USC Center on Public Diplomacy

Direct link to this article: http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/johnbrown_detail/1630/

Published: MAR 16, 2006 - 1:53PM PDT

John Brown's Public Diplomacy Review
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 MARCH 15-16
 by John Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS REVIEW, MARCH 15-16

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“THE IDEA IS TO GET THE PIECES OF AN IED TO ‘SEXY.’”

--The Air Force’s Bob Sisk, a veteran explosives-disposal specialist, referring to Improvised Explosive Devices and CEXC, the Counter Explosive Exploitation Cell, a secretive group at Baghdad’s Camp Victory that is building a database on IED incidents; cited in Charles J. Hanley, “Billions Spent to Defeat IEDs” (Associated Press/AirForceTimes.com, March 13)
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1595359.php

ESSAY

Has Bush L-IED again? – John Brown (Common Dreams): As was the case with WMD, Bush is using IED to justify the U.S. military engagement in Iraq. See also below items 19-20.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0316-31.htm

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

1. IRAQ’S SECOND FRONT: IDEAS - ROBERT CHARLES (WASHINGTON TIMES, MARCH 15): We must urgently expand the discussion of freedom, deepen it—across the Middle East. Private and public diplomacy are no longer secondary. They are primary. Lasting change comes from within and depends on indigenous leadership. We must find freedom’s leaders in the Middle East.
http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20060314-095243-6847r.htm

2. HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ENCOURAGE EXTREMISTS - WILLIAM FISHER (MIDDLE EAST TIMES, MARCH 16): Perhaps the job description of Karen Hughes, this culturally-challenged Friend of Bush ought to ask, “How Do We Win Back the Hearts and Minds of Friends We Have Lost?” Through exchange programs? By trying to bond with Muslim women by telling them that she, too, is a Mom? By insisting they drive the cars they’d rather have their drivers drive? By denying or remaining silent on what her country has become and by slavishly justifying whatever her boss, the President, does in the name of the “Global War on Terror?”
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060316-041255-8334r
SEE ALSO
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/

3. CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE US AN UPDATE ON THE UNITED STATES’ OVERSEAS ‘PUBLIC DIPLOMACY’ CAMPAIGN? DON’T PANIC ... YOUR WAR QUESTIONS ANSWERED - ANDISHEH NOURAEE (CREATIVE LOAFING ATLANTA, MARCH 15): Appointing Hughes and trumpeting her appointment to anyone who would listen was just a publicity stunt. Shortly after taking her post, Hughes hopped on a plane with some reporters and went on a “listening” tour of the Middle East. The tour was a disaster. To her credit, Hughes appears to have learned an important lesson from her initial failure. When she went on her second Middle East listening tour last month, she didn’t take any reporters with her.
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A36079

4. DEEP BACKGROUND: AT GOSS’S CIA, CRITICIZE TORTURE, GET FIRED; HUGHES PURGES THE EMBASSIES - PHILIP GIRALDI (AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, MARCH 13): During her trips abroad Hughes was surprised by the intensity of criticism of U.S. policies that she heard from organizations that were actually funded or otherwise supported by American Embassies. Not greatly given to introspection or critical analysis, she has decided that the fault lies with the overseas embassies themselves, not the message, and has issued a series of memos condemning their passivity in promoting a positive American agenda. She has followed up on the memos with the recent dispatch of several of her senior staff to visit the embassies, with the stated objective of “shaking them up” in advance of her own impending return trip to Muslim countries.
http://www.amconmag.com/ (LINK IS TO THE CONTENT PAGE OF “AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE; LINK TO ABOVE ITEM NOT AVAILABLE)

5. STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL HAILS STRONG U.S.-COLOMBIA PARTNERSHIP: HUGHES SAYS UNITED STATES SUPPORTS COLOMBIA’S EFFORT TO COMBAT DRUGS, TERRORISM – (USINFO, MARCH 15): Hughes expressed satisfaction at the scheduled March 15 signing of a new U.S.-Colombia agreement to protect Colombia’s cultural heritage. That agreement, she said, “will prevent the illegal importation” of priceless cultural artifacts from Colombia to the United States.
SEE ALSO
http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?ArticleId=230675&CategoryId=12393

