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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 OCTOBER 24-26, 2007
by John H. Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS AND BLOG REVIEW, OCTOBER 24-OCTOBER 26

“I was very proud recently when Ambassador Djerejian said my pubic [sic] diplomacy team has now implemented about 80 percent of that report’s recommendations!”

--Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen P. Hughes, referring to the report “Changing Minds, Winning Peace,” cited in “Web Chat With Karen P. Hughes On Public Diplomacy“ (Press Release: US State Department, October 24)
LINK [5:03 pm, October 26]
SEE ALSO
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VIDEOS

a) Disney Video Launch “Welcome - Portraits of America - Posted By: Karen Hughes on Oct 25 (Dipnote, U.S. Department of State, October 25; see also below item 16)
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b) Condi Rice with Blood on her Hands (see also below item 54)
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c) Condoleezza Rice and Charles Manson dancing the Charleston together - Princess Sparkle Pony (Wonkette, October 25)
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A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, 1-22

1. RICE TESTIFIES BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ON MIDEAST POLICY - CQ TRANSCRIPTS WIRE (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 24): SECRETARY OF STATE RICE: “[W]e have gone ... to great lengths to reorganize, under Karen Hughes, Public Diplomacy, to make it possible for our ambassadors around the world to respond. And we’re working very hard to try to make sure that our messages get out. Now, in Iraq, frankly, we’ve not—we’re doing better, but it’s been insufficient. And one of the things that Ambassador Crocker asked for was a really first-rate Arabic speaker as his public affairs officer, who can go on television and, in good Arabic, defend our policies. Because one of the problems that we have—it’s really not so much Iraq TV; it’s that everybody in the Middle East watches Al Arabiya or Al Jazeera. And if you’re not a part of that mix, you’re not a part of the dialogue. And so he has requested that. I think we’ve identified the right person for him.”
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2. WEB CHAT WITH KAREN P. HUGHES ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY – (PRESS RELEASE: US STATE DEPARTMENT, OCTOBER 24): Hughes: “’Public diplomacy’ is an umbrella term for the many ways that our government reaches out to engage and inform people around the world about our country, our values and our policies. I like to say that the initials - PD - remind us that public diplomacy is people-driven. In contrast to traditional diplomacy, which is government-to-government contact, public diplomacy directly engages citizens of other countries in a spirit of respect and partnership. ... 87 percent of those who participate in public diplomacy programs have a deeper understanding of the U.S. and 73 percent have favorable attitudes. And 76 percent of our program participants have used the knowledge and information they gained to share knowledge about the U.S. within their communities. ... The job of public diplomacy is to reach out to people across the world, to listen to their views and concerns, and to engage in dialogue - including dialogue about differences. ... Last year, for the first time since 1979, we re-started people-to-people exchanges with Iran. ... As I have traveled to more than 40 countries now, I have found that most people across the world want essentially the same things. We want to live in safe communities, we want education, health care and economic opportunity - we want freedom to speak our minds and worship as we wish, we want our lives to make a difference. ... I agree that defeating terrorism will require more than military and intelligence efforts, as important as those are - it requires winning over local populations and convincing them that terrorists are “criminals who want to sabotage the country,” as one woman in Algeria recently said. ... Our office has put together a list of ‘10 Things Americans Can Do To Support Public Diplomacy.’”
LINK [as of 4:36 pm, October 26]

