will, “Letting Soldiers Do the Thinking” (Washington Post, September 9)
LINK

“Haven’t you been listening to my past speeches?”

--President George W. Bush, when asked whether there had been any new message in his speech on September 7 in Australia; cited in Dan Froomkin, “Bush Wins Again” (washingtonpost.com, September 7)
LINK

“If you could be a little bit clearer in your message ...”

--South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, addressing President George W. Bush; cited in above article

“The client’s biggest problem in digital is that there are a world of ideas out there in terms of great things that can happen in the digital space, but the ability to execute ideas is severely lacking.”

--Carat CEO Sarah Fay; cited in Megan McIlroy, “An Ability to Execute Ideas Is Severely Lacking” (Advertising Age, September 6)
LINK

“She didn’t disappoint: she was awful.”

--Kelefa Sanneh, regarding Britney Spears; cited in “Awards Show Tries on a Shorter Format” (New York Times, September 10)
LINK

D) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY RESOURCES

Intended for teachers of public diplomacy and related courses, here is an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions for future updates are welcome.

Bruce Gregory
Director, Public Diplomacy Institute
George Washington University
(202) 994-0389
BGregory@gwu.edu

September 9, 2007

Public Diplomacy: Books, Articles, Websites #36

W. Lance Bennett. News: The Politics of Illusion, 7th edition, Pearson Education, Inc. (Longman Classics in Political Science). In the just published 7th edition of his textbook, Professor Bennett (University of Washington) updates his analysis of the meaning of news and relationships between the media, politics, and public opinion. Contains new examples and case studies; greater attention to digital information, the blogosphere, and citizen journalism; and emphasis on government-press relations in the context of the Iraq war. 

Tony Blair. “Lecture On Public Life,” Canary Wharf, London, June 12, 2007. In one of Blair’s last speeches before leaving office—his media as “a feral beast” speech—the former British Prime Minister looks at the changing nature of communication and its impact on politics and the media. Blair argues the always fraught relations between the media and political leaders have become qualitatively and quantitatively more difficult, because the media are “becoming more fragmented, more diverse and transformed by technology.” Coping with the media, “its sheer scale, weight, and hyperactivity,” has become a vast and overwhelming part of leadership. 
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Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom. The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, (Penguin Group, 2007). Two high tech entrepreneurs discuss ways in which networks operate without command leadership and rigid structures. Hierarchical, top down organizations are spiders. Cut off the head and they die. Starfish organizations are decentralized networks. They regenerate missing parts and are more resilient when challenged. Successful networks leverage shared interests, ideas, and trust in circular communication patterns often enabled by the Internet. Well written. Anecdotal. Draws on a wide variety of government, private sector, and civil society examples.

Nathan J. Brown and Amr Hamzawy, “Arab Spring Fever,” The National Interest, September/October, 2007, 33-40. Brown (George Washington University) and Hamzawy (Carnegie Endowment) contend that hope remains for democracy in the Middle East (but not “on any U.S. administration’s timetable") despite the political realities that have silenced optimists or caused them to regret electoral outcomes. The authors divide Arab regimes into three categories: “weak or failing states, strict authoritarian states, and semi-authoritarian states.” Observers tend to focus on the first two. Reform is most likely, however, in semi-authoritarian states, such as Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and Bahrain, which “allow some space for popular participation.” Includes a critique of U.S. democratization efforts and recommendations for new approaches. The full text is online at Carnegie’s website. Online also for National Interest subscribers.
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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Interview with LTC John Nagl on the U.S. Army’s Counterinsurgency Field Manual, August 23, 2007, Video Link on the Small Wars Journal blog. In this brief video clip, LTC Nagl, author of Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam and a co-author of the Field Manuel, explains its origins and purposes and more than holds his own with Stewart. Interesting at several levels: the Army’s use of the “The Daily Show,” Stewart’s interview style, implications for its impact on public perceptions of General Patraeus, Nagl’s “message authority,” and his sparing but politically effective use of humor. 
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Thomas L. Friedman. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, (Picador, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007, 2006, 2005). New York Times columnist Friedman has updated and expanded his blockbuster on globalization in an affordable new 3.0 edition ($9.90 in paper from Amazon) making it easier to assign to students as required reading. Friedman weaves new flattening forces and comments from readers of earlier editions into his thesis. Contains two new chapters:  one on “how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world,” the other on “how we manage our reputations in a world where we are all becoming publishers and therefore all becoming public figures.”

