Best,

John

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS AND BLOG REVIEW, FEBRUARY 3-4

“Bill Kristol: Look, the only people for Hillary Clinton are the Democratic establishment and white women. The Democratic establishment—it would be crazy for the Democratic Party to follow an establishment that’s led it to defeat year after year. White women are a problem, that’s, you know—we all live with that.
(laughter)

Juan Williams (National Public Radio correspondent and Fox News contributor): Not me!”

—Exchange on the February 3 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.‘s Fox News Sunday
http://mediamatters.org/items/200802030002
via
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

EVENT

The West’s Secret Plan for the Mind: Book Distribution to East Europe during the Cold War (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, February 6 : 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m)
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.print&event_id=353382&stoplayout=true
courtesy Len Baldyga

VIDEO

a) Donald Duck In The Spirit Of ‘43
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZOdXg3zhlI
via
http://current.com/items/88832582_the_propaganda_post

b) FOX - George Bush Just Like Abraham Lincoln
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8022267991724476901&q=propaganda&total=38748&start=10&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=8

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-15)

1. SFRC Hears From Public Diplomacy Nominees – (U.S. Diplomacy: A Great Decisions 2008 Blog, February 4): On Wednesday of last week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard the testimony of three of President Bush’s nominees seeking confirmation to hold State Department positions in the bureau of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. The first to testify was James K. Glassman. It appears that Glassman has been doing his homework. Also testifying was Goli Ameri, President Bush’s nominee to hold the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
http://diplomacy.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/02/03/sfrc-hears-from-public-diplomacy-nominees/
Glassman prepared testimony at
http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/testimony/2008/GlassmanTestimony080130.pdf

2. Newsletter: Public Diplomacy in Europe, December 2007 (Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. State Department, Washington DC)
http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/newsletter/99812.htm
Courtesy Len Baldyga

3. Kremlin More Subtly Jams Freedom’s Beams - Diane Zeleny, Director of Communications, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Prague (Letter to the Editor, Wall Street Journal, February 1): Little can be done, apparently, to convince the Kremlin to allow a free and fair domestic media, which makes the mission of international, independent Russian language media all the more critical.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120182977891733977.html
via
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3273

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

5. UNI [University of Northern Iowa], other U.S. colleges, benefit from increase in international students - Mary Stegmeir (Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, IA, February 3): “Having international students here is really a good form of public diplomacy,” said Ross Schupbach, UNI’s international student admissions advisor. “It is something that breaks down barriers and lets people know how things work in the United States. We hope that they have a good experience here, and communicate that back in their home country.”
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/02/03/news/top_story/f0e7df52e4f2a4ef862573e40014a421.txt

6. “Politics and The Arts” — (hatto fischer, poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground, January 31): “One thing I don’t understand and with that I shall close my comments: the use of the term ‘cultural diplomacy’. Like in Europe efforts are made to use artists as ambassadors abroad, but if tied in with the traditional diplomatic methods and more so becomes a part of ‘branding culture’ as if the American, German, Mexican etc. one, then damage is caused to the artists quest for universal understanding. We are then back in the nationalist fold especially if ‘cultural diplomacy’ is really a way to sell a positive image of one’s own country abroad. It is pure marketing but with different, that is cultural means. More so cultural diplomacy can be linked to the public diplomacy practiced by the Bush administration insofar it is nothing but propaganda and has nothing to do with being truthful nor with the desire to level with people about the realities they live in. The arts and culture should never be instrumentalized as propaganda tools but there is a clear danger that this will be the case. They are too often abused in order to blind people about the true state of affairs.”
http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/hatto-fischer-politics-and-the-arts/

7. Baghdad crud and the new embassy – (EgSinBaghdad: occasional comments about living and working in Beautiful Baghdad, the Mesopotamian Metropolis between the Rivers, February 3): “did a tour of the new embassy compound. you can read much about it in a vanity fair article of some months ago, but ed’s scoop: nice apartments, good office space, lots of creature comforts unheard of at most embassies (indoor pool, gyms, weight/exercise room, concession space for burger king, etc., etc..) but, as we cannot go out and shop on the local economy s we would normally do, well, everything must be provided inside the hardened structures where we’ll live and work. sucha shame - most people in the foreign service like to get out with the locals - shopping in the souk, buying brochettes from street vendors in conakry, water from vendors in the djma il fna in marrakesh, etc. but, to keep us safe, we’ll here be behind the walls and isolated away fromt he populace - rather self-defeaating of public diplomacy efforts.”
http://egsinbaghdad.blogspot.com/2008/02/baghdad-crud-and-new-embassy.html

8. Back to the Embassy of the Future – (The Skeptical Bureaucrat, January 28): [T]he new EOTF [Embassy of the Future would have both a secure central compound and several small satellite offices for public outreach and “distributed presence.” By the way, I very much like the new EOTF recommendations for that distributed presence, even though implementing them will require changing some current security standards and even a U.S. law (the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act, Public Law 106-113). It seems to me a reasonable risk, and a more appropriate venue for conducting public diplomacy.”
http://skepticalbureaucrat.blogspot.com/2008/01/back-to-embassy-of-future.html
via
http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2008/02/re-embassies-of-future.html

9. StratComm gets a black eye in the blogosphere – Chad B. Holmes (Beyond Blather: Promoting discussion of strategic communication among communicators dedicated to supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States of America, February 4): Strategic Communication got taken to the woodshed in the blogosphere last week after former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld again promoted a high-level government office to manage strategic communication for the United States.
http://beyondblather.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/stratcomm-gets-a-black-eye-in-the-blogosphere/

10. Got it? - cannoneerno4 (Civilian Irregular Information Defense Group: Distributed Information Operations by domestic PSYOP auxilliaries, February 3): Public Diplomacy—PD is the U.S. State Dept’s influence and information capability—PSYOP can support public diplomacy.
http://cannoneerno4.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/got-it/

11. Matt Armstrong’s “Mountainrunner” –  Rima Tatevossian PD Blogger Interview (USC Center on Public Diplomacy): Armstrong’s key interests and studies in Public Diplomacy are echoed in the manifesto of MountainRunner: “This blog is a device to discuss, explore and even link ideas in the four major, and overlapping and often mutually dependent, areas important to the future of America’s national security: public diplomacy, unrestricted warfare, privatization of force, and civil-military relations.”
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/pdbloggerinterviews_matt/
see also
http://pragmatic.nationalinterest.in/2008/02/03/four-links/

12. Chronicle readers question the candidates: Sen. Barack Obama (SFGate.com, February 4): Obama— “I have … called for a comprehensive public diplomacy program, including funding for ‘America Houses’ to incorporate youth centers and libraries that are needed throughout the broader Muslim World, and the establishment of a “Voice Corps” to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of Arabic, Bahasa, Bahasa, Farsi, Urdu, and Turkish who can ensure our voice is heard—and that we listen—throughout the world. As President, I will lead this public diplomacy effort, beginning with a speech at a major Islamic forum in my first 100 days.“
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/04/MNC0URFOC.DTL&type=printable

13. Official says institutes are propaganda tools - Fan Cheng-hsiang (Taipei Times, January 31): An Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) official said yesterday that China has established more than 200 “Confucius Institutes” in a bid to disseminate propaganda. While these Confucius Institutes claim to promote Chinese language and culture, they are controlled by the Chinese government and aim to use education and culture to gain international influence and promote the viewpoints of the Beijing government, said an OCAC official, who declined to be identified.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/01/31/2003399603

14. Devalued norms – (Jerusalem Post, February 3): The replication in Gaza of some of the many mistakes made in that war against Hizbullah—the lack of forward planning, the basing of decisions on assumptions rather than facts, the inadequate evaluation of the consequences of certain policies, the absent public diplomacy, and more—has confirmed the ongoing lack of expertise and of crucial decision-making processes that characterize Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s leadership.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1202064572965&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

15. Spy vs. Spy – Wes Pedersen (Letters to the editor, Washington Post, February 3): “In his review of Hugh Wilford’s The Mighty Wurlitzer (Book World, Jan. 27), Michael Kazin gets it at least three-quarters right. The CIA in the Cold War did indeed create a mighty clandestine web, recruiting American and foreign writers to produce propaganda aimed at destabilizing many of the official and unofficial institutions in the communist orbit. But in its founding years, the U.S. Information Agency demonstrated repeatedly that it, too, could play the game and, on occasion, play it better.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013102629.html
on USIA see
http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/2.htm

B) RELATED ITEMS (U.S. in world, 16-19; Iraq, 20-21; Iran, 22-23; Afghanistan, 24-26; Pakistan, 27; North Korea, 28; Darfur, 29; Spain, 30; Russia, 31; democratization in Central Asia, 32; global warming, 33; US torture, 34-36; US Foreign Service, 37; Rice, 38-39)

16. The whole world is watching - Times (Los Angeles Times, February 4): Correspondents assess the U.S. campaign through local lenses in four regions:
Asia
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-global-asiafeb04,0,6266370.story
Latin America
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-global-latamfeb04,0,5511023.story
Middle East
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-global-mideastfeb04,0,2877005.story
Europe
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-global-europefeb04,0,6253818.story

17. The Cold War as Ancient History - Roger Cohen (New York Times, February 4): It’s time again for a new U.S. leader to find words that embody the world’s hopes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/opinion/04cohen.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

18. Downsizing our dominance: The next president will have to deal with a world in which U.S. hegemony is a thing of the past - Fred Kaplan (Los Angeles Times, February 3): The next president’s big challenge will be to revive America’s influence and stature while facing up to the limits of its power in a newly fractured world.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-kaplan3feb03,0,4132257.story

19. Blowback from the GOP’s holy war: The 2008 Republican race has left a bitter legacy of sloganeering against Muslims. It may well haunt the party this November - Juan Cole (Salon, February 1): If any of the remaining candidates does win the presidency, he is going to have to cultivate close relations with Middle Eastern regimes to even begin resolving the mess in that region. And that president will have to do so saddled from the start with a legacy of denigrating Islam and Muslims.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/02/01/islamophobia/print.html

20. In Iraq, Three Wars Engage U.S. : Shiite Extremists Pose Greatest Challenge, Military Officials Say - Thomas E. Ricks (Washington Post, February 3): The wars are against al-Qaeda in Iraq, against the domestic Sunni insurgency, and against Shiite extremist militias.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/02/AR2008020202072_pf.html

21. Iraq as Stepchild of the American Empire: A Colony By Any Other Name - Robert Fantina (CounterPunch, February 2/3)
http://www.counterpunch.org/fantina02022008.html

22. Target: Israel - Louis René Beres and Thomas McInerney (Washington Times, February 4): If America won’t act decisively against Iran, Israel must.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/EDITORIAL/216475769/1013/EDITORIAL&template=printart

23. Three Internet Cables Slashed in a Week: Has Iran lost all Internet Connectivity? - Mike Whitney (GlobalReserach.ca, February 3)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7987

24. Deconflicting the GWOT Matrix - Meatball One (Swedish Meatballs Confidential, February 3): Some are now suggesting it’s time to deconflict the GWOT [Global War on Terrorism] matrix and save what can be saved of an Afghanistan critically foundering in the shadow of an embarrassing and debilitating controversy called Iraq.
http://swedemeat.blogspot.com/2008/02/deconflicting-gwot-matrix.html

25. Teams work to rebuild Afghanistan - Philip Smucker (Washington Times, February 4): With vast swathes of the Afghan countryside slipping under the sway of insurgent groups, the U.S. military is attaching new interest and urgency to the work of the 25 Provincial Reconstruction Teams charged with bringing development to the country.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/FOREIGN/686851921/1001&template=printart

26. The world can’t ignore the Al Qaeda and Taliban threat in Afghanistan: A surge by the US and its allies is needed in the country – editorial (Christian Science Monitor, February 4)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0204/p08s01-comv.html

27. What to Do About Pakistan – Ivan Eland (antiwar.com, February 4): With both aid and democracy promotion, U.S. policy toward Pakistan should first be “do no harm.” Doing less in both cases is likely to get better results.
http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=12307

28. Pulling the plug on Pyongyang - James T. Hackett (Washington Times, February 3): President Bush changed policy on North Korea when things were going badly in Iraq and he needed a victory. He was not well-served by those who suggested he could find his legacy in North Korea. But now there is a chance to make amends.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080203/COMMENTARY/101684866/1012&template=printart

29. Help Wanted in Darfur: The Bush administration should put some muscle behind deploying a peacekeeping force – Editorial (Washington Post, February 3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/02/AR2008020201828_pf.html

30. Remember the Maine: Not much love lost between the United States and Spain - Mark Falcoff
(Weekly Standard, February 2)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Check.asp?idArticle=14680&r=syohk
paid subscription

31. Putin’s Russia, Armed With Oil, Menaces West in `New Cold War’ - George Walden (Bloomberg, February 4): It would be comforting to think that hostility to the West is limited to unsophisticated Russians and to an elite cadre in the Kremlin. Yet a recent poll found that resentment of the U.S. is strongest among university-educated male Muscovites. Ambitious Russians, like BBC executives in the U.K., have apparently decided that anti-Americanism is a good career move.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=alYaBquyi9YE&refer=home

32. Seeking a Path in Democracy’s Dead End - C. J. Chivers (New York Times, February 3): In the last three years in the former vassals of the Kremlin that lie to Moscow’s southeast, from the Caspian Sea to China’s borders, the exuberant vision of nurturing pluralistic societies and governments responsive to popular will—enunciated by President Bush’s public calls for democratization—has met so many obstacles that it has been quietly recalibrated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/weekinreview/03chivers.html?ref=weekinreview&pagewanted=print

33. Late and Lame on Warming – Editorial (New York Times, February 4):
Even allowing for the low expectations we bring to any lame-duck president’s final State of the Union address, President Bush’s brief discussion of climate change seemed especially disconnected from reality: from the seriousness and urgency of the problem and from his own responsibility for obstructing progress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/opinion/04mon1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

34. Torture Does Not Work, as History Shows – Robert Fiske (Independent, February 3/Common Dreams): Who said “waterboarding” was new? The Americans are just apeing their predecessors in the inquisition.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/03/6810/

35. Torture Unnecessary to Get Information - Peter Weiss (Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, February 2/Common Dreams)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/02/6806/
 
36. Would It Be Torture If It Was Done to You? - David Bromwich (Huffington Post, February 3): Attorney General Michael Mukasey intimated that the president could have been acting legally when he authorized the drowning torture: a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, and under the treaty obligations of the United States.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/would-it-be-torture-if-it_b_84672.html

37. Bush Aims To Hire More Diplomats: Foreign Service Would Gain 1,100 Positions - Matthew Lee, Associated Press (Washington Post, February 4): President Bush wants to hire nearly 1,100 new diplomats to address severe staffing shortages and put the State Department on track to meet an ambitious call to double its size over the next decade, according to administration officials. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has lobbied hard for the new hires.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020303081_pf.html

38. Quickie: Condi Just Wants 1,100 New Underlings, OK? (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, February 4): “Hey, that’s an average of just over 3 hires a day for the remainder of the administration. Hop to it, OPM!”
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/02/quickie-condi-just-wants-1100-new.html

39. Condoleezza’s Glamorous World of Dinner Parties & 9/11 – Peter Huestis (Wonkette, February 4): Condi was back in Foggy Bottom 24/7 last week, and you know what that means: photo-ops, photo-ops, photo-ops!
http://wonkette.com/352063/condoleezzas-glamorous-world-of-dinner-parties—911

C) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“We’ve grown into a culture of searchers, not readers.”

—School Librarian Thomas Washington; cited in Washington’s “Kids Can’t Focus These Days. Then Again, Neither Can I” (Washington Post, February 3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020102825.html

’How long is it?’ has replaced ‘Will I like it?’”

—Thomas Washington, from above article, noting a question asked by younger readers

D) ONE MORE VIDEO

New American Gladiators! Rejected Auditions!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb2dwtZ2gRw

E) IMAGES

Battlestar Galactica Propaganda Posters
http://www.duckydoestv.com/2008/02/01/battlestar-galactica-propaganda-posters/

“Next thing you know, the Defense Department will be putting on cultural programs.”

—Gerald Loftus, “Communicating America’s Message—Whose Core Competency?” (Avuncular American: An expatriate view from Europe, February 1)
http://avuncularamerican.typepad.com/blog/2008/02/communicating-a.html

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: BOOKS, ARTICLES, WEBSITES #37

Intended for teachers of public diplomacy and related courses, below section F is an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions for future updates are welcome. Kindly provided by Bruce Gregory, Director, Public Diplomacy Institute, George Washington University, (202) 994-0389, BGregory@gwu.edu

IMAGES

Military advice: What to do if you encounter an archeological site
http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/070618_cards.pdf
courtesy of a valued PDPBR subscriber

VIDEO

David Letterman on Bush’s State of the Union Address
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/01/30/open-thread-706/
via
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/31/BL2008013101764_pf.html

POLITICAL CARTOON
I Got You Babe
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20080131_i_got_you_babe/

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-29)

1. James Glassman: The Journalist Turned Journo-lobbyist’s Bid to Be PR Czar - Diane Farsetta (PR Watch.org, Center for Media and Democracy, January 31): If the Foreign Relations Committee and full Senate confirm James Glassman, the nominee for Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, he’s likely to follow in his predecessor Karen Hughes’s footsteps, with a greater emphasis on Internet tools and a new cadre of “credible” pro-U.S. Muslim influencers. But unless the United States makes real changes in its foreign policy, the U.S. global “brand” will remain tarnished.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6953

2. America’s New Publicist Takes the Stand; James Glassman: “enemies are eating our lunch online” – (PRNewser, February 2): “James K. Glassman ...  took the stand this week in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ... What emerged from the testimony is that Glassman—creator of the naysaying Tech Central Station—believes the U.S. needs to step up its online information efforts. Our humble and outsider opinion is that shooting a few thousand new pages of text in to the wind won’t do much to raise the country’s standing in the world from now until GWBII is over, or alleviate tension within the State Deparment.”
http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/politics/americas_new_publicist_takes_the_stand_james_glassman_enemies_are_eating_our_lunch_online_76376.asp?c=rss
see also
http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=68110
http://current.com/items/88829944_al_qaeda_s_online_buddy_list_is_bigger_than_the_bush_administration_s
http://guichardblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/humility-factor.html
http://wildwickedwonderful.blogspot.com/2008/02/in-media.html

3. The War of Ideas – Michael Goldfarb (Weekly Standard, February 1): JAMES GLASSMAN, in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations this week: “Muslims in America embrace U.S. values and participate actively in U.S. society, yet they differ with other Americans and with the U.S. government on policy. That is to say, policy is not the determining factor in their view of America. This is precisely the condition we should strive for in the world. People in other countries will not agree with our policies all the time, but we want them to have an accurate picture of those policies and the motivations behind them, and we want the disagreements to be constructive.” GOLDFARB COMMENT: Glassman “certainly strikes the right message here. We can’t change our policies in the Middle East because al Qaeda’s put a gun to our head, but we should strive to make sure ‘policy is not the determining factor’ in how Muslims view America. Let them hate us for our Big Macs and cultural imperialism as the French do, and like the French, let them do nothing about it.”
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/02/the_war_of_ideas.asp

4. Propaganda: Inbound—Bad; Outbound—Necessary (But It Mustn’t Look Like Goebbels) - Gerald Loftus (Avuncular American,  February 1): “[T]o my mind, of equal importance to the question of whether Americans should or should not be the target of government propaganda (I tend to tilt towards the latter, consensus, view), is the question of who performs ‘good’ propaganda, or public diplomacy. The best kind is citizen public diplomacy, of the kind practiced by such organizations as ‘Business for Diplomatic Action’ ... and ‘American Voices’ (a choral group that brings the best of the American spirit to audiences abroad). ... When the US Government needs to tell its story—a natural function, shared by all governments, businesses, charities, etc.—it should have the services of a dedicated organization. It used to have that in the US Information Agency. Whether that entity is revived or something else comes into being, that ‘something else’ should be civilian, not military.”
http://avuncularamerican.typepad.com/blog/2008/02/communicating-a.html

5. Understanding the failure: what’s really wrong and why won’t new agencies or doctrine be enough to fix it - (MountainRunner, January 31): Weak centralized leadership from State has so far been unable to find a voice or a real purpose. Nobody wants Defense to be America’s chief public diplomat, least of which the DoD.
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/02/understanding_the_failure_what.html
see also
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/whats_wrong_with_our_public_di.html

6. In War against Islamism, We Must Listen to the Words of Our Enemies - Zuhdi Jasser (Family Security Matters, NJ, February 1): Listening only to President Bush and others in his administration supposedly leading the contest of ideas, one would never understand what the other side, the Islamists, were actually all about or what they were actually saying. They presented the Islamists with no open challenge, debate, or critical engagement. The Public Diplomacy program for all intents and purposes has failed to both spread the ideas of freedom and improve the image of America in the West.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/terrorism.php?id=1386463

7. Green party leader Elizabeth May’s Crusades talk is useful - Father Raymond J. de Souza (National Post, Canada, January 31): George Weigel, author of: “Faith, Reason and the War Against Jihadism” and leading Catholic commentator, papal biographer and theologian of just war doctrine, argues that the war against jihadism cannot be won without recognizing that it is importantly, but not exclusively, a religious challenge. Theology is thus an essential front in this war alongside the other aspects Weigel highlights: military prowess, public diplomacy, creative realism and cultural perseverance.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/01/31/father-raymond-j-de-souza-green-party-leader-elizabeth-may-s-crusades-talk-is-useful.aspx

8. Mothers of the Disappeared – onequietguy75 (Iraq Bush World States United, January 31): America is connecting itself with practices that are associated, in the minds of hundreds of millions of people, with the most odious of tyrants and the worst of authoritarian regimes. No matter how skillful US public diplomacy may be in the future, it’s going to take an enormous amount of effort and considerable time to overcome this self-inflicted damage. SEE BELOW ITEMS 45-47.
http://onequietguy75.dustdiary.com/2008/01/31/mothers-of-the-disappeared/

9. Diplomatic Failings – (Nick Wadhams blog, February 1): Always count on the great dull-o-tron of American public diplomacy to spoil the message. A few days ago, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer called the chaos in Kenya’s Rift Valley ethnic cleansing, which it clearly is. Now State Department spokesman Sean McCormack employs the well-known strategy of packing a thought with so many useless words that it can no longer be considered a coherent thought.
http://nwadhams.typepad.com/nwadhams/2008/02/diplomatic-fail.html

10. American foreign assistance still valued abroad - Surya B. Prasai (American Chronicle, February 1): In Secretary Rice´s concept of winning both hearts and mind through American public diplomacy, “Transformational diplomacy is rooted in partnership; not paternalism. In doing things with people, not for them, we seek to use America’s diplomatic power to help foreign citizens better their own lives, build their own nations, and transform their own futures.” In addition to defining what America does best given its diverse culture and economic prosperity, USAID´s global partnerships also define how it does it best the American way.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/50842

11. Hawaii talks take aim at post-Kyoto agreement - Darren Samuelsohn (EarthNews, January 31): Bush’s climate efforts have won support among his allies on Capitol Hill and in industry. “It improves our public diplomacy position in the world,” said Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich. “I didn’t support Kyoto. But the fact of the matter is that was kind of a litmus test out there.”
http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=848

12. How the 2008 campaign made the world love America again - James Forsyth (Passport, Foreign Policy, February 1): Under the Bush presidency, anti-Americanism has reached new—and absurd—heights, and in too many countries the United States became pigeon-holed as the country of Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and global warming. The Bush administration’s public diplomacy in Europe has been nothing short of shocking. The 2008 campaign has reminded the public overseas, and especially in allied countries, of the diversity and vibrancy of American democracy. Another piece of good news is that all three candidates with a realistic chance of being the next president play well abroad in a way that George W. Bush does not.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/8023

13. Obama initiatives embody spirit of Gonzaga mission - Mark Ludeking (Gonzaga Bulletin, February 1): “In talking to many Jesuits over the past four years I have heard many say that they wish learning a foreign language was a requirement for graduation. Obama has an American Voice Initiative that would expand opportunities for fluent speakers to go to other countries and serve. This service will come in public diplomacy and include engineers, doctors and teachers. I mention this not only because many Gonzaga students are interested in spending time overseas helping other nations by doing what the world needs most, but because the last seven years have been devastating for our relations around the world.”
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/02/01/Opinion/Obama.Initiatives.Embody.Spirit.Of.Gonzaga.Mission-3181743.shtml

14. Now That Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson And Other Progressives Have Abandoned The Race, I Will Now Run For President - Alone (OpEDNews, February 2): Public diplomacy and lower cost products like shooting simple laser beams at satellites are cheaper than what the U.S. defense program has been trying to do—i.e. try and outspend (militarily) all other competing countries around the planet year after year.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_alone_080201__22now_that__edwards_2c_.htm

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

16. Embassy reporting officers: interchangeable? – The Cookie Pusher, February 1): “[S]enior P[ublic]D[iplomacy] [State Dept.] officers still remember USIS days far too clearly, and a few continue to believe their mission doesn’t require the same kind of coordinated effort with other sections. I’ve had older PD officers tell me they regret the loss of ‘objectivity’ regarding U.S. policy they once had. They didn’t have to ‘sell the same message. This, if true, further underlines my belief that the end of USIS was necessary and fundamentally in U.S. interest.’”
http://thecookiepusher.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/embassy-reporting-officers-interchangeable/

17. Embassy reporting officers: interchangeable? - (Life After Jerusalem: The Adventures And Musings Of An American Indian, Native Sandlapper (South Carolinian) Serving As A Public Diplomacy-Coned Foreign Service Officer, February 1): “This is an interesting piece from The Cookie Pusher. I can’t decide if I agree or not. I think the argument has valid points, and as a Public Diplomacy coned officer, I certainly believe we could do our jobs better if we were integrated into political and economic sections. ... But if you think of public diplomacy not in terms of being a feel good cone and more in terms of a tool to advance foreign policy (and I do), whether it be by explaining clearly our foreign policy or by working with political and economic officers to make sure people they identify as good contacts or future leaders get to participate in the International Visitor program, then having the sections united makes sense.”
http://lifeafterjerusalem.blogspot.com/2008/02/embassy-reporting-officers.html