3. THE DIPNOTE BLOG: THE STATE DEPARTMENT’S TENTATIVE STEP INTO GLOBAL ONLINE DIALOGUE - CRAIG HAYDEN (PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BLOG, USC CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, OCTOBER 24): Many foreign audiences are already primed to view communication from the U.S. as hypocritical or propagandistic. Yet in dipnote blog, there is an opportunity to demonstrate the value of the free exchange of opinion.
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4. STATE’S INSULAR WORLD – (MOUNTAINRUNNER, OCTOBER 25): “A short while back I wrote about the cost the U.S. incurred by State’s unchecked desire to keep its principals off the ‘X’ and a while back I arranged discussions on the role of private military contractors play in public diplomacy. ... And while we’re talking about public diplomacy, where is Karen Hughes’ office in this? Are her bloggers still slinging ‘official government positions’ in the comments sections of blogs? Hard to say, but not much to say to cover up a bad policy.”
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5. HELP A POOR MERC – LURCH (MAIN AND CENTRAL, OCTOBER 25): “Via Mountian Runner we learn that Blackwater is trying desperately to revamp its image in the public’s eye and ... is in search of a new public diplomacy (advertising) program.”
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6. HELLO OUT THERE! NON-MILITARY OPTIONS STILL EXIST – PATRICIA KUSHLIS (WHIRLED VIEW, OCTOBER 24): “Of the 6,500 Foreign Service Officers, approximately 700 are public diplomacy specialists. ... Let’s face it, Public diplomacy under the State Department is just not as effective as it once was and at this point, the fault lies squarely with the Bush administration. The reason, I think, is its almost Pavlovian reliance on the military. The administration still fails to understand that a decently financed, staffed well coordinated civilian public diplomacy effort is far more effective that sending in the troops or the military’s public affairs specialists.”
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7. THE FOUNDATION FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING: ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (AUDIO) – (COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, OCTOBER 23): Speakers: David M. Abshire, President, Center for the Study of the Presidency; Joshua Fouts, Director, Center on Public Diplomacy, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California; Stuart W. Holliday, President, Meridian International Center, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs.
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8. UNIVERSITY DIPLOMACY — US: 0, IRAN : 1 - ISKRA KIROVA (PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BLOG, USC CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, OCTOBER 21): Ultimately, events around Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York served to increase rather than alleviate tension between the U.S. and Iran and multiple public diplomacy opportunities were wasted. The attempt to deny Ahmadinejad a public diplomacy coup only contributed to his popularity at home and in the broader Middle East
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9. IRAN SANCTIONS AND THE “STRANGLING OF PERSIA” – IRAN AFFAIRS: IRANIAN FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (OCTOBER 26): “While the State Department is on a PR roll about its ‘tough’ and ‘unprecedented’ sanctions—which are in fact a sign of US weakness for reasons explained below—there is not a single mention of how these sanctions will appear in the minds of Iranians. That is a significant problem, because—as usual—they’re under[e]stimating the fact that the Iranians love their country too, and deeply resent this sort of thing. And no, the Iranians are not going to topple their regime because of US sanctions—you’d think that 50 years of sanctions on Cuba would have proven that thesis wrong by now. Oh sure, the people pushing these sanctions also pay lip service to ‘respecting the people of Iran’ and engaging in ‘public diplomacy’ that will show how the US is not opposed to them but only the government of Iran—but let[’]s face it, the US’s ‘public diplomacy’ efforts in the Mideast have been an absolute, total, miserable failure all along because they can’t get over the fundamental problem of Israel.”
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10. MANSOUR O. EL-KIKHIA: U.S. NUKE BLUSTER FUELS IRAN’S PLANS – (NUCLEAR IRAN: ARE THEY ENRICHING URANIUM FOR PEAC[E]FUL, ENERGY PURPOSES OR IS IT FOR WEAPONS-GRADE PLUTONIUM?, OCTOBER 25): Vice President Dick “Cheney’s speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy this week was a wonderful piece of public diplomacy. It seems ... ”
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11. LIFTING THE VEIL FROM A DEADLY DISEASE: LAURA BUSH SPEAKS WITH SAUDI WOMEN ABOUT BREAST CANCER - FAIZA SALEH AMBAH (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 25): Bush is visiting the Persian Gulf region as part of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, launched in 2006 with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and this week in Saudi Arabia. She described the initiative at its launch last year as “the very best kind of public diplomacy.” The program is organized by the State Department and includes the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas.
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SEE ALSO
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12. MUSLIM “MEAN GIRLS” – M. LEBLANC (BITCH PH.D., OCTOBER 25): “I tire of seeing Western women pinpoint the headscarf as not only a symbol, but the apex, of oppression. When Karen Hughes, Bush’s Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, went to Istanbul, she was surprised that Islamic feminists wanted to talk about the war in Iraq, about poverty, not about the headscarf. And they were pissed at her, for trying to tell them what their oppression looked like.”