6. CHIRAC’S DREAM OF TV A LA FRANCAISE SUFFERS IN THE (ENGLISH) TRANSLATION - COLIN RANDALL (TELEGRAPH.com.uk, MARCH 16): See below item 7.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/16/wcnn16.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/03/16/ixportal.html

7. PARIS RE-THINKS PLANS FOR ‘CNN IN FRENCH’: .... OR, “REVEALED!: FRENCH IS NO LONGER A WORLD LANGUAGE – (ECCENTRIC STAR): There is an interesting conflict posed here from a public diplomacy point of view. On the one hand, France wants to promote its language, culture, and history. On the other hand, broadcasting in French undercuts its ability to reach and influence the desired audiences. But admitting that conflict causes hurt feelings and outrage at home. What to do?
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/ (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)

8. CENTRAL ASIA: QUIET RETREAT ALONG THE ROAD TO NOWHERE? – PATRICIA KUSHLIS (WHIRLED VIEW, MARCH 15): “Years ago when I was educational exchanges officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, I got to know a number of our American researchers, professors and students who were in the country to conduct research or teach on the official US-Soviet exchange program. Nancy Lubin was one of those graduate students. She spent nearly ten months in Tashkent researching her dissertation on labor and politics in Uzbekistan which Princeton University Press and Macmillan (London) later published as a book. ...I won’t go into many specifics, but I’d like to highlight just a few of the thoughtful points she made earlier this week about the current situation in this unsettled and dangerous part of the world.”
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2006/03/central_asia_qu.html#more

9. SHOCKING EVEN THE BRITS: NOTE TO STATE: NEXT TIME, LEAVE THAT SAMPLE FEEDING TUBE AT HOME - PAUL D. KRETKOWSKI (BEACON, MARCH 15): According to the Guardian, Colleen P. Graffy, the deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at State, on a radio interview drew from her bag a sample tube used for force-feeding prisoners at Guantanamo and explained to her interviewer that it had no metal edges and was therefore humane. The fact that someone in Graffy’s orbit went to the trouble to ship a feeding tube to England, thinking that this would somehow score points in the sphere of public diplomacy with our allies, doesn’t even pass the laugh test.
http://softpowerbeacon.blogspot.com/

10. TRASH TALKERS: THE BLACK MUD OF BUSH/BLAIR PROPAGANDA - CHRIS FLOYD (URUKNET.INFO, ITALY, MARCH 15): Regarding Gaffy, for some reason she didn’t offer to stuff down her own gullet, just to show viewers at home how comfy it is. A pity.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m21596&l=i&size=1&hd=0

B) RELATED ITEMS (Guantanamo, 11; BBC, 12; Al Quaeda, 13; Abu Ghraib, 14-15; Iraq, 16-37; Iran, 38-41; Israel, 42; Hamas, 43-44; port deal, 45-51; India, 52; Latin America, 53-55; Belarus, 56; U.S. national security strategy, 57-59; long war, 60-61; Bush foreign policy, 62-63; U.S. in world, 64-65; UN, 66-68; U.S. brands in Asia, 69)

11. WHO’S REALLY LOCKED UP IN GUANTANAMO? - TOM MALINOWSKI (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 15): What the administration doesn’t want to face is that, as the small fish were taken to Cuba, Pakistan arranged escape routes from Afghanistan for more dangerous jihadists—presumably those with cash or connections to Pakistani intelligence services—including several hundred flown out of the city of Kunduz before it fell to U.S. forces.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-malinowski16mar16,0,109617.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

12. THE BBC’S WINDOW ON THE WORLD - PHILIP HARDING, DIRECTOR, ENGLISH NETWORKS & NEWS, BBC WORLD SERVICE (LETTER TO THE EDITOR, WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 16): The Foreign Office has no say in the BBC’s editorial agenda.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502070.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031001721.html