Frontline Diplomacy:  The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies, Library of Congress Website. The Library of Congress and the Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training have collaborated to post the Association’s massive oral history collection on the Library’s website. The site (easily navigable) contains 1,301 transcripts of interviews with U.S. diplomats and others engaged in foreign affairs. Most interviews cover events in the period after World War II. Many of the interviews capture the views and experiences of Foreign Service Officers and others engaged in public diplomacy.
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For a list of interviews not yet posted, see the Association’s website.
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Douglas M. Gibler, “Bordering on Peace: Democracy, Territorial Issues, and Conflict,” International Studies Quarterly, September 2007, 51: 509-532. Gibler (University of Alabama) takes issue with democratic peace theorists who begin with regime types and then calculate their effects on conflict potential. He argues that peace and democratic regimes are more likely to be symptoms than causes “of the removal of territorial issues between neighbors.” Gibler tests his assumptions using a conflict model that controls for the effects of border relationships. His conclusion: “joint democracy does not exercise a pacifying effect on dispute initiation.” A prepublication version of the paper is available online.
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Todd C. Helmus, Christopher Paul, and Russell W. Glenn. Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operations, RAND, National Defense Research Institute, 2007. Three RAND researchers adapt and apply commercial marketing methods to efforts by the U.S. and its allies to shaping indigenous attitudes and behavior during armed conflict. Drawing on interviews, cases, best practices, and past mistakes in the marketing and advertising industries, the authors apply their concepts to the character of stability operations, the behavior of armed forces, and methods of persuasive communication. They conclude that actions help set conditions for credibility, which enable persuasive communication.

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, Revised Edition, (Three Rivers Press, Paperback, 2001, 2007). Veteran journalists Kovach (Chairman, Committee of Concerned Journalists) and Rosenstiel (Director, Project for Excellence in Journalism) have substantially revised their important study of journalism’s values and role in society. Contains updated examples, a deeper inquiry into the disaggregation of news consumption and production, expanded treatment of verification and its importance in treating problems of bias, and a new 10th principle of journalism:  “Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news.”

Marc Lynch, “Brothers in Arms,” Foreign Policy, September/October, 2007, 70-74. Professor Lynch (George Washington University) offers advice on “how to talk to America” in the form of a “memorandum” to Mohammed Mahdi Akef, Supreme Guide, Muslim Brotherhood. Lynch urges the leader of Egypt’s leading opposition group to treat “these difficult times as an opportunity” and to match actions and words at a critical juncture for the Brotherhood. Will they act as a “firewall” within a moderate Islamist program or a “transmission belt” on the path to radicalization? His “memorandum” offers several practical suggestions with important implications for Americans as well. Available online to FP subscribers only. Lynch is the author of Voices of the New Arab Public:  Iraq, Al Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today (2006) and Abu Aardvark, a blog on Middle Eastern media and politics. LINK

Juliana Geran Pilon. Why America is Such a Hard Sell: Beyond Pride and Prejudice, (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007). In this book, self-described as “somewhat eclectic,” Romanian born Pilon (currently with the Institute of World Politics, formerly with The Heritage Foundation) examines America’s idealism, tarnished reputation, and challenges in its “strategic outreach.” Chapters include observations on English and American literature, America’s immigrant culture, its historical legacy of pride and exceptionalism, public diplomacy, and soft power. Her recommendations for “global strategic outreach” emphasize the importance of understanding others, “a dose of healthy self-criticism,” and if “hard pressed to make so-called structural recommendations . . . an independent entity called the American Global Outreach and Research Agency.”

