USC Center on Public Diplomacy

Direct link to this article: http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/johnbrown_detail/2705/

Published: JAN 31, 2008 - 4:16AM 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.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS AND BLOG REVIEW, JANUARY 30-31, 2008
 by John H. Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS AND BLOG REVIEW, JANUARY 30-31

“Our enemies are eating our lunch in terms of getting the word out in digital technology.”

--James Glassman, nominated by President George W. Bush to be Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, a position described by Senator Joe Lieberman as “the closest thing to a supreme allied commander in the war of ideas and one of the most important posts in Washington”; cited in Charley Keyes, “Official: U.S. enemies ‘eating our lunch’ online” (CNN, January 30)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/internet.pr.failure/

“We were hypnotized by the enemy propaganda as a rabbit is by a snake.”

--Erich Ludendorff, Germany’s chief strategist during World War I, cited in David Welch, Germany, Propaganda and Total War, 1914-1918 (2000), p. 250

VIDEO

Jon Stewart: President Bush’s State of the Union Message
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=149036&rsspartner=rssBloglines
via
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/30/BL2008013001912_pf.html

WAR ON TERROR SITE

“Kuma War is a series of playable recreations of real events in the War on Terror. Nearly 100 playable missions bring our soldiers’ heroic stories to life, and you can get them all right now, for free. Stop watching the news and get in the game!”
http://www.kumawar.com/

IMAGES

French President Sarkozy’s new companion
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=509825&in_page_id=1879
see also
“Public Diplomacy Goes ‘Pubic’”
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/pdblog_detail/070711_public_diplomacy_goes_pubic/

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-20)

1. US Public Diplomacy Nominee to Counter Extremist Islamic Views - Dan Robinson (VOA, January 31): President Bush’s choice to head U.S. public diplomacy programs says he will work to ensure that the United States is able to aggressively counter Islamic extremist messages. But in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considering his nomination, James Glassman, nominated as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, said the U.S. should not employ propaganda in these efforts.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-31-voa2.cfm
see also
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3246

2. Official: U.S. enemies ‘eating our lunch’ online - Charley Keyes (CNN, January 30): The man nominated to head public diplomacy at the State Department, James Glassman, said Wednesday that al Qaeda is doing a better job than the Bush administration in winning friends over the Internet. Glassman’s comments Wednesday echoed a November speech by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in which he said the United States needs more speed, agility and cultural relevance in its communications.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/internet.pr.failure/
see also
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/in_case_you_missed_it.html
http://terenceboal.blogspot.com/2008/01/radio-free-islam.html
http://rockthetruth.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-my-blog-will-look-like-some-day.html

3. What would you ask Jim Glassman? (Updated) - (MountainRunner, January 29): “If you had the opportunity to ask a question of James Glassman at his upcoming Senate confirmation hearing as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, what would it be?“
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/what_would_you_ask_jim_glassma.html

4. Is Bad PR Really the Problem? – Charles Peña (antiwar.com, January 30): Sadly, more than four years later, it would seem that we haven’t made much—if any—progress in how to wage the war of ideas. It’s still more about style over substance. According to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy Michael Doran, “The military on the ground is very much aware of the fact that when they carry out an operation it has a huge impact on how people perceive what we’re doing. There needs to be people at Defense who are thinking about this.” In other words, if we can just be better at managing perceptions of our conduct of war, Muslims will understand us better (and presumably forgive us) when we bomb them.
http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=12282
see also
http://www.antiwar.com/henderson/?articleid=12292

5. Rumsfeld: “Can we talk?” – Philip Carter (Intel Dump, January 26): “A few days ago, former SecDef Don Rumsfeld made a public plea for better U.S. ‘strategic communications’ in the global war on terrorism. ... Ultimately, I believe we must pay a great deal more attention to our deeds—not our message—in order to earn the support of the world. Otherwise, our policies are just a pig. And no matter how much lipstick we might apply, it’ll still just be a pig.”
http://www.intel-dump.com/posts/1201357073.shtml

6. Donald Rumsfeld’s soft side: The former defence secretary isn’t known for believing in public diplomacy. So why is he calling for a new US information agency? – John Brown (Guardian, January 30): If one reads between the lines of Rumsfeld and Gates’s declarations on the importance of soft power, what they are in fact suggesting is that the US military has done all it can dutifully do supporting a legitimate American foreign policy but that US civilian propaganda (not the job of soldiers) has failed to do so. According to Rumsfeld/Gates, the propagandists, not the warriors or the policy they implement, are the culprits for US failures overseas.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_brown/2008/01/rummy_resurfaces_announced_a_w.html
More on Rumsfeld at
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0901-31.htm
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20031201/brown