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13. (KIM ANDREW ELLIOTT DISCUSSING INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, latest edition).
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14. LAYALINA REVIEW ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND ARAB MEDIA, VOL. III NO.22: 10/12-10/25, 2007
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15. ON A MEDICAL SHIP, DIPLOMACY THAT HEALS – CAROLD ROSENBERG (HEALTH DIPLOMACY, OCTOBER 25): “Stop 6, Peru, brought a visit from former presidential aide Karn Hughes.”
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16. DISNEY CRAFTS FILM TO WELCOME FOREIGN VISITORS TO U.S. - BARBARA DELOLLIS (USA TODAY, OCTOBER 22): Disney’s seven-minute, feel-good “Welcome: Portraits of America” will play for foreign visitors to the U.S. as they wait for visa processing at consular offices or in the foreign-flight arrival areas of U.S. airports. The purpose: to counteract the image abroad of post-9/11 America as hostile for foreign visitors. Some 43 million foreigners apply for a U.S. visa or go through customs each year.
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SEE ALSO
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17. INSIDE THIS EDITION – (PSIKOLOGI TRANSFORMATIF, OCTOBER 24): 5) Youth Views: Comics bridge cultural gaps by Michael Chou and Youssef Morshedy: Michael Chou, a medical and arts student at the University of Melbourne, and Youssef Morshedy, a mass communication major at the American University of Cairo, examine the role of comics and animation as a public diplomacy tool. Looking at the global popularity of Japanese animation and comics around as a means of spreading Japanese culture through entertainment, they consider the potential impact of this medium on Muslim-Western understanding.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 23 October 2007)
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18. VICE PRESIDENT TO INAUGURATE PROGRAMME FOR INDIAN ORIGIN PARLIAMENTARIANS – ANI CORRESPONDENT (DAILYINDIA.COM, FL, OCTOBER 24): Vice President Hamid Ansari will inaugurate an intensive programme for Indian Origin Parliamentarians here today. Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs is organising the event with a view to providing comprehensive presentations on different aspects on issues of concern and interest to the country. The objective behind such a programme is to provide the visiting Parliamentarians with up-to-date and detailed information on a canopic range of issues. The first group comprises 16 Parliamentarians from United Kingdom, the European Parliament and the United States of America.
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SEE ALSO
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19. UTSA PRESENTS OCT. 25 TALKS ON CHINESE MEDIA - TIM BROWNLEE (USTA TODAY, OCTOBER 24): Among the speakers at USTA [University of Texas at San Antonio] on Chinese media: Juyan Zhang, who “is research focuses on public diplomacy, or public relations by national governments in international relations. Zhang has published papers and book chapters in Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management and Newspaper Research Journal, among others.”
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20. WASHINGTON-BASED FOREIGN POLICY SPECIALIST ON IMAGE MANAGEMENT FOR PMR – (DECIPHERING TRANSDNIESTRIA, OCTOBER 26): “James G. Jatras [the director of the American Council for Kosovo.] ... said that Transdniestria currently ‘has all the attributes of statehood’ and has what is basically a slam-dunk case for international recognition, unlike Kosovo. That is what makes the need for a beefed-up Public Diplomacy effort so important, he says.”
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21. CORPORATE MEDIA - DAY IN THE LIES – POSTED BY TEDSTER (TRIBE.NET: ANARCHISM, OCTOBER 23): A Propaganda Model excerpted from the book Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (Pantheon Books, 1988): In effect, the large bureaucracies of the powerful subsidize the mass media, and gain special access by their contribution to reducing the media’s costs of acquiring the raw materials of, and producing, news. The large entities that provide this subsidy become “routine” news sources and have privileged access to the gates. Non-routine sources must struggle for access, and may be ignored by the arbitrary decision of the gatekeepers. It should also be noted that in the case of the largesse of the Pentagon and the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy, the subsidy is at the taxpayers’ expense, so that, in effect, the citizenry pays to be propagandized in the interest of powerful groups such as military contractors and other sponsors of state terrorism.
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22. PROPAGANDA STILL SELLS WARS - GINA-MARIE CHEESEMAN (OPEDNEWS, OCTOBER 24): In the words of Noam Chomsky, presidents like to “manufacture consent” for war. In 1983 President Ronald Reagan appointed Otto Juan Reich to be the director of the Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean (OPD). The Office of Public Diplomacy existed until 1986.
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B) RELATED ITEMS (world views of U.S., 23; US visa regulations, 24; Cuba, 25-27; Iran’s democrats shun aid, 28; Iraq, 29-36; Turkey, 37-38; Iran, 39-44; Middle East, 45; Afghanistan, 46-47; Pakistan, 48; China, 49; Russia/Kosovo, 50; Argentina, 51; torture, 52; terror, 53; Rice, 54-55)