18. Iniquities of War, Inequities of Life - Ray McGovern (Consortium News, January 31): “The three who killed themselves [at GUantanamo on June 10] incurred the wrath of Guantanamo commander, Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris, Jr., who announced that the suicides were ‘not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare against us.’ In similar spirit, Colleen Graffy, deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy, told the BBC that the suicides ‘certainly (are) a good PR move to draw attention.’ I wonder how Graffy would describe the actions of those U.S. veterans experiencing such suffering that they, too, commit suicide.”
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/013108a.html

19. My government is retarded - Curzon (ComingArnarchy.com, February 2): “The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has now taken a tactic unfortunately typical of government under the Bush administration—instead of improving their shitty services, they’ve started a blog, Evolution of Security at tsa.gov, to tell you about the great job they’re doing. ... Part of this is just as sad as sending Karen Hughes to run US public diplomacy in Saudi Arabia…”
http://cominganarchy.com/2008/02/02/my-government-is-retarded/

20. Meeting Of The U.S. Advisory Commission On Public Diplomacy – (Media Note, Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, February 1): The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy will meet on Thursday, February 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in Room 602 (Lindner Family Commons) at the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University, 1957 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. The meeting is open to the public. The Commissioners plan to discuss public diplomacy issues, including the application of political communication theory, and associated disciplines, in U.S. government public diplomacy efforts.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/feb/99952.htm

21. Public Diplomacy: Reinvigorating America’s Strategic Communications Policy (Heritage Foundation; posted at James’ DC Event Feed, February 1): This panel will address the efficacy of the current administration’s strategy and give recommendations for the next administration, whether it is Democrat or Republican. Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2008. Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM. Location: The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Auditorium.
http://districteventfeed.blogspot.com/2008/02/public-diplomacy-reinvigorating.html

22. US Mission to European Union - Derek Lough (Hotel Brussels, February 1): “After a much welcomed morning off from any meetings or responsibilities (which most of us used for sleep), our group spent the afternoon at the United States Embassy talking to directors from the United States Mission to the European Union. Public Diplomacy Officer Merry Miller offered her insight and experience into becoming and working as a Foreign Officer for the United States government to the delight of several political science majors in our group.”
http://sentsq.blogspot.com/2008/02/us-mission-to-european-union.html

23. United States Policy Guided by Belief that Sri Lanka Engrossed in Ethnic Warfare than Counter-Terrorism - Daya Gamage(Asian Tribune, February 2): “The Sri Lanka administration acts as if there is only one issue in Sri Lanka: the ethnic Tamil issue. They have to realize that Sri Lanka’s major national issues do not necessarily revolve round the ethnic Tamil issue. Sri Lanka’s overseas public diplomacy is so weak that they do not know how to get about in the important area of men and matters. “
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/9405

24. Forum discusses Taiwan’s public diplomacy - Allen Hsu (Taiwan Journal, February 2): To further understand how Taiwan’s public diplomacy has been conducted so far, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened a forum Dec. 24, 2007 in Taipei where distinguished guests were invited to deliver keynote addresses and share their expertise on this matter. Speaking of new ways to boost public diplomacy, board member on the Taiwan-U.S. Fulbright Foundation William C. Vocke mentioned Japan’s anime subculture, New Zealand’s sports, and Malaysia’s creative campaign titled “Malaysia, truly Asia.” In his eyes, Taiwan is acknowledged internationally as employing “fairly good” public diplomacy. http://taiwanjournal.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?CtNode=122&xItem=27506

25. Editor’s Notes: Looking the other way - David Horovitz (Jerusalem Post, February 2): Dismally, and in marked contrast to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s careful investment in PR advice for his own political well-being, inadequate thought, to put it mildly, was devoted to the public diplomacy aspect of this Gaza power reduction. Israel’s deficient emphasis on public diplomacy, indeed, meant that after Israel merely cut back fuel supplies to the Strip, Hamas exploited a non-existent crisis to ensure that Israel was blamed for maliciously causing a humanitarian disaster.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201523805719&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

26. Bahrain Honors Michael Rice – (Bahrain News Agency, Bahrain, February 2): “Michael Rice [Chairman of Bahraini Society ] has been the ambassador of public diplomacy between Bahrain and Britain without presenting official credentials and found doors set open for his mission so he rendered great services to Bahrain society to grow and become one of the biggest and most active friendship societies.”
http://english.bna.bh/?ID=66554

27. Russia’s Regression: Now a crackdown on the British Council - Michael Weiss (Weekly Standard, January 31): One theory popular among Putin’s domestic enemies is that the FSB is quite happy to level charges of espionage and “provocation” at so harmless an outfit as the British Council because its own agents desire to live in England. After all, the greater the supposed threat posed by Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the more spies from the other sides are required for surveillance and counterintelligence.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/672tfwyz.asp

28. School Official Loses $200,000 in Attack - David Nowak (Moscow Times, February 1): The deputy head of the British International School was assaulted and robbed of more than $200,000 after he left a bank in western Moscow carrying a bag of cash, police said Thursday.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2008/02/01/013.html

29. Another new FCO blogger (ish) - Simon (puffbox, February 1): “The Foreign Office launched itself into blogging last September, with a couple of ministers and a couple of high-profile ambassadors joining in the fun. Indeed, I note they’ve been scoring some PR points with it: Jolyon Welsh, FCO’s head of ‘Public Diplomacy’ presented a case study on it at a conference last week.”
http://puffbox.com/2008/02/01/another-new-fco-blogger-ish/

B) RELATED ITEMS (US torture, 30-33; Iraq, 34-36; Afghanistan, 37-40; Pakistan, 41; North Korea, 42; France, 43; Serbia, 44; democracy in world, 45-47; Rice, 48-49)

30. It’s torture; it’s illegal: The attorney general’s evasions on waterboarding are repugnant, and set a dangerous global precedent – Editorial (Los Angeles Times, February 2): The attorney general of the United States, Michael B. Mukasey, testified this week that he would consider waterboarding to be torture if it were done to him, but that he cannot say it’s always illegal. Such repugnant equivocation will be mimicked and distorted in dark corners around the world, and will make it more likely that waterboarding and other forms of torture will be used against U.S. soldiers and civilians.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-mukasey2feb02,0,7921898.story

31. Tortured Testimony: Mr. Mukasey shows why Congress needs to intervene – Editorial (Washington Post, February 1): The Bush administration’s use of torture and continued use of extreme interrogation techniques have done untold damage to the moral standing of the United States. Having the attorney general state flatly that the technique is illegal could help the country begin to rehabilitate its image in the eyes of the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012902723_pf.html

32. Mukasey’s confession: Is waterboarding torture? It it’s done to him, it is; if it’s someone else, uh, he’s not sure - Tim Rutten (Los Angeles Times, February 2): We have suffered terrible casualties in the war with the Islamic terrorists, but the only real victory they’ve achieved was the one the Bush administration handed them when it replaced law with vengeance and sanctioned torture.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rutten2feb02,0,6941133.story

33. Torture or Mystery? Waterboarding - William Loren Katz (CounterPunch, January 31): Isn’t it time to come clean about torture—and about the adherence to law and democracy we expect from our leaders?
http://www.counterpunch.org/katz01312008.html

34. 126 Reporters Have Been Killed in Iraq Since the Start of the War: The Most Dangerous Country in the World for Journalists -Patrick Cockburn (CounterPunch, February 1)
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick02012008.html

35. Fear of Looking Weak - Dan Froomkin (washingtonpost.com, February 1): How would it look to the world if we left Iraq now? President Bush and Vice President Cheney both expressed concern yesterday that it would make the United States look weak.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/02/01/BL2008020101486_pf.html

36. Why the Surge Worked - Michael Duffy (Times, January 31): One year and 937 U.S. fatalities later, the surge is a fragile and limited success, an operation that has helped stabilize the capital and its surroundings but has yet to spark the political gains that could set the stage for a larger American withdrawal.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1708843,00.html

37. The NATO Emerging in Afghanistan - Victoria Nuland (Washington Post, February 1): Despite some dire headlines, there were major successes in the past year for the Afghans and their 40 international security partners, including all members of NATO. (The writer is U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013102545_pf.html

38. Talibanization and nukes - Arnaud de Borchgrave (Washington Times, February 1): NATO allies are already tiring of the Afghan campaign. NATO’s future is now clearly at stake in the Pakistani-Afghan mess.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080201/COMMENTARY/941131447/1012&template=printart

39. US Faces Unraveling Afghan Mission – IslamOnline (February 2)
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199280074336&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

40. A Pair of Allies, Self-Destructing - Jim Hoagland (Washington Post, February 3): The United States still has a chance to save Karzai and Musharraf from the extremists. Washington has no chance, however, of saving them from themselves. That task belongs to them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020102665_pf.html

41. Pakistani P.R. - Editorial (New York Times, February 1): Successfully moving Pakistan from military rule to civilian-run democracy is essential to combating extremism. Mr. Musharraf has a major role in making this happen. The United States and its allies must keep reinforcing that message.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/opinion/01fri1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

42. In North Korea, Process Over Progress - Michael Gerson (Washington Post, February 1): Having begun the path of negotiations, the State Department has consistently moved the goal posts closer to keep North Korea at the table.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013102628_pf.html

43. Sarkozy and Kerviel chase a French-American dream - Paul Betts (Financial Times, February 1): For all the fear and loathing of capitalism in France and its criticisms of the US system, the country is not only becoming more American but has always embraced the American dream.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3406dc12-d0d2-11dc-953a-0000779fd2ac.html

44. Losing Belgrade: Russia’s gain - Jason Epstein (National Review, February 2): Washington became a reckless cheerleader for Kosovo’s independence. In the process, a resurgent and less than amiable Russia exploited Serbia’s quest for diplomatic support to regain its sphere of influence in the Balkans. American foreign policy toward Serbia needs an adjustment.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTcxYzlhOGMyZTYzYmI5NjMzYzM1NmI3Nzg1MTQyODM=&w=MA==

45. Rights Group Faults U.S. for Support of Autocrats - Nora Boustany (Washington Post, February 1): In its latest report, Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, delivers a harsh critique of the Bush administration, suggesting that by accommodating autocratic allies in the fight against terrorism, it has failed to meet its declared goal of promoting democratic values.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013103575_pf.html

46. New human-rights report: Around the world, “sham democracies” thrive – Edward M. Gomez (World View, SF Gate, February 1)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=23916

47. Athens or Rome: which will it be? – Patricia H. Kushlis (Whirled View, February 1): Americans too forget that one size, or model, doesn’t fit all and that “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Neither are democracies.
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2008/02/athens-or-rome.html

48. Are You Ready for Formal Ursula? - Princess Sparkle Pony ‘s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 31): PHOTO: Austrian Vice Chancellor Wilhelm Molterer, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik and Education Minister Claudia Schmied during the opening of Vienna’s traditional Opera Ball, on Thursday, January 31, at Vienna’s State Opera. COMMENT: “If this public appearance doesn’t cement the affable Austrian giantess’ reputation as the Anti-Condi in every way, I don’t know what could. Ursula, tonight, was ab so lute ly stunning; almost regal, but relaxed. Oh, Ursula, please come and rescue us all!”
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/are-you-ready-for-formal-ursula.html

49. This Time It’s the Frog Who Comes to Rescue the Princess - (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 31): PHOTO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice greets French Defense Minister Herve Morin, Thursday, Jan. 31 in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington.
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/this-time-its-frog-who-comes-to-rescue.html

C) ONLY IN AMERICA?

50. Elderly nun gets jail time in sex case - AP (USA Today, February 2): A 79-year-old nun was sentenced Friday to one year in a county jail for sexually abusing two teens when she was their principal four decades ago.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-02-church-abuse-nun_N.htm

D) ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“When the president of the United States—the leader of the free world, the guy with the nuclear football doohickey and therefore the power to end human if not cockroach civilization—comes to town today to update Las Vegas on the war on terrorism, he will not be standing in a stadium, behind a church pulpit or in a rugged pose in front of Red Rock. Not even in a high school auditorium. No, the president will be at the back of an office park overlooking a rock quarry and snake habitat disguised as an expensive golf course named Badlands.”

—Brendan Buhler, “Bush is on his way, so beat it or else ...” (Las Vegas Sun, February 1)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/31/bush-his-way-so-beat-it-or-else/#/George_Bush/

E) STALIN JOKES
http://www.folklore.ee/~kriku/HUUMOR/STALIN_FIN.pdf

F) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: BOOKS, ARTICLES, WEBSITES #37

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

Bruce Gregory
Director, Public Diplomacy Institute
George Washington University
(202) 994-0389
BGregory@gwu.edu
Andrew J. Bacevich, “Prophets and Poseurs: Niebuhr and Our Times,” World Affairs, Winter 2008, Vol. 170, No. 3, pp. 24-37. Bacevich (Boston College) examines the current relevance of 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s thinking about “myths and delusions” in the way Americans see themselves and project themselves to the world. Drawing on Niebuhr’s The Irony of American History (1952, soon to be reprinted), Bacevich explores Niebuhr’s views on four themes: (1) the persistence of American exceptionalism, hypocrisy, and pride in America’s self-perception; (2) history as an opaque drama in which the story line and denouement are hidden; (3) the persistence of overconfidence and the false allure of simple solutions; and (4) the imperative of appreciating the limits of power. (Available by subscription)
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/winter-2008/abstract-prophets.html

Nathan Brown and Amr Hamzawy. “Arab Spring Fever,” The National Interest, September/October, 2007, pp. 33-40. Brown (George Washington University) and Hamzawy (Carnegie Endowment) write that Washington’s “manic debate” on political change in the Middle East misses gradual change “driven to a great extent by an indigenous freedom agenda.”  The authors find stunning impatience in Washington’s approach and call for greater realism, a mix of policies, sustainable efforts, and recognition that political realism may be occurring “but not on any U.S. administration’s timetable.”
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=19554&prog=zgp&proj=zme

Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA), America’s Role in the World: A Business Perspective on Public Diplomacy, October 2007, pp. 1-18. Written by Tom Miller (BDA Vice President), this report examines definitions of public diplomacy, discusses problems for the U.S. economy driven by the decline in America’s global public image, and recommends ways the U.S. business community can help in structuring and promoting an effective public diplomacy strategy. BDA’s recommendations: (1) creation of an independent Corporation for Public Diplomacy (CPD) and a cross-agency National Communications Council (NCC) reporting to the President; (2) development of a “public diplomacy and communications strategy” employing the skills, techniques and processes of global businesses; (3) an increase in public diplomacy resources from $1.5B to $3B; and (4) establishment of a “reserve” Foreign Service Officer and “Goodwill Ambassador” corps.
http://www.businessfordiplomaticaction.org/action/a_business_perspective_on_public_diplomacy_10_2007_approvedfinal.pdf  

Andrew F. Cooper. Celebrity Diplomacy, (Paradigm Publishers, 2008). Cooper (University of Waterloo and Centre of International Governance Innovation) looks at the role of celebrities in diplomacy from Ben Franklin to Shirley Temple Black and Octavio Paz to today’s Bono, Angelina Jolie, and Bill Gates. He examines analytical, normative, and practical issues in the associations of state and non-state actors with celebrities who attract attention and mobilize activists on global issues. His book addresses questions of boundaries, legitimacy, limits, and consequences—and the arguments of critics—in a “mix of public diplomacy and advocacy through both official and unofficial mechanisms.”

CSIS Commission on Smart Power, A Smarter, More Secure America, Co-Chairs, Richard L. Armitage and Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Center for Strategic and International Studies, (2007), 1-79. Armitage (former deputy secretary of state), Nye (Harvard), and a bipartisan commission of American scholars and practitioners call for the next U.S. president to implement a smart power strategy that complements military and economic might with greater investments in soft power. Recommendations focus on six areas: reinvigorated alliances, partnerships, and institutions; elevated global development; strengthened public diplomacy; economic integration; technology and innovation; and creative approaches to how the government is organized, coordinated, and budgeted. Public diplomacy recommendations include increased exchanges with a focus on youth, U.S.-China and U.S. India Educational Funds, expanded Middle East language competencies, and creation of an independent, nonprofit “center for international knowledge and communication.”
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/071106_csissmartpowerreport.pdf    

Steven R. Corman and Kevin J. Dooley. Strategic Communication on a Rugged Landscape: Principles for Finding the Right Message, Report #0801, Consortium for Strategic Communication (CSC), Arizona State University, January 7, 2008. The authors build on an earlier CSC paper (A 21st Century Model for Communication in the Global War of Ideas, April 2007, which argued that U.S. strategic communication is based on an outdated “message influence model.” In this new CSC study, they assert that U.S. communication efforts are limited by a fruitless quest to centralize and tightly control its messages. Using the metaphor of a rugged landscape with many peaks, Corman and Dooley call for a new approach with “multiple integral solutions,” greater tolerance for experimentation and random variation in communication, and recognition that “failure is normal part of the path to success.”  (Courtesy of Stephanie Helm)
http://www.comops.org/article/121.pdf

Brent Cunningham. “The Rhetoric Beat,” Columbia Journalism Review, November/December, 36-39. CJR’s managing editor examines the crucial political role of the press in its choices of words, metaphors, and linguistic frames. Cunningham looks briefly and selectively at framing literature and media framing choices in the decision to go to war in Iraq. He proposes that news organizations employ “rhetoric reporters” to research the history and use of words applied to policies and actions “to help keep political discourse as clear and intellectually honest as possible.       
http://www.cjr.org/essay/the_rhetoric_beat.php

Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication, Report on Strategic Communication in the 21st Century, Chair, Vincent Vitto, January, 2008, 1-149. In its third year-long study since 2001, the Defense Science Board’s (DSB) Task Force has substantially refined and updated its views with particular attention to deep comprehension of attitudes and cultures, relationships between government and civil society, adaptive networks within government, new media, and technology transformation. The Task Force, comprised of members from government (diplomacy and military) and the academic and non-profit research communities, urges a national commitment to strategic communication “supported by resources and a strength of purpose that matches the nation’s commitment to defense, intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security.” Key recommendations: amplification of the DSB’s call in 2004 for an independent, non-profit, and non-partisan Center for Global Engagement to leverage knowledge and skills in civil society (beginning with a “deep understanding of cultures and cultural dynamics, core values of other societies, and media and technologiy trends”); a permanent strategic communication structure within the White House; strengthened capacity in the Departments of State and Defense; and a thorough review of the mission, structure, and functions of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.   
http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2008-01-Strategic_Communication.pdf

Daniel W. Drezner, “Foreign Policy Goes Glam,” The National Interest, No. 92, November/December 2007, pp. 22-28. Drezner (Fletcher School, Tufts...

“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
paid subscription

“[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

“And while the president says he doesn’t want people to think that he believes he’s ‘another Lincoln’ he does liken his liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq to Lincoln’s emancipation of America’s slaves during the Civil War.”

—Bret Baier, “Behind the Scenes with Bret Baier: George W. Bush: Fighting to the Finish” (Fox News, January 26)
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,325728,00.html
via
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/28/BL2008012801481_pf.html

SITE OF INTEREST

State of the Union Address Drinking Game
http://drinkinggame.us/index.html
via
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2008/01/state_of_the_union_drinking_ga.html?nav=rss_blog

VIDEOS

a) Celebrating the Age of Bush: The commemorative coin set
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/253.html
Courtesy Steve Lapeyrousse
b) Everyone loves the USA
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5618949736433041127&q=propaganda&total=38224&start=0&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=2
c) USSR/ Stalin Glory
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1080033192072840480

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-10)

1. Who needs one Industrial Complex when you can have two – U.S. Diplomacy: A great Decisions 2008 Blog, Foreign Policy Association, January 29): Parag Khanna’s New York Times article this week, “Waving Goodbye to Hegemony” (see below link), encapsulates a vast swath of recent history and developments in geopolitics, particularly across the second world. In tackling public diplomacy, Khanna unleashes his “secret weapon,” the American citizenry. “American foundations and charities, not least the Gates and Ford Foundations, dwarf European counterparts in their humanitarian giving; if such private groups independently send more and more American volunteers armed with cash, good will and local knowledge to perform ‘diplomacy of the deed,’ then the public diplomacy will take care of itself.” While his plan is fresh and bold, it ignores the current state of affairs among the diplomatic corps. The State Department is facing cuts across the board, the opposite direction Khanna suggests we should be headed. That said, the ills at the State Department can be remedied by assurances from the next President.
http://diplomacy.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/01/27/who-needs-one-industrial-complex-when-you-can-have-two/
Khanna article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/magazine/27world-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=magazine&pagewanted=print

2. Rumsfeld calls for a new version of USIA - (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy, January 28): “[A] new USIA [United States Information Agency, 1953-1999] would advocate U.S. policies and must be in lockstep with those policies. ... So why the need for an ‘independent’ agency? A big reason would be its boondoggle value. The new USIA would have a director, deputy director, and several associate directors, along with senior advisers and special assistants to the aforementioned. One thing that the old ‘independent’ USIA did do was to keep its subsidiary VOA from being independent enough to achieve the credibility that would have allowed it to compete more successfully in international broadcasting.”
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3219

3. (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy), latest edition. More on public diplomacy.
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3219

4. Bravely Stating the Obvious: Egyptian humor and the anti-American consensus – Walter Armbrust (Arab Media & Society, October 2007): There is something breathtakingly disingenuous about the American response to the political criticism that underpins discourse on the United States in Egyptian media. The real question about Egyptian popular discourses on the United States is not what motivates them. The question is rather what keeps the Americans from just telling the Egyptians that they can do nothing about it, so they may as well shut up. Putting it this way sounds callous and undiplomatic, but it could hardly be less effective than the so-called “public diplomacy” campaigns that are ostensibly designed to represent America to Arab publics.
http://www.arabmediasociety.com/topics/index.php?t_article=152&printarticle

5. Se il diplomatico veste Napoli - (Diplomentor: Blog Di Un Diplomatico Italiano In Servizio All’estero E Aperto Ai Giovani Universitari Interessati Al Concorso Per Entrare In Carriera Diplomatica. Per Saperne Di Piu’ Su Questa Scelta Professionale, January 27): “Rinvio ad uno tra i numerosi commenti letti sulla nomina di Jim Rinvio ad uno tra i numerosi commenti letti sulla nomina di Jim Glassman a Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. ‘L’incarico—una sorta di zar delle pubbliche relazioni del governo americano—e’ considerato una mission impossible. Cio’ soprattutto perche’ Washington si e’ finora limitata a meri esercizi di spin doctoring, non accompagnati da effettivi e sostanziali cambiamenti degli indirizzi piu’ discussi della sua politica estera, e dunque, gia’ in partenza, condannati al fallimento. ... Glassman sarebbe infatti uno degli uomini piu’ eleganti di Washington distinguendosi per un impeccabile fashion sense e per la predilezione per gli abiti sartoriali italiani, in particolare di scuola napoletana. L’ammirazione per i sarti partenopei, secondo la W[ashington] P[ost], farebbe di Glassman l’ispiratore di questo brillante e complessivamente lusinghiero articolo su Napoli scritto dal guru neo-con Michael Ledeen, ben noto in Italia.”
http://diplomaticmentor.blogspot.com/2008/01/se-il-diplomatico-veste-napoli.html

6. Working to rebuild Iraq, one stop sign at a time – John E. Mulligan (Providence Journal, RI, January 29): “Officially a U.S. Information Agency officer detailed to the State Department’s public diplomacy service, [61 year-old Lou] Lantner leads a 15-member Provincial Reconstruction Team that covers a largely rural, 200-square mile region—a qada, in the local vernacular—within Baghdad’s province but outside the capital city proper.”
http://www.projo.com/news/content/lantner_iraq_01-28-08_Q68OMS4_v18.2a2faad.html

7. Quote - Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts, (“Making a Splash With Some Serious Activism,” Washington Post, January 28): “Earlier today, my sister Doro had a wedding shower for Jenna, who got lots of great stuff. Mom gave her a toaster. [Former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] Karen Hughes gave her a Cuisinart. Dick [Cheney] here sent over a gift I could tell he’d picked out personally . . . a paper shredder”—President Bush riffing at Saturday night’s Alfalfa Club dinner about his daughter’s bridal shower earlier that day.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012702668_pf.html

8. Obituaries: Peter J. Mroczyk Polish Broadcaster (Washington Post, January 29): Peter J. Mroczyk, 60, a Polish radio and TV broadcaster died Dec. 19. Under the mantle of the U.S. Information Agency, he went on a nationwide lecture tour in 1983 to describe the political state of Eastern Europe. In 1984, Mr. Mroczyk began working with Voice of America, delivering broadcasts in Polish to his homeland. Mr. Mroczyk later served as director of the Polish section of Radio Free Europe and, in 1994, went to Warsaw for a year to oversee the U.S. organization’s Poland office.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012503073.html

9. Obituaries: Mary F. Derecki; Government Executive Assistant (Washington Post, January 26): Mary F. Derecki, 81, a retired federal government executive assistant who was active in local Republican Party clubs, died Jan. 11. She began her government career in 1958 with the Voice of America.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012503079_pf.html

10. Obituaries: Jean Freas TV Reporter (Washington Post, January 25): In the early 1960s Ms. Freas was a Voice of America broadcaster.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012502124_pf.html

B) RELATED ITEMS (Bush foreign policy 11-14; anti-Americanism, 15-22; Russia, 23-24; Gates and soft power, 25; Iraq, 26-27; Iran, 28; Pakistan, 29; Europe, 30; China, 31; Freedom House report on democracy, 32; torture, 33; US, overseas business practices, 34; East German westerns, 35; new Rambo film, 36; Rice, 37-38)

11. Final State: Rather than review a troubled record, President Bush aims for some last-year achievements – Editorial (Washington Post, January 29): Mr. Bush does have the opportunity to finish with a flourish in foreign affairs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/28/AR2008012802807_pf.html

12. Bush’s End Game – Review & Outlook (Wall Street Journal, January 29): Even a lame duck President has more power to influence events than anyone else on the planet. That’s especially true on foreign policy, where he can do much in the next year to aid his successor.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120156526290123709.html

13. The State of the Union – Editorial (New York Times, January 29): After six years of promises unkept or insincerely made and blunders of historic proportions, the United States is now fighting two wars and the civilized world still faces horrifying dangers — and it has far less sympathy and respect for the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/opinion/29tue1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

