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11 Popular Songs the CIA Used to Torture Prisoners in the War on Terror - Tom Barnes, policymic.com. Includes videos

"Ability to lift and/or move objects or packages of up to 25 lbs"

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VIDEOS: AMERICAN CULTURAL DIPLOMACY AT ITS BEST?

11 Popular Songs the CIA Used to Torture Prisoners in the War on Terror - policymic.com: "Music torture has been common practice for the CIA ever since it began its 'enhanced interrogation program' in the early 2000s. The process is designed to 'create fear, disorient … and prolong capture shock' in prisoners.


Sgt. Mark Hadsell, a member of the U.S. Psychological Operations team, described the efficacy of the tactic: 'If you play it for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That's when we come in and talk to them.' [Includes 10. 'Fuck Your God' by Deicide]" Image from entry. See also John Brown, "Is American Cultural Diplomacy a Hot Potato?" Notes and Essays

EVENT

You’re Invited: Join the Coolest Virtual Field Trip to Mars - Evan Ryan: blogs.state.gov: "To encourage future astronauts, innovators, and change makers to study and work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is going on a new type of virtual exchange program with students—we’re blasting off on a virtual field trip to Mars!


 The ECA Collaboratory teamed up with NASA’s Digital Learning Network™, Google’s Connected Classrooms Program, and the U.S. Embassies in Buenos Aires and Managua to host this first-ever international Google+ Hangout to explore the Red Planet.  We invite educators and students to join us. ... About the Author: Evan Ryan serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs." Image from entry, with caption: This Viking 1 Orbiter Image Shows the Thin Atmosphere of Mars

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

Obama counsels diplomacy in dealing with Russia, China, North Korea - Christi Parsons, latimes.com: "Although Obama’s weeklong trip to Asia is aimed in part at conveying the theme of U.S. military readiness in the region, his explicit message throughout has been about using


diplomatic tools to respond to threats from Russia, China and North Korea. ... In his public diplomacy so far this week, Obama has taken care to avoid offending his hosts but has also kept in mind their complicated relationships with neighbors. In a news conference with the Japanese prime minister, for example, he hastened to advise patience and cooperation in working out territorial disputes with China."Image from entry, with caption: President Obama speaks as South Korean President Park Geun-hye looks on during a joint news conference in Seoul.

Common Sense on China from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - Gregory Kulacki, allthingsnuclear.org: "Last week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee offered a ... constructive set of responses the President and his Asia advisors should consider as they continue to 'rebalance' the administration’s 'pivot' policy. 'While most governments have expressed support for greater U.S. engagement in the region, the strategy is currently perceived as primarily a military strategy, a perception reinforced by the under-resourcing of the civilian components. As a result, some countries in the region see the rebalance as an attempt to contain a rising China, which may limit their willingness to deepen cooperation and coordination with the United States. As the United States considers how to more fully shape and articulate the public diplomacy elements of the rebalance, it should make clear that the policy is about broadening U.S. engagement, not containing China; the rebalance seeks to expand economic growth, ensure regional security, and improve human welfare for the benefit of all, not the detriment of one.' One of the 'civilian components' mentioned in the committee report is to 'redouble efforts to attract and enable more U.S. students' to study in the region. Hopefully those efforts will not include new videos from the FBI on the dangers of study in China. The half-hour FBI special, which has all the subtlety of a driver’s education film, warns prospective students they may be targets of Chinese intelligence agents. Rather than promoting the promise of improved mutual understanding, the video warns prospective students their good intentions could make them pawns in a game of great power politics. It seems even the 'civilian components' of the Obama administration’s Asia policy cannot escape its present tendency to emphasize risk over reward when it comes to China."

Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel Travel to Malaysia and Burma - Media Note, Office of the Spokesperson, Washington, DC - state.gov: April 23, 2014: "Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel is traveling to Malaysia and Burma April 25-29. In Kuala Lumpur, Under Secretary Stengel will be the keynote speaker at the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative – 'YSEALI Generation – Ideas into Action' workshop and speak to over 100 U.S. Government exchange alumni nominated to attend the workshop by U.S. embassies from 10 ASEAN countries. At the workshop, he will meet senior Malaysian officials, representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, Ambassadors from Southeast Asian nations and entrepreneurs, business leaders, and civic society leaders from around the region. The Under Secretary will also meet with the Malaysian Minister of Education to highlight our cooperation with the Malaysian government on the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program and further advance our efforts towards increasing educational exchange programs with Malaysia. While in Kuala Lumpur, the Under Secretary will accompany President Obama to the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and attend the President’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall. Under Secretary Stengel will travel to Burma April 28-29. On April 28, in Rangoon, he will meet with representatives from civil society, students, and entrepreneurs. Under Secretary Stengel will then travel to Naypyidaw, arriving on April 29 to meet with senior Government of Burma officials. Under Secretary Stengel will return to Washington on April 30."See also

The Obama State Department Parodies Itself- Patrick Brennan, nationalreview.com: "U.S., EU, and Ukrainian government accounts have been using the Twitter hashtag '#UnitedforUkraine' in the messages they broadcast on the social network about the situation between Russia and Ukraine (see some examples). Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account started using it in their messages too. Like this one, relaying a quote from John Kerry’s hockey buddy and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov:

In total seriousness, the State Department’s top spokesman expressed hope that this might be a breakthrough, representing a kind of commitment from the Russians (rather than, you know, a joke): But at today’s State press briefing today, when Psaki was asked about how Russia has adopted #UnitedforUkraine, she was less sanguine. 'I don’t think they’re living by their hashtag,' she said. Now that’s cringeworthy — nearly perfect public diplomacy undone by inconsistency, a messaging mistake as old as the ages.

Army report on death of young State Department officer in Afghanistan confirms group was lost- star-telegram.com: "The Chicago Tribune on Thursday published a lengthy story on the U.S. Army's investigation into the death last year of State Department press officer Anne Smedinghoff that contradicts much of what the State Department said at the time. ... At the time, the explosion was the deadliest incident to hit U.S. personnel in Afghanistan in 2013 and was the first time an American diplomat had been killed there since the U.S. invaded in 2001. In addition to Smeddinghoff, who was in her second overseas posting, three U.S. soldiers and a civilian contractor died in the blast, which was thought to have been aimed at a convoy carrying the local Afghan provincial governor, who was on his way to meet a senior State Department official to highlight a book donation. The Army investigation, the Tribune reported, found that a more likely target was Jonathan Addleton, a top State Department official for southern Afghanistan, whose presence at the book donation event had probably been leaked to the Taliban by Afghan officials who'd been told the event's schedule. ... The report raises a key question about the value of the event itself, which the State Department said then was an important 'mission.' But Qalat was in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous regions, and the 25-year-old Smedinghoff was among a group of volunteers requisitioned from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to fly to Qalat and wrangle Afghan reporters who'd also been flown in from the capital. The Army report called it a 'media extravaganza.' One soldier described the event, the Tribune said, as a chance for some 'happy snaps.' Said the Tribune: 'The Army unit at the base didn’t want to provide security because it didn’t understand why it should be carrying out such a mission and the security platoon already had other missions planned for that day. What’s more, civilians were not wearing the proper protective gear.' ... It's unclear whether there's been much soul searching at the State Department. In the Tribune story, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki sounds unrepentant. 'The only people responsible for this tragedy were the extremists opposed to the mission,' the Tribune quotes her as saying, then adds that 'a classified internal review of the day was conducted, . . . and the department determined no State rules were broken.'"

Time to Reform U.S. International Broadcasting - Helle C. Dale and Brett D. Schaefer - heritage.org: "Instability, conflict, and political repression in disparate areas of the world underscore the need for America to promote its policies and provide objective news and clear calls for freedom, representative governance, and tolerance. Sadly, America’s vehicles for communication are muffled by poor management and unclear missions and objectives. Congress should take steps to improve the focus, effectiveness, and responsiveness of U.S. international broadcasting to evolving situations and crises."

The Committee on Public Information: A Primer - psyopsergeant.com: "The following is from the introduction to my master’s thesis 'Propaganda against Propaganda: Deconstructing the Dominant Narrative of the Committee on Public Information.' It is a brief overview of the Committee on Public Information (CPI) that I constructed after a year’s worth of research on the subject. I’ve elected to post it now so that, if and when I post other selections from my thesis, the reader will have a basic idea of what the CPI was. On April 14, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued Executive Order 2594 establishing the CPI for the purpose of handling the sensitive issue of censorship and, more generally, of building popular support for the American war effort.[1] The CPI consisted of Secretary of War Newton Baker, Secretary of State Robert Lansing, and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. George Creel, a progressive journalist from Denver and longtime Wilson supporter, was appointed as the CPI’s civilian chairman. Creel’s loyalty to Wilson was beyond question and Wilson responded in kind, particularly when Creel came under fire from enemies in Congress and elsewhere. Although it quickly became known as the 'Creel Committee,' many men and women who were leaders in their respective fields eagerly joined Creel’s organization, most on a volunteer basis. Many of the nation’s leading historians, led by Guy Stanton Ford of the University of Minnesota, volunteered their services writing pamphlets for the CPI that described, among other topics, the reasons for U.S. entry into the war and the true nature of the German enemy. Many of these pamphlets were printed by the million. Many of the nation’s most famous artists, led by Charles Dana Gibson (perhaps the most famous of all), contributed over a thousand poster designs as part of the Division of Pictorial Publicity. Some of America’s leading journalists and authors lent their services to the CPI’s Bureau of Syndicate Features. Leaders in America’s nascent film industry joined the ranks of the CPI, producing several feature-length films, along with many shorter featurettes and newsreels.


The advertising industry signed on as well, securing millions in free advertising space for CPI products. Other CPI divisions sprang up, as the need or opportunity dictated, until the total reached nineteen domestic divisions.[2] The CPI also enlisted thousands of faceless volunteers, perhaps as many as 150,000, into the fight for what Wilson himself referred to as 'the verdict of mankind.'[3] Half of this number, nearly 75,000 men, volunteered their services as 'Four-Minute Men' who gave four-minute long speeches at movie theaters and in other public settings that encouraged their fellow citizens to support the war effort, among other ways, by purchasing liberty bonds, conserving food, donating blood, and registering for the draft. Countless other volunteers served as translators, social workers, artists, writers, and clerical staff. Creel rejected strict censorship of the European mold and instead established guidelines for 'voluntary censorship' on the part of the press. In keeping with his notion of 'expression, not suppression,' Creel believed that, by providing the press with war news, the CPI could simultaneously provide a valuable service and control the flow of sensitive information.[4] Not all journalists agreed and, despite his intentions to avoid censorship, Creel’s came to be known as the 'Chief Censor.' Nevertheless, other government officials, such as Postmaster General Albert Sydney Burleson, were much more aggressive censors than Creel.[5] True to his muckraking past, Creel brought to his job the progressive’s faith in human rationality and the power of facts to persuade. Many other progressives enlisted in his battle for the American mind, although not all shared Creel’s belief in the power of facts alone. Some, such as Gibson, openly rejected the appeal to reason and actively used appeals to emotion. Such was the paradox of progressivism. The progressive faith in rationality encouraged appeals to fact and reason while the progressive drive for efficiency encouraged appeals to fear, hatred, and other negative emotions. It is the latter appeals for which the CPI is better known due to the fact that, unlike so much of its other work, its posters have survived. The CPI engaged in America’s first large-scale experiment in what would become known as 'public diplomacy' by promoting the justness of America’s cause, as well as President Wilson’s peace plan (the 'Fourteen Points') around the world. The CPI conducted operations in over thirty nations but its reach extended even farther than that. President Wilson’s speeches were widely disseminated by the CPI and citizens in places such as Spain and Italy came to view Woodrow Wilson as a heroic figure who was perhaps the only man on the world stage who could bring about a just and lasting peace. The success of the CPI’s foreign outreach has led to accusations that it had oversold the Fourteen Points and that this led to postwar disillusionment. On the domestic front, the CPI has been accused of promoting intolerance of all things German. Ironically, wartime opponents of the CPI often argued that the CPI did not go far enough to promote such feelings. There is no objective way of determining how much the CPI contributed to vigilantism or anti-immigrant sentiment because many other organizations, such as the American Protective League and National Security League, aggressively promoted such behaviors and ideas through their own unsanctioned propaganda, as well as through direct action. Assessing the legacy of the CPI has proven challenging. Both its domestic and foreign operations were clearly unprecedented in American history but the extent to which they were effective cannot be known. What is known is that subsequent propaganda efforts by the U.S. government have been comparably less overt than the CPI because of the backlash against propaganda that followed World War I. Even today, government efforts to rally public support in favor of military action are likely to draw comparisons with the CPI. The total cost of the CPI, by Creel’s accounting, was $6,850,000 ($5,600,000 from President’s War Fund and $1,250,000 from Congress).[6] For sake of comparison, this would equal $105,946,364 in 2013 dollars.[7] Creel accounts for $2,825,670 in receipts, which were returned to the government, for a net operating cost of $4,912,553. True to his effusive nature, Creel proclaimed: 'These figures might well be put in bronze to stand as an enduring monument to the sacrifice and devotion of the one hundred and fifty thousand men and women who were responsible for the results. A world-fight for the verdict of mankind—a fight that was won against terrific odds—and all for less than five millions—less than half what Germany spent in Spain alone!'[8] While indispensable as a primary source, Creel’s account has been used by both those seeking to praise and those seeking to bury Creel and his organization. The sheer volume of the numbers provided by Creel—150,000 workers, 75,000 Four-Minute Men, 75,000,000 pamphlets, 6,000 news releases—are often used as evidence of the CPI’s overreach.