7. Al-Qaeda’s Propaganda Advantage and How to Counter It - Brigitte L. Nacos (Perspectives on Terrorism, issue 4, 2007; posted at International Military Forums, January 30): Washington has not found effective communication strategies to counter terrorist propaganda from al-Qaeda and like-minded groups and individuals. The U.S. Department of State’s post-9/11 public diplomacy programs have failed to deter terrorist recruiting in the Middle East and in the Muslim diaspora—especially in Europe. It is just plain embarrassing that al-Qaeda is better at communicating its message on the Internet than America.
http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/al-qaeda-s-propaganda-advantage-t52787.html

8. The War Against Jihadism: Why can’t we call the enemy by its name? We’re going to have to in order to win - George Weigel (Newsweek, January 26): The power of ideas that can call men and women to make great sacrifices can only be trumped by the power of more compelling ideas that summon forth nobler sacrifices. Yet while our presidential candidates have endlessly debated who-was-right-or-wrong-and-when about Iraq, the imperative of effective U.S. public diplomacy—of making the argument for freedom and decency effectively around the world—has gone largely unremarked. SEE BELOW ITEMS 13-14.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/105583/output/print
see also
http://n00b1.blogspot.com/2008/01/where-does-you-candidate-stand.html

9. Rediscovering the New World - Christopher Sabatini and Eric Farnsworth (American Interest, March): The United States must do better at reaching out to a new generation of groups and leaders in Latin America by restoring the image of the United States as a generous, welcoming nation. Scholarships, seminars and public diplomacy can still work if they use new technologies and creativity to reach out to indigenous and new-style leaders.
http://www.as-coa.org/print.php?type=article&id=877

10. Presentation of Final Report of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy - (U.S. Department of State, January 29): Secretary Rice: “[W]e have now created a Global Partnership Center. More and more in the 21st century, diplomacy, development, and strategic communications are not going to be the work of governments alone. To succeed in all these endeavors, the United States will need the active engagement of our private sector, our schools, our universities, our NGOs, and private individuals.” Thomas Pickering: “Madame Secretary, ... [t]he burden you carry is already enormous, but you will know that the report now gives you four separate hats. We believe that you are the Secretary of State for diplomacy, as we normally understand it. You’re the Secretary of State for foreign assistance. You’re the Secretary of State for public diplomacy. And you’re the Secretary of State for reconstruction and stabilization.”
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/01/99822.htm

11. U.S. public diplomacy: creating a positive by doubling a negative - (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy, January 30): “The US embassy in Khartoum issued a statement today denying that its charge d’affaires, Alberto Fernandez, was misquoted by Reuters in an interview conducted last week. Hours after the embassy declined to comment to Sudan Tribune on the issue of misquotation, its public diplomacy officer Walter Braunohler said in a statement that ‘every quote of the Chargé d’affaires that appeared in the article was accurate’. ... The official Sudan news agency (SUNA) said that [Fernandez] informed foreign ministry officials that he was ‘misquoted’ by Reuter’s reporter Opheera Mcdoom.” Sudan Tribune, 29 January 2008.
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3233

12. (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy), latest edition
http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/

13. Better U.S. image abroad: how to attain it? Presidential candidates cite intent to improve US stature, but retooling policies is complicated - Howard LaFranchi (Christian Science Monitor, January 30): With global views of the United States seemingly stuck at historic lows, improving America’s image abroad has emerged as a prominent issue of the 2008 presidential campaign. Reversing the low stature may be helped along by the arrival of a fresh face in the White House, but what it will really take is a change in unpopular policies, analysts say—from the war in Iraq to the more restrictive criteria for granting US visas. But some unpopular policies, among them some of those resulting from 9/11, are likely to remain unchanged no matter who is president.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p03s01-usfp.html

14. Barack Obama’s Arts Policy - Linda Frye Burnham (canblog, January 25; Forwarded from the Obama ‘08 campaign): Promote Cultural Diplomacy: American artists, performers and thinkers—representing our values and ideals—can inspire people both at home and all over the world. Through efforts like that of the United States Information Agency, America’s cultural leaders were deployed around the world during the Cold War as artistic ambassadors and helped win the war of ideas by demonstrating to the world the promise of America. Artists can be utilized again to help us win the war of ideas against Islamic extremism. Unfortunately, our resources for cultural diplomacy are at their lowest level in a decade. SEE BELOW ITEM 22.
http://www.communityarts.net/blog/archives/2008/01/barack_obamas_a.php