13. AL-QA’EDA STEPS UP PROPAGANDA WAR WITH BLOODTHIRSTY DVDS - ISAMBARD WILKINSON AND IMTIAZ ALI (TELEGRAPH.CO.UK, MARCH 16)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/11/wdvds11.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/11/ixworld.html

14. THE ABU GHRAIB FILES: 279 PHOTOGRAPHS AND 19 VIDEOS FROM THE ARMY’S INTERNAL INVESTIGATION RECORD A HARROWING THREE MONTHS OF DETAINEE ABUSE INSIDE THE NOTORIOUS PRISON—AND MAKE CLEAR THAT MANY OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE HAVE YET TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE (SALON)
http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/introduction/

15. COLONEL SAYS HE OKD DOGS AT ABU GHRAIB; HE IS HIGHEST-RANKING PERSON TO TAKE BLAME FOR THE MISCONDUCT - JOSH WHITE (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, MARCH 15)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/16/MNGCIHP2801.DTL

16. TOMGRAM: ORVILLE SCHELL ON JOURNALISM UNDER SIEGE IN BAGHDAD – (TOMDISPATCH): Wherever in the city the news bureaus are, they have become fortified installations with their own mini-armies of private guards on duty twenty-four hours a day at the gates, in watch towers, and around perimeters. The bitter truth is that doing any kind of work outside these American fortified zones has become so dangerous for foreigners as to be virtually suicidal.
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=68077

17. DEVELOPING STORY: U.S. LAUNCHES AIRSTRIKES TARGETING INSURGENTS; OPERATION TERMED LARGEST AIR ASSAULT SINCE U.S.-LED INVASION IN 2003 - QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA (BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 16): U.S. forces, joined by Iraqi troops, today launched the largest airborne assault since the U.S.-led invasion, targeting insurgent strongholds north of the capital, the military said.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-iraq0316,0,5529325.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

18. U.S. MILITARY AIRSTRIKES SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IN IRAQ - TOM LASSETER (MERCURY NEWS, MARCH 14): A review of military data shows that daily bombing runs and jet-missile launches have increased by more than 50 percent in the past five months, compared with the same period last year.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/14098141.htm

19. IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DELUSIONS – ROBERT SCHEER (NATION): The IEDs, mentioned a whopping twenty-six times in the Bush’s recent speech, have obviously come to replace that nonexistent WMD threat as the centerpiece of Bush’s Iraq policy. Not until the public and its representatives force this administration to change its disastrous course can we begin to restore international respect for the American political system that Bush has so masterfully subverted.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060327/scheer0315

20. IRAN BLAME GAME: MORE BUSH LIES – (ANOTHER DAY IN THE EMPIRE): Pentagon and the White House are in the habit of not providing corroboration, nor does the corporate media ask for any. Since the Shia of Iraq are not attacking occupation forces, Bush’s claim is more than absurd—it is another calculated lie we are expected to believe, as too many of us believed previous lies about Iraqi WMD and easily discredited links between Saddam and Osama.
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=291

21. TERRORISTS OR RESISTANCE FIGHTERS: AMERICA’S DILEMMA IN IRAQ - GERALD RELLICK (SELVES AND OTHERS, MARCH 15): Even with the ethnic strife and potential for civil war, Iraqis want their country back from the U.S. occupiers.
http://www.selvesandothers.org/article13446.html

22. ELECTRICITY SHORTAGES SHAPE IRAQIS’ LIVES, PERCEPTIONS – (ECCENTRIC STAR)
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/ (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)

23. WHAT EVERY IRAQI SHOULD SEE – EDITORIAL (MARCH 16): The Saddam trial’s latest self-inflicted black eye is yesterday’s decision by Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman to eject reporters from the courtroom and cut off television coverage after Mr. Hussein started praising antigovernment insurgents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/opinion/16thur3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