23. AMERICAN PROCEED WITH CAUTION - CHERYL LYNN CURTIS (CHATTANOOGAN, TN, OCTOBER 26): “I could not help but notice in Rep. Wamp’s statements of caution to Gov. Phil Bredesen the similarities in the warnings about China to what is going on right here in the United States. ... Rep. Wamp, you said, ‘Chinese leaders believe their own propaganda and cannot differentiate between what is true and what is false.’ There are many people around the world, including our own allies, who believe the same of the United States. This administration has done more to destroy foreign relations than any in the history of the United States. It will take years, possibly even decades to repair the damage.”
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24. THE ARTS IN A DARK TIME - ALAN KRAUSE, RETIRED FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER (LETTER TO THE EDITOR, WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 24): “The trenchant comment in the Oct. 20 front-page article ‘Strict Visa Regulations Discourage Visiting Artists’ that ‘the unifying effects of art are needed now more than ever’ reminded me of British Foreign Secretary Lord Edward Grey’s Aug. 3, 1914, lament when war had become inevitable: ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe.’ Let’s hope the State Department can improve visa services and spare us the fate described in the rest of the quote: ‘We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.’”
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25. BUSH TOUTING CUBAN LIFE AFTER CASTRO - ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 24): President Bush, ever pushing for a Cuba without Fidel Castro, wants allies around the world to offer money and political support so the island can be ready to transform itself. Bush proposes at least three initiatives: the creation of an international ‘’freedom fund’’ to help Cuba’s potential rebuilding of its country one day; a U.S. licensing of private groups to provide Internet access to Cuban students, and an invitation to Cuban youth to join a scholarship program.
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26. HOW NOT TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY IN CUBA - VICKI HUDDLESTON (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 25): It’s unrealistic to expect Cubans to magically transform their authoritarian government into a democracy on their own. We won’t see a viable political opposition or vibrant free press until we help build up Cuban civil society. We also won’t see meaningful movement toward democracy without changes to the U.S.’s rigid travel restrictions. These prevent the person-to-person contact and exchange of ideas that could build support for democracy and competition within Cuba.
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27. BUSH TACTICS ARE PLAYING INTO CASTRO’S HANDS – ANDRES MOPPENHEIMER (MIAMI HERALD, OCTOBER 26): Bush—and whoever succeeds him—should de-couple U.S. rhetoric on Cuba: step up the defense of human rights, while setting aside U.S. ‘’programs’’ and ‘’commissions’’ for Cuba’s transition that smack of U.S. interventionism.
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28. WHY IRAN’S DEMOCRATS SHUN AID - AKBAR GANJI (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 26): Iranians are viewed as discredited when they receive money from foreign governments. The Bush administration may be striving to help Iranian democrats, but any Iranian who seeks American dollars will not be recognized as a democrat by his or her fellow citizens. Iranian pro-democracy forces want the Iranian people to have access to the Internet and free television to be able to hear criticism of the regime’s policies and learn about alternative models of government. The support we need at this point has nothing to do with funding the regime’s opposition but with aiding Iranians in the quest for independent media and accurate information.
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29. IRAQ, THE SURGE, PARTITION, AND THE WAR: PUBLIC OPINION BY CITY AND REGION – (SWEDISH MEATBALLS CONFIDENTIAL, OCTOBER 24): A new Center for Strategic and International Studies report, Iraq, the Surge, Partition, and the War: Public Opinion by City and Region (70-page pdf), extensively mines polling data to see how well the critical COIN (counterinsurgency) objective of winning the “hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people—the war’s center of gravity—is progressing.
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30. IRAQ’S POLICE TRAINING PROGRAM RECORDS IN DISARRAY - DAVID PHINNEY (ROUGH CUT, OCTOBER 23): The State Department so terribly managed a $1.2 billion contract for Iraqi police training that it can’t figure out what it got for the money spent, a new report says.
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31. US BOOSTS OVERSIGHT FOR IRAQ CONTRACTORS – ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 24): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday ordered new measures to improve government oversight of private guards who protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, including tighter rules of engagement and a board to investigate any future killings.
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32. USE OF CONTRACTORS BY STATE DEPT. HAS SOARED - JOHN M. BRODER AND DAVID ROHDE (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 24): Over the past four years, the amount of money the State Department pays to private security and law enforcement contractors has soared to nearly $4 billion a year from $1 billion, administration officials said Tuesday, but they said that the department had added few new officials to oversee the contracts.
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33. ANOTHER $200 BILLION – EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 25): Despite a pretense of fiscal prudence, Mr. Bush keeps throwing money at his war in Iraq, regardless of the cost in blood, treasure or children’s health care.
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34. THE IDEOLOGICAL JOB-PROTECTION PLAN – GEORGE PACKER (NEW YORKER, OCTOBER 22): Every Shiite party and militia in Iraq has ties to and gets money and other support from some Iranian faction. Together, these parties and militias have imposed on Iraq’s streets and mosques a rule of fundamentalist gangsterism.
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35. REMEMBER IRAQ - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 23): “General Petraeus’s strategy is to keep trying to knit the different militias and tribal fragments in Iraq together into a national army and government so we can shrink our presence. I truly wish him well. But I don’t see it happening without two things: some shock therapy—like a firm U.S. withdrawal signal—to spur Iraqi leaders, and a regional settlement.”
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36. TWO KURDISH TURKS: WAITING FOR U.S. - AMAR C. BAKSHI (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 23)
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37. TURKISH KURD PRAISES OCEAN CITY MULTICULTURALISM - AMAR C. BAKSHI (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 25): Ahmet D. is a twenty-four-year-old Kurdish student at Bosphorus University. He says what Turkey needs is dialogue, humanism, and a little love. He came to this conclusion through academics, American literature, and four formative months serving pancakes on New Jersey’s Eastern Shore.
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38. WHAT A MESS – TONY BLANKLEY (WASHINGTON TIMES, OCTOBER 24): We have lost the Turks almost as badly as we have lost the most angry religious, fundamentalist Arab, Muslims. If we can’t keep a fair share of their friendly attitude, how do we expect to win the much-vaunted and -awaited hearts and mind campaign?
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39. A BOOST FOR DIPLOMACY: TOUGH SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN ARE THE ALTERNATIVE TO MILITARY ACTION – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 26): The broad package of sanctions against Iran announced yesterday by the Bush administration offers a badly needed boost to the campaign to stop Tehran’s nuclear program by nonmilitary means.
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40. SQUEEZING IRAN – REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 26): Yesterday’s announcement by the Bush Administration that it is sanctioning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a step forward, even if it is belated.
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PAID SUBSCRIPTION