Each number comes with its own caveat and yet critics of the CPI have found little need for investigation, let alone equivocation. There is little need to dig deeper when the raw numbers prove the point that the CPI was a propaganda machine of Orwellian proportions. My thesis goes on to describe how critics of the CPI, and of propaganda in general, have skewed the facts about the CPI in order to make a point about the dangers of propaganda. I will post more excerpts in the future. Notes: [1]. Executive Order 2594, April 14, 1917, in The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, ed. Arthur Link, vol. 42, (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1966), 59. [2]. James Mock and Cedric Larson, Words that Won the War: The Story of the Committee on Public Information: 1917-1919 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1939), 66-73. Mock and Larson’s account remains, some seventy-five years after its publication, the best starting point for those seeking to learn about the CPI. It is more comprehensive than the accounts by either Stephen Vaughn (Holding Fast the Inner Lines) or Alan Axelrod (Selling the Great War) and, while there is a mild but discernable pro-CPI bias, it is widely considered to be factually accurate. Vaughn’s is the second best source but does not address the CPI’s foreign operations. Axelrod’s provides the most detailed biography of Creel of the three but draws heavily on Creel’s own writing and those of Mock and Larson. [3]. George Creel, Rebel at Large: Recollections of Fifty Crowded Years (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1947), 158. Written nearly thirty years after the war, Creel’s autobiography contains five somewhat brief chapters his experiences as CPI Chairman. His How We Advertised America (1920) provides a much fuller account of the CPI. [4]. Ibid., 157. [5]. David Kennedy, Over Here: The First World War and American Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 75-77. [6]. George Creel, How We Advertised America: The First Telling of the Amazing Story of the Committee on Public Information That Carried the Gospel of Americanism to Every Corner of the Globe (1920; repr., London: Forgotten Books, 2012), 13. [7]. United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, 'CPI Inflation Calculator' bls.gov, accessed November 23, 2013, http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm. [8]. Creel, How We Advertised America, 13."Above image from; below image from.  See also John Brown, "The Anti-Propaganda Tradition in the United States,"Public Diplomacy Alumni Association

Sohn Ji-ae, CEO of Arirang TV : Taking pause from 30 years in top gear - theinsidekorea.com: Former CNN correspondent says she got into journalism almost as a dare [.] After working nonstop for 30 years, Sohn Ji-ae, former president and CEO of Arirang TV and Radio, who left her post at the end of February after two and a half years, is relishing what she calls her 'mid-life time out.' ... “With public diplomacy, you’re going after the people directly. One way is through the U.S. media,” she said.


'Is Korea getting its message across in the U.S. media, into the living rooms of Americans? I am not sure,' she said. 'Psy was great, but beyond Psy what do we have?” she asked, referring to the Korean rapper who shot to global fame when the video for his song 'Gangnam Style' went viral on YouTube in the summer of 2012. 'How do you get an image of Korea, that is not North Korea, not conglomerates but Koreans as dynamic, future-oriented ― the creative people we know that we are,' she said. 'Maybe trying to find that out will give me knowledge to better help my country out,' Sohn said."Image from entry, with caption: Sohn Ji-ae, former president and CEO of Arirang TV and Radio, poses at a cafe in Insa-dong, Seoul, on April 17.

Korean Air plays a major role in 2015-2016 France-Korea Year - traveldailynews.asia: "The France-Korea Year will take place in France from September 2015 to July 2016, before continuing in Korea from March to December 2016. During the year both countries will hold a wide range of events in the various sectors. Korean Air Yang Ho Cho, Chairman and CEO of Korean Air


attended the first meeting, on 16th April, of the joint organizing commission for the France-Korea Year taking place during 2015/16. Henri Loyrette, former president and general director of the Louvre Museum attended the meeting alongside Mr. Yang Ho Cho, together with participants from government ministries with connections to the planned celebration for a successful 2015-2016 France-Korea Year. The attendees discussed and shared opinions on not only the general agenda, such as management, logo and promotional plans but also project plans for various sectors including art, public diplomacy, economy and education."Uncaptioned image from entry

ABC Cracks TV Market In China, More Chinese Content Here - Wanning Sun, thebull.com.au: "ABC International has reasons to be proud of its recent 'landmark' deal to provide ABC content in China. The deal, which will see the establishment of an online portal, also seems to make it harder for the government to justify scrapping the Australia Network, funded by DFAT and functioning as an official instrument of Australia’s public diplomacy initiatives. The benefit of exposing potentially 1.3 billion people to Australian media content is obvious: Australia is competing with many other countries to attract business, resources investment, education and tourism from China; and perceptions matter. ... In more than one way, it was a coup for a news and current affairs program such as Q and A to broadcast live from Shanghai.


That said, China seems to have gained much more. First, it was able to show the world and its own people that, contrary to the popular belief about China’s lack of press freedom, China is open, cosmopolitan and willing to engage with global media. This is China’s most important impression-management objective. Second, there was little risk of the Chinese audience seeing the Chinese government placed in a bad light. While broadcast live to the Australian audience, the show was not live to the Chinese audience except those in the studio. And it was scheduled to be on the English-language channel of Shanghai TV, a channel mostly watched by English-speaking expatriates and Chinese social elites in Shanghai. To these people, little that was said on the Q and A program was new. Soft power diplomacy is a funny game. Win-win outcomes are always preferable, but who wins more is a matter of perspective."Image from entry, with caption: ABC International has reasons to be proud of its recent ?landmark? deal to provide ABC content in China.

Another Indicator - To Inform is to Influence: IO, SC, PD, what's in a name? "Russia’s information warfare program is good but not as good as many believe. I’m in daily contact with US Public Diplomacy experts, IO experts and Strategic Communication experts (notice, no s on the end of communication). When I compare products, Russia has far bigger numbers. The problem is, qualitatively, there are huge disconnects and large gaps in logic."

Bangladesh's water diplomacy: Crucial need for national unity and consensus - S.M. Rashed Ahmed, thedailystar.net: "We now need an agonising reappraisal, particularly of our water diplomacy given its obvious national priority. It is time for serious regional initiative and collaboration amongst not only the South Asian countries involved but also China to resolve the water crisis. Some experts estimate that both India and China may go for building 200 big and small dams on the Himalayan rivers -- Yangtze, Brahmaputra and Ganges -- to meet their growing water needs.


We need to keep in mind the models of joint and collaborative use, development and preservation of water by Europe, North America, Mekong Basin countries among others. For the proposed new diplomatic thrust on water diplomacy to succeed it is hoped that the AL coalition government and parties in power will initiate the process of consensus building on this critical issue by inviting all political parties, particularly the BNP and other opposition parties, to a series of dialogues to achieve national consensus on the issue. It can begin with a round table conference or any other format. What is important is sincere and serious political will to achieve national consensus and unity on an issue which involves the survival of Bangladesh. Crucially, for the sake of larger national interest, all narrow partisan gains have to be set aside; no blame game or hidden agenda. This is the age of public diplomacy and transparency. Thanks to the media, there is an unprecedented awareness amongst the people."Uncaptioned image from entry

CataloniaVOTES.eu, in English, French, and German, with a countdown toward the Catalan referendum- vilaweb.cat [22.04.2014] : "Yesterday, with 201 days until November 9th, DiploCAT launched its new website, CataloniaVOTES.eu, in English, French, and German, in order to explain the Catalan sovereignty process abroad. ... CataloniaVOTES.eu, in English, French, and German, with a countdown toward


the Catalan referendum Over the past few days, large signs with the web's address have appeared around Barcelona, including one in the city's central Plaça Catalunya. The site was created by DiploCAT, the Council for Public Diplomacy of Catalonia, an institution created in November of 2012 as a public-private consortium whose objective is to explain Catalonia to the world and to broaden international public opinion in order to improve the country's image and prestige abroad, by creating ties and relationships with citizens and institutions of other countries."Image from entry

RELATED ITEMS

The Real Winner of the Afghan War Is This Shady Military Contractor: The State Department paid out $4 billion to rebuild Afghanistan. Some $2.5 billion of that went to a single firm with a bad, bad past - Jacob Siegel, Daily Beast: For over a decade, the State Department gave 69% of its funding for Afghanistan to a single company—a company with a particularly checkered history.


DynCorp, one of the largest corporations working in the government’s army of private contractors, has long been known for corruption scandals and a questionable performance record. But none of that seems to have discouraged the U.S. government from awarding the company new contracts. Uncaptioned image from entry

‘Propaganda bullhorn’: John Kerry attacks RT during Ukraine address[includes videos] - rt.com: John Kerry has attacked RT for its coverage of the Ukraine crisis, calling it a “propaganda bullhorn.” Neglecting to address the US’ role in the conflict or back up his assertions with any evidence, Kerry said Russia was behind the unrest in Ukraine. During a press conference with the State Department on Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry rounded on RT, lashing out at its Ukraine coverage. Kerry's statements follow a flurry of anti-Russian rhetoric from Washington and, when it comes to the facts, it's not the first time broad statements without the backing of evidence have come out of Washington.

Four U.S. citizens were expelled from Russia for promoting "American values"[Google "translation"] - newsru.com: Leninsky District Court in the city of Cheboksary convicted of four Americans in violation of the conditions in Russia and sentenced to expulsion from the Russian territory. The case of the expulsion of U.S. citizens came amid tensions between Russia and the U.S. Leninsky District Court in the city of Cheboksary convicted of four Americans in violation of the conditions in Russia and sentenced to expulsion from the Russian territory. In addition, each U.S. citizen was sentenced to a fine of two thousand. The Court found that four Americans arrived in Cheboksary travel purposes, it is noted on the site management of FMS Chuvashia. However, as stated in the decision, during the entire period of stay in the city they were engaged in teaching English to students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Chuvash State Pedagogical University named after IY Yakovlev. Four citizens of the United States to teach English, "promoting American values." The court ruled that his conduct violated the Americans Part 2 of Article 18.8 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation: their actions are not consistent with the stated objectives of entry into the Russian territory. The report Chuvash FMS control emphasizes that one of the girls had already condemned rode to the Russian territory. She first visited Russia in 2001 as a volunteer with the American humanitarian organization "Peace Corps", which deals with the fact that sends its volunteers to disaster-stricken countries.