24. STEPS TOWARD UNITY IN IRAQ - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 16): There are unmistakable signs here this week that Iraq’s political leaders are taking the first tentative steps toward forming a broad government of national unity that could reverse the country’s downward slide.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502180.html

25. AL-JAFARI FIGHTS BACK - JIM HOAGLAND (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 16): This is a moment for Americans to resist the compulsion to micromanage Iraq’s complex, opaque politics. That compulsion has already helped produce a sufficient supply of devastating consequences.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502178.html

26. OLD TIMES THERE – EDITORIAL (MARCH 16): There’s an unavoidable contradiction in Iraq that is emerging from the U.S. occupation: Neither Shiites nor Sunnis are willing to accept a political arrangement that cedes the upper hand to the other group, despite Washington’s hopes that some magical compromise could be found. Very few people want civil war. No one seems to have a workable plan to avoid one.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.iraq16mar16,0,3025038.story?coll=bal-opinion-headlines

27. STOP BUSH’S WAR - BOB HERBERT (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 15): An ocean of blood has been shed in Mr. Bush’s mindless war, and there is no end to this tragic flow in sight.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/opinion/16herbert.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

28. CIVIL WAR IS HERE - ROBERT DREYFUSS (TOMPAINE.COM, MARCH 16): Baghdad, with one-fifth of Iraq’s population, already resembles Beirut. Neighborhoods, and surrounding towns, are being ethnically cleansed. Barriers are up. Militias rule. President Bush, whose happy-talk PR offensive on Iraq is in the midst of yet another spurt, suggests that Iraqis “looked into the abyss” and decided that they’d rather avoid civil war. In fact, however, Iraqis are deep inside the abyss, looking out.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/16/civil_war_is_here.php

29. IRAQ: THE BIG LIE: BUSH AND RUMSFELD ROBOTICALLY REPEAT THEIR IRAQ TALKING POINTS, IGNORING THE FACT THAT THEIR AMBASSADOR AND GENERALS ARE CONTRADICTING THEM - SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL (SALON): Bush promises to deliver more speeches on Iraq. Rumsfeld will undoubtedly provide lessons in history. They have condemned themselves to their Sisyphean labors, endlessly pushing the rock up the hill, because they will not or cannot politically explain the actual mission in Iraq today: tamping down sectarian violence sufficiently to begin the withdrawal of U.S. troops on a strict timetable dictated by the convening of the Iraqi assembly and the approach of the American midterm elections.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/03/16/iraq_anniversary/

30. BUSH SELLS “STRATEGY” AND JUSTIFIES IRAQ WAR - AGAIN. BUT WHO’S LISTENING? – EDWARD GOMEZ (WORLD VIEWS, SF GATE, MARCH 14): But as the increasingly unpopular U.S. leader keeps insisting that America’s poorly equipped troops—most of whom want to go home—and failing policies are succeeding, Iraq is sinking deeper into the bloody chaos of all-out civil war. At this point, is anybody abroad listening to his stubborn call to “stay the course”? [Link provides foreign media reaction to recent Bush statements on Iraq].
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=15 (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)

31. WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS: QUITTING IRAQ WON’T UNDO THE REAL DAMAGE OF THE WAR - JAMES K. GALBRAITH (MOTHER JONES): The reality is that the Iraq war could not be won by a force of any size or by an expenditure of any amount. Against determined opposition, occupations in the modern world cannot prevail.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=15 (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)

32. HIDING THE COSTS OF WAR: PAYING FOR THE IRAQ WITH SUPPLEMENT FUNDING - WINSLOW WHEELER (COUNTERPUNCH, MARCH 15): When America invaded Iraq in March 2003, Congress had not yet appropriated a single penny of the costs of that military operation. Instead, Congress waited for President George Bush to submit a request for “supplemental” appropriations. That first request for fiscal year 2003 was insufficient, and another supplemental request was later submitted. That’s the pattern
http://www.counterpunch.org/wheeler03152006.html