14. The Seven-Year Slide - Rahm Emanuel (Washington Post, January 28): Bush inherited a nation that was respected on the international stage; he will leave behind one reviled by many around the world. A Pew poll of 10 nations found that in 2001, 58 percent of respondents viewed America favorably; today, that number is 39 percent. Our foreign policy should include a diplomatic offensive to win back the international goodwill that has been squandered over the past seven years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012701615_pf.html

15. Hollywood Still Seduces the World: Global anti-Americanism aside, US films sell more tickets abroad than at home - Ioannis Gatsiounis (YaleGlobal, January 28): Viewers of Hollywood pictures are hard pressed to ignore that they are invested in an American product—the American flag here, the country’s natural splendor there. Hollywood tendentiously celebrates America’s unique brand of dynamism, from its confidence and cool to its technological and creative preeminence.“ [Hollywood] allows people abroad to learn about American society and especially affluence, fashions, consumption patterns, etc., that people are interested in, never mind their anti-American attitudes,” said Paul Hollander, editor of the essay collection “Understanding Anti-Americanism.”
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=10249

16. Oprah Goes Arab - Pierre Tristam (Pierre’s Middle East Issues Blog, January 25): The word on the American street is that Arab television is all Al-Jazeera-type anti-Americanism all the time—a preposterous assumption all around. Hard as this is to believe, Arabs are not so engrossed about Americanism (pro or anti) as are Americans about themselves, and when Arab attention does turn the States’ way, it does so in much the same way, it turns out, as would the attention of, say, a teen-ager in Kansas: to American television’s most popular offerings. Beginning with Oprah.
http://middleeast.about.com/b/2008/01/24/oprah-goes-arab.htm

17. Latin anti-Americanism a concern - Mike Leonard (HeraldTimesOnline.com, January 27)
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2008/01/27/column.qp-6928516.sto
Subscription access required

18. Subprime stakes and globaloney - Arnaud de Borchgrave (Washington Times, January 28): The world is flat for some, flat broke for many more. America’s predatory lenders, subprime mortgage brokers, various and sundry con artists, combined forces to blind America’s monetary sentinels, rip off the world, and give America’s democratic capitalism a bad name.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/COMMENTARY/874218430/1012&template=printart

19. Don’t Open a Third Front in Pakistan – William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 28): “The more conventional military might we threw at Iraq and Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa and elsewhere—the more forces we stuffed into the region in the Gulf states and the Caucasus - the more we activated latent forces of discontent and hatred. U.S. military forces now “occupy” a half dozen Muslim countries in the region, and I can’t help but think what many see are uniforms of subjugation and killing.”
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/dont_open_a_third_front_in_pak.html#more

20. From Hoover Press: Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem, by Russell A. Berman – (Business Wire, January 23): Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem (Hoover Press, 2008) is being released by the Hoover Institution as part of its new Hoover Classics series. “This book argues that the deep cultural roots of European anti-Americanism predate contemporary partisan concerns,” says author Russell A. Berman, a Hoover senior fellow.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080123006435&newsLang=en

21. What You Didn’t Know About This Woman - Joel Hilliker (trumpet.com, March): Pakistan is a nuclear-armed incubator of Islamism. Of its four provinces, the two bordering Afghanistan—Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province—are out-and-out ruled independently by Islamists. Passionate anti-Americanism is virtually the state religion, faithfully practiced by both politician and peasant.
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=4748.0.102.0

22. Rising Anti-Americanism in Russia - Alastair Gee (U.S. World & News Report, January 18)
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/01/18/rising-anti-americanism-in-russia.html

23. Russia Center to Study Western Democracy - Associated Press (New York Times, January 28): The Kremlin is tired of Western criticisms—that Russia is becoming more authoritarian, human rights are violated, journalists are at risk and elections are rigged. Now the Kremlin is trying to turn the tables on the West, setting up a think tank its founders say will expose the flaws of Western democracies. With offices in New York and Paris, the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation will study democracy and human rights in Europe and the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Critiquing-Democracies.html?sq=&pagewanted=print

24. A Cold War redux is seen on the horizon: Though the U.S. plays down tensions, some observers say Russia sees advantages to being an enemy - Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times, January 29): Although US officials are publicly playing down the rising tension, a series of conflicts has prompted some within the Bush administration to conclude that, for domestic and geopolitical reasons, Russia is now more comfortable with the U.S. as an enemy than an ally.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usrussia29jan29,0,3965848.story

25. Gates calls for bipartisan work on Iraq: The Defense secretary says presidential candidates should be thinking ahead about the war on terrorism - Peter Spiegel (Los Angeles Times, January 28): Gates’ search for a post-Sept. 11 version of the Cold War consensus shows that while he is a member of the Bush administration, he also considers himself a part of the larger U.S. foreign policy establishment. Many of his policy initiatives—including his call for additional funding for the State Department and other instruments of US “soft power”—are unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-gates28jan28,1,1684724.story

26. A Cynical Effort to Save Bush’s Legacy – Ivan Eland (antiwar.com, January 28): No matter what Bush’s successor does—continue to hold his or her finger in the dike (the most likely scenario) or withdraw US forces—Iraq is likely to face a full-blown civil war down the road.
http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=12274

27. Iraq’s No. 1 problem: Bush may have to withdraw his support for Nouri Maliki if the prime minister continues to slow progress. Bing West and Max Boot (Los Angeles Times, January 28): Bush should not repeat in Iraq the mistake he has already made in Russia and Pakistan: overly personalizing relations with another country. The U.S. should support democracy in Iraq, not Maliki per se.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-boot28jan28,0,6909999.story

28. Gulf provocations: What to do - James Lyons (Washington Times, January 29):  With the recent incidents in the Gulf, it appears a similar set of rules and regulations incorporated in the U.S.-Soviet “Incidents at Sea Treaty” could be applied as modified for naval operations in the Gulf.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/COMMENTARY/444667562/1012/commentary&template=printart

29. No More Coups: What Bush Must Tell Musharraf - Jackson Diehl (Washington Post, January 28): The problem lies in a shrinking group of administration officials—including President Bush—who refuse to abandon Musharraf.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012701614_pf.html

30. A European Climate Plan: An intriguing approach that meshes well with bills on Capitol Hill – Editorial (Washington Post, January 28): The world is looking to the United States for leadership on global warming. Without it, developing nations such as China and India have no reason to be a part of the solution.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012701591_pf.html

31. McDonald’s to Grow China Business - Mei Fond Wall Street Journal, January 29): Fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp. plans to accelerate its growth in China by opening 125 new outlets in the country this year, 18% more than in 2007, senior executives said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120160431662225095.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
paid subscription

32. New global report: Freedom is on the march—backward – Edward M. Gomez (SF Gate, January 28): In different regions of the world, democracy is on the march—but not necessarily in a promising, hopeful, forward direction. That’s the news from Freedom House, a U.S.-based think tank with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=23779

33. Torturing Syntax: Spin vs Propaganda – Cyrano 2 (Cyrano’s Journal: Thomas Paine Corner, January 28): For George Bush and his government to continue to deny that waterboarding is “torture” is not just an egregious abuse of media spin. It is an outright lie.
http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=571

34. Global-Market Woes Are More Personality Than Nationality - Jared Sandberg (Wall Street Journal, January 29): The biggest challenge to Americans is recognizing that in many corners of the world, people put relationships before business, says Frank Acuff, who has had to update his book, “How to Negotiate Anything with Anyone Anywhere Around the World” because customs are moving targets.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120154446240322785.html
paid subscription

35. On the Socialist Trail: In a new book, Andrei Shary revisits the East German Westerns of his childhood and their hero, Gojko Mitic - Anna Malpas (Moscow Times, January 25): Titled “Leader of the Red Skins in Books and on the Screen,” the book is part of a pocket series by Shary on pop culture heroes. Its aim is to “fill in a huge cultural blank” for adults who grew up in the Soviet Union with its lack of information on the world beyond the Iron Curtain, he said.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/print.php?aid=182421

36. The Stallone Factor - Chris Suellentrop (New York Times, January 29: Is the fourth “Rambo” movie a film-length argument for a hawkish, McCain-like foreign policy?
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/the-stallone-factor/index.html?ref=opinion

37. OMG McCain/Condi Rumor - (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 28): “Oh, sure, Robert Novak just sort of threw it out there, but can you stand it? Walnuts ‘n’ Rice?!! Vice. President. Condi. I would have a seriously hard time voting against that.”
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/omg-mccaincondi-rumor.html

38. Condoleezza Dream Team: McCain and Rice ‘08! - Peter Huestis (Wonkette, January 28): Condi’s been a gal-on-the-go, a veritable Mary Tyler Moore of the diplotaunte circuit. She traipsed from Switzerland to Germany and then all the way to Colombia and back again. More importantly, using advanced Wonkette Shoe Identification Technology, we can reveal the shocking news that Madame Secretary has shifted her footwear allegiance from Ferragamo to Manolo.
http://wonkette.com/349387/condoleezza-dream-team-mccain-and-rice-08

“The form was inadequate, the substance was psychologically wrong: a careful examination of German war propaganda can lead to no other diagnosis.”

—Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf, referring to Germany and WWI
http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch06.html

“Meanwhile, a new generation of foes has mastered the tools of the information age—chat rooms, blogs, cellphones, social-networking Web sites—and exploits them to spread propaganda, even while the U.S. government remains poorly organized and equipped to counter with the truth in a timely manner.”

—Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, “The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez” (Washington Post, December 2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html

VIDEO

Paul Wolfowitz—just appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, which in part deals with public diplomacy—combing his hair with his saliva. Video accompanied by music. Scroll down link for video.
http://theswordandthepen.blogspot.com/2008/01/paul-wolfowitz-still-employable.html

SITES OF INTEREST

a) Blogs written by Foreign Service officers
http://www.aafsw.org/overseas/blogs.htm
b) News and Articles on United States Information Agency
http://news.surfwax.com/gov/files/United_States_Information_Agency.html

HAPPY SMITH-MUNDT ACT 60TH ANNIVERSARY!

The US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (Public Law 402), popularly referred to as the Smith-Mundt Act, established the programming mandate that still serves as the foundation for U.S. overseas information and cultural programs and also brought the Voice of America under the Office of International Information at the Department of State. Smith-Mundt was passed by Congress and signed into law by Harry S. Truman on January 27, 1948.

—Wikia, “Smith-Mundt Act”
http://publicdiplomacy.wikia.com/wiki/Smith_Mundt_Act

NEW BOOK

Giles Scott-Smith, Networks of Empire: The U.S. State Department’s Foreign Leader Program in the Netherlands, France, and Britain 1950-70
Bruxelles, Bern, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2008. 514 pp., num. ill.
Cité européenne. Vol. 33
Courtesy Nicholas Cull

ANNOUNCEMENT

Forthcoming talk at Columbia University by Dr. Rock Brynner regarding his father, Russian-born actor Yul Brynner, who spent his teenage summers in what is today North Korea. Dr. Brynner has given lecture tours across Russia, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Please scroll down to Section D for details.

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-18)

1. Waving Goodbye to Hegemony - Parag Khanna (New York Times, January 27): The self-deluding universalism of the American imperium—that the world inherently needs a single leader and that American liberal ideology must be accepted as the basis of global order—has paradoxically resulted in America quickly becoming an ever-lonelier superpower. In true American fashion, we must build a diplomatic-industrial complex. We need a Peace Corps 10 times its present size, plus student exchanges, English-teaching programs and hands-on job training overseas—with corporate sponsorship. American foundations and charities, not least the Gates and Ford Foundations, dwarf European counterparts in their humanitarian giving; if such private groups independently send more and more American volunteers armed with cash, good will and local knowledge to perform “diplomacy of the deed,” then the public diplomacy will take care of itself. REGARDING THE PEACE CORPS, SEE BELOW ITEMS 3, 26.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/magazine/27world-t.html

2. Plan for Civilian Reserve Corps stalls - Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers (Burlington Hawk Eye, January 27): President Bush, in his State of the Union address a year ago, proposed creating a small, all-volunteer force of U.S. civilians with specialized skills who could deploy on short notice to nations shattered by war, to help them rebuild. Even Defense Secretary Robert Gates has championed the idea, calling in a speech last November for a “dramatic increase” in spending on civilian efforts in the areas of reconstruction, public diplomacy and foreign aid. But the initiative, called the Civilian Reserve Corps, has gone nowhere.
http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/State_of_the_Union012708_sidebar

3. My response to the editorial of a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan - Brian A. Sells (saratepo.com, January 26): Unfortunately, a country of 25 million called Iraq (which is no different in size than Uzbekistan in terms of its Sunni muslim population or strategic military importance) has consumed too many of our current and future public resources to now start focusing on projecting soft power (i.e. public diplomacy) in places like Central Asia that have very similar (and scary) demographic and economic trends compared to, say, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
http://www.saratepo.com/2008/01/my-response-to-editorial-of-peace-corps_26.html

4. NPR, VOA, Democracy Now!... Or Army STRATCOM: The News From (and To) America - (Avuncular American: An expatriate view from Europe by Gerald Loftus, January 25): “As a former Foreign Service Officer, I understand why the Voice of America (VOA), funded by the State Department to provide news to foreigners, cannot broadcast to Americans - the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which sought to shelter Americans from propaganda from their government ... . But here’s what I don’t quite follow: how come NPR—a world class broadcasting institution increasingly funded by listeners and corporate donors—has not supplanted VOA as the voice of the United States abroad? ... Before the United States goes so far down the road of ‘synchronizing’ news via the US military, consider the bang-for-buck that a little bit of independent journalism gets you.”
http://avuncularamerican.typepad.com/blog/2008/01/npr-voa-democra.html

5. TV Martí. It’s not pork. It’s puerco – (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy, January 25): USG-funded TV Martí‘s signal, whether terrestrial or via satellite, is relatively easy to block. Much more difficult to block is Radio Martí via shortwave, but this works best by transmitting on as many frequencies as possible from as many disparate sites as possible. So the fiscally conservative solution would be to 1) shut down TV Martí, 2) restore Radio Martí shortwave transmissions from Delano and Greenville Site A, and 3) maybe hire shortwave time from other sites.
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3205

6. (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy, latest edition): Contains other items pertaining to public diplomacy.
http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/

7. Upcoming events on Africa – (MountainRunner, January 24): Heads up on two upcoming events on Africa. The first is titled AFRICOM: The American Military and Public Diplomacy in Africa and will be at the University of Southern California February 8, 2008.  The second event is a 1.5 day event, February 28-29, 2008: Countering Terrorism in Africa through Human Security Solutions at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/upcoming_events_on_africa.html

8. Barbara Groner helps bring water, medicine to Nigeria - John Eby (Dowagiac Daily News, January 25): “It’s hard to know that many people in the rest of the world don’t have a very good opinion of Americans,” says Barbara Groner of Dowagiac, who as a Rotarian has traveled abroad extensively, including to Nigeria, Africa, since polio immunization in 2002. Groner quoted Karen Hughes, who worked for President George W. Bush as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Hughes viewed her job as “waging peace,” Groner said. “That’s what we Rotarians do. We reach out to other nations based on common values, friendship and respect. (Hughes) said it would take at least a generation before hard-core attitudes about the United States even begin to change.”
http://www.dowagiacnews.com/articles/2008/01/25/news/dnnews3.txt

9. The View From Planet Earth - LithiumCola (Daily Kos, January 25): “I suppose this is a minor point in the grand scheme of things, but do you remember Karen Hughes? ... . In 2005 Bush rehired her as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy.  Bush’s idea was that Hughes would go around the world as a one-woman PR-circus for the Bush administration. ... The thing I want to emphasize in all this is not the bland observation that the Bush Administration is missing the point when they try to PR the world in to liking it, but rather the more insidious point that the leaders of the Republican party don’t care that their policies are radically anti-human.”
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/26/82531/4012

10. How Foreign Policy Hurts the Democrats - Lionel Beehner (Huffington Post, January 24): “The Democrats have, rightfully, talked about restoring America’s image in the world, but how do they intend to do that ... . I have not seen a serious strategy on how to repair America’s image abroad. Everyone kneels now before the altar of diplomacy but that only gets us so far. Apply more soft power? Trouble is that U.S. public diplomacy has an abysmal record in the Muslim world ... . Go on a listening tour? If it didn’t work for Karen Hughes, it won’t work for Hillary Clinton. The Middle East is not upstate New York.” SEE ALSO BELOW ITEM 23.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lionel-beehner/how-foreign-policy-hurts-_b_83074.html

11. Paul Wolfowitz Still Employable – (The Sword & The Pen: This Blog From Steven Santos Will Make You Laugh, Cry, Or Insane, In That Order. Anything Is Up For Discussion: Life, Movies, Politics, Culture, Music, Readings, Etc., January 24):  One of the original neocon nutjobs Paul Wolfowitz, who was ousted in disgrace as president of the World Bank for giving his girlfriend a raise and violating ethics, has been appointed by Condoleezza Rice to head a State Department arms-control panel. Really, is this a man we want on a panel for arms control? This panel handles such things as arms control, disarmament, and public diplomacy.
http://theswordandthepen.blogspot.com/2008/01/paul-wolfowitz-still-employable.html
see also
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/01/wolfowitz-nam-1.html
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/01/25/wolfowitz_appointed_chairman_of_arms_control_advisory_panel/
http://americannonsense.com/?p=3086
http://www.investment-blogs.org/wolfowitz-dual-citizen-named-to-head-us-security-panel/14895/

12. Women’s REAL issues corner - (LadyBroadoak Visionary Planetary Healing Tutorial, January 26): “And Condi, lovely overeducated Condi, who plays a wicked piano at dinner paw-ties is helping right out. We the People are paying Ms. $3,000-per-pairra Shoes. Think we’re getting our money’s worth?? She’s sacrificing the sisters while planning her School of Public Diplomacy to come.” SEE BELOW ITEM 21.
http://ladybroadoak.blogspot.com/2008/01/womens-real-issues-corner_26.html (link may not be accessible)

13. Report: U.S. Security Impeding Global Business – David Jonas (Transnational, NY, January 24): The United States must more effectively reconcile its need to enhance security and its desire to welcome foreign travelers or it will be unable to take advantage of growing global mobility and an increasingly international economy in which U.S. multinational companies play a key role. Discussed in a report issued this month by a committee appointed by the US Departments of Homeland Security and State, that challenge may be met if the U.S. government follows up on many of 44 recommendations related to public diplomacy, visa policies and ports of entry. In terms of public diplomacy and international outreach, the report highlighted the role that Corporate America can play.
http://www.thetransnational.travel/news.php?cid=Secure-Borders-Open-Doors.Jan-08.24

14. My Next Career: Metaverse Evangelist? – (Eureka Dejavu’s Dispatches from a Virtual World: Eureka Dejavu [avatar of Dancing Ink Productions LLC’s CEO and Creative Director Rita J. King] and Schmilsson Nilsson [avatar of Chief Global Strategist Joshua S. Fouts] explore the emergence of a new global culture of business opportunities, sophisticated international relations and creative adventure in the Imagination Age across multiple virtual worlds, January 25): “As a colleague of mine told me today, when reflecting on a wacky idea I had four years ago that video games might be used for public diplomacy, ‘people might think you’re crazy but, they also thought the same of Magellan in the 16th Century. Maybe you’re a 21st Century Magellan!’”
http://eurekadejavu.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-next-career-metaverse-evangelist.html

15. Analysis: Lights [off]. Camera. Action - Amir Mizroch (Jerusalem Post, January 25): In the final analysis, there has been only limited progress on integrating Israeli public diplomacy interests in the big decision-making picture, despite the recent findings of several committees that this lack of coordination damages Israel’s ability to attain strategic goals. SEE BELOW ITEM 37.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201070787685&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
see also
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/hamasisraelgazaprpublicrelations48012507.html

16. From Britain To The World – (AV Interactive, UK, January 27): The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is to distribute its own news channel over the internet. The ministry is to use World Television’s Channel Player to display news items produced in multiple languages by British Satellite News (BSN). “When the current Foreign Secretary was appointed he made clear his determination that the FCO should be making more of the Internet and new media opportunities,” said Holly Tett, head of public diplomacy external relations team. “The Channel Player enables the FCO to engage more directly with key audiences on global issues.”
http://www.avinteractive.co.uk/News.aspx?Action=1887186931&ID=257c1d45-f9ae-42a0-978c-9d2455eeb308

17. Russia Watching: Soft power, hard power but not very smart power – Patricia H. Kushlis (Whirled View, January 26): Shuttering the British Council’s doors in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg by the Russian government might mean that the West will become less receptive to hosting Russian cultural offerings—from master painting exhibits like the one at the London Royal Academy to the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets or concerts by the myriad of beautifully trained Russian musicians who began gracing our concert halls decades before the Cold War ended.
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2008/01/russia-watching.html

18. UAE is most active player in Istanbul Cooperation Initiative: NATO chief – (Dubai City Guide, United Arab Emirates, January 25): NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, in a public diplomacy lecture titled ’Istanbul Cooperation Initiative: Dimensions and Concepts’ at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi: “Much of our interaction today is focused on military-to-military cooperation. There have been several important activities in this regard. We are keen to engage in training and education, and have already created several opportunities in this area. We see this as a two-way process,” he affirmed.
http://www.dubaicityguide.com/geninfo/news_dtls.asp?newsid=10906

B) RELATED ITEMS (US representation at Venice Biennale, 19; US world image, 20-23; US elections viewed from overseas, 24-25; ideal US warrior, 26; Iraq, 27-35; Iran, 36; Palestine, 37; Middle East, 38-39; Afghanistan, 40-41; Pakistan, 42; North Korea, 43; Kazhakhstan, 44-45; Guantanamo, 46; war on terror, 47; U.S. in world, 48; CIA in Cold War, 49; Hollywood’s idea of Russia, 50)

19. Bruce Nauman Chosen for Venice Biennale - Carol Vogel (New York Times, January 25): The multifaceted conceptual artist and sculptor Bruce Nauman, a pioneer of Post Minimalist video and performance art, will represent the United States at the 2009 Venice Biennale.  Mr. Nauman, 66, who lives in New Mexico, was chosen by the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions, a group of arts professionals organized by the National Endowment for the Arts to advise the State Department.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/arts/design/25voge.html?sq=&pagewanted=print

20. The wrong track on terror - Haviland Smith (baltimoresun.com, January 26): We cannot deal with Muslim attitudes by telling them how to behave. It will be more productive for us to get our own house in order through the restoration of full civil rights and the cessation of “enhanced interrogation techniques.” We can then present ourselves to the world as a model worth emulating.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.terrorism25jan25,0,2530978.story

21. International sales pitch - Oliver North (Washington Times, January 27):  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is trying to “pitch” American foreign policy to domestic and international “customers” in the last 12 months of the Bush administration. That’s not to say she isn’t trying —but it’s proving to be a tough sell.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080127/COMMENTARY06/664332531/1012&template=printart

22. State Of Disorder - James Kitfield (National Journal, January 25): “America’s image and influence are in decline,” concluded a recent report by the independent and bipartisan Commission on Smart Power. The State Department and related foreign-aid agencies have proven themselves woefully inadequate and under-resourced for the nation-building tasks they are increasingly asked to perform.
http://nationaljournal.com/njcover.htm#

23. Primary Choices: Hillary Clinton - Editorial  (New York Times, January 25): Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton would both help restore America’s global image, to which President Bush has done so much grievous harm. They are committed to changing America’s role in the world, not just its image. The next president needs to start immediately on challenges that will require concrete solutions, resolve, and the ability to make government work. Mrs. Clinton is more qualified, right now, to be president.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/opinion/25fri1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

24. Around the World, the U.S. Campaign Is Close to Home - Alan Cowell (New York Times, January 25): From Berlin to London to Jakarta, the destinies of Democratic and Republican contenders in Iowa or New Hampshire, or Nevada or South Carolina, have become home-town news in a way that most political commentators cannot recall. It is as if outsiders are pining for change in America as much as some American would-be presidential candidates are promising it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/world/26abroad.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

25. U.S. presidential primary deserves much observation - Li Xuejiang (People’s Daily, Beijing,January 22)
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90780/91343/6343086.html

26. An Afghan Province Points the Way - David Ignatius (Washington Post, January 27): The dilemma facing the U.S. military is that the conventional wars it’s good at fighting aren’t the ones it’s encountering in Iraq, Afghanistan and other unstable areas. The ideal modern warrior has to be something between a Peace Corps volunteer and a Special Forces commando.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012502594_pf.html

27. Iraqis: ‘US the Biggest Producer of Terror’ - Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail (antiwar.com, January 26)
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/aali.php?articleid=12268

28. Don’t Short-Circuit the Surge - Kimberly Kagan (Wall Street Journal January 26): Any realistic evaluation suggests that returning to pre-surge levels by July 2008, as some are suggesting, carries considerable risk.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120130782203818269.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

29. Reiding Rauch: The charges and stakes in Iraq -  Peter Wehner (National review, January 25): To his credit, in January 2006 President Bush endorsed the surge when almost everyone was against it—and it was the right and politically courageous thing to do.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mzk0ZjY1NmE0NDA0N2IxZmI5NmIyOGMyOTBlMGQ4Nzg=

30. Surging to a Stalemate: Are we really winning in Iraq? - Steve Chapman (Reason, January 24): What we have achieved in Iraq is not victory but an expensive stalemate that appears to have no end.
http://reason.com/news/printer/124581.html

31. Iraq: The forever treaty - Editorial Board (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 26): The Bush administration create a plan for a troop withdrawal; instead, the plan being negotiated with the Iraqi government focuses on reasons to stay there.  Falsehoods got us into Iraq; let’s not allow them to keep us there.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/348804_basesed27.html

32. How Bush Decided on the Surge: A year ago, we were losing in Iraq. Then the president made the most momentous decision of his presidency - Fred Barnes (Weekly Standard, February 2): The president was focused solely on victory in Iraq. The surge may achieve that. And if it does, Bush’s decision to spurn public opinion and the pressure of politics and intensify the war in Iraq will surely be regarded as the greatest of his presidency.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/658dwgrn.asp

33. Iraq’s progress report - Michael O’Hanlon (Washington Times, January 27): Overall, Iraq’s political system probably merits a grade of roughly C for its performance over the last 12 months. The bad news is there is lots of work to be done over the next 12 months and beyond. The good news is that the pace of progress is finally picking up.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080127/COMMENTARY/759727046/1012&template=printart