In 2002, the organization's activities on the territory of the Russian Federation has been banned due to "the implementation of intelligence and subversive activities." The trial of citizens of the United States held on April 25. For some Americans meeting was held the day of detention. His first group of U.S. citizens had been detained the day before, on April 24. Deportation from the Russian Federation, according to a court order, will be carried out "in the form of self-controlled movement" across the Russian border. The case of the expulsion of U.S. citizens came amid tensions between Russia and the United States. After the Russian authorities have attached the results of Crimea referendum of 16 March, the United States imposed sanctions against Russian politicians and businessmen involved in the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. In response, Russia has made its "blacklist" against Americans. Uncaptioned image from entry

US Propaganda on Ukraine: New York Times Retracts Russian-Photo Scoop - Robert Parry, globalresearch.ca"


Photograph published by the New York Times purportedly taken in Russia of Russian soldiers who later appeared in eastern Ukraine. However, the photographer has since stated that the photo was actually taken in Ukraine, and the U.S. State Department has acknowledged the error. Image from entry

USA Makes Kremlin Propaganda Easy, Again - globalvoicesonline.org: “There are no American mercenaries in #Ukraine, it's all #Kremlin lies and propaganda” tweeted [ru] the US State Department's official Ukraine Twitter account recently, prompting Russian journalist and emigre Oleg Kashin to ask [ru] if it is possible that anyone would be convinced by such a statement. Indeed, by responding to every single internet troll with renunciations, US foreign officials risk looking shrill and shifty. Perhaps this is why they have ignored the most recent conspiracy theory making the rounds on RuNet. The silence would be a welcome respite from the failures of US diplomacy to connect with ordinary Russians [Global Voices report], if the reason for the conspiracy theory wasn't such a glaring failure in the first place. It was Twitter user @Dikuschka who first drew attention [ru] to a US Government “request for a proposal” [ru] for the reconstruction of a Ukrainian school last fall. No big deal, except that the school in question is in Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea naval base. And the request came from the US Navy's Facilities Engineering Command. The combination certainly sounds suspicious, and it was easy enough for pro-Kremlin twitter [ru] users [ru] to turn what looks to be actually a school reconstructionunder the auspices of US European Command's Humanitarian Assistance program, into the “construction of a US Naval base.” The meme spread through RuNet, via humor websites like Pikabu [ru], newspapers like Komsomolskaya Pravda [ru], and even the (fake) Twitter account of Crimea's leader Sergey Aksyonov (the account is currently suspended).  The idea that the US Navy is simply doggedly pursuing a sometimes awkward policy of winning “hearts and minds,” without regard for how it might look, will probably fall on deaf ears for most Russians.

Towards the End of U.S. Propaganda - Thierry Meyssan, voltairenet.org: The Anglo-Saxon Empire is based on a century of propaganda. It managed to convince us that the United States is "the land of the free" and that it engaged in wars to defend its ideals. But the current crisis over Ukraine has changed the rules of the game.


Now Washington and its allies are not the only speakers. Their lies are openly challenged by the government and media of another major state, Russia. In the era of satellites and the Internet, Anglo-Saxon propaganda no longer works. Image from entry, with caption: Barack Obama speaks well. In fact, President Obama does not write his own texts but spends his days reading speeches written on prompters for him. Meanwhile, others govern in his place.

Head Of Russian Propaganda Network Declares Ukraine Dead On Twitter - businessinsider.co: Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russia's English-language television network, Russia Today, posted a tweet in the wee hours of Thursday morning in



which she appeared to declare Ukraine dead. The tweet, which was written in both Russian and English translates to "R.I.P. Ukraine."Uncaptioned image from entry

Putin Is Using WWII for Propaganda Because It's the Best Memory That Russia Has - Tikhon Dzyadko, newrepublic.com: The Great Patriotic War, which cost the USSR nearly 30 million lives, has touched nearly every Russian family in some way, and it is the main—if not only—connecting thread unifying Russians today. Putin knows this in part because he is himself from such a family—he says his brother died during the siege of Leningrad ten years before he was born. He knows the power of this painful heritage. And so, wishing to rally Russians around himself, he has begun to use the memory of the war.

How to get ahead at the State Department?[image] - John Brown, Notes and Essays:


WWII Propaganda Billboards From The United States' Secret Atomic City - io9.com:




IMAGE


Image from, with caption: Kim Jong-un mobbed by crying female soldiers. Via JJ on Facebook

"making public diplomacy statements is almost as old as the printing press."

--Anonymous said..., bruisefalling.blogspot.com; image from

VIDEO

(a) Escobar on RT: US fears opposing views are gaining strength - youtube.com, Via SL.

(b) “Sanctions: How Did We Get Here?”– rt.com: "Following Kerry’s attack on RT over its coverage of the Ukraine crisis, on Thursday the US State Department posted its own version of events in a video entitled “Sanctions: How Did We Get Here?” – blaming Russia for the whole crisis." [On the speaker's voice on this video, see "An American epidemic: The vocal fry zone," (2014)

(c) "Фурии майдана: секс, психоз и политика «Профессия - репортер». See the below first item in "Related Items" for details

FACEBOOK ENTRY OF INTEREST


Next Level - "Next Level is sending artists around the world to use hip-hop as a tool for cultural diplomacy and conflict resolution." Image from entry

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

#ThatsCold! Russians, US in Hashtag Battle - abcnews.go.com: "#UnitedForUkraine isn’t the only hashtag to be reappropriated by Russia. In the last few weeks, State’s #RussiaIsolated hashtag regarding Russia’s actions in Crimea sparked a series of tweets from Russian embassies around the world mocking the campaign by tweeting positive messages about Russia and including #russiaisolated. Pro-Russian groups have also started a series of parody accounts, such as @russiaisolator. And pro-Russian social media troll Psaki and state’s @ukrprogress accounts, immediately posting critical and sometimes crude tweets in response.
Russian Embassy, IDN @RusEmbJakarta

State has admitted it is playing catch-up to Russia on social media propaganda, with the undersecretary for public diplomacy, Rick Stengel, a former journalist, telling CNN that Russia’s been building up its social media presence for the last 10 years. In response, the U.S. has started the New Ukraine Task Force, a social media hub in Russian to talk to Russian speakers in Eastern Ukraine and in Central Europe, who State says are being bombarded by Russian media. The campaign is also spearheading the English posts and hashtags that are trying to help counter the influence in greater Europe of RT, the Russian government-owned television station formally called Russia Today that is distributed around the world, including the United States. Secretary of State John Kerry called the channel a 'propaganda bullhorn' Thursday. RT denies the accusation and formally called for an apology today. However, with RT’s reach of 85 million households around the world and no regulations as to how the Kremlin is allowed to influence Russian media, the U.S. government faces challenges in matching Russia’s media reach without violating U.S. freedom of press laws and values."Image from entry

Mutually Assured Derision: The State Department makes a hash of diplomacy - James Taranto, Wall Street Journal: "Some of Foggy Bottom's tweeters are


deadly earnest, making them totally defenseless against post-Soviet sarcasm."State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki image from entry. Via ACP on Facebook
#UnitedForUkraine New Form of Public Diplomacy - To Inform is to Influence: IO, SC, PD, what's in a name? - "I am consistently amazed at the self-centered 'me' generation in the United States and elsewhere. Recently, Paul Szoldra published an article at Business Insider entitled 'The State Department Is Getting Ruthlessly Mocked For Tweets Of ‘Hashtag Diplomacy.' In his article he gives a number of examples of Americans obviously not understanding how Public Diplomacy works, don’t understand the target audience and generally acting like trolls.

Trolls, according to the Urban Dictionary, are 'One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.' In this case, these trolls are using twitter. The ulterior purpose behind the hashtage #UnitedForUkraine is directly pointed at the people of Ukraine, to show solidarity, support and show that the people of the world hear Ukraine – Ukraine does not stand alone. Perhaps a little ridicule from trolls is acceptable. Let’s just hope the US Department of State ignores these trolls and continue showing their support for Ukraine."Image from entry

It is time for the West to move ahead without Russia - John McCain, John Barrasso, John Hoeven and Ron Johnson, Washington Post: "John McCain, John Barrasso, John Hoeven and Ron Johnson, all Republicans, represent Arizona, Wyoming, North Dakota and Wisconsin, respectively, in the Senate. ... Putin is winning the war of ideas among Russian-speaking peoples in the former Soviet Union. Putin’s propaganda rests on lies, but it is effective and hardly refuted. We have all but given up on communicating the truth, in Russian, to Europe’s Russian-speaking populations. This needs to change, and the old state-run public diplomacy is not necessarily the answer. The private sector can play an important role."

Let’s Easter Twitter with US Embassy Kabul April 20, 2014 - Peter Van Buren, wemeantwell.com: "Let’s enjoy a quick look at what the U.S. Embassy in Kabul is Tweeting. This is called 'social media diplomacy' and is designed to 'reach out' to 'local' people in the host country and make them love America more. State is kinda shy about saying it, but given the world-wide nature of these things, there is also a sweet little domestic propaganda side to it all. And get this– you pay for all this with your Bitcoins! To begin, like the U.S. Embassy said, Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. Thing is, Afghanistan is remarkably not Christian, and the purpose of social diplomacy is to 'reach out,' so opening with the Christian thing might be… awkward? Many Muslims in the target area already characterize the U.S. as a Crusader at war with Islam, so there, there’s that going for us. Next up the Embassy reTweeted something in Spanish about the U.S. Ambassador visiting one of the Crusader bases in Herat. Apparently the base contains some Spanish troopers, so that’s the linguistic connection sure, but like Christians, there are relatively few Spanish speakers among the local Afghan population. And on to the domestic side of today’s social diplomacy Tweets, two cheery notes. The first heralds Afghan efforts to build an new 'Silk Road.' The many Afghans still fighting for, with or against the Taliban and/or the U.S., never mind those whose relatives have been blown up by car bombs or drones, may not fully share the vision of progress, but one guesses the whole Silk Road thing is meant more for gullible Americans than gullible Afghans.


The second Tweet doubles down on the good news, this time sharing the breaking story that 'U.S. Foreign Policy in South Asia [is] A Vision for Prosperity and Security.' So that’s sorted. The only skeptics on that front might include the relatively few Americans who read the news, and pretty much everyone in Afghanistan. BONUS: Wait a tick– if the purpose of social media diplomacy is to engage with the local people, why are the Tweets all in English (and Spanish?) Maybe it is like a language tutorial, some kind of 'linguistic diplomacy.' There’s also the 'issue' that Internet use in Afghanistan varies from 12 percent in Kabul itself, to zero percent lots of other places. The average is about two-three percent. Subtract out of those already low percentages those who do not read English (or Spanish) and those who do not use Twitter and you’ve got a pretty small pool of targets. Anyway, those happy few Afghan web browsers are no doubt the most important people in the country and all that. Besides, you know, social media, Cuban Twitter, youth demographic, whatever. We are a sad and lonely people, aren’t we? Image from entry

Storehouses of knowledge on the US - Robin Augustin, nst.com.my: "Visitors to any library will find a wealth of information and knowledge, but in a corner of the Kuala Lumpur library, they will find a treasure trove of American literature. The Lincoln Resource Centre in the American Embassy, which was established on Feb 15, 1950, have nine offshoots in public libraries across the country. These Lincoln Corners act as mini-resource centres with books, magazines, journals, videos and DVDs on issues pertaining to America. 'America is proud of its diverse population and we want to represent that here in our Lincoln Corners,' said American Embassy public diplomacy officer Angie Mizeur. Because of this, Mizeur said the resource centres appeal to and represent a wide range of people. From US policies, education, geography, history, society, culture, and literature, they offer up-to-date information about the country. There are computers, televisions, iPads, Kindles and Nintendo Wiis with interactive apps and educational materials that give its users a peek into American culture and ideals. 'Our Lincoln Corners also host programmes with American speakers on a wide variety of topics such as government, politics, and cultural traditions, English learning, entrepreneurship, and history.


The diverse information is something the patrons of the Lincoln Corners appreciate because the US and Malaysia both enjoy a rich history of cultural diversity. Some Lincoln Corners also have EducationUSA, a programme which gives advice on tertiary education in America.' She added that when individuals have access to information, they become better citizens and in turn, enrich and enhance their communities. 'The Lincoln Corners are based on a fundamental American belief -- that a wide range of all types of information should be easily accessible to all members of society. Our partners even bring these materials to rural communities.' They are not just information centres, but also serve as community centres." Image from entry, with caption: Lincoln Corners are mini-resource centres with books, magazines, journals, videos and DVDs on issues pertaining to America.