33. TALKING POINTS: 25 KEY QUESTIONS ON IRAQ - DAVID C. UNGER (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 15): If America had taken the trouble to learn more about Iraq before invading it in 2003, a lot of the problems we face there today could have been avoided. In fact, had the right questions been asked and answered accurately, the invasion might have been canceled before it began.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/opinion/15talkingpoints.html?pagewanted=all
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

34. RUMSFELD’S BLINKERS - DAVID BROOKS (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 16): Everybody denigrates pundits and armchair generals, but immediately the smartest of them recognized week of March 24, 2003 that something unexpected was happening: The U.S. was not in the midst of a conventional war, but was in the first days of a guerrilla war.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/opinion/16brooks.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

35. MORE RALLIES, NO SALE - DAVID S. BRODER (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 16): Gen. Anthony Zinni, the former head of Central Command, in his new book, “The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America’s Power and Purpose”: “The United States and a handful of its allies forcibly evicted the Saddam Hussein regime, with no plans for a new order to replace it. Today, U.S. military forces in Iraq are mired in an ever-worsening insurgency. Civil war is an ever-growing danger. Disorder and chaos grow ever more entrenched.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502182.html

36. REPORTS FROM THE FUTURE OF IRAQ PROJECT: OVER 1,200 PAGES OF PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE REPORTS FROM STATE DEPT PLANNING FOR POST-SADDAM IRAQ; WARNINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS BY EXPERTS AND IRAQI EXILES IGNORED BY ADMINISTRATION
http://www.thememoryhole.org/state/future_of_iraq/

37. POST-HASTE: THE FIRST BATCH OF CAPTURED DOCUMENTS FROM PRE-WAR IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE - STEPHEN F. HAYES (WEEKLY STANDARD): The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has created a website where it will post documents captured in postwar Afghanistan and Iraq.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/975brvct.asp
WEBSITE AT
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm#iraq

38. IRAN AGREES TO TALK TO U.S. ABOUT IRAQ: MOVE MARKS FIRST TIME SINCE THE 1979 NATION HAS OFFICIALLY CALLED FOR DIALOGUE - ALI AKBAR DAREINI (BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 16): A top Iranian official said today that his country was ready to open direct talks with the United States over Iraq, marking a major shift in Iranian foreign policy a day after an Iraqi leader called for such talks.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-iran0316,0,1419943.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

39. AN IRAN OPTION THE US PREFERS TO IGNORE - KAVEH L AFRASIABI (ASIA TIMES, MARCH 17): What is remarkable about the Iranian nuclear crisis is how close it could be to being resolved.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC17Ak02.html

40. AMERICA’S NUCLEAR HYPOCRISY UNDERMINES ITS STANCE ON IRAN - SANFORD GOTTLIEB (BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 16): Even as he was telling Iran not to produce nuclear weapons, President Bush was urging Congress to pay for a new nuclear weapon designed to destroy underground military facilities.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.nuclear16mar16,0,3895655.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

41. EYE OF THE STORM: IRAN? HARDLY ISRAEL’S PROBLEM ALONE - AMIR TAHERI (JERUSALEM POST, MARCH 14): A great many countries have a direct interest in preventing Iran from going nuclear. It also means that none is prepared to dirty their hands to ensure that Iran doesn’t get the Bomb. Hence all the talk about Israel taking “surgical action” on behalf of the “international community.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395605629&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

42. ARE HAMAS’ NEW GUIDELINES ABETTING ISRAELI HARDLINERS?: PLAYING TWO DIFFERENT GAMES - AMIRA HASS (COUNTERPUNCH, MARCH 16): Over the last five years Israel has worked energetically to link the Palestinians with international Islamic terrorism and the “clash of civilizations,” enlightened versus benighted. Now, Hamas’ guidelines are helping Israel as well: They depict a religious and cultural clash, outside the framework of the people’s struggle against foreign occupiers.
http://www.counterpunch.org/hass03162006.html