15. Personnel Announcement - Office of the Press Secretary (White House, January 29): The President intends to nominate Robert J. Callahan, of Virginia, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Nicaragua. Mr. Callahan, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as a Diplomatic Fellow at the George Washington University. Prior to this, he served as Director of Public Diplomacy in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Earlier in his career, he served as a Public Affairs Officer in Rome, Italy.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080129-4.html

16. Sorry State of US Tourism Promotion Keeps Guests Away - Max Hartshorne (Airport Parking Blog, January 30: “People-to-people” communication builds understanding in a way that no other form of communication can match. Without doubt, Americans are our country’s most powerful diplomats. Finding ways to attract more international visitors to America must be a critical element of the nation’s public diplomacy process.
http://www.airportparkingreservations.com/blog/2008/01/sorry-state-of-us-tourism-promotion.html

17. NATO can help in enhancing region’s stability, says official – Peninsula (January 30): “NATO can work closely with the nations of the [Middle East] region. It does not intend to impose anything but to develop knowledge, common training and being able to bring much more for peace and stability,” NATO Assistant Secretary General, Public Diplomacy, Jean-Francois Bureau said.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=January2008&file=Local_News2008012943333.xml
see also
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=198463&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

18. Call for journalists to cover NATO event in Lithuania – (International Journalist’s Network, January 30): Journalists are invited to apply to be part of a team of young journalists who will get to cover a NATO event in Vilnius, Lithuania. The deadline to apply is ASAP. The event will take place from February 7-8. The event will be a gallery opening in Vilnius for the NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
http://www.ijnet.org/Director.aspx?P=Article&ID=307187&LID=1

19. BVI representatives to attend regional child protection conference in Havana, Cuba – (BVI newsonline, January 28): The British Embassy in Havana and the Cuban Interior Ministry will welcome professionals from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) amongst fifteen Latin American and Caribbean countries for the Regional Child Protection Conference which is taking place in Havana from 28 January to 1 February 2008. Two participants from the BVI government are being funded by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office Public Diplomacy Fund.
http://www.bvinews.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=198&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=4288&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1924&hn=bvinews&he=.com

20. Money, Media & the Mess in America - Robert Perry (posted at Are You a Pod Person?, January 30): In a May 13, 1985, memo, which surfaced during the Iran-Contra scandal, Reagan-Bush official Jonathan Miller boasted about what he called “white propaganda” successes. As an example, he cited the Wall Street Journal’s publication of a pro-administration opinion piece on Nicaragua that had been written by a government consultant, history professor John Guilmartin Jr. “Officially, this office had no role in its preparation,” wrote Miller, who worked out of the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy. “The work of our operation is ensured by our office’s keeping a low profile.”
http://iamnotapodperson.blogspot.com/2008/01/didja-ever-wonder-about-our-media.html

B) RELATED ITEMS (world perceptions of U.S., 21-23; Bush State of the Union address, 24-25; anti-Americanism 26-27; Iraq, 28-37; Lebanon, 38; Afghanistan, 39; Kosovo, 40; Russia, 41-42; Ukraine, 43; Pakistan, 44-45; war on terror, 46-49; torture, 50; US passports, 52; Rice, 53)

21. An Asian Century? - H.D.S. Greenway (Boston Globe, January 29): “Although the erosion of US power, both hard and soft, under the administration of George W. Bush has been common currency in recent years, it was still a shock to me [at the Davos meeting in Switzerland] to hear it said, and generally accepted, that America was no longer known for putting a man on the moon, but for Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, the ‘twin pillars of incompetence’—a country over-stretched militarily that had squandered its legitimacy to lead. ... ‘America was the dream of the world,’ said a French delegate.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/29/an_asian_century?mode=PF

22. American Democracy is Riveting – Roger Cohen (International Herald Tribune, January 30): A reason why the world is addicted to this US campaign with nine months still to go is “Obamania,” now in overdrive with the Kennedy endorsemen. Obamania shows how great America’s hold on the planetary imagination remains. Far from paradoxical, the global fascination with this election is in fact logical. For where America leads, with post-Bush dexterity and purpose, the world will still follow.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/30/opinion/edcohen.php