Leveraging the Appeal of U.S. Higher Education in Public Diplomacy Programs: the Coursera-State Department Partnership - Mieczyslaw Boduszynski and Monica Chellam, uscpublicdiplomacy.org: "Through the Learning Hubs program launched in the fall of 2013, Coursera is partnering with the State Department. The program seeks to bring the high-quality educational resources available on Coursera’s online platform to students around the world. The Silicon Valley company, together with its university partners, provide the course content while the State Department provides supporting infrastructure: classrooms, technology, and tutors. Coursera wins by furthering its mission (to empower individuals with a world-class education) and building its brand in new markets. The State Department wins by gaining access to a free new public diplomacy resource. The department leverages the prestige of dozens of U.S. universities, and ties itself to the positive (young, innovative, tech-savvy) Coursera brand to draw youth to its


embassies. The State Department also benefits from reaching young people in places overseas where security restrictions limit the mobility of U.S. public diplomacy practitioners. ... [T]he Coursera-State Department partnership shows that there is great potential for partnerships, which leverage the universal appeal of American higher education and draw on the power of the Internet. However, to be successful they must be based on sustained coordination among online course providers, universities, embassies, and the State Department, in addition to being tailored to the needs and particularities of diverse operating environments overseas."Uncaptioned image from entry

How To Attend An On-Campus Or Online Program in the U.S. - Andrea Argueta, interviewquestions10000.blogspot.com: "Does the idea of studying in the United States cross your mind every once in a while? Do you want access to global perspectives by studying in a diverse learning environment? Or are you simply looking for an adventure? No matter what your reason is for wanting a U.S. education, you're not alone. In fact, the number of international students in the United States reached an all-time high during the 2010 to 2011 academic year, at 723,277, according to 'Open Doors 2011: Report on International Educational Exchange' by the Institute of International Education, an independent organization that has been conducting an annual census of international students in the U.S. since 1919. Judith A. McHale, former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs says that a high number of foreigners studying in the United States 'testifies to the quality and diversity for which American higher education is known around the world.' So, whether you want to study at a traditional U.S. campus or earn an American education online in your home country, you're in luck. Both options are possible, and the process to make it happen isn't as complicated as you might think."

Bahamian Diplomats Push For Renewed Access to Fulbright Program For Bahamian Students - thebahamasweekly.com: "Renewed access to the Fulbright Program for Bahamian students was discussed during a high-level meeting held at Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department on Thursday, April 24, 2014. His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, participated in the meeting along with Deputy Chief of Mission Chet Neymour and Third Secretary Mikhail Bullard, during which they stressed that the 'most relevant amongst the Fulbright Program for The Bahamas are the Foreign Student and Visiting Scholar Program.' ... In their formal presentation, the Bahamian diplomats noted that the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program 'provides grants to approximately 800 foreign scholars from over 95 countries to lecture and/or conduct postdoctoral research at U.S. institutions for an academic semester to a full academic year.'... Noting that scholarship programs such as Fulbright are 'key mechanism for cultural and academic diplomacy,' the presentation added: 'Twenty-nine countries in the Americas are annual recipients of this scholarship, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and other Eastern Caribbean Countries –all fellow CARICOM countries. Currently, however, Bahamians are not able to apply for a Fulbright scholarship. The upcoming deadline for Fulbright Scholarships in the Caribbean is July 1, 2014.[']


It was also stressed that, historically, the vast majority of Bahamians that have studied abroad have studied at United States institutions. Further, as of 2012, there were approximately 1,700 Bahamians obtaining tertiary level education in the United States. 'This is certainly a significant constituency, particularly for the State of Florida, and one that has the potential to be further enlarged,' the formal presentation noted. ... 'Given the close and friendly relations between the two countries, and the size and importance of the U.S. Embassy in New Providence relative to others in the Caribbean region, we wish to enhance this area of technical cooperation between our two countries and work towards renewed access to these prestigious scholarship programs for Bahamians.' ... Managing Director of Academic Programs [Marianne] Craven committed to advance the request by The Bahamas to the relevant U.S. bodies involved in the program, particularly in light of the recent strengthening of the Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Embassy in New Providence."Uncaptioned image from article

Four Lessons on Cross-Cultural Communication and Democracy - Laura Hemmati, leadarise-journal.com: "Today, at the U.S. Mission to the EU in Brussels, a selection of 15 lucky Leadarisers enjoyed an intimate lunchtime discussion on cross-cultural negotiation, dispute resolution and cultural bridge building with leading public diplomacy and international relations expert Akram R. Elias.


Leadarise participants represented the public, political, security, hospitality and communications sectors leading to a rich and interesting discussion on the challenge of using cultural intelligence for better negotiation, societal integration and democracy. ... Akram R. Elias has over 27 years of professional experience as a consultant in the areas of public diplomacy, cross-cultural training, and communication. ... He is the founder and President of Capital Communications Group, Inc., a Washington D.C. based firm that provides services in public diplomacy, cross-cultural communication, and international business networking."Image from blog, with caption: Akram R. Elias, Laura Hemmati and Leadarise participants

Sen. Wicker, Rep. Shock question BBG strategy as do BBG chair and members, but change seems still elusive - BBG Watcher, BBG Watch: "Chairman Shell, Governor Armstrong, Governor Meehan and other BBG members should be applauded for noticing the flawed IBB-run Language Program Review process and for promising a reversal of the IBB proposal to end BBG media outreach to the Balkans, but their biggest challenge will be to deal with the IBB bureaucracy itself and choosing the right CEO." On BBG, see; on IIB, see.

The Daily: The End of Soft Power? - Julia Watson, thepublicdiplomat.com: Covers other recent articles pertaining (directly and indirectly) to public diplomacy.

Pew Research on China and the US: A Soft Power Dimension - Public Diplomacy and International Communications: Thoughts and comments about public diplomacy, soft power and international communications by Gary Rawnsley: "To coincide with President Obama's trip to Asia, the PewResearchCenter has released the results of its latest public opinion surveys undertaken in those countries he will visit (Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Malaysia). The questions were designed to not only ascertain not only the popularity of, but also the strength of feeling about ties with the US and China. Finally, the survey tried to measure the impact of current territorial disputes with China on public opinion.  The results will make for sombre reading in Beijing, and should be of major concern to the state agencies in China responsible for strategic communication and international engagement. ... [T]he questions about soft power - its meaning and application - must be: Power to achieve what? Over whom? How do the intangible benefits of outreach (international broadcasting, for example, or student exchanges) translate into discrete tangibles that advance the political and strategic agenda of the source? This is important for the China's public diplomacy cadres studying the results of the latest Pew research. Despite Beijing's apparent confidence in the belief that 'to know us is to love us', its soft power push in three out of four areas surveyed is having little impact, even though the Asia-Pacific remains a primary target of China's endeavours to sell itself as a peaceful and responsible regional power . ... Given the on-going disagreements about sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, the results are not that surprising. Politics matters; and actions - how a state behaves at home and abroad - will always speak louder than words. Presentation is only as good as the policy it is designed to sell.”

Friday Links: Beijing police prepare for anniversary, woman kicks elderly man in face, and a laowai street cleaner in Shanghai - Anthony Tao, beijingcream.com: An air pollution article that asks, ‘Was social media primarily responsible for government action on air pollution in China?’ ‘But ultimately, despite the effectiveness of different aspects of Big V campaigning and public diplomacy in influencing public opinion, the policymaking power of the central government is largely invulnerable to the weight of public opinion.


Concessions are made, but far-reaching responses are absent.’ (Johan van de Ven, Danwei)” See also. Image from, with caption: The results of a Google.com image search for 雾霾 (wumai), the Chinese characters for smog.

Can Bashar Assad Repair His International Reputation? Lessons from Francisco Franco - Neal Rosendorf, uscpublicdiplomacy.org: "As I lay out in my new book, Franco Sells Spain to America: Hollywood, Tourism and Public Relations as Postwar Spanish Soft Power, Spain was an impoverished, inward-focused pariah state at the end of World War II. Indeed, both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman loathed Francisco Franco. Spain, friendless and tarred over the regime’s intense dalliance with the Axis before and during the war, was on the verge of being expelled from the UN in 1946. But two decades later, Spain, still firmly under Franco, was a valued American ally against the Soviet Union. The country had a dramatically rising European economy, a leading tourism destination for Americans and West Europeans, a center for Hollywood and other international film production, and was accepted by both the U.S. and most of Spain’s neighbors as a more-or-less 'normal' state. ... [T] he Franco regime made substantive progress in creating legitimacy and mitigating Spain’s biggest reputation deficits.  ... The Assad regime


attempted an international reputation makeover in the first decade of the 21stcentury, seeking to portray Bashar al-Assad as a liberalizing, cosmopolitan reformer. For a while it seemed to be gaining traction. But the core difference between Franco Spain’s reputation rebuilding program and Syria’s is that the Franco regime was willing and able to make major verifiable changes that could then be incorporated into outreach efforts. Syria was and is not."Uncaptioned image from entry

The Public Diplomacy of Doing Nothing: Iraqi Government Inaction on the Siege of Fallujah - uscpublicdiplomacy.org: "The Anbar province in west Iraq has been home to a Sunni-inspired insurgency in the country for some time now. In December 2012, a series of sit-in demonstrations by Sunni Arabs, who dominate the province, began after staff working for Sunni Finance Minister Rafi al-Issawi were arrested. The arrests were defended by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the head of Iraq’s Shia-led government, who is constantly (and fairly) accused of seeking nefarious ways to sideline his political opponents. ... Since the Anbar crisis started, Maliki appears to have gotten away with doing nothing at all. ... Maliki’s inaction was a valid political strategy. He strung along the Sunni tribal leaders with the promise of a diplomatic resolution while there was still time for them to disrupt his re-election. But then he stalled on delivering any actual diplomacy, letting the situation on the ground deteriorate organically in the meantime. Now, much of the province is not stable enough to participate in the elections, in which the majority would vote against Maliki. The price that Maliki paid for this strategy was the loss of respect by Sunni citizens – poor public diplomacy– but this was an acceptable price, especially since they did not respect him originally. Politics will always take precedence over public diplomacy. And public diplomacy will always have a political cost because you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Sometimes, perhaps even more often than not, that political cost will be too high to pay."

Together For Peace for Our Children - hetq.am: "Joint Statement of Leyla Yuhus and Laura Baghdasaryan  [:] We, the two women – human rights defender and journalist, two mothers from Azerbaijan and Armenia, have been cooperating for almost 10 years, shoulder to shoulder in the uphill struggle for building and enhancing Public Dialogue between our nations warring for more than 20 years.


 It is almost 10 years since we have been going hand in hand with joint articles, books, and finally with the first and still unique joint website. This is a ground for dialogue between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. It was the website where citizens of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, the USA and the EU countries communicated, argued and discussed major problems of our societies.  ... On April 19, 2014 the authorities of Azerbaijan arrested journalist Rauf Mirgadirov. He was arrested on charges of espionage for Armenia (Article 274 of the AR Criminal Code; term of punishment – from 10 years till life term). R. Mirgadirov is an active participant of numerous internet-conferences held in our website and international conferences held in Armenia. R. Mirgadirov, the Gerd Bucerius International Prize Winner and Honored Journalist of Azerbaijan, is imputed his participation in the public diplomacy actions."Uncaptioned image from entry. See also.

Israel should give Palestinian reconciliation a chance - Ben Caspit, Al-Monitor: "The reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Ismail Haniyeh’s government, between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — which rattled Israel, the United States and the international community — will help all parties to easily skip past the April 29 deadline of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations while teetering onward toward the next stage. ... All in all, Israel’s reaction was proportionate and did not slam the door: bhut to future contacts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly began a public diplomacy campaign, an opportunity virtually irresistible in such a case. ... [F]or the time being it’s all talk on both sides."  Image from entry, with caption: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) gives the letter of appointment to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in the Gaza Strip, Feb. 15, 2007.

Blair's Speech and the New Great Game - Karl Naylor, karl-naylor.blogspot.com: "Tony Blair's speech, as with everything this man utters, is a carefully calibrated public diplomacy missive better called a propaganda offensive. The timing is instructive; Blair is upgrading his profile in the Middle East because the crisis in Ukraine is set to lead to EU states searching for alternative energy sources."

War on media and wars within media - Shahab Jafry, pakistantoday.com: "The government, according to Zaidi [Salman Zaidi, deputy director at Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad based think tank], has always been bad at public diplomacy."

Division Spotlight: Aaryne Elias - Jennifer Stevens, Division of Business Affairs [,] College of Charleston: "What is something that your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you?