43. SEEING HAMAS THROUGH DIFFERENT LENSES - SHIBLEY TELHAMI (BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 15): Many in the Arab world, including liberals who were hoping to see Hamas defeated in the Palestinian elections, now see possibilities in Hamas’ victory and seem fully prepared to accept that the organization will change. They are viewing it through the prism of hope. Most in the United States are profoundly suspicious of Hamas’ ultimate intentions and see in its victory much trouble ahead and view it through the prism of fear. Each looks for bits of evidence to bolster its view.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.mideast15mar15,0,5079899.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

44. BATTLE OF JERICHO – EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, MARCH 15): The Israeli military siege of a prison in Jericho was a case of irresponsible parties playing with matches in the middle of a tinder box.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/03/15/battle_of_jericho/

45. FOREIGN OWNERSHIP IS NOT A THREAT BUT STUPID LEGISLATION IS - RONALD BAILEY (REASON)
http://www.reason.com/links/links031406.shtml

46. FROM TIN EAR TO TURNDOWN - BRUCE BARTLETT (WASHINGTON TIMES, MARCH 15): A child could have seen that allowing a state-owned Arab company to buy control of some of our major port facilities was political dynamite in the wake of September 11, 2001.
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20060314-095244-5724r.htm

47. DUBAI AND DUNCES - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 15): Whatever happens with the Iraq experiment—but especially if it fails—we need Dubai to succeed. Dubai is where we should want the Arab world to go. Unfortunately, we just told Dubai to go to hell.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/opinion/15friedman.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

48. THE HIGH PRICE OF THE DUBAI PORTS WORLD DEBACLE - DAVID FRUM (FINANCIAL TIMES, MARCH 15): Had Mr. Bush from the outset acknowledged the legitimacy of the concerns among opponents of the deal—and then explained in convincing detail why they were misplaced—he may well have won his fight.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4239d3fa-b452-11da-bd61-0000779e2340.html

49. THE DUBAI PORTS WORLD CONTROVERSY: JINGOISM OR LEGITIMATE CONCERNS? - STEPHEN ZUNES (FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS/COMMON DREAMS): The controversy provides opportunities for critics of U.S. foreign policy to raise some important questions regarding the misplaced priorities of the Bush administration in countering the threat from international terrorism, the dubious nature of some of America’s Middle Eastern allies, the ties of the Bush administration to big business, and the impact of globalization on the American economy.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0316-30.htm

50. DUBAI OR NOT DUBAI - TED BUCKLIN (TPMCAFE, NY, MARCH 14): The people in the White House aren’t so concerned about the terror threat—it’s just rhetoric, words tossed out with the sole intention of managing their political fortunes. What they really believe in is the power of money, and this was a business deal for the Treasury Secretary’s good friends from Dubai Ports World, a favor to the UAE mucky-mucks, awash in petro-cash looking for a place to invest.
http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/27834

51. NEITHER ‘STINGY’ NOR UNPOPULAR – REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARCH 16): Here’s something you might have missed amid the chants telling Ms. Rice to “go to hell”: America’s popularity in Indonesia has risen dramatically in the past year—Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Halliburton notwithstanding.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114247156672999616.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

52. NUCLEAR POWER FOR INDIA IS GOOD FOR US ALL - DAVID G. VICTOR (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, MARCH 16): Quite accidentally, it seems, the Bush administration has stumbled on part of an effective strategy to slow global warming.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/16/opinion/edvictor.php

53. HOW THE US WENT WRONG IN LATIN AMERICA - ALEXANDRA STARR (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR): Oftentimes, the US isn’t engaging Latin Americans on the issues they find most pressing. There is widespread disgust with the US-sanctioned neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and ‘90s, which failed to improve the lives of most of the continent’s poor—about 40 percent of the population.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0315/p09s02-coop.html