34. Negotiating Our Future in Iraq – Brian Beutler (American Prospect, January 24): The White House is about to embark upon a series of negotiations with the Iraqi government about the shape of U.S. involvement in Iraq for years to come. They say they will likely not seek congressional approval. But is that constitutional?
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=negotiating_our_future_in_iraq

35. An Interview with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari: US Troops Will Be In Iraq for 10 More Years - Patrick Cockburn (CounterPunch, January 25)
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01252008.html

36. Another Iran Resolution: A weak Security Council draft is better than none at all – Editorial (Washington Post, January 26): This week’s announcement of an agreement by the United States, the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany on a new sanctions resolution was important. If sustained and strengthened, UN sanctions could eventually force the regime to choose between a nuclear weapons capacity and a viable economy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012503002_pf.html

37. Fake Pictures Make Excellent Propaganda - C. L. K. Aqurette (Aqurette, January 26):  European mainstream media is bias in favour of the Palestinians. That is why we are fed with sob stories about people being trapped in the Gaza Strip but rarely hear or read anything about the hundreds of rockets fired against Israel every month. It’s no wonder people unfamiliar with the conflict get the impression that Israelis are the bad guys.
http://www.aqurette.com/journal/2008/01/fake-pictures-m.html

38. Bush Hits a Wall in the Mideast - Jim Hoagland (Washington Post, January 27): Bush will return to the region in May to take part in Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations and perhaps to reinvigorate his peace initiative. He will need to. At the moment, it is on life support.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012502596_pf.html

39. The Imperial Pretention – Alan Bock (antiwar.com, January 26): In some ways Bush’s Middle East trip seemed like one of those imperial processions that emperors in empires that admitted to being such used to undertake—a trip through the provinces marked by shows of force and banquets and protestations of eternal love and friendship (while behind the scenes people jockeyed for power and tried to assess where the real powers behind the throne lay).
http://www.antiwar.com/bock/?articleid=12270

40. U.S. Troubled By Afghan Journalist’s Death Sentence -  Reuters (New York Times, January 25): The United States said on Friday it was troubled by the case of an Afghan journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy and that the U.S. ambassador in Kabul planned to raise the matter with Afghan authorities. An Afghan court sentenced Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, 23, a reporter with the Jahan-e Now daily paper, to death on Tuesday after he was found guilty of blasphemy, a court official said.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-afghan-usa-journalist.html?sq=&pagewanted=print

41. NATO wear and tear: The U.S. can’t afford to lose the support of Canada or other allies as the war in Afghanistan falters – Editorial (Los Angeles Times, January 25): Roads, irrigation, markets, agricultural aid and better security—in short, a humanitarian “surge”—offer the only long-term hope for peace and stability in Afghanistan. And that’s a mission that could unite NATO.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-afghanistan25jan25,0,7092043.story

42. Wait For It: Pakistan’s President Lauds His Country’s Stability – Paul D. Kretkowski (Beacon, January 24): ”I usually try to emphasize that soft power is a function of branding: Make an appealing promise and then keep it. That’s what makes it tough to keep a straight face when I see headlines like “Musharraf Trumpets Stability” in this morning’s Wall Street Journal.”
http://softpowerbeacon.blogspot.com/2008/01/mr-musharraf-in-davos.html

43. Foggy Bottom Apostate – Review & Outlook (Wall Street Journal, January 25): Jay Lefkowitz, President Bush’s special envoy for human rights in North Korea, has recently pointed out that our current approach to Pyongyang is failing. Lord help a diplomat who tells the truth. Mr. Lefkowitz, growled Condoleezza Rice at a Tuesday press conference in Europe, “doesn’t work on the six-party talks [on North Korea], he doesn’t know what’s going on in the six-party talks and he certainly has no say in what American policy will be in the six-party talks.”
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120122043065715303.html

44. Russian Anti-Americanism in Kazakhstan - John Wehner (How The World Sees America, Washington Post, January 25): Anti-Americanism in Kazakhstan is tied closely to the Russian media, which is now almost entirely under the control of the Kremlin.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2008/01/from_kazakhstan_no_kosovo.html?nav=rss_blog

45. Kazakh Film Aims for Oscar - Maria Golovnina, Reuters (Moscow Times, January 25):  The Kazakh-financed film nominated for best foreign film at this year’s Oscars is a welcome creative boost to this Central Asian country that was so heavily lampooned by the hit “Borat” movie. “Mongol,” Kazakhstan’s first-ever Oscar nod, comes after British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen poked fun at the country in the highly successful 2006 movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2008/01/25/017.html

46. Inside Guantánamo - Text by Andrew Sullivan, Photos by Louie Palu (Atlantic Montly, January/February)
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/guantanamo-photos

47. Secret Operations: Supporting or Undermining the War on Terrorism? – William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 25)
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/secret_operations_undermine_th.html#more

48. Global Governance: To Strobe Talbott, it’s inevitable. To John Bolton, it’s surrender [review of Surrender Is Not An Option Defending America at the United Nations And Abroad By John Bolton; The Great Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern States, And the Quest for a Global Nation By Strobe Talbott] - Joseph S. Nye Jr. (Washington Post, January 27): Talbott believes that global governance is coming—that “individual states will increasingly see it in their interest to form an international system that is far more cohesive, far more empowered by its members, and therefore far more effective than the one we have today.” Bolton is skeptical of such visions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402329_pf.html

49. Dancing to the CIA’s Tune: The secret funding of American artists and intellectuals in the ‘50s and ‘60s [review of The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America By Hugh Wilford] - Michael Kazin (Washington Post, January 27): As Hugh Wilford explains, the CIA took for its model one of the enemy’s more successful tactics: the creation and funding of front organizations. The agency spent millions on organizations with such virtuous names as the Congress for Cultural Freedom, the Independent Research Service and the Free Trade Union Committee. An architect of the plan, veteran spymaster Frank Wisner, was fond of comparing it to a huge organ, “a mighty Wurlitzer” that, as Wilford puts it, would be “capable of playing any propaganda tune he desired.” Few of the rank-and-file Americans active in these groups suspected that CIA officials were meeting routinely with their leaders and paying most of the bills.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402369_pf.html

50. The Red Carpet” From Tsarist opulence to Soviet intrigue, a book by Harlow Robinson shows how Hollywood’s idea of Russia has changed with the times [review of Russians in Hollywood, Hollywood’s Russians: Biography of an Image By Harlow Robinson] - Tom Birchenough (Moscow Times, January 25): Hollywood was more concerned with the bottom line than with the artistic devotion that often characterized Russian films.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/print.php?aid=182414

B) ONLY IN AMERICA?

51. Nude Buttocks May Cost ABC $1.4 Million - Associated Press (chicagotribune.com, Janaury 26): The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $1.4 million fine against 52 ABC Television Network stations over a 2003 broadcast of cop drama NYPD Blue. The fine is for a scene where a boy surprises a woman as she prepares to take a shower. The scene depicted “multiple, close-up views” of the woman’s “nude buttocks” according to an agency order issued late Friday.
www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-nypd-blue-fcc,0,952097.story

C) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“When asked what he thought about foreign affairs, Bill Clinton replied, ‘I don’t know, I never had one.’”

—Joke circulating on the internet

“The Horse Thief

“Scott Horton blogs for Harpers: ‘George W. Bush is famous for his attachment to a painting which he acquired after becoming a ‘born again Christian.’ It’s by W.H.D. Koerner and is entitled ‘A Charge to Keep.’ Bush was so taken by it, that he took the painting’s name for his own official autobiography. And here’s what he says about it: ‘I thought I would share with you a recent bit of Texas history which epitomizes our mission. When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.’ . . .

“Now, however, Jacob Weisberg [has tracked] down the commission behind the art work and he gives us the full story in his forthcoming book on Bush, ‘The Bush Tragedy’.

“Weisberg writes: ‘[Bush] came to believe that the picture depicted the circuit-riders who spread Methodism across the Alleghenies in the nineteenth century. In other words, the cowboy who looked like Bush was a missionary of his own denomination.

“Only that is not the title, message, or meaning of the painting. The artist, W.H.D. Koerner, executed it to illustrate a Western short story entitled ‘The Slipper Tongue,’ published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1916. The story is about a smooth-talking horse thief who is caught, and then escapes a lynch mob in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. The illustration depicts the thief fleeing his captors. In the magazine, the illustration bears the caption: ‘Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught.’”

So, Horton writes: “Bush’s inspiring, prosyletizing Methodist is in fact a silver-tongued horse thief fleeing from a lynch mob. It seems a fitting marker for the Bush presidency.”—Dan Froomkin (washingtonpost.com, Jan 25)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/25/BL2008012501929.html

“In the everything-is-brand world, each person in the company, from contract employees to managers to executives to directors, must be responsible for maintaining and increasing brand value.”

—Don Frischmann, “Nothing Is Insignificant When It Comes to Brand Fulfillment” (Advertising Age, January 25)
http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=123169

D) LECTURE

Yul Brynner and His Family in North Korea, 1896-1946

A Talk by Dr. Rock Brynner
February 11th, 2008 at 4 p.m.

The Harriman Institute, Columbia University
420 W. 118th St. — 12th Floor

Yul Brynner, the most exotic and mysterious movie star in Hollywood history, spent his teenage summers in what is today North Korea. It was there in “The Hermit Kingdom” that his Russian-born father helped to create a Russian hunting resort that thrived from 1923-1943. Now, for the first time, the significant role of Yul’s family in Korea’s history is documented, with photos, by his son, Dr. Rock Brynner, historian, novelist, and Professor of Political Science at Western Connecticut State University.

“The Brynner family fled the Bolsheviks in 1922,” explains Brynner, “traveling just one hundred miles south of their home in Vladivostok, Russia to establish a large serttlement of well-to-do White Russians. Yul’s cousin, Valery Yankovsky, now 96, was in Pyongyang on the day Kim Il Sung (whom he knew as a partisan fighting the Japanese occupation) took power in 1946.”

Rock Brynner, historian and novelist, earned an M.A. in Philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin and a Ph.D. in History at Columbia University. The only son of actor Yul Brynner, he grew up in the U.S. and in Switzerland. He helped establish the original Hard Rock Café in London, served as road manager for The Band, Bob Dylan et al. (The Last Waltz), and was bodyguard to Muhammad Ali. He lives in Pawling, N.Y. and has published six books. His latest work, Empire and Odyssey: The Brynners In Far East Russia and Beyond, is the result Yul Brynner and His Family in North Korea, 1896-1946.
 

“What do you do when you get married?”

—Question posed in South Carolina by a five year old to former President Bill Clinton; cited in “Bill Clinton Lies To 5-Year-Olds, Too” (Wonkette, January 24)
http://wonkette.com/348522/bill-clinton-lies-to-5+year+olds-too

“I’m a spray man myself.”

—President George W. Bush, speaking to government leaders and American counter-narcotics officials during his 2006 trip to Afghanistan; cited in Richard Holbrooke, “Still Wrong in Afghanistan” (Washington Post, January 23)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/22/AR2008012202617_pf.html

DOCUMENTS

a) Detailed Information On The Public Diplomacy Assessment (Expectmore.gov). Assessment year: 2006
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/detail/10004600.2006.html
b) “Evaluation and the New Public Diplomacy: Presentation to the Future of Public Diplomacy 842nd Wilton Park Conference” (March 2, 2007) by David Steven, River Path Associates
http://www.riverpath.com/library/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/public-diplomacy-and-evaluation-wilton-park-020307.pdf

VIDEO

How to make a propaganda poster
http://pigmystrong.com/?p=260

ATLANTIC MONTHLY

Atlantic.com is dropping its subscriber registration requirement and making the site free to all visitors.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801u/editors-note

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-24)

1. We Must Address Poor Image Of United States In The Arab World - Marwan Kraidy (Desmoinesregister.Com, January 24): A renewed U.S. multilateralism must integrate numerous state and non-state actors. A series of basic, common-sense steps should be undertaken: Create an empowered, better-funded and more autonomous public diplomacy organism. The low US reputation in the Arab world is not a communication problem but a policy problem. The silver lining is that negative perceptions of the United States in the Arab world are not old or immutable. They are the result of U.S. policies. So a change in policies can also result in a change in perceptions.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/OPINION01/801240358/1036/Opinion

2. Gaza explodes: In this unfolding tragedy, borders have turned into instruments of collective punishment, Israel’s way of bringing Palestinians to their knees - Soumaya Ghannoushi (Guardian, January 24): Enormous amounts of money were and continue to be, pumped into a public diplomacy strategy aimed at improving America’s image in the world. But the truth is that a mere glimpse of what goes on in Gaza today, or what went on in Jenin, Rafah, or Beit Hanoun before, is enough to undo the work of years of exchange programmes, speaking tours, and PR campaigns. SEE BELOW ITEMS 26-33.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/soumaya_ghannoushi_/2008/01/gaza_explodes.html

3. Reviews are In, and They’re Not Good - Steven R. Corman (Comops Journal, January 22): Comments by the press in a supposedly moderate Arab state—Qatar—underscore the poor position of the U.S. in public diplomacy, its inability to influence the conversation other than to reproduce a negative image, and the consequent need to do something that will change the game.
http://comops.org/journal/2008/01/22/reviews-are-in-and-theyre-not-good/

4. Blunderbuss shots at U.S. public diplomacy - (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy, January 23): “Do a little bit of research, and the ‘Britney Spears’ [USG-funded] radio broadcasts (which are mostly not Britney Spears) make some sense. People in the Middle East are using television for news, current affairs, and ‘freight.’ The radio audience is more interested in music. Radio Sawa and Radio Farda appear to be attracting large audiences, who are then captive for brief but substantive newscasts. As for the internet, the State Department already has Arabic speakers working the Arab blogs.”
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3187

5. (Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy, latest edition): Contains other items pertaining to public diplomacy.
http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/

6. No Quechua Or Aymara In Voice Of America – (Speedy Gonzalez Es De La Dea: Ándale Ándale!! Arriba Arriba!!Yeap!Yeap!, January 23): Following the lead of Clinton appointees on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the Bush Administration has decided not to ask Congress for needed funds to continue important international broadcasts around the world.
http://speedygonzalezesdeladea.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-quechua-or-aymara-in-voice-of.html

7. In the Ideological War Against Terrorism, the Military Has No Mission - William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 24): Various “information operations” projects have proliferated within the military. The new deputy assistant secretary for public dilomacy, Michael Doran, said that strategic communications is “syncing our messaging with our actions, so our actions reinforce our words.” This is a tall order for the military, because what is called “strategic communication” is hopelessly confused.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/in_the_ideological_war_against.html?nav=rss_blog
8. Rummy Resurfaces, Calls for U.S. Propaganda Agency - Sharon Weinberger (Danger Room, Wired, January 23): Back in 2001, the Pentagon under Donald Rumsfeld’s leadership created the controversial Office of Strategic Influence, which was closed down just a few months later after its existence became public. Now, the former defense secretary has a bigger vision: he is advocating a “21st century agency for global communications.”
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/rummy-wants-pro.html
see also
http://www.alienjesus.com/2008/01/23/rumsfeld-proposes-us-ministry-of-propaganda/
http://patdollard.com/2008/01/rumsfeld-we-need-a-propaganda-agency/

9. Former SecDef Calls for new USIA (Updated, again)(MountainRunner, January 23): Within public diplomacy circles you won’t find a consensus on how or even if a new USIA-like agency should be structured, how close it should be to the President, and if it would be under the National Security Council (a popular suggestion) or have its own seat on the cabinet.
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/former_secdef_calls_for_new_us.html

10. Military Plans to Control Internet Revealed - Sopan Greene (The Invisible Opportunity: Discover the Secret Knowledge and Power Hidden Right Before Your Eyes, January 23): Cites the 2003 Pentagon document “Information Operations Roadmap” that “Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience.”
http://salonesoterica.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/military-plans-to-control-internet-revealed/

11. Potential New Top Diplomat: A Clothes Horse – Mary Ann Akers (The Sleuth, Washington Post, January 22): Even if he was colossally wrong about the stock market, here’s one thing James K. “Jim” Glassman can predict with certainty: If he wins Senate confirmation to become undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, he’ll improve the sartorial quotient at the State Department by at least 300 percent.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/01/potential_new_top_diplomat_a_c.html

12. Discussion - Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts (Reliable Source, Washington Post, January 23): Discussant “Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C”: “Some, upon reading the latest Sleuth blog about State Department Office of Public Diplomacy nominee James Glassman, might be skeptical about his qualifications and eventual effectiveness in the job, but I worked in that area of State, and can say that an expensively-dressed neocon is just what we need in order to win the hearts and minds of those around the world who might be skeptical about U.S. foreign policy practices and who think we are a country whose policies are determined by the rich and our leaders are insensitive to the plight of the world’s poor.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/01/22/DI2008012202485.html

13. Why Hillary Clinton Will Restore America’s Standing in the World - Lissa Muscatine and Melanne Verveer (Huffington Post, January 24): Hillary Clinton has been practicing public diplomacy for years and is widely respected around the world for her longtime commitment to international development, human rights and America’s global leadership. SEE BELOW ITEM 51.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lissa-muscatine-and-melanne-verveer/why-hillary-clinton-will-_b_83037.html
see also
http://www.rightwinglunatic.com/2008/01/why-hillary-clinton-will-restore.html

14. Robert Grupp Installed as President of IPRA, The Global Network of Senior Public Relations Professionals: Corporate Communications Executive Champions Public Diplomacy – (PR Newswire, January 24): The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) today installed Robert W. Grupp as its President. Grupp, a vocal proponent of “public diplomacy” and its relevancy to business and public relations, describes it as an essential tool to foster understanding of common interests and to build respect for cultures and contributions by people across a dramatically changing world.
http://sev.prnewswire.com/workforce-management/20080124/NYTH04724012008-1.html

15. Second Keynote Speaker For Conference—Craig Newmark, Craigslist Founder - (WebGuild Blog, January 23): Craig Newmark, Founder of Craigslist, will be the second headline Keynote Speaker at the upcoming WebGuild Web 2.0 Conference & Expo on Tuesday, January 29, 2008. Craig is involved with a variety of community efforts and is particularly interested in organizations promoting public diplomacy, mideast peace and new forms of media such as participatory journalism. http://www.webguild.org/2008/01/second-keynote-speaker-for-conference.php

16. Spend, Spend Spend! On What? – dchayes (trackdot…what I’m reading on the web, January 24): “on my way to the apple store, i passed a big screen lcd attached to one of the subway entrances nearby. with times square not so far away i wondered what big companies would spend their money on if we didn’t have such a love affair with consumption of myriad products. perhaps persuasive tech and public diplomacy would make up a larger piece of the advertising pie. speaking of persuasive tech, bj fogg of stanford’s persuasive tech lab is discussing facebook applications, mass persuasion and world peace today.”
http://trackdot.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/spend-spend-spend-on-what/

17. Turtle Bay Tale – Review & Outlook (Wall Street Journal, January 24): Credit Kim Jong Il with the world’s weirdest public diplomacy. He has instructed his diplomats to confirm that, yes, the totalitarian state used the United Nations to transfer $2.72 million to its diplomatic missions in violation of U.N. rules and international financial regulations. Yet the extent of the North’s criminal activities is still far from known.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120113574037511863.html

18. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Attends the Sixth Council General Meeting of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs – Press Release (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s Republic of China, January 22): On January 21, 2008, at the sixth general meeting of the Council of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) held in Beijing, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that as an important non-governmental public diplomatic organization with a long and glorious history the CPIFA has played a unique and irreplaceable role of supporting China’s diplomacy at different historical periods. He stressed that the non-governmental public diplomacy faces “both unprecedented opportunities and challenges.”
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/zxxx/t402196.htm

19. Chinese president calls for stepped-up propaganda work ahead of Olympics - Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press, Yahoo! News Malaysia, January 24): President Hu called for boosting China’s “national cultural soft power,” a reference to influence in culture, sports and other spheres outside traditional military might and hard-nosed diplomacy. Officials should “perform well the task of outward propaganda, further exhibit and raise up the nation’s good image,” Hu said.
http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080123/tap-as-gen-china-propaganda-1st-ld-write-bb10fb8.html

20. News - Briefing board (Scotsman, January 24): British Council Scotland held a conference at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on Tuesday, to discuss “Scotland’s place in the world—the role of public diplomacy.” Speakers included Linda Fabiani, the Europe minister, Christopher Merrill from Iowa University, and Jan Melissen of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations.
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Briefing-board.3705208.jp

21. Getting to Know the European Union: Greece – (EU for You: Getting to Know the European Union, January 22): Alexandros P. Mallias, Greece’s Ambassador to the United States, presented his credentials to President Bush in October 2005. A proponent of public diplomacy, Ambassador Mallias has made people-to-people diplomacy an integral part of his mission in the United States, reaching beyond the bounds of Washington politics.
http://blog.euforyou.org/?p=9

22. Matt Lee’s Abstract and Bio - (Honors 440 Blog, January 22): Matthew Lee is a 4th year student of Theatre and Interactive Media at the University of Southern California, with skills in 3d modeling, sound design, storytelling, and image manipulation). In addition to student projects, he works on the Center for Public Diplomacy’s Virtual Worlds project, exploring and engaging in virtual societies to increase awareness of potential uses, and facilitating others’ participation in virtual space.
http://iml440.blogspot.com/2008/01/matt-lees-abstract-and-bio.html

23. Delphi International Internship – (SIS-388 International Environmental Politics, January 23): “Delphi International is seeking energetic students who would like to work on implementing the U.S. Department of State’s public diplomacy program, the International Visitors Leadership Program. Intern positions are available immediately, and we’re also accepting resumes’ for winter/spring.”
http://sis388.blogspot.com/2008/01/delphi-international-internship.html

24. Public Diplomacy for a Post Cheney world; The Seminar - Diary Entry by ladybroadoak (OpEdNews, January 24): “I will be conducting a seminar next term, Post Cheney America 501, to which all students may apply. ... Good students will be recommended for foreign study at the discretion of the instructor. You may be rewarded by a trip to Dubai or to Paraguay.”
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=5776

B) RELATED ITEMS (US support for former weapons scientists in Russia, 25; Gaza, 26-33; Iraq, 34-37; Iran, 38; Middle East, 39-40; Afghanistan, 41-43; Pakistan, 44-45; North Korea, 46-47; NATO, 48; Sudan, 49; Venezuela, 50; Bill Clinton foreign policy, 51; Internet, 52; CIA in the Cold War, 53; State Department, 54-55; Rice, 56-59)

25. Hiring of Soviet Scientists Has Strayed From Aim, Audit Says - Matthew L. Wald (New York Times, January 24): An American effort set up after the fall of the Soviet Union to hire its former weapons scientists to keep them from selling their skills to nations seeking nuclear, biological or chemical weapons is now paying people who were never weapons scientists and are too young to have worked in the old Soviet program, according to Congressional auditors. The Department of Energy program, which has a budget this year of $30 million, has spent about $309 million since its inception in 1994. The State Department runs a program similar to the one at the Energy Department. It is based on institutes, not individual scientists, but has “graduated” some of the institutes as they have become self-sufficient. The State Department hopes to end the program by 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/washington/24nuke.html?sq=&pagewanted=print

26. Propaganda battle over Gaza plight - Jonathan Marcus (BBC News, January 21): Even before Israel began to implement its decision to restrict fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip there was strong international condemnation from the United Nations, from aid organisations, and indeed from a number of friendly governments.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7200194.stm

27. Embattled Gaza: a Propaganda Coup for Hamas - Frida Ghitis (World Politics Review, January 24): Much of the news coverage has carefully concealed that, as many in the Arab world point out, responsibility for the current crisis lies squarely on the shoulders of Hamas, the extremist organization that runs Gaza.
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Article.aspx?id=1532

28. Juan Cole Peddles Hamas Propaganda; Accuses Israel of “Atrocities,” “War Crimes,” and “Slavery” - Cinnamon Stillwell (Campus Watch: Monitoring Middle East Studies on Campus, January 22): “When it comes to off-the-wall commentary on the Middle East conflict, University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole is the gift that keeps on giving. If there’s anti-Israel propaganda to be found, one can be sure Cole will be peddling it at his ironically named blog, Informed Comment.”
http://www.campus-watch.org/weblog/id/162

29. End the occupation—and get justice for its victims - Bassam Aramin (baltimoresun.com, January 24): Israelis and their government—and Americans and their government—should be ashamed at the travesty in Gaza today. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.combatants24jan24,0,724765,print.story

30. The Biggest Jailbreak in History: The Siege of Gaza is Broken - Stanley Heller (CounterPunch, January 24): The Palestinian people took their destiny in their own hands and smashed down the wall that divided Gaza from Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of people left their prison and walked into Egypt and bought up food, fuel and everything else in sight. It took great courage to do what they did. http://www.counterpunch.org/heller01242008.html

31. The West’s Orwellian Monopoly on Morality - Paul Craig Roberts (antiwar.com, January 24): The United States, the great moral light unto the world, has just prevented the United Nations from censuring Israel, the world’s other great moral light, for cutting off food supplies, medical supplies, and electric power to Gaza
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=12252

32. Breach in Gaza: As thousands stream across the border to Egypt, Hamas blockades the peace process – Editorial (Washington Post, January 24): The Bush administration and European governments should act to stop the ongoing farce at the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. Human Rights Council, which have ignored months of daily rocket attacks aimed at Israeli civilians but now rush to condemn a partial, three-day disruption of Gaza’s power supplies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303327_pf.html

33. Gaza in Second Life – (islamOnline.com, January 24): People from tens of different world countries gathered on IslamOnline.net’s island inside the virtual world of Second Life for a peaceful rally protesting the situation in Gaza.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199279881908&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

34. Iraq’s New Law on Ex-Baathists Could Bring Another Purge - Amit R. Paley and Joshua Partlow (Washington Post, January 23): Under new legislation promoted as way to return former Baathists to public life, thousands could be forced out of jobs they have been allowed to hold, according to Iraqi lawmakers and the government agency that oversees ex-Baathists.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/22/AR2008012203538_pf.html

35. Remarkable progress in Iraq - Helle Dale (Washington Times, January 23): Not every dark cloud has a silver lining, but $100 per barrel oil could have at least one: the boost it is providing for Iraq’s long-suffering economy. Combined with greater political stability, and spreading zones of security, ascending oil prices are showing promise of making 2008 one of the best years Iraq has had in a long while.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080123/EDITORIAL06/228781142/1013/editorial&template=printart