The year before I joined the CofC staff, I was living and working in Tirana, Albania as a public diplomacy intern at the American Embassy. I worked on community outreach initiatives in conjunction with the local schools and civil society organizations. I also managed the embassy’s social media outreach, which included tweeting under the name of the Ambassador."Elias image from entry

Molly Schwartz - rstreet.org: "Molly Schwartz is an associate fellow molly_photoat R Street Institute focusing on open data, government transparency and the politics of information. A junior analyst at the U.S. Department of State, Molly performs data analytics to measure the resonance and influence of public diplomacy.


She was previously a Library of Congress National Digital Stewardship Resident at the Association of Research Libraries, where she completed a project on web accessibility and usability in research libraries. Molly will be a Fulbright scholar in Finland from 2014-2015, conducting research at the Aalto University of Art, Architecture and Design and experimenting with user-centered design concepts at the National Library of Finland."Schwartz image from entry

The First Tibetan Chinese Student Dialogue - Michelle Ryan, Michelle Ryan is a third year student of international Relations, currently on exchange at the National University of Singapore. Michelle is primarily interested in the intersection of international economic policy and human rights, and has worked in several related areas; including NAFTA and


immigration policy with the Nationalities Service Center in her native Philadelphia; and financial regulatory policy with Better Markets in Washington DC; most recently completed an internship with the office of Economic Policy Analysis and Public Diplomacy at the US Department of State. Ryan image from entry

PhD Student Brandon Gauthier Wins OAH Award - "Brandon K. Gauthier received a John Higham Travel Grant from the Organization of American Historians and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society to present a paper at the


OAH’s annual conference in April 2014. His paper, entitled “‘Bring All the Troops Home Now!’ The American-Korean Friendship and Information Center and North Korean Public Diplomacy, 1971-1976,” detailed the history of a North Korean funded “anti-imperialist peace organization” in New York City that sought to generate public support for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and force the withdrawal of American forces from the Korean peninsula. He is currently at work on a dissertation examining the intellectual and cultural history of U.S. foreign relations with the DPRK from 1948-1996."Image from entry

RELATED ITEMS

Want a Good Look at Putin’s Pervy Propaganda? See ‘The Furies of Maidan’: A Russian MP’s wild rant at a pregnant reporter was inspired by an ‘investigative report’ that blames Ukraine’s revolution on sexually frustrated women and claims, ‘They like it hard ’- Cathy Young, thedailybeast.com:  Even amid the increasing surreality of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, ultranationalist MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s tirade against a pregnant reporter who asked a question about Ukraine stood out. Besides telling the woman she shouldn’t work while pregnant, instructing a male aide to rape her, and shouting, “Damned lesbian!” at another female reporter who tried to rebuke him, Zhirinovsky lashed out at the women of Ukraine’s pro-independence Maidan movement, assailing them as sex-starved harpies. A real “investigative report” that aired last Saturday on NTV, one of Russia’s major television networks. Subtitled “Sex, Psychosis, and Politics,” the 30-minute feature makes exactly the same point as Zhirinovsky’s rant: that the displaced energy of sexually frustrated or pathological women was a driving force behind Ukraine’s Euromaidan revolution. In the dramatic words of the 45-second promo: “They like it hard. They are turned on by danger. And woe to anyone who fails to appreciate them.”

Moscow Paper Recalls US Aid to Soviet Russia Before Washington Recognized the USSR - Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia: This article suggests that there is real resistance among ordinary Russians to the Kremlin’s current demonization of all things American, a resistance that is based on memories that the American people have been willing to help the Russian people even as Americans opposed the government in Moscow.

A User’s Guide to Russian Propaganda - Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, trevorloudon.com: Western press and media are having trouble distinguishing facts from Russian propaganda. This is understandable – the Russian propaganda machine is a mature and venerable institution that engages in an art that, for better or for worse, the West simply does not practice as often nor as effectively.


The intent of this guide is to help those less accustomed to the ways of the Russian government to discern between reporting and propaganda. Image from entry

Turkey to allocate $400 million for Genocide denial propaganda - panarmenian.net: Turkish government will allocate $400 million to the Armenian Genocide denial propaganda, with $150 million to be paid to the U.S. lobby, the head of information programs at Turkish International Media TV (IMC) said.

U.S. Army Propaganda: Less Suicides in the Military? Cooked Book Numbers Conceal The Real Truth By Joachim Hagopian (Global Research) - emilyspoems-celticnotionsandpotions.com: The big news headlines today declaring the suicide numbers are down amongst active duty ranks is just more distorted disinformation and propaganda in the wake of those Fort Hood shootings. Joachim Hagopian is a West Point graduate and former Army officer. His written manuscript based on his military experience examines leadership and national security issues and can be consulted at http://www.redredsea.net/westpointhagopian/. After the military, Joachim earned a masters degree in psychology and became a licensed therapist working in the mental health field for more than a quarter century. Joachim has experience treating veterans with PTSD. He now focuses on writing.

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Since October 2011 and consistent with other agencies’ Section 702 minimization procedures, NSA’s Section 702 minimization procedures have permitted NSA personnel to use U.S. person identifiers to query Section 702 collection when such a query is reasonably likely to return foreign intelligence information. NSA distinguishes between queries of communications content and communications metadata. NSA analysts must provide justification and receive additional approval before a content query using a U.S. person identifier can occur.



To date, NSA analysts have queried Section 702 content with U.S. person identifiers less frequently than Section 702 metadata. For example, NSA may seek to query a U.S. person identifier when there is an imminent threat to life, such as a hostage situation. NSA is required to maintain records of U.S. person queries and the records are available for review by both OOJ [sic] and ODNI as part of the external oversight process for this authority. Additionally, NSA’s procedures prohibit NSA from querying Upstream data with U.S. person identifiers."

--From: "NSA’s New 'Privacy Officer' Releases Her First Propaganda," emptywheel.net; image from

RUSSICA




ONE MORE IMAGE


Via JB on Facebook; caption: The leopard seal - a 3 metre long voracious predator found throughout the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic.

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON THE WEB


Via JJ on Facebook

From

Saturday, April 26, 2014

A ‘New Israel’… in eastern Texas?

Shalom y'all

Long-shot congressional candidate Allan Levene has a uniquely improbable two-state solution.

With the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations floundering, it may, perhaps, be time to consider an entirely different kind of two-state solution. One that involves the State of Texas.

GOP Congressional candidate Allan Levene is proposing to cut the Gordian Knot of Middle East peace by creating a second State of Israel on the eastern coast of Texas, which he would call New Israel. The idea, briefly, is to take (through eminent domain) roughly 8,000 square miles of sparsely populated land bordering the Gulf of Mexico and give it to Israel as a second, non-contiguous part of the State of Israel. Israel would get the land only if it agrees to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders reports the Times of Israel.

Israel wins because it would gain a new, peaceful territory far from the strife of the Middle East, in a place where, as Levene suggests, “the climate is similar,” and Israel could “have access to the Gulf of Mexico for international trade."

The U.S. wins because it would no longer need to send Israel billions of dollars a year in foreign aid. Texas wins because of all the construction jobs from building an entirely new state within its borders. The Palestinians win because they get the West Bank, and because now Israel, too, gets to see just how fun it is to have a non-contiguous state. Everybody wins!

Admittedly, the plan raises a few questions. OK, a lot of questions. Texans don’t generally seem too excited about the federal government stepping in and seizing land. And while Israelis have generally shown plenty of enthusiasm for moving to places like New York and Los Angeles, coastal Texas has never ranked all that high on the list of preferred destinations.
.
But Allan Levene has never been daunted by long odds – or, for that matter, by multi-state solutions. A British Jewish immigrant and naturalized citizen, Levene is simultaneously running for Congress, as a Republican, in two non-contiguous states — Georgia and Hawaii (though not, interestingly, in Texas).

Why, you might ask, is Levene running in two states? Easy – because he couldn’t get on the ballot in two other states, Minnesota and Michigan (where he was aiming for two separate congressional districts, because why not?).

Aside from creating New Israel, Levene also hopes to reduce the national debt, largely by eliminating U.S. corporate taxes and using pension rules to set congressional term limits. He also wants to put conspiracy theories to rest by investigating national catastrophes with not one, not two, but three separate commissions.

Levene’s candidacies are long shots – his support in polls has been minimal, and his fundraising has been negligible. The odds that a New Israel will appear just south of Corpus Christie are not much better.

from:

Using the Foreign to Grasp the Familiar

Writing in English, Novelists Find Inventive New Voices

By WILLIAM GRIMESAPRIL 25, 2014

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"Intra-species public diplomacy at its best ..."

--A comment on Facebook regarding the below video (video provided by RB on Facebook); image from

VIDEO

Orangutans and Sign Language- Amparo Severins, allsignlanguage.blogspot.com: "A part of their campaign, the RAN [the Rainforest Action Network ] uses a video where an orangutan is telling a young deaf girl in sign language about the palm oil conflict. Obviously this conversation never took place. Scientist are still not agreeing if the sign language Koko the gorilla has learned, is actually himself learning a language or if he is simply imitating a human without understanding it's meaning. Fake or not, we know that gorilla's [sic] (and orangutans and chimps) can make signs (and they even try to use Koko the gorilla to teach others). And if orangutans could understand what is happening and communicate it to us, this is what we could expect, as far as we know. Therefore I think the video is a very powerful visual telling what we are doing to the orangutan. And as an interest to this blog, it also draws media attention to sign language."

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

What is the Mission of U.S. International Broadcasting? - David S Jackson, publicdiplomacycouncil.org: "At a time when true propaganda from organizations such as RT (formerly Russia Today) and China's CCTV has gotten both more professional and more pervasive around the world, the U.S. needs a strong global voice with a clear mission. We have that strong voice in our U.S. international broadcasting media. What we need now is a consensus on what those voices should be saying."

Remembering a Great Public Diplomat: David Burke and the BBG - Tara Sonenshine, takefiveblog.org: "David Warren Burke, a man who stood for the finest in public diplomacy, journalistic integrity and the independence of media, died this past Friday. America lost a great public servant. ... The loss of David Burke is personal for me.


David was my first boss, a mentor, and a friend. He attended Tufts University and always believed in giving back to your university. As Executive Vice President of ABC News, David Burke gave back to his alma mater by hiring young, aspiring journalists (who had attended Tufts) to work for him. I was fortunate to be one of those whose career he shaped. Ironically, later in life, I became under secretary of state for public diplomacy, representing the Secretary of State on the very board that David Burke had once chaired: The BBG. Things come full circle. Today, I salute the man who brought sense and sensibility to news, government, and public service."Uncaptioned image from entry

Sri Lanka Probe: Contrasting approaches by US Republicans and Democrats - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: "[T]he United States has its public diplomacy arm that spreads globally to about 190-odd countries . ... Despite in real practice the White House effectively controls foreign policy decisions along with strategic communication and national security program, domestic or global, the state department plays a major role in representing the ' policy councils' in the White House - Directorate of National Intelligence, National Security Council -in its overseas diplomatic dealings."

Cold War 2.0 at Sea? - maritime-executive.com: "In response to Putin, NATO-building begins at home. We need NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, fully focused on the Alliance’s core business, reaching out to the member states’ ordinary taxpayers. The changing European security environment requires an emphasis on the big messages: Defense, deterrence and security.


Thus, zeitgeist-motivated campaigns should be stopped. In these times, NATO must tell the people what armies, air forces really are for and how our soldiers serve their countries and our Alliance."Image from entry

For Israel's Justice Ministry, human rights are nothing but good PR - Hagai El-Ad, 972mag.com: "Over the past several years, Israel’s Ministry of Justice has found itself a new angle for engaging in public diplomacy: defending some of the worst pieces of Knesset legislation, while celebrating whatever outcome the court hands down when they are challenged."