23. Vaudeville: Ten years after Monica, the Democratic presidential race is all about theatrics - Bernard-Henri Lévy (New Republic, January 29): “America being what it is—a country where Guy Debord (the French writer, filmmaker and co-founder of the Situationist movement) definitively wins out over Hegel, where, therefore, ‘all that is real is rational, all that is rational is real,’ has given way to ‘all that is real must be a spectacle, and all that is spectacle must become real,’ the mantra of reality show producers. The United States is a country where one cannot resist—as in Hollywood—a great and well-focused image, unlike in France where wordplay and the one-liner are prized. I am betting that for this reason—because of the pleasure afforded us by watching scenes of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Televised Almighty, as recorded by the cameramen of our new Universal History—she has already triumphed over Barack Obama.”
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=1206c0c9-cf9e-4282-9c38-e7d53d0a9013

24. The Man Who Learned Too Little: In his final State of the Union, Bush makes more empty promises - Fred Kaplan (Slate, January 28): “America is a force for hope in the world because we are a compassionate people,” Bush said toward the end of his State of the Union address. We know this to be true, at least in principle. It will take another president to demonstrate it.
http://www.slate.com/id/2182951/

25. Out of Gas - Dan Froomkin (washingtonpost.com, January 29): In his final State of the Union address, nothing President Bush said will undo the damage he has done to American interests abroad. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/29/BL2008012901447_pf.html

26. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela - Amar C. Bakshi (washingtonpost.com, January 27): “Hanging off buildings are numerous photos of President Chavez in a red shirt inaugurating new bureaucracies to aid the poor. Despite much official signage and (un)official murals, I see no overt anti-American images.”
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2008/01/the_bolivarian_republic_venezuela.html?nav=rss_blog

27. Arming the Middle East – Stephen Zunes (Foreign Policy in Focus, January 29; Common Dreams): The strongest anti-American sentiment that results may come as a consequence of U.S.-supplied weapons systems and ordinance that are never actually used in combat.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/29/6700/

28. When is a War Not a War? Defining & Achieving Victory in Iraq - Todd Keister (American Diplomacy, January 29): The author calls for ruthless neutralization of the enemy, after which hearts and minds can be more readily won.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/0103/keis/keister_whenis.html

29. One Million Iraqis Killed; Humanitarian Crisis of Vast Proportions; 6 Bombings in Baghdad – Juan Cole (Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion, January 31): A new professional poll carried out by a British firm in Iraq concludes that excess deaths from violence since March 19, 2003 through summer 2007 came to just over 1 million. Bush signed a law forbidding him from spending money to make permanent bases in Iraq but at the same time issued a signing statement making clear he had no intention of paying any attention to that or several other provisions in the legislation.
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/one-million-iraqis-killed-humanitarian.html

30. Tomgram: Bombs Away Over Iraq; Looking Up: Normalizing Air War from Guernica to Arab Jabour - Tom Engelhardt (TomDispatch, January 29): Maybe, sooner or later, American mainstream journalists in Iraq (and editors back in the U.S.) will actually look up, notice those contrails in the skies, register those “precision” bombs and missiles landing, and consider whether it really is a ho-hum, no-news period when the U.S. Air Force looses 100,000 pounds of explosives on a farming district on the edge of Baghdad.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174887/bombs_away_over_iraq

31. Return to Fallujah, Part Two: “The Americans Bring Us Only Destruction” - Patrick Cockburn (CounterPunch, January 29)
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01292008.html
for part one, see
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01282008.html

32. Choices at the End of the Surge - William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 31): The surge is over—congratulations—but the war is not.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/with_the_end_of_the_surge_come.html#more

33. The Next Iraq Phase - David Ignatius (Washington Post, January 30): The Iraqis want a restoration of full sovereignty, and they aren’t likely to tolerate for much longer the American-run prisons or U.S. soldiers kicking down doors. Unless the planners take that political reality into account—and reassure Iraqis and Americans alike that most U.S. troops will gradually be coming home—they may be creating a new version of Mission Impossible.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012902726_pf.html

34. A Report From Iraq: Nearly five years into the war, our correspondent, a former marine and assistant secretary of defense, surveys the battlefield and looks at what the year ahead has in store - Bing West (atlantic.com, January 30): General Petraeus called his campaign “the Anaconda Strategy,” a reference to General Ulysses S. Grant’s strategy in the closing stages of the Civil War. Similarly, Iraq will take years to sort out and settle down, requiring American steadfastness with progressively fewer American troops. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801u/iraq-update