John C. Robb. Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization, (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007). Robb, a former Air Force officer, consultant, and author of Global Guerillas blog, looks at the future of warfare. Using numerous examples, he argues that a variety of asymmetric adversaries are using ideas, networks, commercially available technologies, and adaptive strategies to leverage the vulnerabilities of large, open state-based societies to advantage. Countering this new breed of adversary, Robb argues, requires new mindsets, “de-escalation of rhetoric,” and more flexible and resilient social systems.  Includes a foreword by James Fallows. Robb’s blog is at the link below
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Michael J. Robinson, Two Decades of American News Preferences, Part 1: Analyzing What News the Public Follows and Doesn’t Follow, Pew Research Center for the People & The Press, August, 15, 2007. Professor Robinson (formerly GWU and Georgetown, now a consultant to the Pew Research Center) finds that American news interests and preferences have remained relatively constant despite changes in the size and scope of American news media. Using 21 years of Pew data (1986-2007), Robinson shows that news tastes, measured in 19 categories, have “barely shifted.” There is scant evidence that “the American audience has moved toward a diet of softer news.” Disaster news and money news remain most interesting. Tabloid news and foreign news continue to be least interesting. 
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David Ronfeldt and John Arquilla. “The Promise of Noopolitik (Postscript),” FirstMonday, June 2007, 1999. Ronfeldt (RAND) and Arquilla (Naval Postgraduate School) have updated their widely read 1999 essay calling for a “revolution in diplomatic affairs.” Diplomats, they argued then, need to rethink their approach to statecraft in a world where classic, state-based diplomacy is giving way to the rise of networks, “soft (principally ideational) power,” and the growth of three information-based realms:  cyberspace, infosphere, and noosphere. The authors have added a postscript for inclusion in a forthcoming (2008) handbook on public diplomacy edited by Nancy Snow (Cal State, Fullerton) and Philip Taylor (Leeds). In their update, Ronfeldt and Arquilla find that Joseph Nye’s (Harvard) soft power concept “needs further clarification and refinement” and that nonstate actors are using the Internet and other new media more effectively than the U.S. government and other state actors. 
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Josh Rushing. Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). Rushing, a former Marine and now a correspondent for Al Jazeera International in Washington, DC, writes about Arab and American perceptions, his experiences in Iraq, his participation as a military public affairs officer in Control Room, the documentary film on Al Jazeera, the Pentagon’s response, and the value to Americans of seeking to convey positive aspects of their culture and policies on Al Jazeera and other Arab media. 

Janet Steele, “Malaysia’s Untethered Net,” Foreign Policy, July/August, 2007, 86-88. Professor Steele (George Washington University, Fulbright scholar, and author of Wars Within: The Story of Tempo, 2005) looks at how two journalists with Malaysiakini, a Kuala Lumpur-based news website, broke an important anti-corruption story leading to public accountability and mainstream news coverage in Malaysia’s restrictive news environment. Steele’s case study looks at cyberjournalism in Southeast Asia and “an unlikely loophole for online news organizations and bloggers” in Malaysia driven by former Prime Minister Mahatir’s no censorship policy for the Internet—a policy grounded in his desire to attract foreign investment in high-tech industries. Abstract only available to non-FP subscribers.
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U.S. Army/Marine Corps. Counterinsurgency Field Manual, (The University of Chicago Press, 2007). Forewords by General David Petraeus, LTG James F. Amos, and LTC John A. Nagl. Introduction to the Chicago Press edition by Sarah Sewall, Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. This widely discussed edition of the U.S. military’s guide to counterinsurgency warfare “emphasizes constant adaptation and learning, the importance of decentralized decision-making, the need to understand local politics and customs, and the key role of intelligence in winning the support of the population.” Contains sections on the media, social network analysis, and other analytical tools. Sewall’s introduction (blurbed elsewhere by the Carr Center’s Samantha Power) provides a critical, historical, and scholarly perspective.
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Gem From The Past

Daniel J. Boorstin. The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, (Vintage Books Edition, 1992, first published in 1961). Historian, sociologist, public intellectual, and former Librarian of Congress, Boorstin’s landmark study of “synthetic novelty” in American culture continues to reward. Pseudo-events. Spin. News making. Photo-op. Events manufactured to be reported. Celebrities known for “well knownness.” Extravagant expectations. Boorstin said it early and said it well.

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