36. How fear turns to resolve in one Iraqi village: US-Iraqi forces persuade a remote town in Diyala Province to fight against Al Qaeda insurgents - Scott Peterson (Christian Science Monitor, January 23)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0123/p01s02-woiq.html

37. False Pretenses: Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq - Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith (Center for Public Integrity)
http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/
courtesy Len Baldyga

38. A message for Tehran – Editorial (Boston Globe, January 24): With parliamentary elections in Iran coming in March and Ahmadinejad being blamed for dozens of deaths due to a shortage of natural gas, this is the ideal time to inform Iranians that they need not go on suffering from his incompetence or his bravado.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/01/24/a_message_for_tehran?mode=PF

39. Familiar Mideast mania - Paul Greenberg (Washington Times, January 24): If the goal were more modest in the Mideast, like just containing the current brush fires, it might be achievable.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/COMMENTARY/102308146/1012&template=printart

40. A Mideast lesson for Bush - H.D.S. Greenway (Boston Globe, January 22): President Bush’s trip to the Middle East last week seems to have been an effort to blow some air into his sagging, anti-Iranian balloon. His Sunni allies in the region are indeed worried about the rising power and belligerency of Shi’ite Iran, but they also know that it was Bush’s war in Iraq that empowered Iran, and they are not sure they trust him to come up with a solution.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/22/a_mideast_lesson_for_bush?mode=PF

41. Still Wrong in Afghanistan - Richard Holbrooke (Washington Post, January 23): President Hamid Karzai and much of the international community in Kabul have warned Bush that aerial spraying of poppy fields would create a backlash against the government and the Americans, and serve as a recruitment device for the Taliban while doing nothing to reduce the drug trade. This is no side issue: If the program continues to fail, success in Afghanistan will be impossible. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/22/AR2008012202617_pf.html

42. In Kabul, Shattered Illusions - Jean MacKenzie (New York Times, January 24): Out of the billions that have supposedly come into Afghanistan, only a trickle has been used to good effect.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/opinion/24mackenzie.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

43. A workable strategy - Harlan Ullman (Washington Times, January 23): “Winning” is not the correct goal in Afghanistan. However, making that region our top priority is.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080123/EDITORIAL09/476874431/1013/editorial&template=printart

44. The Shah of Pakistan? Malou Innocent (Washington Post, January 24): The United States once earned the title of the “Great Satan” by propping up the Shah of Iran. We should not go down that same path by propping up the “Shah” of Pakistan, President Musharraf.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303393_pf.html

45. A Pro for the Pakistani Army? Ashfaq Kiyani May Do What Pervez Musharraf Couldn’t – David Ignatius (Washington Post, January 24): The danger for Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, the Pakistani army’s new chief of staff, Kiyani is that, like Musharraf, he will be seen as so close to the United States that he will lose credibility in his own country. The stakes in Kiyani’s success could not be greater for the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303288_pf.html

46. Opinions Do Not Reflect Those of the Management - Al Kamen (Washington Post, January 23): Jay Lefkowitz—President Bush’s special envoy on North Korean human rights, or lack thereof—sure created a fuss last week when he said the Commie regime of Kim Jong Il isn’t serious about disarming and probably will still have nukes when a new president takes over, despite four years of six-party talks involving Washington, both Koreas, China, Japan and Russia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/22/AR2008012203466_pf.html

47. Slowly, but Surely, Pyongyang Is Moving - David Albright and Jacqueline Shire (Washington Post, January 24): There is no indication that North Korea is backing away from its commitments to disable key nuclear facilities and every reason to expect this process to unfold slowly, with North Korea taking small, incremental steps in return for corresponding steps from the United States and others in the six-party discussions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303282_pf.html

48. NATO shows its age – Editorial (Boston Globe, January 23): Ever since the Cold War ended nearly two decades ago, the proper purpose and ground rules for the NATO alliance have been still up in the air, and the debate is unlikely to be resolved soon.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/01/22/nato_shows_its_age/

49. Impunity in Sudan - Editorial (Los Angeles Times, January 23) : The U.N. must either stand up to the Sudanese thugs now or pack up its peacekeepers and go home.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-sudan23jan23,0,3822931.story

50. Tehran, Havana and Caracas – Editorial (Washington Times, January 23): One of the most troubling threats in America’s backyard is the emerging axis of Cuba’s Communist regime and the Iranian government, assisted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080123/EDITORIAL/570579292/1013/editorial&template=printart

51. A Clinton twofer’s high price: Hillary Clinton’s campaign reminds us that her husband’s presidency looks good only when it’s compared to the Bush years - Rosa Brooks (Los Angeles Times, January 24): Under Clinton, the United States didn’t actively alienate huge swathes of the global population. But on foreign policy in particular, Clinton’s presidency was an era of missed opportunities.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks24jan24,0,5711267,print.column

52. Trapped in the grid: Like electricity, the Web is everywhere and changes everything, says Nicholas Carr. But the one thing it can’t deliver is freedom - Scott Rosenberg (Salon, January 23): “Computer systems,” Nicholas Carr writes in his new book, “The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google,”, “are not at their core technologies of emancipation. They are technologies of control.”
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/01/24/nicholas_carr/print.html

53. An Instrument of Influence [review of Hugh Wilford’s “The Mighty Wurlitzer”] - Gabriel Schoenfeld Wall Street Journal, January 24): From the 1930s to the 1950s, under the direct supervision of Joseph Stalin, Communist parties around the world set up “front groups”—organizations under their own control but not publicly affiliated with them—to advance the interests of the Soviet Union. In the aftermath of World War II, America’s fledgling CIA, seeking ways to counter Soviet influence in Europe and elsewhere, took a leaf from the adversary’s playbook, covertly funding individuals and organizations that would advance the fortunes of the Free World.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120113967436712089.html
paid subscription

54. Problems a-plenty on the listing ship of State – Patricia H. Kushlis (Whirled View, January 23): “I think the outdated hierarchical Foreign Service system which over-rewards a small caste of high-flying senior officers to the detriment of the rank-and-file should have been abolished years ago and replaced with a system that better fits today’s highly educated knowledge workers. ... The basic problem at State ... is the difficulty of changing the organization’s entrenched culture—but that’s what the department needs to do if it is to represent America’s interests abroad effectively and take care of employee needs.”
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2008/01/problems-a-plen.html

55. Discussion - Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts (Reliable Source, Washington Post, January 23): Posted by: Diane, January 22, 2008 08:47 PM: “Condi Rice has set the tone in the State Department for dignified dressing. I would expect each of the people who work at the State Department to dress for their position in a style which is becoming and well-fitted.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/01/22/DI2008012202485.html

56. Colombians Prepare Warm Welcome for Princess Diplomat – (Princess Sparkle Pony‘s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 24):
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/colombians-prepare-warm-welcome-for.html

57. Fun Lovin’ War Criminals -(Princess Sparkle Pony‘s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 23): A photo of Rice with Henry Kissinger.
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/fun-lovin-war-criminals.html

58. Reuters Condirazzi Stefan Wermuth: Shoe Fetishist or Just Bored? (Princess Sparkle Pony‘s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 23): Photo: The shoes of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she crosses her legs following her key-note speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss Alpine resort town of Davos January 23.
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/reuters-condirazzi-stefan-wermuth-shoe.html

59. Condi ‘n’ Micheline! - (Princess Sparkle Pony‘s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 22): Photo: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shakes hands with Swiss Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey prior to a meeting at Zurich Airport in Kloten January 23.
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/condi-n-micheline.html

C) ONLY AT DAVOS?

60. Twist: Something in the Air? Attendees at Davos Can Follow Their Nose - Marc Champion (Wall Street Journal, January 23): This year the World Economic Forum asked a perfumer to scent the rooms where attendees meet to ponder the world. “Think of it as an air sculpture” that portrays certain messages and interpretations, says the 38-year-old Mr. Laudamiel,  senior perfumer at Manhattan-based International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., who developed fragrances specially to match the Forum themes for the year. Different rooms get different perfumes. One gets a “Glacier” scent, tribute to the shrinking polar ice cap. Others get “Happiness,” “Gigabyte” (to inspire high-tech thoughts and optimism), “Swiss Heights” (for Davos), “Magnolia and Sage,” and organic “Lavender Fields.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120102496496107043.html?mod=hps_us_editors_picks
paid subscription

D) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“First Lad”

—What Bill Clinton’s position would be if spouse Hillary is elected US president; cited in Maureen Dowd, “Two Against One” (New York Times, January 23)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/opinion/23dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

“Bush Doctrine 1.0 was Unipolar Realism (3/7/99—9/10/01); Bush Doctrine 2.0 was With Us or Against Us (9/11/01—5/31/02); Bush Doctrine 3.0 was Preemption (6/1/02—11/5/03); Bush Doctrine 4.0 was Democracy in the Middle East (11/6/03—1/19/05); Bush Doctrine 5.0 was Freedom Everywhere (1/20/05—11/7/06); and Bush Doctrine 6.0, 11/8/06 to date, is the ‘absence of any functioning doctrine at all.’”

—Dan Froomkin, citing a passage from Jacob Weisberg’s new book, “The Bush Tragedy”; in “Markets Vote ‘No’ on Bush” (washingtonpost.com, January 22)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/22/BL2008012201457_pf.html

—3-foot-1-inch tall Montana State University film student Kevin Connolly, answering the question “Why are you on a skateboard?” from a young girl in a Bozeman (Montana) grocery store; cited in Ray Sikorski, “A legless artist documents the world in 32,000 stares: Tired of gawkers, Kevin Connolly traveled by skateboard, capturing their sheer human curiosity” (Christian Science Monitor, January 20)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0122/p20s01-ussc.htm

US PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: THE VIEW FROM CANADA

Canadian author Chris Wood comments on US public diplomacy. Please scroll down to Section F.

FORTHCOMING BOOK

Nathan Gardels and Mike Medavoy, “The Global Battle for Hearts and Minds: Hollywood, Public Diplomacy and America’s Image.”
http://www.princeradublog.ro/?p=1393

IMAGES

A ruined Statue of Liberty as perhaps the quintessential icon of disaster since the 1940s.
http://gerrycanavan.blogspot.com/2008/01/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair.html
via
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/21/statue-of-liberty-in.html

DISAPPEARING LINK

The link to the following quotation has become inoperative since its appearance in PDPBR, January 18-20:  “I am also considering switching cones [career paths at the State Department], from Public Diplomacy to Consular ... you don’t put in nearly the amount of extra hours in consular work that you do in the other cones,” Foreign Service Officer “schohn,” “Thinking about stuff…,”(Life After Jerusalem blog, January 19).

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-15)

1. The Case for Non-Violence Against Terrorists - Lionel Beehner (Huffington Post, January 21): Public diplomacy efforts have an abysmal track record in the Muslim world. If locals are not fond of American foreign policy, no amount of cultural exchanges is going to sway them. Rather the best policy is one of restraint that seeks to win over locals by integrating them into the fabric of the state socioeconomically, culturally, and politically.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lionel-beehner/the-case-for-nonviolence_b_82485.html

2. One party can’t defeat jihadism - George Weigel (USA Today, January 22): The war against jihadism must be fought on many non-military fronts. Bipartisan agreement on a radical reform of the U.S. intelligence community and its capacities to get “inside” the worlds that produce jihadist terrorism is imperative. Then there is public diplomacy, the effort to explain our view of the just society to Muslim audiences. Surely, there can be bipartisan agreement that spending tax dollars broadcasting Britney Spears into the Middle East is a waste of money. It’s also a diversion from what we ought to be doing, which is demonstrating by radio and TV programming for the Islamic world that robust political debate is good for society and can lead to agreement, not chaos. Then there is the Internet. Has anyone begun to think through a comprehensive strategy for countering the jihadist propaganda (and worse) readily available online? Sputnik scared Americans into taking math and science seriously in elementary and secondary education; why hasn’t 9/11 spurred a similar revolution in the way we teach and learn languages, at all levels of the educational system?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/01/one-party-cant.html

3. Alliance of the elite - Anjum Niaz (News - International, Pakistan, January 22): “[The] Bush administration after 9/11 when it began a battle for the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Muslims. A new [sic]  post of under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs was created in the state department to “engage” the Muslims. President Bush naively thought he could stop religious extremism by lecturing to them that America stood for freedom, justice, opportunity and respect for all. But, since when have empty platitudes changed people’s way of thinking? Never.”
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=92241

4. The Reader’s Digest, “Dangerous Leaders,” And The Little Man Who Wasn’t There - Sherwood Ross (OpEdNews.com, January 20): AP quotes Paul Adams, Ottawa-based EKOS Research executive director, as saying his survey of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, finds people saying: “Whoa, this guy (Bush) is a danger to the world.”  Adams added, “These are allies and if the populations of their countries are saying George Bush is a threat to peace, that’s a pretty damning statement about Bush’s public diplomacy in the world.” 
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_080120_the_reader_s_digest_2c.htm

5. Believing In What Makes Sense - Nissim Dahan (Israel/USA) – (Mideast Youth, January 21): “As some of you may already know, I believe that the answer to world peace is Selling a Vision of Hope, which consists of five parts, like the five fingers of a hand ... . The ring finger if for Diplomacy: Sustain the Hope with Public Diplomacy Programs which are specifically designed to bolster a Vision of Hope, and to carry it forward, such as: Empowering Women, Student and Cultural Exchanges, Media Campaigns, Expanding the Peace Corps, and International Conferences.”
http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/01/21/believing-in-what-makes-sense/

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

7. “Get Me the Defence Department, Entertainment Division!” - jeff (MKUltra: Peeking over America’s shoulders, stealing its wallet, copping a feel January 21): “The Mountain Runner, a blog with the subtitle, ‘Public diplomacy, unrestricted warfare, privatization of force, and civil-military relations’, has been a vocal opponent of the Smith-Mundt act, and has something of a following in the military community. I have two big concerns about this. First, this law, though it seems very important to me, is very obscure, and it seems that the only people who really know about it are trying to get rid of it. Second, I wonder how such a law could even be enforced. ... I am unaware of any Canadian law prohibiting the dissemination of domestic propaganda.”
http://mkultra.ca/?p=134

8. Cyber-Warfare: The Gathering Storm (The Discerning Texan, January 21): The cyber-Jihad comes at a time when the American concept of public diplomacy is still focused on scheduling interviews on talk shows. The true beneficiaries of revolutionary technology may be those who were free of the weight of the old.
http://discerningtexan.blogspot.com/2008/01/cyber-warfare-gathering-storm.html

9. 6 to be honored at history gala – (Arizona Republic, January 21): Six Arizonans will be honored March 29 at the Historical League Inc. Historymakers Gala. Barbara Barrett will be recognized for her expertise in the fields of international relations, business law, aeronautics and politics. She is the current chair of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0121historicalsociety0121.html

10. ‘Missing No Blows’ In Moscow - Masha Lipman (Washington Post, January 21): The stepped-up harassment of the British Council in recent days signals a new low in Russia’s post-Cold-War relations with the West and a further slide toward Soviet-style isolationism.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002273_pf.html
see also
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3150

11. Putin Friend Tapped for Image Post - Natalya Krainova  (Moscow Times, January 21): A press center aimed at improving Russia’s image abroad is set to open in central Moscow next month and could be overseen by a friend and judo partner of President Vladimir Putin. State Duma Deputy Vasily Shestakov—a long-time friend of Putin’s and a fellow judo enthusiast—said he had been invited to head up the supervisory board. Shestakov represents pro-Kremlin party A Just Russia in the Duma.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2008/01/22/012.html

12. ‘Overseas ties’ key for economy – (Press Association, January 22): Scotland’s relations abroad are important to future economic growth, external affairs minister Linda Fabiani said. The minister is due to address an international conference which will look at how public diplomacy is increasingly important in international relations.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5inw4ICZvmmHD67oRlbi—rLt6K4w

13. Bringing EXPO 2015 to propel İzmir to the global forefront - Mehmet Öğütçü (Today’s Zaman, January 20): Nowadays a strong team of people drawn from various walks of life are working hard to bring in a colossal project to İzmir: It is EXPO 2015—one of the most prestigious events in the world. The real challenge lies with public diplomacy and persuasion targeting the international jury, at least until after the completion of the EXPO selection process. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=132048

14. Liberian Government Sets Record Straight on Embassy Spy Allegation - James Butty (VOA, January 22): Last month, the Liberian Embassy in Washington was accused of spying on Liberians in the United States in a hunt for those believed to be against the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The Liberian Ambassador to the United Sates, Charles Minor says he has commissioned an investigation to look into the spy allegation. But some Liberians have called for his recall because they say public diplomacy under Ambassador Minor’s tenure has failed and that he has been selective in his dealings with Liberians in the United States.
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-01-22-voa6.cfm

15. Women Who Tech… - dchayes (Trackdot, January 21): “i am looking forward to checking out women who tech, a ‘tele-summit’ for women in technology this spring. women who tech plans to bring women involved in technology, the nonprofit and political arenas together for virtual workshops, dialog and a good time. the tracks are pretty wide and i am hoping they will include serious gaming and persuasive technology in there. i would also like to see something on public diplomacy, ephilanthropy/social venture capital and engineering and technology as social enterprise.”
http://trackdot.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/women-who-tech/

B) RELATED ITEMS (foreign students at US community colleges, 16; art loans, 17; Bush diplomatic goals, 18; Iraq, 19-24; Iran, 25; Bush in Middle East, 26; Afghanistan, 27; Pakistan, 28; North Korea, 29-30; France, 31; missile defense, 32; torture, 33-24; U.S. in world, 35-39; passports, 40; raising children abroad, 41; propaganda, 42-44; Rice, 45)

16. Two-Year Colleges Go Courtin’ Overseas: U.S. community colleges are reaching out—way out—and students from around the world are rolling in - Jane Porter (Business Week, January 17): Foreign students pay anywhere from 2 to 10 times more per credit than locals because they are from out of state. That’s big money for cash-strapped community colleges at a time when many states are cutting funding.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068065102668.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_business+schools

17. Make art loans, not war: Ownership issues aside, Greece, Italy and other countries can afford to share the wealth - Lee Rosenbaum (Los Angeles Times, January 21): Aside from being magnanimous lenders, source countries should allow some legally excavated antiquities to be bought and sold.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rosenbaum21jan21,0,3267772.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

18. Bush officials narrow foreign horizons: In the final year, Bush administration officials are scaling back ambitious diplomatic goals, and appear more intent on managing crises than on reaching legacy milestones - Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times, January 21): See also below items 35-39.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-backtrack21jan21,0,1098439,print.story?coll=la-home-center

19. Asylum Program Falls Short For Iraqis Aiding U.S. Forces - Walter Pincus (Washington Post, January 22): Denmark’s rapid handling of its Iraqi employees and their families—364 people—contrasts with the fate of thousands of Iraqis who have worked, or are working, for the U.S. government or its contractors in Iraq and who also wish to leave the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012102170_pf.html

20. Papers Paint New Portrait of Iraq’s Foreign Insurgents - Karen DeYoung (Washington Post, January 21): US military officials in Iraq said they now think that nine out of 10 suicide bombers have been foreigners, compared with earlier estimates of 75 percent. Similarly, they assess that 90 percent of foreign fighters entering Iraq during the one-year period ending in August came via Syria, a greater proportion than previously believed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002609_pf.html

21. ‘What remains is a negative objective, stopping the war from spilling over, within Iraq but also outside it’ - Fareed Zakaria (Newsweek, January 19): While it is all well and good to say that the United States should not be policing a civil war, the fact is that we are, and were we to leave, it would likely start up again.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/96371/output/print

22. 2 US Troops Killed;  20 Injured in School Blast;  Assassination Attempt Kills 18; Weekend Cult Casualty toll 278 - Juan Cole (Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion, January 22): What is clear is that Iraq is extremely violent and unstable and that there is no discernible political progress.
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/2-us-troops-killed-20-injured-in-school.html

23. Hope in Iraq – Ivan Eland (antiwar.com, January 21): Although the surge, prior ethnic cleansing that has separated warring ethno-sectarian groups, and the U.S. military’s paying off Sunni insurgents have reduced violence, the lull is likely to be temporary. Fortunately, some prominent Iraqis realize that centrally imposed institutions, laws, and solutions will not work in this artificial country containing three major ethno-sectarian groups.
http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=12239

24. Future of Iraq uncertain - Tulin Daloglu (Washington Times, January 22): There seems to be no real solution to making things right in Iraq. Both staying or withdrawing bring their own sets of issues. Staying or withdrawing does not address the root problems—the Pandora’s Box has already been opened.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/EDITORIAL/587007107/1013&template=printart

25. An American in Iran - Max Rodenbeck (New York Review of Books, January 17): Aside from the bad things they learned in school about American support for the Shah, and for Saddam Hussein during the “Iraq-Imposed War,” what most Iranians had actually experienced of America, before its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was the racy Persian pop videos beamed from expat satellite stations in Los Angeles. Sadly, it is not clear, so far, that the Bush administration is ready to pursue direct negotiations with Tehran.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20930

26. Mission unaccomplished - Arnaud de Borchgrave (Washington Times, January 22): Bush’s Middle East trip was a momentum-building exercise in quick diplomacy never gathered a head of steam beyond the gathering in Annapolis. Arab newspapers and Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya television networks conveyed the message: Mr. Bush is a lame duck who will be blocked by Congress and the intelligence community if he orders air strikes against Iran.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/COMMENTARY/633207689/1012&template=printart

27. Enough U.S. help for Afghanistan? Deployment of 3,200 marines will help, analysts say, but will not provide the kind of counterinsurgency now needed there - Gordon Lubold (Christian Science Monitor, January 22): A proper counterinsurgency would include more attention to political, economic, and other nonmilitary issues, some say.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0122/p02s02-usmi.html

28. The Boomerang Effect - Editorial (New York Times, January 22): News that Pakistan’s ISI, or Inter-Services Intelligence, has lost control of some Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked networks further confirms the failings of President Pervez Musharraf’s government in fighting extremists, despite $10 billion in American aid since 9/11.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/opinion/22tue1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

29. Regime collapse in Pyongyang - Daniel L. Davis (Washington Times, January 21): We must surely now begin serious international planning for the prospect of a no-notice post-Kim Jong-il North Korea. If we fail in this case, the economic and humanitarian disaster that would likely result will dwarf Katrina and Iraq combined.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080121/EDITORIAL/178481658/1013&template=printart

30. Helsinki, Redux? – Review & Outlook (Wall Street Journal, Janaury 21): Enter Jay Lefkowitz, President Bush’s Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea, with a reality check. In a speech Thursday in Washington, Mr. Lefkowitz said “it is increasingly clear” that the Bush Administration will end with North Korea remaining “in its present nuclear status.” In other words, Pyongyang will not honor its promises.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120086759363103871.html

31. Love And Politics - Adam Gopnik (New Yorker, January 21): “Those who loved the dignity and the sporadic secrecy and the sudden intimacies of traditional French civilization are bound to long for the days when President Mitterrand would go on long walks alone to old bookstores, and then make love to his mistress on the way home to his wife, patting his love children on the head while making sonorous pronouncements about life and destiny. The ballad of President Bling-Bling [Sarkozy] and [his wife to be] Carla Bruni is a reminder of a deep and permanent truth, which the French once knew better than anyone: there are worse things in this world than a little organized hypocrisy.”
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/01/28/080128taco_talk_gopnik?printable=true

32. Tough Calls, Good Calls - J.D. Crouch II and Robert Joseph (Wall Street Journal, January 22): Cooperation with key allies on missile defense is at an all-time high, and we are finally able to cooperate in ways that protect both American and allied territory.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120096291059405091.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

33. Is administration covering up torture? - Nat Hentoff (Washington Times, January 21): Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, strongly objects to torture and could introduce a bill leading to a probe of the administration’s practices of torture.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080121/EDITORIAL07/359139427/1013/EDITORIAL&template=printart

34. Canada removes Israel, U.S. from watchlist – (JTA Breaking News, January 20): Canada removed Israel and the United States from a list of countries suspected of using torture. Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said Saturday that an internal government torture watch list naming Israel and the United States had been amended to omit them.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/106489.html

35. U.S. Soldiers and Shoppers Hit the Wall - Roger Cohen (New York Times, January 21): A weak dollar, outsized personal debt, a massive current account deficit, cash-strapped banks and Asian governments purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds to finance the national debt are not signs of American strength. Nor are they necessarily signs of American decline, because inherent U.S. vitality remains enormous.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/opinion/21cohen.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

36. Islamofascism’s ill political wind - James Carroll (Boston Globe, January 21): The United States cannot have a constructive foreign policy in religiously enflamed regions like the Middle East, northern Africa or South Asia if the American presence in such conflicts is itself religiously enflaming.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/21/islamofascisms_ill_political_wind?mode=PF

37. Staying Innocent about Iraq - David Bromwich (Huffington Post, January 21): The hero of Moshin Hamid’s disturbing novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist falls in love with an American but loses his love for America in these years: “No country inflicts death so readily upon the inhabitants of other countries, frightens so many people so far away, as America.” We very much want this to be false; and it may help our spirits to say it is false. But we had better be asking why many sane people thousands of miles away are coming to think it true.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/staying-innocent-about-ir_b_82452.html

38. Non-Western Modernization Challenges Davos Man - Nathan Gardels (Tribune Media Services, January 15; posted at Alteta Sa Radu, Principe de Hohenzollern-Veringen): First, we are witnessing the end of “the end of history” as a distinct pattern of “non-Western modernization” is beginning to take shape. Second, two decades after the defrosting of the Cold War order, the world is once again dividing into democratic and non-democratic camps. Third, it is increasingly clear that export-oriented emerging markets such as China and Brazil are achieving a sufficient level of domestic consumption that they can “decouple” from the rich economies, continuing to grow even as the U.S. teeters toward recession.
http://www.princeradublog.ro/?p=1393

39. Mr. Jefferson Comes Home [review of Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson, Alan Pell Crawford] - Bill Kaufman (American Conservative, January 14): Jefferson’s ward-republic idea, though firmly set in a place and time, offers us a way out of Empire—a path of refreshment, a revitalizing end to our torpid condition.
http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_01_14/review1.html

40. General Dynamics Wins Passport Bid - William Welsh (Washington Post, January 21): General Dynamics Information Technology of Fairfax has won a five-year, $72.7 million contract from the State Department to support the production of passport cards for U.S. citizens. Designed as a cheaper alternative to the traditional passport, the cards are part of a joint effort by the departments of State and Homeland Security to tighten identification requirements for U.S. citizens and reduce wait times at borders.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002207_pf.html

41. When Your Parents Make You Live in China; After Each Visit to the U.S., Kids Struggle Returning ‘Home’ - Alan Paul (Wall Street Journal, January 18): The ultimate guide to raising children overseas is “Third Culture Kids,” by David C. Pollock & Ruth E. Van Reken, which many readers have recommended to me. The title phrase refers to children who aren’t fully of their parents’ home culture or of the culture of their current home, but rather create a hybrid “third culture,” in which they relate to one another more than they do to natives of either their current or original home.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120054414436897057.html?mod=hps_us_editors_picks

42. Event Announcement: Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall, New York (TAXI Design Network, NY): 15 February 2008: As the presidential race shifts into high gear, Americans are inundated with propaganda. Where does truth end and “spin” begin? Madison Avenue veterans and other media experts offer some perspective in Where the Truth Lies: A Symposium on Propaganda Today, presented by the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in cooperation with the PhD Programs in History and Sociology of the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). The keynote presentation will be given by celebrated designer and creator of the “I Love NY” logo Milton Glaser, who asks, “Is there any difference between good propaganda and bad propaganda?”
http://www.designtaxi.com/news.jsp?id=14992&monthview=0&month=1&year=2008

43. Great expectations - Meir Ronnen (Jerusalem Post, January 17): A wonderful new hardcover book Power to the People, edited by Alex Ward, curator of the Design Pavilion of the Israel Museum, is actually a fully illustrated catalog to the stunning exhibition of early Soviet posters he mounted at the museum in 1994. Back in 1920-21 all was hope and optimism in war-ravaged Russia. The artists and writers (and soon filmmakers) became willing agitators in a nationwide propaganda campaign. Agitprop became the new buzzword. Agitprop trains decorated with communist slogans and flags carried the word—and films—to the front and villages near the rail lines. Agitprop floats filled the streets along with revolutionary street theaters; and Agitprop boats sailed down the Volga.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1200475901236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

44. Nazi sticker albums go under the hammer: Collecting cigarette and tea cards was the norm for British children in the Second World War, but in Germany children were collecting something more sinister - Nazi sticker books – (Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom, January 20): Three Nazi sticker albums from the 1940s have been discovered and show that German children were being fed Nazi propaganda from a young age and enjoyed getting the latest sticker of Hitler and his henchmen to add to their collection. The lavish books are likely to fetch up to £100 each when they are auctioned in Ludlow, Shrops, on Thursday.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/22/nstickers122.xml

45. Condi Roundup: Condi: ‘I’m Not Good with Animals’ - Peter Huestis (Wonkette, January 21): It was a superfun Condiweek, starting off with festive drinks in Dubai and ending with an apparently drunken farewell to an old friend. In between was another OMG SURPRISE! trip to Iraq and a frightening encounter with a dangerous bird. Relive the magic after the jump!
http://wonkette.com/347014/condi-im-not-good-with-animals

C) ONLY IN AMERICA?