35. Partisan Retreat: Our inevitable withdrawal from Iraq could poison American politics for a generation - Jonathan Rauch (Atlantic Monthly, January/February ): The crucial decision the next president will make is not whether to withdraw forces from Iraq—that is baked in the cake—but how.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/partisan-retreat

36. Iraq: Making It Someone Else’s Problem – Editorial (Brattleboro Reformer, January 29; Common Dreams): Iraq remains a basket case. Committing our soldiers to stay in Iraq for decades to come will not change this picture.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/29/6710/

37. More Neo-Con Military Advice – (Lobelog.com, January 27): The pace of the Iraq drawdown would appear to be the next big battle between the hawks and the “realists” over Iraq (and Iran), and the neo-cons are trying to get their licks in against the “realists” as early as possible.
http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=99

38. Lebanon held hostage: Syria’s efforts to block an assassination inquiry have produced a political stalemate – Editorial (Los Angeles Times, January 30): Lebanon is in a state of full political paralysis, a stalemate engineered and enforced by its overlord, Syria. It has been without a president since Nov. 24. US, UN, French and now Arab League diplomats have failed to broker a solution. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-lebanon30jan30,0,6618053.story

39. Calls grow for shift in Afghan policy - David R. Sands (Washington Times, January 31): The Bush administration faces increasing pressure to make a major policy course correction on Afghanistan, shifting the focus from Iraq to fight a resurgent terrorist threat and build up the faltering government in Kabul.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/FOREIGN/913898879/1001&template=printart

40. Warning light on Kosovo - John Bolton, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Peter Rodman (Washington Times, January 31): An imposed settlement of the Kosovo question and seeking to partition Serbia’s sovereign territory without its consent is not in the interest of the United States.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/COMMENTARY/288472699/1012&template=printart

41. From Russia, With Recipes - Ben Crair (New Republic, January 30): Readers of today’s Washington Post may have been surprised to find tucked behind Sports a new “Russia” section, which looks like part of the newspaper but which, upon closer inspection, is an “advertising supplement” paid for by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The Gazeta is a Russian government newspaper, which means one can look forward to reading the supplement with an eye for the unintentional hilarity of a corrupt authoritarian regime tailoring its propaganda towards the perceived interests of American consumers.
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/01/30/from-russia-with-recipes.aspx

42. Kicking Democracy’s Corpse in Russia - Editorial (New York Times, January 30): Very little remains of the democracy that struggled to be born in Russia after Communism’s fall. The least Western democrats can do for their thwarted Russian counterparts is to frankly acknowledge this painful truth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/opinion/30wed4.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

43. Who Lost Ukraine? It’s not too soon to start asking - Reuben F. Johnson (Weekly Standard, January 30): About this time next year people may very well be asking “who lost Ukraine,” by which time the train will have left the station a long time back, so to speak. American and EU officials need to be spending time worrying about—and acting on—this issue now, rather than listening to the happy talk of the Russian delegation from Davos.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/661ijuog.asp

44. Shattered Hopes: As Pakistan’s parliamentary elections approach, the PPP’s future is uncertain - Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Nick Grace (Weekly Standard, January 30): Since the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is Pakistan’s only secular opposition party with true national reach, its weakening is significant for U.S. strategic interests.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/662vtwnq.asp

45. Terror threat hitting home in Pakistan: Attacks aren’t just a US concern, more Pakistanis say - Mark Sappenfield (Christian Science Monitor, January 30)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p01s04-wosc.html

46. Al Qaeda Loves Bush: Thanks for the Free Advertising - William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 29): By framing a bigger battle between healthy nations and a marginal terrorist organization, the president is mightily adding to the al Qaeda mystique.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/al_qaeda_loves_bush_thanks_for.html#more

47. The ‘War on Terror’ Licenses a New Stupidity in Geopolitics: The language loved by Bush and Musharraf has translated into a global disaster bringing death and misery to millions – Simon Jenkins (Guardian, January 30; Common Dreams)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/30/6732/

48. 9/11 defines my generation - Christopher D. Geisel (Jerusalem Post, January 30): According to a 2007 Zogby poll, the vast majority of Americans consider the 9/11 terrorist attacks to be the most significant historical event of their lifetimes.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201523787416&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