Image from entry, with caption: Israeli activists take part in a performance illustrating Palestinian detainees during the annual human rights march, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Official: Slovenia Keen to Expand Economic, Trade Ties with Iran - english.farsnews.com: "Chairman of Slovenia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry Samu Kheribar Milich in a meeting with new Iranian Ambassador to Ljubljana Morteza Darzi Ramandi on Saturday


voiced his country's willingness to broaden ties between the two countries, specially in economic and trade fields. ... On March 16, the Iranian Foreign Ministry appointed Darzi Ramandi as the country's new Iranian Ambassador to Slovenia. Darzi Ramandi served as director-general of public diplomacy and media department of the foreign ministry."Uncaptioned image from entry

Karima Rhanem, only Moroccan to take part in Model United Nations in the Balkan: "Ms. Rhanem will be the only  guest speaker from Morocco for the opening of the conference and a chair of the simulation of the United Nations General Assembly Disarmament and International security committee (DISEC). ... Klevis Rreshka, Secretary General of Balkan Model United Nations 2014 said: 'we have chosen Karima Rhanem as a guest speaker in the Balkan MUN, because of her spirit to inspire young delegates. Young diplomats like Karima will be an added value to our conference and we are looking forward to learning from her wide experience in youth work and public diplomacy. Her background in cyber security and internet Governance will also help delegates from Balkan Countries to draft resolutions to fight cyber attacks.' For Karima, participating in conferences such as Model United Nations illustrates the important role these public diplomacy conferences play in preparing a new generation of young diplomats who could be their country’s future decision makers."Image from entry, with caption: Moroccan young leader Karima Rhanem will take part in the largest Model United Nations in the Balkan scheduled to take place in Albania on May 2-5.

The Daily: Health Diplomacy’s Potential - Michael Ardaiolo, thepublicdiplomat.com. Cites some recent public-diplomacy related articles.

Just Tweet It: You're currently viewing: Linguists - justtweetit.com:

Public Diplomacy – fpn.bg.ac.rs: Student Volunteer -  "AMERICAN EMBASSY BELGRADE Department of State (DOS) Public Diplomacy (PD) Section Announcing an open INTERN position for Foreign National Student Intern Public Diplomacy ... The primary function of the PD section local national intern position will be to assist with outreach programs while focusing specifically on the activities of American Corners and Public Diplomacy engagement through social media. As time permits, the intern will also be incorporated in Embassy projects focused on building a positive relationship between the people of the United States and the people of Serbia. The student intern will work with American Corners to ensure access to necessary materials and to create innovative programming. He/she will provide support to Public Diplomacy outreach activities, and assist in crafting online engagement."Below image from


Communications and Public Diplomacy Advisor - imaworldhealth.iapplicants.com: "Location: Indonesia ... Duties:Responsible for providing technical advice and support to the Partnership Communication Theme, and develop and implement the Public Diplomacy Plan (covering both communication/visibility) for the AIPMNH. This will include conducting stakeholder analyses and brainstorming sessions for staff to identify and agree upon the project’s key stakeholders, target audiences, messages, preferred spokespersons, and priority outreach activities. In addition, the position will be responsible for developing project communications and a public relations strategy, ensuring proposed activities and outreach are within budget parameters, tasks and timeframes are clearly designated among project staff, and activities closely align with milestones and anticipated results in the work plan."

RELATED ITEMS

Moscow Needs a New Anti-Cosmopolitan Campaign, Russian Historian Says - Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia: One of the darkest pages in Soviet and indeed Russian history was the anti-cosmopolitan campaign Stalin unleashed against everything Western in 1949, a campaign that ultimately focused on the Jews whom the Soviet dictator was planning to deport beyond the Urals at the time of his death. Even those who remain partisans of Stalin and even those who have in recent weeks compiled lists of “national traitors” have generally refrained from praising this campaign because of the emotions it generates if not unfortunately because of the vicious immorality on which it was based. But now a Russian historian, Aleksandr Vdovin, a member of the Russian Academy of Humanitarian Sciences, has celebrated Stalin’s anti-cosmopolitan campaign and argued that the Russian state must renew its struggle against “the propaganda of cosmopolitanism,” something he say is “a threat to the state”

Moving Closer To War - Paul Craig Roberts, paulcraigroberts.org: The Obama regime, wallowing in hubris and arrogance, has recklessly escalated the Ukrainian crisis into a crisis with Russia. Whether intentionally or stupidly, Washington’s propagandistic lies are driving the crisis to war. Unwilling to listen to any more of Washington’s senseless threats, Moscow no longer accepts telephone calls from Obama and US top officials.

Ukraine’s Jews caught in a propaganda war based on the ‘political manipulation of anti-Semitism’ - Graeme Hamilton, news.nationalpost.com: When masked men distributed leaflets last week in the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk advising Jews they needed to register with authorities or face deportation, shivers were felt well beyond Ukraine’s borders.


But regardless of whether the leaflets were a dirty trick aimed at smearing pro-Russian separatists or the hateful handiwork of local fascists, they illustrate how the plight of Jews has become fuel for propaganda in a region with a long, bloody history of anti-Semitism. See also. Image from entry, with caption: Pinchas Vishedski, the Chief Rabbi of Donetsk. Masked men distributed leaflets recently in the eastern Ukraine city advising Jews they needed to register with authorities or face deportation.

Pro-Israel propaganda keeps Americans stupid when it comes to Israel-Palestine - Ray Hanania, thearabdailynews.com: If you really care about Israel, you will stop allowing it to lie and commit war crimes. You will force Israel to live by the Democracy it claims it embraces and force it to recognize Palestine as a Sovereign State.


Israel’s refusal to recognize Palestinian rights, Christian and Muslim, is the stumbling block preventing peace. Israel’s extremist government wants ALL of the land. It doesn’t want peace. Image from entry, with caption: Area C controlled by Israel (red areas) of the West Bank. B’Tselem Human Rights organizations

Ex-minister decries Israel’s ‘Goebbelsian propaganda’: Despite Palestinian readiness, Israelis despair of peace because they have been ‘brainwashed’ by the government, Efraim Sneh says- timesofisrael.com: The Israeli public has been “brainwashed” by its government’s criticism of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas into believing there is no peace partner on the Palestinian side, former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh. Some Israeli ministers on the right have railed against Abbas, calling him an advocate of terrorism and an anti-Semite.



charged in an interview published over the weekend. Image from entry, with caption: Then-Knesset Member Efraim Sneh presents his party "Strong Israel" at an election campaign event in Tel Aviv, December 16, 2008.

U.S. Mainstream Media Propaganda Setting the Stage for War With Pakistan - marketoracle.co.uk: Attempts to paint Pakistan as a dangerous enemy of the West and a prime candidate for military intervention has been made once again by those in the Western media.

Bulgaria justice minister: EU funds should not be used for propaganda - focus-fen.net: “I call upon all politicians, political parties and independent candidates – please, do not use the EU funds for propaganda,” said Bulgarian Minister of Justice, Zinaida Zlatanova, speaking at a press conference at the Council of Ministers dedicated to the EU funds management in Bulgaria, FOCUS News Agency reporter said.


“You should rather focus on issues such as the migration, environment, climate changes, banking union, social policy, employment in the EU, on how to make the internal market more efficient, the free movement of people and goods,” Zlatanova remarked. “This propaganda probably aims at sweeping something under the carpet, something that happened in the past. There have been mistakes, probably they happen, but my appeal is – do not politicise, do not use this for propaganda,” Zlatanova remarked. Uncaptioned image from entry

Kim Jong-un pictures as a military child are released. Propaganda with chills - Christopher Koulouris, scallywagandvagabond.com: While the images of any adult as a youth may render them human and personable, one can’t help but wonder as they look at the visage of the young Kim Jung-un as he salutes in military stride that this is more about the development of the next eventual leader and dictator who was forever ordained and destined to be his nation’s savior.


The photos affirm the indoctrination of North Korea’s youth and what they ought to be contemplating to be their ultimate aim in life, a zealous devotion to the powers above them with military panache. Image from entry

Kim Jong-Un's Legion of Note-Takers: Photos reveal North Korean dictators latest fad -- visiting various sites with an entourage of officials and generals noting his every word - Israelnationalnews.com:  North Korea's Kim Jong-Un has found a new way to travel in style - in a recent series of photos the dictator is seen surrounded by note-taking officials and generals, recording his every word and move. The new trend was picked up by BBC on Thursday, which noted on the photos released by the country's official Central News Agency (KCNA).


In them, Kim is seen with an entourage of note-takers while with a unit of female soldiers, at a fishery station, talking to a pilot, and visiting a renovated youth camp. Korea expert Professor James Grayson of the University of Sheffield remarked that the photos are "part of the image of the great leader offering benevolent guidance," a propaganda practice instituted by Kim's grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, in the 1950s. Image from entry, with caption: Kim Jong-Un with note-takers

Using the Foreign to Grasp the Familiar: Writing in English, Novelists Find Inventive New Voices - William Grimes, New York Times: The enormous power of English, guaranteed by America’s economic might and the residual influence of the former British Empire, makes it a default literary language. But not all the traffic flows in one direction.

AMERICAN SOFT POWER AT WORK IN RUSSIA?



--Via VZ on Facebook

AMERICANA


Via AGG on Faacebook

MORE AMERICANA

Welcoming Love at an Older Age, but Not Necessarily Marriage - Stanely Luxenberg, New York Times: Americans have long been retreating from marriage.


While more people of all ages are living together, the growth of unmarried couples is fastest among the older segment of the population. In 2010, 2.8 million people aged 50 and over cohabited, up from 1.2 million in 2000, according to the United States Census Bureau. For many, the decision to remain single is a matter of money. Image from

AND MORE AMERICANA

Rarely One for Sugarcoating: Kara Walker Creates a Confection at the Domino Refinery - Blake Gopnik, New York Times: Rising to the rafters and stretching 75 feet from paws to rump is a great sphinx, demure as her Egyptian cousin but glowing from a recent sugar coating. It is a sight so unlikely it seems Photoshopped. Kara Walker, the beast’s creator, appears dwarfed by her almost-finished colossus, an ode to the cane fields’ black labor that she has chosen to make grotesquely white. She has titled it “A Subtlety” — after the intricate sugar sculptures that were centerpieces for medieval feasts — even though it is absurdly unsubtle. Its subtitle is “The Marvelous Sugar Baby, an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World.”

“When trying to ‘capture’ a small piece of food onto a utensil, it is acceptable to use another utensil for aiding it aboard. Never use your fingers.”

--From a selection of rules from the Buffalo Jills cheerleaders' handbook, as published on Deadspin; it includes an entire section titled “General hygiene and lady body maintenance”; cited in Catherine Rampell, "Pity the cheerleaders. Really," Washington Post;  see also James Staas, "Buffalo Jills suspend all activities," The Buffalo News; Jills image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Joe Biden emerges as Obama's trusty sidekick - Susan Crabtree, washingtonexaminer.com: "Vice President Joe Biden has become the public face of the administration's handling of Ukraine, working to reassure Kiev and trying to talk tough with Russia. During a whirlwind two-day visit to Ukraine, Biden met with the country's leaders and announced an additional $50 million in aid. At a press conference, he delivered a lecture to Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling him to 'stop talking and start acting' to defuse the crisis. ... [A]fter Biden left Ukraine, it seemed that nothing had changed. Tensions with Moscow remain high, and Russian militants show no signs of backing down in eastern Ukraine. But Biden's raising of the American flag in Kiev wasn't without benefit for President Obama, who was able to carry on with a week-long trip to Asia. And Biden's public diplomacy revealed Obama's new trust in his No. 2. 'So Biden talks a lot -- so what?' said James Goldgeier, dean of AmericanUniversity's School of International Service and a veteran of the Clinton White House's national security team. “The vice president has been extremely valuable to Obama --he's done everything the president could have asked for and more.”

Smart diplomacy vs. dumb diplomacy: Column - Lionel Beehner, sheboyganpress.com: "Our dependence on covert forms of public diplomacy can feel like an admission that our normal diplomacy has failed (see the past five decades of U.S.-Cuban relations). It also implies we can do diplomacy on the cheap and painless. There is this dogma within the U.S. government that throwing a few million dollars at social media programs can topple nasty regimes - just look at Tunisia or Egypt. That the new undersecretary for public diplomacy at the State Department, Richard Stengel, was the managing editor of Time when the magazine declared its 2006 Person of the Year was ‘You’ - implying the tweeting masses - does not bode well for reform. ‘The State Department's fascination with social media reflects a view that its job is to speak over the heads of governments, or under their heads, or something,’ as Laurence Pope, a former ambassador, put it in a recent interview. ‘That is a dangerous illusion.’ ... With a new kind of Cold War with Russia, there are renewed calls for revitalizing public diplomacy.