41. MADNESS AS METHOD - MAUREEN DOWD (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 24): The hawks are pounding the drums on Iran as they once did on Iraq, acting as if the hourglass is running out and we have to act immediately or, as the president apocalyptically suggested last week, we could be facing World War III.
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42. PRESIDENT BUSH NEEDS A TIME OUT - VIVIAN SALAMA (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 25): To use an old Vietnam War slogan, Ahmedinejad is winning the “hearts and minds” of those across the Muslim world with his anti-West, anti-Israel speech—something that many of the Sunni regimes have failed to do given their pro-West stances and, in the cases of Egypt and Jordan, treaties with Israel. Sticks and stones from the West WILL break bones, but they will not solve a thing. How about some diplomacy for a change?
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43. STRAITJACKET BUSH: THE PRESIDENT’S WARMONGERING REMARKS ON THE IRANIAN THREAT SUGGEST HE IS PSYCHOTIC. REALLY - ROSA BROOKS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 25): We’re in the middle of a disastrous war in Iraq, the military and political situation in Afghanistan is steadily worsening, and the administration’s interrogation and detention tactics have inflamed anti-Americanism and fueled extremist movements around the globe. Sane people, confronting such a situation, do their best to tamp down tensions, rebuild shattered alliances, find common ground with hostile parties and give our military a little breathing space. But crazy people? They look around and decide it’s a great time to start another war.
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44. U.S. MOVE ON IRAN ALIENATING FOR EUROPE: FRUSTRATION OVER ITS FAILURE TO IMPOSE A THIRD ROUND OF INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS ON TEHRAN PUSHES THE ADMINISTRATION TO STRIKE OUT ON ITS OWN - PAUL RICHTER (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 26)
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45. TRICKY MIDEAST SUMMIT - CLAUDE SALHANI (WASHINGTON TIMES, OCTOBER 24): In seeking to differentiate himself from Mr. Clinton’s policies, Mr. Bush tended to ignore the Middle East and its problems. It wasn’t until the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on U.S. soil that the Bush administration woke up to the fact the Middle East cannot be ignored: In addition to the regional turmoil itself, continued unrest in the Middle East can have direct repercussions in the U.S. homeland.
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46. AFGHAN HOMECOMING - KHALED HOSSEINI (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 24): Now more than ever, the global community must make a genuine, long-term and comprehensive commitment to the Afghans and ensure the future of the coming generation. In other words, the world must not forget the Afghans again.
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PAID SUBSCRIPTION