Stone and Brolin to make Bush biopic: Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone is to direct a film about the life and presidency of George W Bush, with Josh Brolin set to play the lead role – (RTE Entertainment, January 21)
http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0121/stoneo.html

D) ONLY IN SWEDEN?

Climactic Bovine Burps – Emil Steiner (OFF/Beat, Washington Post, January 22): According to reports, the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala has been granted $590,000 to research “the greenhouse gases released when cows belch.” About 20 cows, outfitted with special collars to measure the levels of methane excreted during burbs, will be fed different foods in order to study how diet impacts methane content. Contrary to popular belief, bovine belching, not farting, is responsible for 95 percent of the methane they release.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2008/01/tuesday_breakfast_bender_51.html?nav=rss_blog

E) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“You know what the fellow said: In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed—they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce… The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.”

—Harry Lime, Spoken by Orson Welles, from the film The Third Man
Courtesy Professor Henry Steck
http://www.filmforum.org/archivedfilms/making3rdman.html

“The greatest monarch on the proudest throne, is oblig’d to sit upon his own arse.”

—One of Poor Richard’s many proverbs about equality, in Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanack”; cited in Jill Lepore, “The Creed: What Poor Richard cost Benjamin Franklin” (New Yorker, January 21)
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/01/28/080128crat_atlarge_lepore

F) US PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: THE VIEW FROM CANADA

Chris Wood, writing to the PDPBR compiler:

I’ve been enjoying your Review for some weeks now. Thank you for the effort of assembling it. I don’t know whether feedback on the sweep of ideas expressed is invited or welcome, but I cannot resist (I tried, but the same point kept niggling at me).
What struck me early on continues to strike me. In the ongoing coverage of public diplomacy and of America’s perceived shortcomings in that regard, no one ever seems to question the unilateral message flow under discussion. That is, one may debate whether America is getting its message across well or poorly, accurately or imprecisely, favorably to itself or not. What goes unremarked is the resolutely one-way flow: America speaks and the world listens (or not).
Allow me to suggest that this is precisely the source of a great deal of America’s public diplomacy failure.
Communication is a two-way process, but it is extraordinarily difficult for alien voices to be heard anywhere in America, particularly in the hallways of power (where aliens neither vote nor donate useful amounts of money). Acts of Congress even criminalize some forms of attempted alien communication with lawmakers. It is not that the United States ought to cut its furrow to the dictates of foreigners, but the ability to listen to others at the very least often presents opportunities to accommodate their low-cost concerns while framing one’s own imperatives in less abrasive terms.
As a North American journalist interested in overcoming national institutional differences to our mutual benefit, and a fond and frequent visitor to the United States, I am often struck by the way that America stubs its own toe through this odd collective myopia and hearing difficulty.
Successful public diplomacy, I suggest, should be conceived as dialogue as much as monologue.

Chris Wood is a Vancouver Island-based author and journalist who has reported to Canadians from the US, Mexico, China, Israel and elsewhere over a period of 30 years. His forthcoming book, Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America (May; Publishers Group West [US] and Raincoast Books [Canada]) deals with the politics of water in an era of climate change, calling for more cross-border cooperation in water management.

”I am also considering switching cones [career paths at the State Department], from Public Diplomacy to Consular ... you don’t put in nearly the amount of extra hours in consular work that you do in the other cones.”

—Foreign Service Officer “schohn,” “Thinking about stuff…,”(Life After Jerusalem blog, January 19)
http://schohn.livejournal.com/65038.html (link evidently became inoperative not long after it was posted on PDPBR)

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

—President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address (Friday, January 20, 1961)
http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html

DEMOCRACY AND GORE VIDAL

Commentary by Henry J. Steck, Distinguished Service Professor & Professor of Political Science; Interim Director, James M. Clark Center for International Education, c/o Department of Political Science, SUNY Cortland. Professor Steck is a valued PDPBR subscriber. Please scroll down to section D.

FOREIGN SERVICE

Response of Foreign Service Officer Bruce Byers to Michael Rubin’s Weekly Standard article, “Living in a Dream World: The political fantasies of foreign service officer.” Please scroll down to section E.

VIDEO

‘Daily Show’: Bush Channels Woody Allen in Saudi Arabia (Jon Stewart)
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20080118_daily_show_bush_channels_woody_allen_in_saudi_arabia/

POLITICAL CARTOON

Surgetopia (Mark Fiore, Mother Jones, January 16)
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/fiore/2008/01/surgetopia.html

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-23)

1. Which Presidential Candidate is better for “Brand America”? – (Simon Anholt‘s Placeblog, January 20): If ever there was a need for effective public diplomacy, it would be a huge, collaborative effort on the part of certain European, Asian and African governments to attempt to influence the voting behaviour of American citizens. Dream on, as they say in America!
http://simonanholt.blogspot.com/2008/01/which-presidential-candidate-is-better.html

2. Starved at State – (U.S. Diplomacy—A Great Decisions 2008 Blog, Foreign Policy Association, January 17): The Department of Defense’s bountiful budget allows it to even take on activities traditionally left to the State Department. Secretary Gates last year created a new position called the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy, to spearhead the military’s strategic communications and run their “countering ideological support to terrorism” program. But “Defense department” and “soft power” don’t logically go hand in hand.
http://diplomacy.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/01/17/starved-at-state/

3. Special Operations Command’s ‘Trans-Regional Web Initiative - Sharon Weinberger (Wired News, January 18): During the Cold War, the State Department did a great deal of work on what it calls public diplomacy, i.e. creating cultural, political and news material to get other countries to understand (or better yet, like) the United States and its policies. Since 9/11, the U.S. military has also made a big push into this area as well under the framework of “strategic communication.”
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/special-operati.html
see also
http://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/USSOCOM/SOAL-KB/Reference%2DNumber%2DSSN01172008/SynopsisR.html

4. AIDS, Africa, and the National Interest – Ross Douthat (Atlantic.com, January 20): “[E]ven when these sort of efforts [AIDS aid] turn out to be ineffective at fostering the sort of order we ought to be concerned with, their effectivness [sic] as public diplomacy shouldn’t be underestimated. Foreign aid isn’t exactly cheap, but compared to some of our other foreign ventures it’s a relatively inexpensive way to burnish America’s image in the world’s more unstable regions, and it’s [sic] impact on public opinion tends to be considerably larger than all of Karen Hughes’s junkets put together.”
http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/aids_africa_and_the_national_i.php

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

6. Valentine sees a real World Series coming - Chris Elsberry (ConnPost.com, January 20): Bobby Valentine, the former Mets baseball team manager: “[R]ecently, [baseball star] Cal Ripken was over in Beijing representing the United States as goodwill ambassador, and one of the first things he said was that one day, there will be a true World Series where the champion of Japan will play the North American champion.” Ripken went to China last October to teach the fundamentals of the game to the Chinese as a new U.S. State Department public diplomacy sports envoy.
http://www.connpost.com/sports/ci_8022775

7. Marriott CEO Calls for ‘Sober’ Discussion of Immigration Reform in Presidential Campaign: Bill Marriott Says Employers Need Workable Employment Verification System – (CNNMoney.com, January 17): J.W. “Bill” Marriott, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott International, Inc.: “Bottom line, travel is trade. It’s also our best form of public diplomacy. Here in the United States we need to put out the welcome mat at our borders, airports and embassies around the world.”
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NETH06017012008-1.htm

8. TIA Lauds Federal Advisory Panel Recommendation to Launch U.S. Travel Promotion Campaign – Press Release (Hospitality 1st, FL, January 18): The Travel Industry Association (TIA) has welcomed the recommendation issued Wednesday (January 16) by leading business and academic experts that the United States should launch an international promotion campaign to better communicate U.S. travel policies and attract more international visitors. Recommendations by the Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee (SBODAC), created by the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security in 2006 cover areas such as international education, public diplomacy, visa processing, and inspections at ports of entry.
http://hospitality-1st.com/PressNews/TIA-865-011808.html

9. Robert Steele on Chinese Irregular Warfare – (The Liberty Lounge, January 18): “I ran across this guy reviewing books on Amazon. He’s got some awesome ideas. He referenced this in one of his reviews and I thought it was interesting enough to share with you. ... ‘In comparison with the Chinese effort that is coherent, peaceful, sustained, and scalable, our own Public Diplomacy, Strategic Communication, and Foreign Assistance programs are pathetic. We are losing the total war for total peace.’”
http://www.libertylounge.net/forums/25855-robert-steele-chinese-irregular-warfare.html

10. Russia Profile Weekly Experts’ Panel: Rogozin in NATO - introduced by Vladimir Frolov (Russia Profile January 18): This week, President Vladimir Putin appointed Dmitry Rogozin, a prominent nationalist and political maverick, as Russia’s new ambassador to NATO. The Kremlin has apparently decided that the time for quiet diplomacy is over; it would be more productive to engage in public diplomacy, for which Rogozin, with his gift for charming the media and little patience for diplomatic nuance, is an ideal candidate.
http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Experts’+Panel&articleid=a1200665104

11. More Kremlin Harassment - Editorial (New York Times, January 19): Closing down the British Council’s offices makes Mr. Putin and the Kremlin look like bullies—with something to hide.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/opinion/19sat4.html?pagewanted=print

12. Russia beyond the pale – Editorial (Boston Globe, January 19): The halls of the Kremlin are still haunted by the thuggish mentality of the KGB. Those old reflexes were on display this week when the Kremlin bullied the cultural organization known as the British Council into closing its offices in Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/01/19/russia_beyond_the_pale?mode=PF

13. In defense of cultural agreements - Patricia H. Kushlis (Whirled View, January 19): “As I watch the growing British-Russian spat over British Council operations in Russia, I keep wondering whether the British allowed their bilateral cultural agreement to lapse during the era of good feeling and if so, whether this might not have been a poor decision coming back to haunt them. If not, and a government-to-government agreement is in force that covers Council operations then the FSB is operating illegally ... . Yes, negotiating cultural agreements takes staff time and thought but such documents can also enable and protect not restrict programs and people. I remain convinced that this administration’s allergy to treaties and executive agreements with countries like Russia is yet one more foreign policy Achilles’ heel the US will live to regret. Include culture and education in this as well. “
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2008/01/in-defense-of-c.html

14. Pentagon Papers tale told onstage: L.A. Theatre Works’ Vietnam-era drama is still topical - Celia Wren (Richmond Times Dispatch, VA , January 18): The theater group L.A. Theatre Works will present in Richmond a jurisprudence-themed work: “Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers,” by Leroy Aarons and Geoffrey Cowan. “It’s an incredibly dramatic story,” says co-author Cowan, a professor who specializes in media, law and public diplomacy at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication.
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment/arts.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-18-0013.html

15. Vt. Guard takes on special task - Mel Huff (Times Argus, January 20) - Lt. Col. Daniel Molind, along with 15 other members of the Vermont Army National Guard, will leave this week for 400 days of service in Afghanistan. Last year he earned another master’s degree in international studies and public diplomacy from the Navy War College.
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080120/NEWS02/801200431/1003/NEWS02

16. Hard Power, Soft Power, and Bollywood Power - Devin Stewart (Fairer Globalization: Reflections on articles and events related to the Carnegie Council’s online magazine PolicyInnovations.org., January 19): “In his essay, ‘India’s Bollywood Power,’ Shashi Tharoor describes what I would call the ‘soft power assets’ of India—its culture, film, food, etc. ... It seems that the State Department agrees that soft power or public diplomacy is indeed important.”
http://fairerglobalization.blogspot.com/2008/01/hard-power-soft-power-and-bollywood.html
Tharoor article at
http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/commentary/data/000030

17. Frequent visits make friends closer – Hu Shisheng (People’s Daily, January 15): Closer bilateral ties between China and India are attributed to an exchange of visits as a matter of course. Without any contact, there will be practically no personal experience and direct understanding to speak of and; without any people-to-people exchange of visits, erroneous views and even misconception or misunderstanding could be prevalent.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6338671.html

18. Canada: A National Energy Strategy? - Andrew Schrumm (Governing Energy: It is time for Energy to be top of the agenda, January 17): “As the experts have pointed out, Canada’s energy power is dormant and it is not clear if it is ready to be deployed. Superpower may well be an exercise in public diplomacy and could easily be discarded due to its short-sightedness—few tangible outcomes have come from the branding exercise.”
http://governingenergy.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/canada-a-national-energy-strategy/

19. Thursday, January 17, 2008 – (Georgetown MBA: MSB Japan Society): This Japanese language site mentions the term “public diplomacy.”
http://msbjapan.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html

20. Bondan Winarno, Kian Dikenal karena Mak Nyus - Eva Maryam (Resep online, January): Site mentions “public diplomacy” and “food diplomacy.” http://resep-online.blogspot.com/2008/01/bondan-winarno-kian-dikenal-karena-mak.html

21. Essay Contests – (Percival Blakeney Academy, January 17): The German Information Center USA fulfills the public diplomacy mission of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. To encourage American students to get to know modern Germany, the GIC provides classroom materials to educators in the United States.
http://blakeney-academy.blogspot.com/2008/01/essay-contests.html

22. DDR - Christian (Eventyrer i Oslo, January 19): “Letztes Semester hatte ich einen Kurs zum Verhältnis der beiden deutschen Staaten und Nordeuropa zwischen 1945 und 1990. Meine Hausarbeit handelte dann von den ‘Public Diplomacy’ Bemühungen der DDR in Schweden und Finnland zwischen 1960 und 1976.”
http://eventyrerioslo.blogspot.com/2008/01/ddr.html

23. Thinking about stuff… – schohn (Life After Jerusalem, January 19): “So I am thinking it is probably in my best interest to stay in my job. It is stable, I am tenured, and if I stay, I will have a pension. And I am already old enough to need to be concerned about that. Besides, I really like the lifestyle, and after having dinner with a bunch of friends from Jerusalem the other night, I remembered how much I value the people I have met in this job. Not that I am giving up on archaeology. It is still my goal to finish my PhD this year. I am also considering switching cones, from Public Diplomacy to Consular, for a couple of reasons. First, I really enjoyed working with the FSNs in Jerusalem. It was my favorite thing about the work I did there. But second, you don’t put in nearly the amount of extra hours in consular work that you do in the other cones. That extra time would allow me to be involved in the archaeological community in whatever country I am in. It would also allow me to work on having articles published regularly and staying involved in the southeastern archaeological community. So that perhaps when I retire from State, I can teach. Of course, I could change my mind again tomorrow. Especially if I got offered a government job in archaeology. But at least for the moment, I think staying with State is the best idea.” NOTE: site includes links to “more foreign service blogs.”
http://schohn.livejournal.com/65038.html (link evidently became inoperative not long after it was posted on PDPBR)

B) RELATED ITEMS (Bush’s foreign policy role, 24-25; foreign news on US media, 26; vase returns to Rome, 27; Iraq, 28-34; Egypt, 35; Iran, 36-38; Bush in Middle East, 39-40; Afghanistan, 41; Burma, 42; Cuba, 43; Poland, 44; Third World, 45; Guantanamo, 43; neocons, 47; State Department, 48)

24. President Making A Final Push On Foreign Policy: Bush, World Leaders Anticipating 2009 - Michael Abramowitz (Washington Post, January 20): As Bush’s Middle East trip underscored, his power to sway world events during his final months in the White House is dwindling.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011902235_pf.html

25. Has The Bush Administration Been Checked By An ‘Executive Coup D’etat’? - William Pfaff (Tribune Media Service, January 17): Bush’s tour—his farewell to the Middle East?—lent weight to the judgment many abroad have already reached, that he no longer governs the United States, and indeed does not even understand its present foreign relationships.
http://www.tmsinternational.com/latsi/subcategory.jsp?catid=1594
Courtesy Len Baldyga

26. Israeli Atrocity on Gaza Civilians - Juan Cole (Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion, January 20): The US primary season has created a news blackout on US television about foreign news (apparently the public of the world’s sole superpower is not estimated by corporate news executives to be able to handle more than one story).
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/israeli-atrocity-on-gaza-civilians.html

27. Vase arrives in Rome after tug of war with New York - Elisabetta Povoledo (International Herald Tribune, January 19): As the restless crowd applauded, and flashbulbs popped, the Euphronios krater, at the heart of a three-decade tug of war between the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Italian government, received a hero’s welcome in Rome on Friday.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/19/europe/italy.php

28. The murky toll of the Iraq war - John Tirman (Boston Globe, January 19): Strategies to reduce violence against civilians and to increase economic and physical security are paramount. Iraq’s neighbors must be part of the solution, given the scale of misery. President Bush has never embraced this idea, but it seems more and more obvious as the war drags on.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/19/the_murky_toll_of_the_iraq_war?mode=PF

29. Iraqi Mirages: A new law may not bring real reconciliation much closer. That’s no reason to give up – Editorial (Washington Post, January 18): The worst mistake the United States could make would be to allow its frustration with Iraqi political leaders to cause it to abandon the military strategy that has delivered that progress.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/17/AR2008011702385_pf.html

30. Patience in Iraq: We Need to Guard the Progress Being Made - Jack Keane, Frederick W. Kagan and Michael O’Hanlon (Washington Post, January 20): Reducing forces in Iraq too rapidly, even by one or two brigades, might seriously jeopardize the tenuous success we are seeing. We should not take that risk.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/18/AR2008011802937_pf.html

31. Surge to Nowhere: Don’t buy the hawks’ hype. The war may be off the front pages, but Iraq is broken beyond repair, and we still own it - Andrew J. Bacevich (Washington Post, January 20): The real legacy of the surge is that it will enable Bush to bequeath the Iraq war to his successor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/18/AR2008011802873_pf.html
see also
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/iraq-is-still-bad-bargain.html

32. Iraq’s fragile calm - Editorial (San Francisco Chronicle, January 17): The surge of 30,000 extra U.S. troops can only be a respite until long-term solutions are found for the nation’s fragile civil life.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/17/EDIJUGC7U.DTL

33. Federalism, Not Partition: A System Devolving Power to the Regions Is the Route to a Viable Iraq - Mowaffak al-Rubaie (Washington Post, January 18): The shape of a reconstructed, federal Iraq could vary, but it should permit the assignment of nearly all domestic powers to the regions, to be funded out of a percentage of oil revenue distributed on the basis of population. (The writer is Iraq’s national security adviser.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/17/AR2008011702240_pf.html

34. Sins of the Son: An attempt to penetrate the family drama behind George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq [review of The Bush Tragedy By Jacob Weisberg] - Michael Getler (Washington Post, January 20): After five years of war in Iraq, it remains remarkable how little we know about exactly how, why, when and in whose presence one of the most important—and maybe one of the worst—decisions in recent American history was made.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/17/AR2008011702692_pf.html

35. Bush in Egypt: Democracy, democracy, democracy! Mubarak: Whaddat? - Edward M. Gomez (World Views, San Francisco Chronicle, January 16): Since he moved into the White House, George W. Bush has continued Washington’s decades-long, ignominious enabling of the democracy-crushing dictatorship of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=23532

36. Iran’s Small Boats Are a Big Problem - David B. Crist (New York Times, January 20): History shows that a tough but measured military response to Iranian harassment may lessen the odds of a much bigger clash down the road.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/opinion/20crist.html?pagewanted=print

37. Free Phones Build US-Iran Bridges - (IslamOnline, January 19): With many misconceptions on both sides, an American anti-war group, Enough Fear group, is allowing Americans to talk to ordinary Iranians through a special free-of-charge phone service.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199279738777&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

38. GCC-Iran Watch – Marc Lynch (Abu Aardvark, January 17): On Iran issues the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other key Arab states seem to be going right on exploring engagement with Iran despite the American sabre-rattling. 
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2008/01/gcc-iran-watch.html

39. No Sunshine For Bush In Mideast - Leon Hadar (Courant.com, January 17): President Bush’s failed policies in the region—in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine—have turned him into one of the most despised figures in the Middle East and brought American prestige in the Arab and Muslim worlds to an all-time low.
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-hadar0117.artjan17,0,2948273,print.story

40. Bloody Reality Bears No Relation to the Delusions of This President - Robert Fisk (Independent, January 18; Common Dreams): Instead of advocating a “New Middle East,” Mr. Bush, lying amid his silken sheets in the Saudi king’s palace, is now pursuing a return to the “Old Middle East”, a place of secret policemen, torture chambers—to which prisoners can be usefully ” renditioned ”—and dictatorial “moderate” presidents and monarchs.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/18/6450/

41. Sticks ’n’ Stones and Allies - Editorial (New York Times, January 20): Afghanistan is NATO’s first out-of-area mission. What happens to the alliance if it fails?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/opinion/20sun2.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

42. A Forgotten Crisis: The United Nations pledged to act on Burma. Instead, it has allowed itself to be bullied and shamed – Editorial (Washington Post, January 20): Bush administration officials are pushing China, India and the Europeans to pressure the Burmese, but without much luck.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011902016_pf.html

43. Engage with Cuba – Editorial Comment (Financial Times, January 20): It is too late for the Bush presidency to change course but a new and more effective policy based on Cuban realities ought to be high on the agenda of the next US president.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6b75de1a-c785-11dc-a0b4-0000779fd2ac,s01=1.html

44. A tale of two allies: The Polish lesson: America must give something in return for support - A. Wess Mitchell (Christian Science Monitor, January 18): Warsaw’s new mind-set is replicated across the capitals of the “New Europe,” where officials are weary of what they see as Washington’s failure to reward its allies for support in the Iraq war.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0118/p09s01-coop.html

45. An Establishment Teeters, in Kenya and Beyond - Jim Hoagland (Washington Post, January 20): The forces of globalization and of immediate, intrusive electronic communication have connected the lives of Americans and Europeans much more closely to the people of the developing world—on the surface. But the increase in communication has not been matched by an increase in understanding of the Third World’s dilemmas or a commitment to help resolve them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/18/AR2008011802742_pf.html

46. The Account of Sami al-Haj: A Letter from Guantánamo - Andy Worthington (CounterPunch, January 19): In Guantánamo, Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj has been subjected to an extraordinary array of vague allegations for which the administration has failed to provide any evidence.
http://www.counterpunch.org/worthington01182008.html

47. Book Review: ‘They Knew They Were Right’ by Jacob Heilbrunn: The neoconservatives’ rise to power – By Andrew J. Bacevich (Los Angeles Times, January 20): One of the broadly unflattering impressions emerging from Heilbrunn’s narrative is that although they pose as intellectuals, neoconservatives more typically function as propagandists. Theirs is not the disinterested pursuit of truth so much as the endless repetition of ostensibly self-evident truisms.
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/books/la-bk-bacevich20jan20,1,3431193.story

48. Undersecretary of State Decides to Step Down: R. Nicholas Burns Is Latest Diplomat to Depart; William Burns to Replace Him - Robin Wright (Washington Post, January 19): Nicholas Burns, 51, is the latest of almost 20 top diplomats to depart over the past year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/18/AR2008011801207_pf.html

C) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“The President’s daughter, Jenna Bush,” has “set a date for her wedding. She’s excited about the marriage, especially the part where she gets to change her name.”