One ambassador, Brian Carlson, proposed grants for Ukrainians to study politics here and call them ‘Putin Scholarships.’ Instead the U.S. government has busied itself with online trolling and tweeting Buzzfeed-like listicles such as ‘President Putin's Fiction: 10 False Claims about Ukraine.’ It's not that we should do away with public diplomacy or even that we should do away with covert public diplomacy, but rather we should do away with dumb public diplomacy, especially one enraptured by the magic of tweeting ambassadors and other quick technological fixes. Image from entry, with caption: It's true we need to think outside the box when it comes to diplomacy. But funding a Twitter-like service in Cuba?

‘#Hashtag for our time’: Merciless mockery of State Department’s impotent hashtag diplomacy [Photoshops] - twitchy.com: Sample satirical images and twitter messages, among them:



The #PromiseofHashtag Ignites the Net, and the State Dept Spox Gets Roasted– Domani Spero, DiploPundit: "Maybe State is willing to be mocked online as long as it gets people


12:29 AM - 25 Apr 2014

talking about #UnitedforUkraine?"Image from entry

Major reform of U.S. international broadcasting and public diplomacy to be proposed in Congress - BBG Watcher, BBG Watch: "BBG Watch has learned that a draft bill originating in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) as Chairman and U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) as Ranking Member, would, if passed by Congress and signed by the President, radically reform the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an agency currently in charge of U.S. international media outreach. The United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.; title III of Public Law 103–236) would be repealed under this draft bill if it were to become law. The draft bill appears to be a bipartisan effort to address problems in how the part-time Broadcasting Board of Governors manages U.S. international media outreach through its large, expanding and highly dysfunctional International Broadcasting (IBB) bureaucracy. Lawmakers also appear to want to address serious management issues at the Voice of America (VOA). They also want to improve U.S. public diplomacy. To be known as he the 'United States International Communications Reform Act of 2014,' the draft bill calls for the creation of the United States International Communications Agency within the executive branch of Government as an independent establishment. It also calls for creating the Advisory Board of the United States International Communications Agency. According to the proposed legislation, current BBG members would serve out their terms of office on the new board, which in contrast to the current board would have mostly advisory functions. The draft bill also calls for having a Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Communications Agency, appointed for a five-year term and renewable at the Board’s discretion. The CEO would exercise broad executive powers. The draft bill also calls for the creation of the Consolidated Grantee Organization, for the non-federal grantees of the BBG: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). RFE/RL, RFA, and MBN would be consolidated and reconstituted under a single organizational structure and management framework."

U.S. Consulate General Mumbai Small Grants Program - samhita.org: "The U.S. Consulate General Mumbai is holding a small grants competition to fund programs that promote Indo-U.S. relations. The programs must occur in western India (the states of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and/or Maharashtra). Proposals can include, but are not limited to, projects, seminars, conferences, workshops, exhibitions and outreach campaigns. Proposals must focus on one of the following three priority areas of the U.S. Mission to India: Promote better Indo-U.S. bilateral relations, with an emphasis on business ties [;] Encourage regional and global roles for India [;] Enhance security cooperation ... This competition is open only to individuals, non-governmental organizations, public education institutions, and other legally-recognized non-profit institutions that meet Indian and/or U.S. technical and legal requirements to develop and implement public diplomacy programs."

Nixon, Kissinger and Bangladesh: Blood on Their Hands - punxatan.blogspot.com: "30 March 2014. A World to Win News Service. By Susannah York. The Blood Telegram – Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide (Alfred Knopf, 2013) by Princeton University professor Gary J. Bass unearths the sinister role played by then President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger


in 1971 during Pakistan's nine-month slaughter of Bengali people in what was then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. ... When East Pakistani refugees fleeing the massacres started pouring over the Indian border, Indira Gandhi tried to seize the moral high ground. Her government spoke emotionally about the millions of refugees. But privately it worried that the exiles might be revolutionaries and might not return to their own country. Among many in her government there was a clamour for war. Publicly Gandhi claimed India had no intention to go to war, but began training those East Pakistanis who wanted to take up arms – the Mukti Bahini (Liberation Army), initially under Indian leadership but eventually breaking out of its clutches. When she asked her generals how long it would take for the Indian army to be ready for war, they replied six months and began preparations. Public diplomacy and much covert arm-twisting and threats took place between the U.S. and India. Both insisted that they were giving no support to the two sides in the war but behind the scenes they were not only preparing for all-out war between India and Pakistan but also trying to draw in China and the Soviet Union to take part on their respective sides."Image from

US, China must strengthen trust to tackle problems - zeenews.india.com: "American and Chinese economies and societies have never been as closely joined as they are today, but strengthening trust between the two countries is essential to tackle big problems, said a report. The report entitled 'Building US-China Trust: Through Next Generation People, Platforms and Programmes' is a joint project by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and the School of International Studies of Peking University, reported Xinhua. 'Major differences between the two countries dominate the headlines and polls show that people in the two countries have less respect for and trust in the other country,' said the report. ... The document said there is a need to adapt to changes associated with China's rapid economic rise, the different histories, values, and political systems of the US and China. There is 'much energy and attention focused on official Washington-Beijing based talks and too little financial support for and focus on people-to-people engagement,' it said. The report recommends that both countries encourage and support 'Next Generation Public Diplomacy' to strengthen their ties. Based on the findings that majorities of Americans and Chinese see the other country in a negative light while, half of those under age 30 have a favourable impression of the other country, it proposed encouraging and funding young students to go to the other country to study as one effective way. 'We are confident that involving more people in substantive exchanges and publicizing both the process and the outcomes of such collaborations will greatly enhance understanding and increase trust,' it said."

The lessons to be learnt from the London attacks - Ayesha Almazroui, thenational.ae:" Emirati society has been deeply shocked by the two recent attacks in London – first, when three Emirati sisters were attacked in their hotel room by a man with a hammer (one is still in a critical condition) and second, after an Emirati family was threatened at gunpoint in their flat by a seven-member gang, who also stole money, jewellery and credit cards. ...While we all agree that the two incidents are horrific and strenuous efforts should be exerted to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice, there are, perhaps, a few lessons to be learnt here for Emiratis when they next travel overseas. Because of the relatively safe environment that is the UAE, we tend to forget to take appropriate precautions when we travel. A diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke to a public diplomacy class I attended recently about the important role citizens play when travelling overseas. He told us that UAE embassies receive regular complaints from Emiratis who get robbed in countries around the world, especially in Europe.


This made me think about the way many people from the UAE or other Gulf countries dress when travelling abroad and how their clothes can attract attention. I’ve seen it in London and other places. People from this country and other Gulf states wearing high-end clothes, watches, shoes and bags that can make them an easy target for opportunistic thieves. Even so, these two recent incidents could have happened in any country, since no place in the world is absolutely safe. The lesson here is that we need to be street smart on our travels – know the neighbourhoods we’re staying in, dress to blend in and stay alert to potential trouble spots. We also need to make sure we follow police guidelines inside hotels. We need to avoid leaving valuables unattended in hotel rooms, and make sure doors are locked. We should also remember that hotel lobbies and reception areas are open to the public and avoid leaving bags or valuables unattended. Unfortunately, I know that not many Emiratis keep that in mind while travelling abroad."Image from, with caption: Dubai: Two Emirati women are set to make aeronautical history as they prepare to become the first female UAE national pilots to take to the skies.

Claims of Isolationism on Foreign Policy Is Only Rhetoric, Says Haşimi: Daily Sabah spoke to the head of the Public Diplomacy Coordination Office Cemalettin Haşimi about PM Erdoğan's statement offering condolences to Armenians and criticism that Turkey's foreign policy will isolate the country - Ali Ünal, dailysabah.com: "The international community did not anticipate Prime Minister Erdoğan's message of condolences regarding the Armenian deportations.


To discuss the next developments and the perception of Turkey to the outside world, Daily Sabah sat down with Cemalettin Haşimi."Uncaptioned image from entry

The 11th Annual Conference of European Association of Taiwan Studies - asiapacificstudents.wordpress.com: Conference Venue: University of Portsmouth, UK.


Conference Date: 30 April–2 May 2014 Conference Major Theme: ‘Taiwan: Self vs. Other’ Other themes: ... 4. Public diplomacy[.]"

Coming of Faith: Stories of Faith from Muslim American Women - comingoffaith.com:  "Soraya Ahyaudin is on her journey for a second Masters in Public Diplomacy at University of Southern California.


She is a bookworm at heart, with a love for sci-fi and romance. She spends her days looking for the answer in understanding the million dollar question, why can’t we all just get along, through the world of culture where all our differences makes us connected."Ahyaudin image from entry

RELATED ITEMS

The War on Truth in Ukraine - Keith A. Darden, nytimes.com: An absence of legitimate authority in eastern Ukraine has left an absence of transparent, agreed-upon facts -- a breeding ground for suspicion and manipulative diplomatic games on the margins of the truth that may yet carry the region to war. The elusiveness of truth


is a symptom and an accelerant of Ukraine’s descent into uncertainty. Legitimate authority -- governmental, factual, legal, moral -- is unrelentingly being effaced, and with it the chances of a peaceful outcome. Image from

Russia to Benefit From 'Gratuitous Propaganda' of Fresh US Sanctions - Lyudmila Chernova, ria.ru: A new round of sanctions announced by the White House will have unintended consequences and only benefit Russia, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts told RIA Novosti Monday. “The sanctions are nothing but gratuitous propaganda. Obama himself acknowledged that it is uncertain whether the additional sanctions will have any effect,” Roberts told RIA Novosti. “Besides, the sanctions will encourage and hasten Russia’s withdrawal from Washington’s exploitative system, and the BRICS countries are likely to follow.”

Putin’s Useful Idiots - Slawomir Sierakowski, New York Times: The irony is that by standing beside Russia and pointing fingers at fascist phantoms in Ukraine, Western intellectuals are aligning themselves not just with the autocrat in the Kremlin, but the legions of far-right parties across Europe that have come to Russia’s defense. Who says Russia needs propaganda? It already has its useful idiots.

Russian propaganda campaign finds fertile ground in Ukrainians’ mixed identity - Matthew Schofield, miamiherald.com: The Russian narrative, that Kiev is run by thugs and fascists, is


repeated often not only by Russian separatists who have seized government buildings and demanded a vote on whether eastern regions should secede and join Russia, but by many everyday citizens who have no interest in secession, but don’t believe they can trust their own government. The lack of trust was aggravated by the Ukrainian parliament’s quick approval of a bill that would downgrade Russian’s status as an official language. The bill hasn’t become law, but it is frequently mentioned by Russian critics of the interim government in Kiev. Image from

Noose tightening on Internet freedom in Russia - allvoices.com: In Russia, authorities in Moscow are putting in place a number of measures that, if the Internet is currently a CIA project, seem destined to rest executive control eastwards, making Russian prosecutors and Russia’s latter-day KGB, the Federal Security Service, the ultimate arbiters of what Russians can and cannot read, write or say online. It’s been a bad week for Internet freedom in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin set the mood music when asked about the Internet at a media forum in St. Petersburg. Putin described the Internet as a "CIA project," developed in the US. The Russian president went on to say the Internet "is still developing as such." As a consequence, said Putin, Russia needs to "fight for its interests online." Via HS on Facebook.

How Wash. Post, NY Times inject Palestinian propaganda in 'news' dispatches - americanthinker.com: Readers of the Washington Post and New York Times beware when reading “news” dispatches from Jerusalem and Ramallah. Headlines and lead paragraphs reflect a decided Palestinian bent. Only if you dig deeper into such articles does it become apparent that messages conveyed at the top just ain’t so. All too often, subsequent qualifiers and outright corrections come too late, if at all.

Welcome to the Memory Hole: Disappearing Snowden - Peter van Buren, We Meant Well: What if every National Security Agency (NSA) document Snowden released, every interview he gave, every documented trace of a national security state careening out of control could be made to disappear in real-time? What if the very posting of such revelations could be turned into a fruitless, record-less endeavor? Am I suggesting the plot for a novel by some twenty-first century George Orwell?