47. AFGHAN APPREHENSIONS – REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 26): It’s been six years since the Taliban regime fell, and Afghans are still optimistic about their future, according to a new national poll. But unlike last year’s survey, worries about security are mounting.
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PAID SUBSCRIPTION

48. TERROR VS. DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN - HUSAIN HAQQANI (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 25): From America’s point of view, the good news is that the people who were cheering in the streets of Pakistan for Ms. Bhutto will likely cheer against terrorism under a government run by her. Pakistan’s war against terrorism will likely make better progress with the support of the people than it has in recent years under an embattled military dictator.
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PAID SUBSCRIPTION

49. CLASSIC CHINESE RED ARMY PROPAGANDA FILM REBORN AS ANIMATED FILM – ASSOCIATED PRESS (FOX NEWS, OCTOBER 23)
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50. SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY WITH RUSSIA ON KOSOVO - JANUSZ BUGAJSKI AND EDWARD P. JOSEPH (WASHINGTONPOST.COM, OCTOBER 24): After the recent humiliation by Russian President Vladimir Putin of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during their recent meeting in Moscow, it is crucial for Washington to take the lead on Kosovo, galvanized by the understanding that what happens in the Balkans matters not only for the people of that region, but also for the West’s relationship with Russia.
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51. ARGENTINA’S NEW PERONIST PRESIDENT? A WOMAN ON THE VERGE OF BEING ELECTED TO THE COUNTRY’S TOP OFFICE COULD BE GOOD NEWS FOR THE U.S. – EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 26)
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52. ADMINISTRATION OF TORTURE [NEW BOOK PUBLISHED BY ACLU): When the American media published photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration assured the world that the abuse was isolated and aberrational. Government officials insisted that abuse took place in spite of policy, not because of it. But the government’s own documents tell a starkly different story.
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53. WHO IS A TERRORIST? – REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 26):This week, after years of lobbying by Republicans and Democrats, the State Department waived the terrorist label for Hmongs and Montagnards who had provided “material support.” That lets them apply for asylum, or if they’re already in the U.S., for permanent residency. Similar waivers have been issued to members of Burma’s Chin, Karen and Karenni ethnic groups—and others, like Cuba’s Alzados—who provided “material support” to fighters trying to topple repressive governments.
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PAID SUSBCRIPTION

54. ACK! OMG! THE HAIR! THE HAIR! BLOOD ON THE HAIR! - PRINCESS SPARKLE PONY’S PHOTO BLOG: I KEEP TRACK OF CONDOLEEZZA’S HAIRDO SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO, OCTOBER 24): PHOTO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, is confronted by CodePink member Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz, her hands painted red, as Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., right, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, right, looks on before Rice testified regarding US policy in the Middle East where she spoke about Iraq, Iran, and the Israel Palestinian conflict on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 24. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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55. DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL: IS IRAQ CORRUPT? DON’T ASK CONDI! - PRINCESS SPARKLE PONY (WONKETTE, OCTOBER 25)
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C) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“after giving an assignment that required drawing lines, he realized that not a single student actually knew how to use a ruler.”

--Mark Morford, in his article about a longtime Oakland high school teacher, “American kids, dumber than dirt: Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history (SF Gate, October 24)
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“But if waterboarding is illegal, how can we have fun with our Arab friends at the pool?”

--Headline in Wonkette (October 24) commenting on a New York Times (October 24) that, in his confirmation hearings, Michael B. Mukasey, President Bush’s nominee for attorney general, “declined to say if waterboarding was torture or was otherwise illegal”
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TIMES ARTICLE AT
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“’public diplomacy’ turned out to mean public relations-lobbying, all at taxpayers’ expense.”

--The November 1987 bipartisan report of the Congressional Iran-Contra committees, regarding the Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean (OPD) during the Reagan administration; cited in Gina-Marie Cheeseman, “Propaganda Still Sells Wars” (OpEdNews, October 24)
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