—Craig Ferguson; cited in “Late Night Humor,” (Political Bulletin, US News & World Report, January 18)
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080118.htm#political_humor
via
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/18/BL2008011801660_pf.html

“One of [Fed Chairman] Bernanke’s Open Market Committee colleagues admits that he worries about the extent to which ‘democracy,’ however admirable, has dulled the Fed’s aura and, perhaps, its ability to lead.”

—Roger Lowenstein, “The Education of Ben Bernanke” (New York Times, January 20)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/magazine/20Ben-Bernanke-t.html?ref=magazine

D) DEMOCRACY AND GORE VIDAL

by Prof. Henry Steck

In the Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review of January 17, 2008, Gore Vidal is quoted as follows: “[T]he word ‘democracy’ is not only never mentioned in the Constitution of the United States, but democracy was something that the founding fathers hated.” (cited in “Imperial America: Gore Vidal Reflects on the United States of Amnesia” (Democracy Now!, June 4, 2004)

Gore Vidal quote is so misleading I can’t believe it. For some of the Framers, of course, “hate” might be the right word. We should recall, for example, Alexander Hamilton’s famous quote “Your people, sir, are a great beast” as well as his more extended observation that “All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and the well born; the other, the mass of the people. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right”. Or, “take mankind in general, they are vicious….” (Richard Streb, Roots of the Republic, 18). And, then there is Madison’s wonderful critique of democracy in Federalist #10, (e.g., “as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths”, etc.)  And no doubt there is much scholarly ink spilled on the question of the Framers and “democracy”.

But the point is that they defined democracy quite differently than we do today and they had a quite different notion of “democracy” than we do today. Take Madison, for example. He saw “pure democracy” as what we would call direct democracy where “citizens… assemble and administer the government in person”. Examples would be New England town meetings or what in the 1960s was called “participant democracy”. Their understanding of it picks up from Aristotle where “democracy” is the corrupted form of “republic” or “polity”.

If one returns to Madison’s Federalist Paper #10 (and #51 or #58 for that matter), it’s clear that by “democracy” Madison meant, as noted above, direct popular rule and he and the Framers feared it. (Although perhaps not Jefferson, but I won’t get into his views.)  They thought it led to mob rule (see Federalist #55, for example).

Hence, Madison argues for a republic—balanced government (as did the Romans and Montesquieu), checks & balances, etc. For Madison, there were two structural principles: representative government (republican form) and checks and balances. Madison argued at least for a republic by which he meant a form of representative popular government. He argued it was superior to a democracy and adaptable to a large diverse country such as America. Madison also believed that popular government (=republican form) succeeded best in a diverse pluralistic society where no single faction or special interest could attain hegemonic power in society or in government. He feared what we might call “populist” politics—he would have shuddered at the battle cry of the 1960s, “power to the people”. In a strict sense, then, even the famous Lincoln formulation (government of, by and for the people) might be suspect if read from the perspective of 1789 rather than 1989 (or 2008).

Thus, while the Framers in general did not exhibit a kind of Lincoln or Jeffersonian trust in “the people”—they distrusted all forms of concentrated power—they had a firm commitment to a republic, by which they meant representative popular government.

What’s finally wrong with Vidal’s comment is that today we no longer make the distinction, as the Framers did, between “democracy” and “republic”. We use the terms as synonyms and by “democracy” today we tend to mean “liberal democracy”, i.e., constitutional government, representative government, civil rights and civil liberties, individual freedom, etc.—what the Framers understood as the republican form of government.

Moreover, we range in our meanings of democracy, from more narrow political definitions (e.g., free and fair elections among competing elites or parties) to broad definitions that encompass equality in economic as well as political and civil terms (social democracy) to broad definitions that speak to a sense of community (e.g., John Dewey) to those that see democracy not as a form of government but a way of living (T. V. Smith) or a broad sense of equality (de Tocqueville) or a culture (e.g., E. B. White). For cynics, of course, there’s always Harry Lime in The Third Man.

Let me return to the starting point. I’m not a scholar or expert on the subject of the Framers, but I guess I know more than Gore Vidal in this respect. (And, note, I say he is misleading, not necessarily wrong).

Here’s the point. The Framers may have hated democracy but they loved free government. Of course, one could also argue that the Declaration pointed in a “democratic” direction in the broad and expansive that we tend to use today. And, hey, the Constitution begins with the inspiring words “We, the People” and if that isn’t “democratic” in some sense I don’t know what is.

Prof. Henry Steck
Department of Political Science  
SUNY College, Cortland

E) FOREIGN SERVICE

Foreign Service Officer Bruce Byers, in a letter, responds to Michael Rubin’s Weekly Standard article, “Living in a Dream World: The political fantasies of foreign service officers”
Rubin Article at
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/586nbnsj.asp

January 14, 2008
Dear Mr. Rubin,
Regarding your article “Living in a Dream World/ The political fantasies of foreign service officers,” I am reminded of the years I spent growing up in an Air Force family and moving with my parents from base to base and country to country. At every base there was always a strong community support operation and usually a base newspaper. Morale building was considered very important in the Air Force and in the other armed services. It has become much more so in recent years. The armed services have scores, if not hundreds, of family-oriented, morale building publications and websites.
The State Department has State Magazine. It used to be a stodgy official publication with lots of photos of the Secretary of State and other senior State officials signing this or that document. It is sent to all Foreign Service and Civil Service employees and also to retirees. Since I retired from the Foreign Service after a career of 30 plus years, I enjoy reading it each month.
Secretary Colin Powell decided that it needed a face lift and also a more “family-oriented” direction. He complained that one issue of State Magazine had his photograph multiple times. He requested that it refrain from featuring his photo and requested its staff to solicit input from Foreign Service officers and their family members abroad and in Washington. He wanted readers to see what they and their colleagues were doing in different posts abroad and in different offices in Washington. He requested that articles and pictures reflect the great variety of activities and assignments in the Foreign Service. He also wanted Civil Service activities to be highlighted. The “Post of the Month” feature predates Secretary Powell’s decision to change the tenor of State Magazine and has proven very popular among State Department employees.
Your article demeans both Civil Service and Foreign Service employees in the State Department. You describe the Foreign Service as the “permanent bureaucracy” at the State Department. This ignores the fact that there are more “permanent” Civil Service employees than Foreign Service employees at State. It also misinforms readers and leads them to believe that the Foreign Service officers are “permanent” in running the State Department. They are no more permanent than are officers in the various armed services. Foreign Service officers, like there military counterparts, live and work in an up-or-out service in which competition for promotions and assignments determines who advances into key policy-making jobs. They also serve at the pleasure of the President. The Secretary of State and other senior officials are political appointees who set policy in coordination with the White House and other foreign affairs agencies. Foreign Service officers in Washington and abroad are charged with implementing policy.
I served at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan and knew the military services attachés there as well as the other members of the ambassador’s country team. We all worked together as colleagues. Some of us suffered injuries during our duty in the country. Our ambassador was kidnapped and murdered. This did not happen a year or two ago. Ambassador Adolph “Spike” Dubs died in a hail of gunfire at the Kabul Hotel where he was being held on February 14, 1979. There have been many other ambassadors and career Foreign Service officers who have died performing their duty at overseas posts. You demean all of these people with your cute, superficial diatribe against the Foreign Service.
This kind of journalism is beneath the quality of the Weekly Standard. Too bad you haven’t served at one of our greater hardship embassies recently. We’d love to see people like you take a turn in Kabul, Baghdad, Khartoum and dozens of other diplomatic posts. Oh, and you could leave your family at home to serve in many of these places because, like many military assignments, they would not be allowed to accompany you. How about trying six months at our embassy in Baghdad? Then you could really report on life in the Foreign Service.
Regards,
Bruce K. Byers

Bruce Byers is a retired Foreign Service officer with thirty years of sustained service in cultural and informational affairs in assignments in South Asia, Europe, East Asia and Washington, D.C. Byers began his career with the U.S. Information Agency in Tehran, Iran. He served as embassy press and information officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan among other overseas postings. He currently works part-time at the Department of State and has extensive experience in the International Visitor Leadership Program. Byers is a graduate of the University of Munich, Germany and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Maryland. He has studied European and Russian history and German, French, Russian, Farsi and Polish languages. He served as a Vice President and member of the board of the American Foreign Service Association and as acting president of the Coalition for American Leadership Abroad (COLEAD).

“[T]he word ‘democracy’ is not only never mentioned in the Constitution of the United States, but democracy was something that the founding fathers hated.”

—American author Gore Vidal; cited in “Imperial America: Gore Vidal Reflects on the United States of Amnesia” (Democracy Now!, June 4, 2004)
http://www.democracynow.org/2004/6/4/imperial_america_gore_vidal_reflects_on

“I mean, when this democracy in Iraq solidifies and emerges and is whole, people will understand what I meant about the democracy agenda.”

—President George W. Bush; cited in Dan Froomkin, “Bush, the Blessed Peacemaker” (washingtonpost.com, January 16)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/16/BL2008011601865_pf.html

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PROJECT

The New Public Diplomacy: This new Demos project will explore the changed landscape for diplomacy in which governments now find themselves, and discuss what they need to do to equip themselves to operate effectively in this new context. No longer can public diplomacy be seen as a fundamentally separate endeavour from the “rest of foreign policy,” that can be hived off to a dedicated (but low status) public diplomacy team.
http://www.demos.co.uk/projects/thenewpublicdiplomacy/overview

VIDEOS

a) Bush’s Bucket List: Bush visits Saudi Arabia and is welcomed with a sarcastic rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (Jon Stewart)
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=147535&rsspartner=rssBloglines
b) Popeye The Sailor Man - Spinach For Britain
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1173471373810215567&q=nazi+propaganda&total=815&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-14)

1. What This Country Needs Is A Real Chief Marketing Officer - Keith Ferrazzi (Huffington Post, January 16): “America’s image around the world is really in the dumps. ... With longtime Bush confidante Karen Hughes stepping down from her post as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs it looks like another Friend-of-Bush, James K. Glassman, nominated in December, is poised to step in. ... Make no mistake; we’re in a branding crisis. And, Glassman has to do better. ... Embarking on fixing that image is a process similar to that of any significant brand. It requires the work of a designated Chief Marketing Officer coordinating with the President and other key influencers with all the humility and recognition of the uphill battle that it will take. ... The CMO must reach out to private sector influencers and provide them with resources and strategy for showing the world what’s great about America. We need that super-coordinator reaching out to, coaching, cajoling and inspiring to align all ... communicators, including domestic and international business leaders, our relief workers abroad, U.S. travelers, Hollywood celebrities, our own folks in media, academia, NGOs, etc. ... Here’s how I see our brand imagery: strong and loyal ally; land of opportunity and home of the free; Yankee ingenuity; and world-changing inventions born in the garage.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-ferrazzi/what-this-country-needs-i_b_81820.html

2. Note to CMO: Why We Hate Front-Runners (cars, January 15): “Dear CMO: ... . [T]rying to be the PR flack for the US is about as thankless as coaching the New York Jets or being hired as former president Clinton’s personal legal advisor. It’s just a no-win job. The interesting part, though, is the ‘why.’ ... In short, we hate it when someone breaks out of the pack and stays ahead of the pack.”
http://ca6i.thydig.com/Note-to-CMO-Why-We-Hate-Front-Runners/

3. Glassman to Replace Hughes as Public Diplomacy Czar – (U.S. Diplomacy: A Great Decisions 2008 Blog, Foreign Policy Association, January 15): Glassman’s appointment has drawn the usual snide remarks from the public diplomacy-watchers. Undersecretary Glassman shouldn’t fret too much, though. In the eyes of the pundits it would be difficult to do a worse job than his predecessor Karen Hughes.
http://diplomacy.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/01/15/glassman-to-replace-hughes-as-public-diplomacy-czar/

4. I Love My Country and I Think It’s Time We Start Seeing Other People - Colleen Turner (OpEdNews, January 16): If we do not strive for a more heartening reaction to our international statements, our own communications may become the “torpedoes” that sink our “ship” before we know what hit U.S.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_colleen__080115_i_love_my_country_an.htm

5. U.S. Persistent In Having Control Of OIC – A Voice (Another Brick In The Wall, January 17): Washington is making hard attempts to push public diplomacy and collaborate in many other fields to help increase the confidence level of the Muslim world towards the Americans. To create a positive perception of Washington, the White House plans to invite a wide range of young ambitious Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) based Muslims to the US for training purposes.
http://anotherbrickinwall.blogspot.com/2008/01/us-persistent-in-having-control-of-oic.html

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

7. One soldier’s assessment of the global war on terror - Rami G. Khouri (Daily Star, Lebanon, January 17): Colonel Laurence Andrew Dobrot, the deputy director of the US Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser Program, in his paper “The Global War on Terrorism: A Religious War?”:  “To repair its credibility, the United States must focus on applying just practices. ... Specifically, the United States must recognize democratically elected governments such as Hamas and actively engage them in public diplomacy, even if it disagrees with them.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=88059

8. ‘War of ideas’ claims neo-con casualty - Khody Akhavi (Asia Times, January 18): While most policy-makers and experts acknowledge that Washington has a serious public diplomacy problem on its hands—especially with regard to Arabs and Muslims—the dismissal of the Pentagon’s “foremost” specialist on Islamic law and Islamic extremism, Stephen Coughlin, and its aftermath reflect the latest salvo by neo-cons to retain the dubious language of the “war on terror.”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA18Ak02.html

9. Weekly Politics: Russia-NATO, a future of cooperation - Finam (Russian Stock Market Blog, January 17): The appointment of Dmitry Rogozin as Russia’s permanent representative at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a step taken towards public diplomacy, open debate at parliaments and public organizations at all levels and political statements in the Western media.
http://finam.blogspot.com/2008/01/weekly-politics-russia-nato-future-of.html

10. Russia Action on Council “Reprehensible”: Britain - Reuters (New York Times, January 17): Russian moves to shut down offices of Britain’s overseas cultural organization are “reprehensible, not worthy of a great country,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-russia-britain.html?sq=&pagewanted=print
see also
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Britain.html?scp=4&sq=%22state+department%22

11. Russia Briefly Holds British Cultural Official - Peter Finn (Washington Post, January 17): Escalating a diplomatic dispute with Britain, Russian security agents called in Russian employees of the British Council for questioning Wednesday, and police briefly detained the British head of the cultural organization’s St. Petersburg office.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011601817_pf.html

12. Culture wars: The British Council has been in Russia long enough to know that its activities there are only legitimate if the government deems them to be so - Irina Filatova (Guardian, January 17)
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/irina_filatova/2008/01/culture_wars.html

13. Bulgaria Should Spurn Russian Bear Hug - Vessela Tcherneva (BalkanInsight.com, January 17): To mark the Year of Russia in Bulgaria in 2008, Moscow plans to spend around $10 million (€6.7 million) on public diplomacy, including cultural events, student exchanges and the Russian language teaching programmes. Just how kind or tender Russia’s “soft power” is in practice remains open to doubt.
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/comment/7422/

14. Scrapping funding for culture ‘beyond belief’ - Rosemary Sorensen (Australian, January 17): Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner announced this week that more than $20 million would be saved by scrapping the Australia on the World Stage initiative, and “through reductions in other cultural relations funding”. The decision to cut the program, which was due to announce new grants this month, has been made despite the Labor Government’s lack of response to a report handed down last August by a bipartisan Senate committee on the role of culture in public diplomacy. 
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23064588-5013871,00.html

B) RELATED ITEMS (Pentagon, 15-16; US standing in world, 17; anti-Americanism, 18; Iraq, 19-25; Lebanon, 26; Dubai, 27; Iran, 28-29; Saudi Arabia, 30-31; Bush in Middle East, 32-35; Afghanistan, 36; Pakistan, 37-39; North Korea, 40; Kosovo, 41; France, 42; Baltics, 43; Kenya, 44; US foreign policy, 47; Rice, 48)

15. How the Pentagon Planted a False Story - Gareth Porter (antiwar.com, January 16):  Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the Jan. 6 U.S.-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran’s military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows.
http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=12221

16. Pentagon’s PSYOPs: Information Warfare Using Aggressive Psychological Operations - Brent Jessop (Global Research, January 13; posted on ALexJones’ TruthNews.us.): The Pentagon’s plans for psychological operations or PSYOP in the global information environment of the 21st century are wide ranging and aggressive.
http://www.truthnews.us/?p=1674

17. Iraq, anyone? : Why aren’t presidential candidates talking about the postwar era and how they would repair the damage this terrible war has done to the nation? After all, our own reconstruction is at stake -  James Reston Jr. (USA Today, January 16): The desperate imperative of the post-Iraq era is to repair the terrible damage that this war has done to the basic fabric of the nation and to its standing in the world.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080115/oplede15.art.htm

18. On the Iraq War, Bush Foreign Policy, Private Contractors and the Prospects of War with Iran: Going 15 Rounds with Seymour Hersh - Wajahat Ali (CounterPunch, January 16): ALI: “So there’s this rise of Anti-Americanism unfortunately around that region [Iraq, Afghanistan Pakistan]. In your research, have you found the main cause of hatred against America?” HERSH: “American violence. It’s the violence. Do we know, I mean, how many bombs are dropped? How many shells are fired? Who knows what the accurate number is? I know I don’t.” [Interview deals with other foreign-policy topics.]
http://www.counterpunch.org/ali01152008.html

19. U.S. Boosts Its Use of Airstrikes In Iraq: Strategy Supports Troop Increase - Josh White (Washington, January 17): The U.S. military conducted more than five times as many airstrikes in Iraq last year as it did in 2006.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011604148_pf.html

20. Iraqi Spending to Rebuild Has Slowed, Report Says - James Glanz (New York Times, January 16): In its report on Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office said official Iraqi Finance Ministry records showed that Iraq had spent only 4.4 percent of the reconstruction budget by August 2007. It also said that the rate of spending had substantially slowed from the previous year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/world/middleeast/16reconstruction.html?sq=&pagewanted=print

21. State Dept. Official Disputes Iraq Report: GAO Challenged Claims of Progress - Walter Pincus (Washington Post, January 17)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011604009.html

22. The Corpse on the Gurney: The “Success” Mantra in Iraq - Tom Engelhardt (TomDispatch, January 17): Our media may be filled with discussions about just how “successful” the President’s surge plan has been, but really, Iraq is the corpse in the room. The surge was always, in a sense, a gamble for time, a pacification program directed at the “home front” in the President’s Global War on Terror as well as at Iraq itself.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174882

23. Visser: Partition Iraq? – Marc Lynch (Abu Aardvark, January 16): According to scholar Reidar Visser, unless things change dramatically, Iraq is heading towards the “Nigeria model”... a warlord state where the oil flows and things generally don’t totally break down.
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2008/01/visser-partitio.html

24. Pessimistic Predictions: The Middle East Studies sector continues to deny success in Iraq - Jonathan Schanzer (National Review, January 16): When good news arrives from Iraq, most Americans celebrate. But not the Middle East studies professors who are often quoted in the mainstream press. For them, good news is bad news.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDI1MmEwYzVjNDliNGY0NjU5ZWVkOTYxNDI2MTljYWE=

25. Don’t Tie the Next President’s Hands - Editorial (New York Times, January 17): President Bush is discussing a new agreement with Baghdad that would govern the deployment of American troops in Iraq. With so many Americans adamant about bringing our forces home as soon as possible, a sentiment we strongly share, Mr. Bush must not be allowed to tie the hands of his successor and ensure the country’s continued involvement in an open-ended war.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/opinion/17thu1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

26. Lebanon hangs in the balance - James Martin (Baltimore Sun, January 16): The implications for the U.S. of the political power play in Lebanon are huge.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.lebanon16jan16,0,6001991.story

27. City of Lyon being cloned in Dubai – (Boing Boing, January 15): “Dubai is cloning the city of Lyon, France on a 700-acre plot, replicating its cultural institutions in a grand and surreal gesture of I’m-not-sure-what. The new Lyons will cover an area of about 700 acres, roughly the size of the Latin Quarter of Paris, and will contain squares, restaurants, cafes and museums. The desert city will include a Paul Bocuse Institute, like the one in Lyons named after the hallowed chef, in which students will study hotel management and gastronomy.”
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/15/city-of-lyon-being-c.html

28. GAO Report Challenges Effect of Longtime U.S. Sanctions on Iran - Robin Wright (Washington Post, January 17)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011603711.html

29. Trying to sell democracy - Claude Salhani (Washington Times, January 16):  But just as the leaders in the Middle East heard from Mr. Bush talk about democratization, which they did not necessarily appreciate, he has heard from them talk about Iran that he in turn has not appreciated. What Mr. Bush has heard from Iran’s neighbors is to tone down the rhetoric and avoid a confrontation that would drag the entire region into mayhem.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/COMMENTARY/256509541/1012&template=printart

30. Those Ungrateful Saudis - Robert Scheer (Truthdig, January 15):  With Bush’s imperial fantasy fading into dismal reality, our nation saddled with record debt, an immense trade gap and an American public that has seen through his “What, me worry?” con, the president has bizarrely sought validation through visiting the scene of his foreign policy crimes. The bad news for the Saudis is that Bush broke the United States—but they own it.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080115_those_ungrateful_saudis/

31. Bush’s big arms deal with Saudis: Who wins? Who loses? - Edward M. Gomez (SF Gate, January 16): The really big news coming out of Bush’s Middle East boondoggle was his promise to Saudi King Abdullah, the ruler of the top oil-producing country in the world, of a weapons sale worth some $120 billion.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=23500

32. Middle East Triangle - Hussein Agha and Robert Malley (Washington Post,  January 17): Today, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas each fears that the other two will reach a deal at its expense. The parties’ allies ought to cast aside their dysfunctional, destructive, ideologically driven policies. Otherwise, no matter how many times President Bush travels to the region, there is no reason to believe that 2008 will offer anything other than the macabre pattern of years past.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011603442_pf.html

33. Faith, Freedom And Bling In The Middle East - Maureen Dowd (New York Times, January 16): Bush’s message in the Middle East boiled down to: Iran bad, Israel good, Iraq doing better.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/opinion/16dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

34. Death of the Bush Doctrine - Jeff Jacoby (Boston Globe, January 16): When George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton, he was determined not to replicate his predecessor’s blunders in the Middle East, a determination that intensified after 9/11. Yet now he too has succumbed to the messianism that leads US presidents to imagine they can resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/16/death_of_the_bush_doctrine?mode=PF

35. Globaloney - Frank J. Gaffney Jr. (Washington Times, January 15): There is something surreal about the spectacle of President Bush touring the Persian Gulf. It calls to mind the signature line of Mad Magazine’s mascot, Alfred E. Neuman: “What, me worry?” Confidence in the inexorable forces of “globalization” is as misplaced in the case of the so-called “pro-Western” Arab states as are the other assumptions driving American policy towards the region at the moment.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/COMMENTARY03/916311015/1012&template=printart

36. Fight in Afghanistan: It’s becoming clear that the war must be won by U.S. troops, and not by NATO – Editorial (Washington Post, January 17)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011603521_pf.html

37. The Surge Hits Pakistan - William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 17): The top US commander for the Middle East says that the deteriorating situation in the country and the increased violence in the frontier area have prompted Islamabad to accept plans for US forces in the country for the first time since early 2002.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/the_surge_hits_pakistan.html

38. Pakistan’s personality test – Editorial (Boston Globe, January 16): America can help by altering the security outlook of Pakistan’s leadership. Above all, this means taking an active diplomatic role in resolving Pakistan’s conflict with India.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/01/16/pakistans_personality_test?mode=PF

39. The Pakistan Conundrum - Scott Ritter (Truthdig, January 16): The experience of Afghanistan shows that without a doubt the policies embraced by the Bush administration in pursuing its war on terror were fundamentally flawed.  In the cause-and-effect world of reality, as opposed to the never-never land of neoconservative fantasy, any continued push against Pakistan in the name of the war on terror would be extremely counterproductive.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080116_the_pakistan_conundrum/

40. The more North Korea changes . . . - Paul Greenberg (Washington Times, January 17): The State Department keeps finding excuses to accept North Korea’s worthless promises.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/COMMENTARY/966649432/1012&template=printart

41. Fixing Kosovo - Helle Dale (Washington Times, January 16): The most logical is for the entire Balkan area eventually to become part of NATO and the European Union, which will offer hope of economic development and integration into its structures. How we get to there from here, however, is a difficult road to envision.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/EDITORIAL06/457233965/1013&template=printart

42. France risks snuffing out its Frenchness - Gregory Rodriguez (baltimoresun.com, January 16): When France begins to over-legislate adult personal behavior aux americains, it may be denying its own brand of wisdom: We all need to be a little bad once in awhile. The smoking ban in France suggests that the French have forgotten the sage words of one of their country’s greatest smokers: “If I satiate my desires, I sin but I deliver myself from them,” wrote Jean-Paul Sartre. “If I refuse to satisfy them, they infect the whole soul.”
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.french16jan16,0,77275.story

43. The Baltic Model - Maris Riekstins and Ronald Asmus (Wall Street Journal, January 16): The signing of the U.S.-Baltic Charter in the White House (1998) was a special moment. It led to NATO enlargement and thus undid the historical injustice of Yalta as the U.S. advanced the cause of freedom.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120043210462392247.html
paid subscription

44. Don’t Ignore the Violence in Kenya - Wangari Maathai (Wall Street Journal, January 17): “For the sake of the people of Kenya, the East African region and indeed Africa in general, I appeal to the international community, including the African Union, the Commonwealth, the European Commission, the United Nations and other friends of Kenya like the United States and Japan, to put strong pressure on Messrs. Kibaki and Odinga—before this crisis escalates into an even greater tragedy.” (Ms. Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, was a member of Kenya’s Parliament from 2002 to 2007.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120053336729696211.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

45. America needs realists, not William Kristol: If the New York Times wants true diversity on its Op-Ed pages, it should hire foreign policy realists, not ideologues - Stephen M. Walt (Salon, January 16): What’s missing in America’s mainstream media is the voice of realism. As the label implies, realists think foreign policy should be based on the world as it really is, rather than what we might like it to be.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/01/16/realism/print.html

46. Monsters of our own making: Foreign policy nightmares are everywhere for the U.S. these days - Rosa Brooks (Los Angeles Times, January 17): Of course, in Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein is tormented by guilt when he realizes what a horror he has unwittingly unleashed on the world, and he tries desperately to undo the damage he’s done. There might be some lessons here for the White House.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks17jan17,0,2355911.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

47. Gates’s voice moderating US policies: Stances on war, torture, Iran mark key shift - Bryan Bender (Boston Globe, January 16): Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an alliance with his former aide, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has helped to roll back some of the most hawkish stances of the first six years of the Bush presidency—on the use of torture, US-Iranian relations, and the policy of preemptive war that Vice President Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others espoused, according to interviews with current and former administration officials and private analysts.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/01/16/gatess_voice_moderating_us_policies?mode=PF

48. Condibot Holding Up Well in Saudi Arabia – (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 14): “I think it’s safe to say that the cleverly-crafted robot [Condibot] spent the lion’s share of the day signing things, being photographed and talking to reporters, and that’s her job! That’s what Condi does! Yay!”
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/condibot-holding-up-well-in-saudi.html

C) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“Dates put you in a good mood, right?”