49. Don’t Even Think About It: The war against “homegrown terrorism” is on. Enter the thought police - James Ridgeway and Jean Casella (Mother Jones, January 23)
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?url=http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/01/homegrown-terrorism.html

50. Another psychologist quits APA -- Psyche, Science, and Society – (Blog of Stephen Soldz: Psychoanalyst, Psychologist, Researcher, and Activist, January 28): San Francisco psychologist Jeffrey Kaye joins those resigning from the American Psychological Association in disgust with their policies allowing psychologists to aid Bush’s interrogations, along with general APA-military/intelligence establishment ties
http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/2008/01/28/another-psychologist-quits-apa/
via
http://swedemeat.blogspot.com/2008/01/enhance-enough.html

51. Bush’s much-maligned climate talks could yet help global-warming treaty: At the meeting of the world’s biggest polluters in Hawaii this week, host US has a chance to show it is serious about action on climate change - Peter N. Spotts (Christian Science Monitor, January 30)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p02s01-wogi.html

52. Travel Insider: U.S. passport fees set to rise - Jane Engle (Los Angeles Times January 29): The cost of getting a passport will hit $100 starting Friday. The increase is one of a series of changes this week that affect U.S. citizens traveling outside the country.
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-passportfees29jan29

53. Now That We’re All Totally Over Being Wild for Boyzilians, Let’s Get Back to Condi - (Princess Sparkle Pony‘s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 29): “It’s pretty much back to normal for Condi, and that means returning to the classic photo-ops! Seen above, she’s back cozied in her nest of matching armchairs in the State Department’s luxury greeting salon with the not unpleasant looking Albanian diplobot. Yesterday she did a ‘dueling podiums’ with Stephen Smith, the Australian Condi.”
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/now-that-were-all-totally-over-being.html

C) ONLY IN AMERICA?

54. The sleaziest Super Bowl ads of all time: A farting horse, a catfight over beer and—of course— GoDaddy.com” - Peter Hartlaub (MSNBC January 29)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22871730/

55. zipskinny: Enter your ZIP code to see US census data and comparisons with neighboring ZIPS.
http://zipskinny.com/
via a valued PDPBR subscriber

D) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“We don’t want to bring another person into the chaos of our lives.”

--Cody Cheetham, 22, a Purdue senior, looking for a marketing job after she graduates in May and planning on getting an MBA; cited in Sue Shellenbarger “Where Is the Love? Students Eschew Campus Romance” (Wall Street Journal, January 31)
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120172523751229601.html
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“[T]he package is on the way out.”

--Officers radioing to commanders that they physically removed Britney Spears from her home; cited in Andrew Blankstein, “Spears hospitalized for ‘mental health’: In the second time in a month, the pop star has been physically removed from her home by police” (Los Angeles Times, January 31)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-spears31jan31,0,121824.story

“The operational environment will continue to become more crowded with information, so it is clear that our war fighters must be able to manage complex situations with faster, more accurate and more concentrated cognitive capabilities. This means that issues such as cognitive overload, fatigue and decision-making under stress are fast becoming crucial factors in performance.”

--Amy Kruse, Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) program manager; cited in David Hughes, “Darpa Pursues Neuroscience To Enhance Analyst, Soldier Performance” (Aviation Week, January 28)
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/aw012808p1.xml&headline=Darpa%20Pursues%20Neuroscience%20To%20Enhance%20Analyst,%20Soldier%20Performance
via
http://swedemeat.blogspot.com/2008/01/enhance-enough.html

E) FROM THE INTERNET: EVEN MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY (source of quotations could not not verified)

“Question: ‘If you could live forever, would you and why?‘

Answer: ‘I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.’”

--Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest

“Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.”

--Mariah Carey

“Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.”

--Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign

“I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.”

--Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward

“Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.”

--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC

“That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I’m just the one to do it.”

--A congressional candidate in Texas

“Half this game is ninety percent mental.”

--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”

--Al Gore, Vice President

“I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.”

--Dan Quayle

“We’ve got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?”

--Lee Iacocca

“The word ‘genius’ isn’t applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”

--Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

“We don’t necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.”

--Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor

“Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”

--Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina

“Traditionally, most of Australia’s imports come from overseas.”

--Keppel Enderbery

“If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there’ll be a record.”

--Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

©2008 USC Center on Public Diplomacy. All rights reserved.