54. LATIN AMERICA UNCHAINED - MARK ENGLER (TOMPAINE.COM, MARCH 16): Washington now has a choice: It can redefine its sense of national interest, cheer democratic renewal in the region, and acknowledge that the rigid economic program once forced into place by the IMF cannot fit all countries. Or it can become an ever-more-despised adversary for citizens throughout the Americas.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/16/latin_america_unchained.php

55. CHARM OFFENSIVE - OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 15): Just last month, Ms. Rice was touting her “inoculation strategy” to get regional allies to support the administration’s campaign to isolate Mr. Chavez. Better to give a booster shot to U.S.-Latin American relations and bolster administration influence in the region.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.chile15mar15,0,2620349.story?coll=bal-opinion-headlines

56. BELARUS BLUE - CHARLES GRANT AND MARK LEONARD (WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARCH 15): In the longer term, the EU should focus on strengthening civil society in Belarus. It ought to scrap the European Initiative on Democracy and Human Rights and transfer the money to a new and independent agency, modeled on America’s National Endowment for Democracy. This should have the flexibility to finance the most deserving NGOs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114237389981398164.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

57. UPDATED STRATEGY BACKS IRAQ STRIKE AND CITES IRAN PERIL - DAVID E. SANGER (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 15): An updated version of the Bush administration’s national security strategy, the first in more than three years, gives no ground on the decision to order a pre-emptive attack on Iraq in 2003, and identifies Iran as the country likely to present the single greatest future challenge to the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/politics/16strategy.html?hp&ex=1142571600&en=8d390f0cbda4448e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

58. BUSH TO RESTATE TERROR STRATEGY: 2002 DOCTRINE OF PREEMPTIVE WAR TO BE REAFFIRMED - PETER BAKER (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 16): President Bush plans to issue a new national security strategy today reaffirming his doctrine of preemptive war against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, despite the troubled experience in Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502297.html

59. US FOREIGN POLICY PUTS ACCENT ON DEMOCRACY - CAROLINE DANIEL (FINANCIAL TIMES, MARCH 16): The US will on Thursday place the promotion of democracy at the heart of its foreign policy as it adopts a tougher stance towards Russia, China and notably Iran. The move comes in the new National Security Strategy published on Thursday—the first formal review since the invasion of Iraq.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1b13aec4-b464-11da-bd61-0000779e2340.html

60. DIGGING IN FOR THE ‘LONG WAR’ - MOLLY IVINS (TRUTHDIG): We are inarguably facing more terrorists now than there were when we started, so the Pentagon has decided to fight what it is now calling “the Long War.” No on has asked Congress. The administration—mostly Donald Rumsfeld—just decided we would have a long war and declared it, and is now committing us to fight against a fuzzy ideology no one seems to be able to define.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060315_molly_ivins_war/

61. RODS FROM GOD: IMAGINE A BUNDLE OF TELEPHONE POLES HURTLING THROUGH SPACE AT 7,000 MPH - JOHN ARQUILLA (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, MARCH 12): If it became capable of waging war in space, the results would be as catastrophic as they were for Icarus when he flew too close to the sun. Our image would be damaged. The financial waste would be enormous, as we spent huge new sums on ineffective or easily countered new weapons. Worst of all, others will fight back in space, and we would likely lose the satellite connectivity that contributes so much to the efficiency of our incomparable ground forces. In the “long war” against terror, waged against elusive enemies on the ground, losing access to space-based communications and targeting systems would be crippling.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/12/INGS6HID5A1.DTL

62. 6 YEARS, AND NOW HE’S AN INTERNATIONALIST?: WORLD AFFAIRS STILL PERPLEX BUSH - MOLLY IVINS (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, MARCH 15): So far, it looks as though Bush does better on foreign policy when he’s being an isolationist. Maybe he should just stay home and cut more taxes for the rich.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0603160159mar16,0,7219084.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed

63. WHAT’S BETTER? HIS EMPTY SUIT OR HER BAGGAGE? - MAUREEN DOWD (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 15): W. had the foreign policy “dream team,” and it shattered our foreign policy, ideals and self-image. Despite hundreds of years of combined experience, the Bushies rammed through cronies and schemes that were so destructive, it will take hundreds of years to straighten out the mistakes.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/opinion/15dowd.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

64. LATIN AMERICA AND ASIA ARE AT LAST BREAKING FREE OF WASHINGTON’S GRIP: THE US-DOMINATED WORLD ORDER IS BEING CHALLENGED BY A NEW SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH - NOAM CHOMSKY (GUARDIAN, MARCH 15/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0315-24.htm

65. DECLINE AND FALL: KEVIN PHILLIPS, NO LEFTY, SAYS THAT AMERICA—ADDICTED TO OIL, STRANGLED BY DEBT AND MANIACALLY RELIGIOUS—IS HEADED FOR DOOM - MICHELLE GOLDBERG (SALON): A whole cavalcade of catastrophes bearing down on us and a lack of political will to address any of them, the scope of Osama bin Laden’s triumph is coming sickeningly into focus. He didn’t start the country on its march of folly, but he spurred America toward bombastic nationalism, military quagmire and escalating debt, all of which have made its access to the oil controlled by the seething countries of the Middle East ever more precarious.
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/03/16/phillips/

66. THE BOLTON ARCHIPELAGO - IAN WILLIAMS (ASIA TIMES, MARCH 17): A UN General Assembly vote on establishing the new Human Rights Council is a fairly devastating comment on current US global prestige as well as the effectiveness of diplomacy as practiced by US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton. The vote to replace the largely discredited Commission on Human Rights with the new council was 170-4, with the United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau voting against the resolution and with three abstentions.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HC17Aa01.html

67. TO RIGHT HUMAN RIGHTS – EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, MARCH 16): For the sake of the Burmese political prisoner and the Darfur villager fleeing genocidal militias in Sudan, the most helpful thing Bolton can do now is to work for the best possible membership and rules of the road for the new UN Human Rights Council.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/03/16/to_right_human_rights/

68. U.N. APPROVES NEW HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: U.N. VOTES OVERWHELMINGLY TO CREATE NEW AGENCY TO MONITOR AND EXPOSE ABUSES BY GOVERNMENTS, DESPITE U.S. OBJECTIONS THAT NATIONS WITH A HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COULD JOIN THE NEW PANEL - BY COLUM LYNCH (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 16)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031500410.html

69. INDUSTRY IN FOCUS: U.S. BRANDS STORM THE ASIA “BEACHHEADS”: JAPAN AND CHINA ARE ENTICING TO LUXURY-GOODS RETAILERS. S&P SAYS COACH, NIKE, AND POLO RALPH LAUREN ARE POISED FOR CONTINUING SUCCESS THERE - ISABELLE SENDER (BUSINESS WEEK): Nothing says “cool” like $100-plus Nike sneakers to the Beijing student who—like millions of Chinese youths—is finding the high-priced kicks increasingly affordable. Big brand names in consumer goods are frenetically setting up shop in major cities throughout Asia, emphasizing lifestyle.
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/mar2006/pi20060316_507115.htm

C) ONLY IN AMERICA?

70. GOING WITH THE FLOW: CALIFORNIA LIVES OR DIES WITH WATER—WHETHER IT’S SNOWPACK, TAP OR BOTTLED - PATT MORRISON (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 16): A billion plastic water bottles are tossed away in California every year.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-morrison16mar16,0,2606859.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

D) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“WHITE HOUSE - GEORGE W. BUSH = PRESIDENT CHENEY.”

--Freelance writer Windsor Mann, “Change Starts with Cheney: The Vice President’s Unlikely Loyalists” (National Review)
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/mann200603160811.asp

“WHEN AMERICAN PRESIDENTS PREPARE FOR FOREIGN WARS, THEY LIE.”

--Robert Higgs, cited at
http://antiwar.com/past/20060314.html

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