—President George W. Bush, referring to the fruit he has encountered during his Middle East visit; cited in Maureen Dowd, “Faith, Freedom and Bling in the Middle East” (New York Times, January 16)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/opinion/16dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

“They have plundered the world, stripping naked the land in their hunger, they loot even the ocean: they are driven by greed, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor; neither the wealth of the east nor the west can satisfy them: they are the only people who behold wealth and indigence with equal passion to dominate. They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretenses, and all of this they hail as the construction of empire. And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace.”

—Tacitus, describing the Roman way of war; cited in Tom Engelhardt, “The Corpse on the Gurney: The “Success” Mantra in Iraq (TomDispatch, January 17)
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174882

“There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

—Founding Father John Adams
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnadams136320.html

D) MORE VIDEOS

Bush’s Future Tense: President Bush addresses the troops while visiting the Middle East and predicts the end of history. (Jon Stewart)
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=147534&rsspartner=rssBloglines

Communism vs Capitalism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1321957604698523294&q=Soviet+propaganda&total=465&start=0&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=1

1950’s Cold War Propaganda - Plowshare The Peaceful Atom
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2926563203549148615&q=Soviet+propaganda&total=465&start=20&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=0

Soviet Propaganda
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8555916011791727408&q=Soviet+propaganda&total=465&start=20&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=6

Communist Documentary 1934
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5627960707581264213&q=Soviet+propaganda&total=465&start=30&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=0

Soviet Posters
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6721971078820148815&q=Soviet+propaganda&total=465&start=30&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=1

“You can do waterboarding lots of different ways.”

—National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell; cited in Dan Froomkin, “The McConnell Interview,” in “Bush Chooses What to Believe” (washingtonpost.com, January 14)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/14/BL2008011401233_pf.html

“Whoever in the case of a European war was not with me was against me.”

—Kaiser William II, informing Chancellor von Bülow what he had told Belgian King Leopold II in 1904; cited in Barbara W. Tuchman, “The Guns of August” (Tess Press reprint), p. 29

EXHIBITS

a) Re “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of Empire Style: 1800-1815,” on display until January 27, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: “Long before the emergence of radio, television, or the Internet [propaganda] ... flowered during the reign of a man who commanded the largest army Europe had ever seen, but who insisted that ‘Imagination rules the world,’ not the rifle or the cannon.”

—Jacqueline Houton,“Symbols Of Power@MFA” (Big Red and Shiny, January 14)
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/retrieve.pl?source=RSS&issue=issue75&section=review&article=MFA_9134858

b) “Artists Against the War,” forthcoming at the Society of Illustrators in NYC, sixty pieces by sixty artists offering a vast range of observation, thought, and feeling.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/brodner/2008/01/artists-against-the-war.html

VIDEOS

a) Olbermann accuses U.S of trying to FAKE new Gulf of Tonkin
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6341310747036098155&q=US+propaganda&total=1985&start=0&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=1

b) Iranian Navy Propaganda Long Version Borat Lives!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4940453995228061992&q=US+propaganda&total=1985&start=0&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=8

POLITICAL CARTOON

Hillary Faces the Bad Guys
http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/01/14.html

A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (1-14)

1. Press Gaggle by National Security Advisor Steve Hadley Aboard Air Force One En Route Saudi Arabia – (Office of the Press Secretary. White House, January 14): Q Just one last thing—why did the President decide now in his last moments of his presidency to come do this kind of cultural outreach, public diplomacy thing in the UAE and Bahrain? Why was that important now? I mean, so much, so many cultural stops and he never usually does these kinds of things. MR. HADLEY: We’ve been doing cultural stops really for a while. If you look at the trip that we made in Latin America here a year, year-plus ago, it’s very much of a piece. One of the things we try to do is we figure out what are the objectives for the trip; what are the themes he wants to strike, both with the leaders and then publicly? And then in addition to the sort of formal governmental advance, we ask ourselves, what are the events that he can do that would both advance those objectives, both in terms of his own knowledge and understanding, but also can be visible of examples of his advancing that agenda, both for the country and in the region as a whole? That’s what we did in Latin America. That’s what we’ve done here. We did—tried to do the same thing on the trip to Australia, though that was considerably abbreviated. So I don’t think that’s particularly new. We’ve done it before. It’s a good part of getting him to see and be seen in the region.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080114-3.html

2. Illusions of the people who love to hate America - Ted Bromund (Yorkshire Post, January 14): The paradox is that while US relations with foreign governments have improved markedly, foreign publics are less impressed. That is the dilemma facing US public diplomacy, and the many governments around the world that want to work closely with the US: close relations between democratic states cannot endure without the support of the people. It is essential for the US to argue vigorously for its policies, which it has failed to do. But a point-by-point defence is not enough: the challenge for the US is to break through the story that disposes too many Europeans to be suspicious of anything the US does, and to ignore anything that is not compatible with blaming America first. (Ted R Bromund is associate director of International Security Studies at Yale University).
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/opinion/Ted-Bromund—Illusions-of.3668412.jp

3. Desperately seeking drains and democracy – (Stephanie Doust: Only dull people are lively in the mornings, January 15): “Of course, never one to avoid a mind-numbingly boring exercise in patronising public diplomacy, Mr GW stumbled through a speech based on the claim that democracy is best. Golly. We all know that. I mean look what it’s delivered: Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Nauru, GW…”
http://stephdoust.blogspot.com/2008/01/desperately-seeking-drains-and.html

4. Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism – (MountainRunner, January 14): “Briefly, countering ideological support for terrorism (CIST) is a catch-phrase that predates Dr. Michael Doran’s appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy, as he admits, but he has readily adopted it and is, as far as I can tell, the only person still promoting it publicly.’”
http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/countering_ideological_support.html
on Doran see
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/friedman200503140748.asp
see also
http://gmujournalism.blogspot.com/2008/01/public-diplomacy-and-pentagon.html
http://idolator.typepad.com/intelfusion/2008/01/the-dod-policy.html

5. U.S. Public Diplomacy: Forget the U.S. Image, Focus on Enemy Wrongs - Hampton Stephens (World Politics Review, January 15): In focusing on the enemy, it’s not just their atrocities that provide ample fodder for a P.R. campaign aimed at alienating extremists. In addition to shaming them, the U.S. and the civilized world should also be exposing them to ridicule.
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/blog/blog.aspx?id=1498

6. Douglas Johnston on “Speaking of Faith”: Why Religion Matters—And Has To Matter—To U.S. Public Diplomacy - Paul D. Kretkowski (Beacon, January 14): Douglas Johnston, head of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, former submarine commander, COO of CSIS, presidential advisor, and all-around policy actor, insists that US public diplomacy engage the religious element in other societies as deeply as is consistent with the Constitution’s establishment clause —not because religion is important to Americans so much as that it’s the indispensable entry point for talking about anything else with the nations the U.S. most wants to engage.
http://softpowerbeacon.blogspot.com/2008/01/douglas-johnston-on-speaking-of-faith.html

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

8. U-TURN: In Iran Reversal, Bureaucrats Triumphed Over Cheney Team; Rivalries Behind Iraq War Play Out in Risk Report; Bush Issues New Warning - Jay Solomon And Siobhan Gorman (Wall Street Journal, January 14): The more-cautious intelligence camp is grabbing the reins in Washington. The power shift can be seen in other areas where US policy appears to be softening. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is supporting cultural exchanges and direct dialogue with Pyongyang.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120027737099687613.html?mod=hps_us_pageone
paid subscription

9. America’s Role in the World: A Business Perspective on Public Diplomacy [review of Business for Diplomacy Action, America’s Role in the World: A Business Perspective on Public Diplomacy [October 2007] - J. Edgar Williams (American Diplomacy, January, 2008): According to the Business for Diplomacy Action report, “America’s Role in the World,” public diplomacy, as it now exists, has fallen far behind American business in developing effective communications with people worldwide. The report recommends placing public diplomacy under a non-partisan, independent Corporation for Public Diplomacy that would represent the business community along with other sectors. Another new, inter-agency creation, the National Communications Council, would assist the President in coordinating public diplomacy among the various government departments and agencies.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/0103/iar/iar_business.html
BDA report at
http://www.businessfordiplomaticaction.org/action/a_business_perspective_on_public_diplomacy_10_2007_approvedfinal.pdf

10. Women As Democracy Strategists - H. Veziroglu (New Ideas and Projects for 2000s, January 13): “Diplomacy requires dialogue, reconciliation, openness, and peaceful negotiation. Women can certainly be a good catalyst for change, and they can act as competent democracy strategists if they are given an opportunity to get involved. The most powerful political, cultural messages can be transmitted on the world stage by proactive and reactive press coverages. Handling media inquiries require public diplomacy, opinion formation, and psychological strategy plus action. Shouldn’t we ask other women in business and political spheres of life that they have a catalytic effect in the years to come?”
http://newideasveziroglu.blogspot.com/2008/01/women-as-democracy-strategists.html

11. Pressure Mounts on British Council - Irina Titova and Kevin O’Flynn (Moscow Times, January 14): The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador on Monday as the government stepped up pressure on the British Council after London defied orders to close two offices in Russia. The ministry said it would start moves to recover back taxes from the council’s office in St. Petersburg, refuse to renew the accreditation of diplomats who now work in its regional offices, and refuse to give visas to new employees.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2008/01/15/001.html
see also
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/14/AR2008011402586.html

12. India-China relations: Mending fences - Prem Shankar Jha (domain-b.com, January 14): In the last few months there has been a palpable growth of discomfort along the Sino-Indian border. And in the last few weeks Pakistan has begun to slide towards chaos with gathering speed, and bids fair to become a nursery for new threats to the stability of both countries. Neither of these challenges can be met through public diplomacy. http://www.domain-b.com/people/writers_columnists/20080114_mending_fences.html (link may not be accessible)

13. Letter to Japan Foreign Minister Koumura - Brad Adams, Executive Director, Asia Division (Human Rights Watch, January 15): “[T]o date Human Rights Watch is not aware that the Japanese government has publicly expressed concerns about human rights abuses in the region except for Burma. Though we welcome this public diplomacy and the suspension of one non-humanitarian aid project, we are concerned these gestures will have little impact on the generals in Burma—or on other abusive governments—unless they are sustained by regular, strong public messages and concrete actions.”
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KKAA-7AV3M8?OpenDocument

14. Back at School – Mithra (Holier Than Thou: M/2, January 14): “So classes began last Monday and they hit the ground running! I’m taking stats, micro-econ, American institutions, and US & China in the crossroads. Initially I was in a Public Diplomacy course taught by our Diplomat in Residence Kovach but the course is at 5 pm on Tuesdays and ends at 7:50. I just can’t be at school for almost 12 hours everyday since naturally I wouldn’t go in for one class then come back later. So yeah, I’m pretty happy with my courses though.”
http://ultramicah.blogspot.com/2008/01/back-at-school.html

B) RELATED ITEMS (Russian Democracy Institute in New York, 15; Turkey and US world standing, 16; Arab bloggers, 17; US Foreign Service, 18; Iraq, 19-24; Iran, 25-30; Israel/Palestine, 31-33; Bush in Middle East, 34-36; Afghanistian, 37; Pakistan, 38-40; Japan, 41; U.S. in world 42-43; heroic diplomats of the Holocaust, 44; Rice, 45-47)

15. Institute to Delve Into U.S. Democracy - Alexander Osipovich (Moscow Times, January 14): A Russian foundation devoted to democracy and human rights is setting up shop in the United States. The Moscow-based Institute of Democracy and Cooperation officially registered its New York branch on Dec. 31, several weeks after registering a branch in Paris, the chairman of the foundation said Friday. The foundation appears to be the latest attempt to influence foreign opinion about Russia through so-called “soft power” tactics. Another such project is Russia Today, a 24-hour English-language news station funded by the Kremlin.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2008/01/14/002.html
courtesy Paul Smith

16. Bush’s Diplomatic Amends - Jackson Diehl (Washington Post, January 14): By now Americans are painfully aware of the country’s drastic loss of standing around the world during George W. Bush’s presidency. But a comeback of sorts is underway as the administration winds down, and Turkey is a big part of it. Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were the leading architects of the Turkish-American reconstruction.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302296_pf.html
on US-Turkey see also
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/EDITORIAL/435823642/1013&template=printart

17. Unlock the voices of the Arab street - Mona Eltahawy (Globe and Mail, January 14): Why are bloggers so feared by authoritarian regimes in the Arab world? Because they are young and blogging is, at last, a way to express themselves in a world where they are ignored. The majority of the Arab world is under the age of 30 and this majority has few venues in which to express their views—political or otherwise.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080114.wcomment0114/BNStory/International/home
via
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3134

18. Veteran envoys lament bad rap - Nicholas Kralev (Washington Times, January 14): A recent outcry in the Foreign Service over forced assignments in Iraq has angered many veteran diplomats, who say that whiners and complainers in their ranks have made the diplomatic corps look unprofessional and disloyal. That perception was reinforced last week by a survey of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the diplomats’ union, in which 1,592 respondents said they would not volunteer for Iraq positions because of “disagreement with policy.” The survey was sent to all 11,500 members of the Foreign Service, but only 4,311 chose to participate in it, AFSA said. It was immediately dismissed by the State Department leadership as meaningless, because of its “self-selectiveness.” SEE BELOW ITEM 44.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/FOREIGN/148733898/1001&template=printart

19. Wolf Urges Safety Probe Of Baghdad Embassy - Glenn Kessler (Washington Post, January 15): The Government Accountability Office should “initiate a full and thorough investigation” of allegations that the firefighting systems at the new U.S. Embassy complex under construction in Baghdad have potential safety problems, Rep. Frank R. Wolf (Va.), a senior lawmaker said yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/14/AR2008011402477_pf.html

20. The Results Are In ...: Oh, By the Way, the Iraqis Don’t Really Want Us - William Blum (CounterPunch, January 13): The US military in Iraq hired firms to conduct focus groups amongst a cross section of the population. Among the findings: Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the US military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them.
http://www.counterpunch.org/blum01142008.html

21. The Forgotten Iraqi Exiles – (BagnewsNotes, January 15)
http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2008/01/the-forgotten-i.html

22. The Democrats’ Fairy Tale - William Kristol (New York Times, January 14): Because the U.S. sent more troops instead of withdrawing—because, in other words, President Bush won his battles in 2007 with the Democratic Congress—we have been able to turn around the situation in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/opinion/14kristol.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
See also on Kristol’s article
http://wonkette.com/344685/faerie-tales-and-the-modern-neo+con
On Kristol at the Times
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjFiYmM3NjFmNTI3YjIyNzdiZGQ1MDAzYzVhYjBjMzM=

23. More Than Half Full: Reading the media from Diyala - David French (National Review): The surge has succeeded not simply because we’ve put more boots on the ground; it has succeeded in large part because it has coincided with more capable Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the explosive growth of local “Awakening Councils”—citizen groups who provide their own security after al-Qaeda has been driven out.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDRkNjNhYTIwZDNjNWM3YTEzNTczZjZhNWEzY2I4YzA=

24. The Surge Effect: The gamble is paying off for Bush and McCain - Fred Barnes (Weekly Standard, January 21): The surge effect is the result of gains in Iraq well beyond the most optimistic dreams of the surge’s advocates.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/587vvfoy.asp

25. The Iranian challenge - Harlan Ullman (January 14): Iran, of course, has a reason to provoke coalition warships. The image of tiny speedboats challenging the mightiest Navy in the world has great propaganda value. But an incidents at sea agreement for the Gulf makes sense. Indeed, such an agreement could include each of the navies operating in the Gulf to prevent an incident from inadvertently turning into a crisis because one or another party made a miscalculation or mistake.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/EDITORIAL09/24281838/1013/EDITORIAL&template=printart

26. Iran continues to provoke - James Lyons (Washington Times, January 15)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/COMMENTARY/909836707/1012/commentary&template=printart

27. President Bush’s Only Achievement in the Middle East is to Increase the Power of Iran: The most soaring rhetoric about democracy is swiftly choked to death by petrol fumes - Johann Hari (Independent, January 14/Common Dreams)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/14/6357/

28. It’s Not About Iran - Shibley Telhami (Washington Post, January 14): In making his case for confronting Iran, Bush is likely to get polite nods from Arab leaders. Don’t mistake that for an embrace of American policy. What they need above all is for the United States to succeed in mediating Palestinian-Israeli peace—not dismiss their peace calls as a fig leaf for some deeper desire for confrontation with Iran.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302305_pf.html

29. Around Iran, anxiety abounds – Editorial (Boston Globe, January 14): Gulf Arabs have to be persuaded not only that they will be protected but also that they will be included in any grand bargain over Gulf security between the United States and Iran.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/01/15/around_iran_anxiety_abounds?mode=PF

30. Artificial Intelligence: President Bush’s cavalier dismissal of the NIE undermines our credibility, again - Fred Kaplan (Slate, January 14): It is increasingly unlikely, for many reasons, that the United States will bomb Iran before the year is out. But, wittingly or not, did Bush just flash a green light to Olmert?
http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=print&id=2182071

31. Pressure from fantasy land - Moshe Arens (Haaretz, January 15): The talk about the need to give in to American pressure comes straight out of fantasy land. There is no American pressure and there will be no American pressure for Israeli concessions.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944674.html

32. Bush changes tone – Editorial comment (Financial Times, January 14): A determined effort by the president to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians is now the only way he can keep himself in the spotlight.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a3b25bc-c2d7-11dc-b617-0000779fd2ac.html

33. The generals of Professor Rice – Amir Oren (Haaretz, January 15): The real battle, between Rice and Israel, will now take place over the president’s support, with Rice having the upper hand, because until his next visit here, Bush will expect to see results on the ground.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944673.html

34. A lackluster report card for Bush’s Middle East junket – Edward M. Gomez (World Views, SF Gate, January 14): Unfortunately for Bush’s team, despite the considerable expense of his public-relations junket to Israel and several Arab countries, many news media in the region—and even some major news outlets beyond it—did not give the Republican pol’s trip high marks.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=23421

35. The End of the Road for George W. Bush - Chris Hedges (Truthdig, January 14): The Gilbert and Sullivan charade of statesmanship played out by George W. Bush and his enabler, Condoleezza Rice, as they wander the Middle East is a fitting end to seven years of misrule.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080113_the_end_of_the_road_for_george_w_bush/

36. Bush Nudges Mideast on Democracy: Dissidents Skeptical, Saying U.S. Has Overlooked Abuses - Michael Abramowitz (Washington Post, January 14)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302848_pf.html

37. Afghans, Report for Duty - Ronald E. Neumann (New York Times, January 14): We are creating more battalions for the Afghan Army as fast as possible. A better strategy would be to institute a draft in Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/opinion/14neumann.html?ref=opinion

38. Pakistan’s Terror Inc. - Arnaud de Borchgrave (Washington Times, January 14): Deafening allied silence greeted Defense Secretary Bob Gates’ Afghan request for more NATO troops. So the Pentagon is now drawing up plans to move some 3,200 additional troops, all Marines, to Afghanistan, bringing U.S. and coalition forces to 50,000. But it’s still the wrong target. The country is fractured, divided — and at war with itself. This won’t change until Taliban is booted out of the seven tribal agencies known as FATA (for Federally Administered Tribal Areas) in Pakistan.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/COMMENTARY/724975851/1012/commentary&template=printart

39. Our ally in Islamabad – (Los Angeles Times, January 14): Has it been worth billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid to support Pervez Musharraf? Does fighting terrorism justify propping up an undemocratic regime? All week, Brian Katulis and Lisa Curtis debate the U.S. alliance with Pakistan.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-dustup14jan14,0,2342134.story?coll=la-opinion-center

40. Beating extremists by building schools – Trudy Rubin (baltimoresun.com, January 15): The United States invested $256 million from 2002 to 2007 in education reform in Pakistan, but there is little sign the programs have broken through Pakistan’s bureaucratic blockage. Yet nothing could be more important in the long-term struggle to redirect alienated youngsters away from jihad and into productive lives.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.rubin15jan15,0,2143367.story

41. Japan Sails Again – Review & Outlook (January 14): The Japanese Diet voted Friday to resume an antiterror mission in the Indian Ocean—to which we say, welcome back to the fight. It’s a signal that Washington’s staunchest ally in Asia hasn’t abandoned its recent ambition to play a greater role in international security, especially in its own part of the world.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120026495934287047.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

42. The Hundred-Year War: McCain wants us in Iraq permanently – Justin Raimondo (antiwar.com, January 14): The United States, which is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, simply cannot afford the luxury of imperialism.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12204

43. “Visions of Omnipotence”: 60 Years of Empire - Saul Landau (CounterPunch, January 12/13): The world has watched George W. Bush lead the United States from a bright dream toward an incipient nightmare.
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau01122008.html

44. Defying Orders, Saving Lives: Heroic Diplomats of the Holocaust - Richard Holbrooke (Foreign Affairs, May/June): Little-known heroes of the Holocaust were the rare diplomats who defied their superiors’ orders and issued visas to save lives. With Iraqis now scrambling to leave their own country, those examples are as relevant today as ever.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070501fareviewessay86313/richard-holbrooke/defying-orders-saving-lives-heroic-diplomats-of-the-holocaust.html
courtesy Tex Harris

45. Condi Sneaks into Iraq All Quick-Like - (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 15):
PHOTO: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meets US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Baghdad January 15.
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/condi-sneaks-into-iraq-all-quick-like.html

46. Cheers! – (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 14): US Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice selects a strawberry juice drink during a visit the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House, Monday, Jan. 14, in Dubai, United Arabs Emirates.
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/cheers.html
see also
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/condi-confronts-old-nemesis-at-festive.html

47. Condi Roundup - Peter Huestis (Wonkette, January 14): What is the Condibot? The labor-saving, Disneytronic construct occasionally trotted out by the administration when the real thing needs to catch up on her beauty sleep after a hard year, that’s what! Think of the Condibot as a kind of “stay the course” deal: a holding pattern programmed with simple talking points and cunningly meaningless phrases. In other words, it’s almost impossible to tell the real thing from the robot.
http://wonkette.com/344312/well-well-well-its-the-condibot

C) ONLY IN AMERICA?

48. OFF/beat’s Bright Business Ideas for 2008 – Emil Steiner (OFF/Beat, Washingtonpost.com, January 14): Personal Fart Guards: And with all the Veggie Hag franchises that are bound to start popping up, there’s a fortune to be made on olfactory purification. Air fresheners are wasteful, ineffective and in some cases even toxic. But thanks to revolutionary new technologies and American ingenuity, gassy consumers can now putter around without fear of social disgrace. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2008/01/offbeats_bright_business_ideas.html?nav=rss_blog

49. Did Telling a Whopper Sell the Whopper? - Emily Bryson York (Advertising Age, January 14): Burger King says its eight-minute, documentary-style video on its whopper burger has gotten 1.5 million views since it was posted last month.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=123046
Whopper Video at
http://whopperfreakout.com

50. Understanding American Philanthropy - Li Yuan (Wall Street Journal, January 14): In 2005 more than 67% of U.S. households donated to charity, and nearly 98% of high net-worth households (those with incomes of greater than $200,000 or assets in excess of $1 million) donated to a charitable organization, according to a survey by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. In fact, over the past 40 years Americans have donated, on average, about 1.8% of their annual gross domestic product.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120034061972789129.html?mod=hps_us_editors_picks
paid subscription

D) MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“Wow! It’s official! Condi sucks!”

—Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photoblog reader Lulu Maude, commenting on a photo of Secretary of Rice using a straw to drink a fruit juice offered to her in Dubai; cited in “Condi Confronts Old Nemesis at Festive Drink Palace” (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to, January 14).
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/condi-confronts-old-nemesis-at-festive.html

“I’m not good with animals.”

—Overheard remark in the UAE by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, regarding her holding a falcon; cited in “Condi Confronts Old Nemesis at Festive Drink Palace” (Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog, January 14)
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/01/condi-confronts-old-nemesis-at-festive.html

“A man who is taught that he is nothing more than an animal will have no pangs of conscience when he behaves like one, living for consumption, indulgence, and the satisfaction of his hormonal urges. This ... is what is most destroying the American male as he invests his energy at work and returns home an uninspired wreck, unable to love his wife and incapable of inspiring his children.”

—Shmuley Boteach, “Threat to human uniqueness” (Jerusalem Post, January 14)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1200308085546&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

“American politicians take time out from their busy lives to make speeches that sound empty; British politicians fill the emptiness of their lives with words that make them sound busy.”

—Armando Iannucci, “Barack Obama—I’m sure we’ve seen him somewhere before” (Observer, January 13)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/barackobama/story/0,,2240116,00.html

“The Latest From Late Night Comedians—David Letterman: Top Ten Things Overheard on George W. Bush’s Trip To The Middle East.

10. ‘Where can I buy one of them flying carpets?’
9. ‘Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, it’s me, the guy who rammed democracy down your throats.’
8. ‘Is the war over yet?’
7. ‘I know your name’s Mahmoud, but I’m gonna call you ‘Manny.’
6. ‘Gas up Air Force One—W. wants to go to Reno.’
5. ‘Tell Cheney he doesn’t have to call me every time he has a heart attack.’
4. ‘I wonder if Jackoway hammered out that interim agreement with Hamas.’
3. ‘That’s not a kitty, sir, it’s a Sphinx.’
2. ‘It’s nice to finally put a face to the devastation I’ve created.’
1. ‘My next stop—the Middle West!’”

—Political Bulletin, U.S. News & World Report (January 14)
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080114.htm#political_humor
via
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/14/BL2008011401233_pf.html