Hardly. As we edge toward a fully digital world, such things may soon be possible, not in science fiction but in our world — and at the push of a button. In fact, the earliest prototypes of a new kind of “disappearance” are already being tested. We are closer to a shocking, dystopian reality that might once have been the stuff of futuristic novels than we imagine. Welcome to the memory hole. Image from

This Zombie Propaganda is the Best Thing I’ve Seen All Day - Adam Dodd,
bloody-disgusting.com: When the zombies inevitably come, we’ll need soldiers. And thanks to amazing artists like Ron Guyatt, who made this trio of fantastic zombie propaganda posters, I don’t think we’ll have much trouble finding volunteers.


One look at these posters and I’m dual wielding kitchen knives in each hand, ready to stab some ghouls in their stupid ugly faces. How about you?

IMAGE


--Via FW on Facebook

From

If The Supreme Court Says Racism Is Pretty Much Over, Why Are So Many People Still Being So Racist?

The Huffington Post  | by  Nick Wing & Shadee Ashtari

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• John Brown As a USIA veteran, am amused that the name for this new gargantuan bureaucratic entity would be "International Communications Agency" -- the designation given to USIA during the Carter administration and dropped early on in the Reagan administration. Needless to say, the ICA label was somewhat embarrassing for "public diplomacy" officers overseas, as its acronym doubtless led foreigners with a sense of irony (if not humor) to conclude that the ICA was a branch of the CIA with its letters slightly rearranged to make it "overtly" acceptable.

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From

In praise of Malbec diplomacy

By Andrés Federman

An exchange on Facebook

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• 3 people like this.
• Matthew Wallin Except this statement is flat out wrong: "Propaganda is the deliberate dissemination of information that you know to be false or misleading in order to influence an audience." As we all know, propaganda can be perfectly truthful information.

  4 hrs · Like
• Craig Hayden It's not wrong. It's just a specific interpretation of what propaganda means. I think it's hard to argue that propaganda can still be a neutral analytical term (despite the heroic efforts of some scholars). It's a rhetorical device, ripe for leveraging its connotations when describing the communication of others.

  4 hrs · Like · 3
• Craig Hayden So yeah, read Jay Black's "Semantics and Ethics of Propaganda" for the distinction.

  4 hrs · Like
• Matthew Wallin It can also very easily involve deliberately leaving out certain information, and presenting only your side of the story. Then I suppose the question is, what does "misleading" mean?

  4 hrs · Like · 1
• Lena Osipova-Stocker everyone does it: http://lena-globalchaos.blogspot.com/.../infowar-over...
  

  
  

  Global Chaos: InfoWar over Ukraine - from sad to ridiculous

  lena-globalchaos.blogspot.com

  4 hrs · Like
• Aimee Fullman And we'll all be using this to discuss propaganda in our classrooms:)

  3 hrs · Like
• John Brown I'll all in favor of improperganda ! Just kiddin'BTW, in Stengel's comments, as recorded in the cited article, the journalist who's reinvented himself as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy doesn't really "break down his definitions of the differences between news, opinion, and propaganda." What is "news," Mr. Stengel? Some call it "the shock troops of propaganda." What do you say to that? Arguably -- or should I say *very" arguably -- Time Magazine, for which Stengel gave his soul, is propaganda posing as information; or, as a learned scholar once called it, "canned information" to be consumed like a Big Mac rather than factual analysis stimulating thought. True, the blatant propagandizing of the Cold War-era Time Magazine, which celebrated the American way of life ad nauseam, has become more "balanced" in our new century; or as cynics might put it, has made its propaganda for corporate America/advertisers (labeled, in overused words, as "American values" and "the American way of life") more "subtle" due to the increased "sophistication" (i.e., access to many sources of information, largely due to the Internet) of its declining audience. Stengel, God bless him, is part of a crowd of slightly over-the-hill scribblers hoping to earn a few more dollars by working for the Federal government as political appointees before old age completely creeps up on them. (But then don't we have enough over-paid "spokespersons" from the State Department, the White House, DoD pontificating about the U.S. and condemning the Evil Other? for the MSM longing for "news" to be consumed.) Well, to put it more diplomatically and to give credit to a fellow Princetonian (I went to Princeton as a grad student), Rick now wants to serve his country -- after getting a reported miserly up to 250K bonushttp://www.washingtontimes.com/.../former-editors.../... (peanuts in corporate America) from Time, Inc.
  

  
  

  Former Time editor Stengel got big bonus while laying off reporters, heading to State Department

  www.washingtontimes.com
  

  Not long before he left his job as managing editor at Time magazine for a post at the State Department, Richard Stengel delivered some bad but not unexpected news — the magazine needed to cut staff to close a budget gap.

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• Christopher Dufour If it's Russian, it's probably propaganda, yo.

  2 mins · Like

From; via AS on Facebook

25 советских вещей, о которых не слышали за границей

1. Пионербол

2. Доверительные турникеты

3. Варёная сгущенка

4. Портянки

5. Посидеть на дорожку

6. Постучать по дереву

7. Банный веник

8. Березовый сок

9. Квас

10. «Ретона»

11. Семечки

12. Звательный падеж

13. Старый новый год

14. Авоська

15. Адрес наоборот

16. Активированный уголь

17. «Что? Где? Когда?» и КВН

18. Окрашивание пасхальных яиц луковой шелухой

19. Подстаканники

20. Гречка

21. Двери, открывающиеся внутрь

22. Рассол

23. 8 марта и 23 февраля

24. Зеленка

25. Кедровые орешки

“Picasso is a painter, so am I; Picasso is a Spaniard, so am I; Picasso is a communist, neither am I.”

--Attributed to Salvador Dali; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

White House State Department Russia Today John Kerry: Russia's Propaganda Channel Just Got A Journalism Lesson From The US State Department- Brett Logiurato, businessinsider.com: The State Department tried to take Kremlin-backed television network to journalism school Tuesday — and they brought in a former major magazine editor to do it. The media-centric melee began last week when Secretary of State John Kerry called Russia Today a 'propaganda bullhorn' for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia Today subsequently demanded an 'official response' from the State Department. That response came from Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel, the former managing editor of Time magazine, who wrote a blog post Tuesday accusing RT of a 'disinformation campaign.' Stengel used his background in journalism to break down his definitions of the differences between news, opinion, and propaganda.'Propaganda is the deliberate dissemination of information that you know to be false or misleading in order to influence an audience,' Stengel wrote. ... Kerry, for his part, sent out a "must read" tweet:

See also, "Propaganda and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Stengel: An Exchange."

U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy condemns Kremlin propaganda and ban on Voice of America in Russia, but VOA English News fails to report his comments- BBG Watcher, BBG Watch: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel has published on the State Department Blog an opinion article condemning the Kremlin, and specifically Russia’s RT television/multimedia outlet, for engaging in propaganda, which he defined as 'the deliberate dissemination of information that you know to be false or misleading in order to influence an audience.' ... Even though Under Secretary Stengel


specifically mentioned the Voice of America in his article, VOA did not report his comments on its main English news website. Because no central VOA news report or news item was produced in English about his article, the vast majority of VOA language services also did not report on it. ... He should not feel too bad about his comments on the Kremlin’s propaganda being ignored by VOA English News. The Voice of America also ignored President Obama’s statements on the Holocaust Memorial Day, the Armenian Remembrance Day (1915 genocide), and the Canonization of Pope John XXIII and John Paul II. Previously, VOA also missed, was late in reporting, or provided only superficial coverage of numerous White House, State Department, and U.S. Congress statements and actions on Ukraine and Russia. The VOA news coverage has improved slightly due to relentless criticism from its own journalists and BBG Watch, but VOA still misses important news stories, especially after business hours in Washington and on weekends." Uncaptioned image from entry

Original Mandela Autobiography Advocates Violence, Communism - Alex Newman, thenewamerican.com: " [Harry Booyens, Ph.D. :][Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] Richard Stengel, the current senior-level Obama official ... ‘massaged’ Mandela’s biography


‘to make it palatable to Americans and expunge Mandela's real convictions on and leadership in matters of Communism.’ Stengel, Booyens continued, ‘must have known full well those convictions would have sunk both the book and Mandela like a lead balloon. This gave the murderous live-human-torching ANC a ‘messianic’ figurehead and made them somehow acceptable to America.’ ‘Perhaps Stengel thought he was doing some or other great deed, but what he did was to legitimize a terrorist organization to Americans,’ Booyens continued, linking Stengel’s machinations to the overlooking of the U.S. government’s ‘correct’ designation of Mandela and the ANC as terrorists, where they remained until 2008.” Image from

Exclusive: New Bill Requires Voice of America to Toe U.S. Line - John Hudson, Foreign Policy: "A powerful pair of lawmakers in the House of Representatives have agreed on major legislation to overhaul Voice of America and other government-funded broadcasting outlets that could have implications for the broadcaster's editorial independence, Foreign Policy has learned. The new legislation tweaks the language of VOA's mission to explicitly outline the organization's role in supporting U.S. 'public diplomacy' and the 'policies' of the United States government, a move that would settle a long-running dispute within the federal government about whether VOA should function as a neutral news organization rather than a messaging tool of Washington.


'It is time for broad reforms; now more than ever, U.S. international broadcasts must be effective,' said Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a statement. The bill is the result of a year's worth of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans working hand-in-glove with their counterparts in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It has the support of the committee's most senior Democrat, New York Congressman Eliot Engel, and will get a vote on Wednesday in the committee. Corresponding bipartisan legislation is currently in the works in the Senate. Besides clarifying VOA's mission, the bill reorganizes the federal agency responsible for supervising U.S.-funded media outlets, the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Instead of being led by a group of part-time board members, the bill establishes a full-time, day-to-day agency head. It also consolidates Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Network -- other foreign-facing broadcast outlets -- into a single non-federal organization, and aims to save costs by downsizing the number of federal contractors at the outlets in the years to come. Uncaptioned image from entry

Reform bill would require Voice of America to trumpet US policy objectives -- report - rt.com: "Members of the US House and Senate are working together to craft legislation that would reform US-government-funded broadcasting outlets like Voice of America. The bill would require the channels to 'support' US 'public diplomacy' and 'policy objectives.' Reform legislation in the House would change the language of Voice of America’s mission to demand adherence to US foreign policy directives, according to a report by Foreign Policy magazine, calling into question how much editorial independence Voice of America (VOA)


will have left. ... News of the reform bill comes days after the Sec. of State Kerry accused RT of being a state-sponsored 'propaganda bullhorn' that is 'deployed to promote President Putin’s fantasy about what is playing out on the ground' amid unrest in Ukraine. Furthermore, he said RT spends almost all its time 'propagandizing and distorting what is happening, or not happening, in Ukraine.' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced Kerry’s latest comments about RT as 'uncivilized' and 'prosecutorial.''[The West] was convinced for some time that it had a full monopoly on mass media,' said Lavrov in a statement. 'Russia Today has won a large audience in the US and Western Europe, not to mention in Latin America and the Arab world.'" Image from entry; see also (1) (2) (3) (4 -- scroll down link for item) (5).

New Bill Would Demand VOA Serve US Propaganda - John Glaser, antiwar.com: "VOA has always been a propaganda outlet, broadly speaking, but it reportedly has taken an adversarial stance in some cases. ... Every government has some form of propaganda outlet. But the U.S.A. and the people within it have always thought of themselves as different. Propaganda is a dirty word and a filthy activity that only governments less divine than ours engage in. We are benevolent and good, which makes the need for self-serving and inaccurate propaganda obsolete. But if we have bipartisan legislation moving through Congress that explicitly calls for VOA and other U.S. funded news outlets to toe the fallacious government line, then perhaps we’ve lost even that level of pretense."

Social Media in Afghanistan Takes On Life of Its Own - nytimes.com: Afghans have long been resistant to central authority — as the United States has found to its frustration — with Afghanistan divided along tribal, cultural, religious and linguistic lines. Its mountains and valleys have stood in the way of communications breakthroughs that have unified other societies. But a social media network initially financed by the United States is finding a way around those barriers. It is connecting millions of Afghans equipped with cellphones and other mobile devices, allowing an exchange of ideas that has never been possible in Afghanistan outside Kabul, the capital. Similar American-financed programs elsewhere have failed, most spectacularly in Cuba, but Afghanistan is considered one of the great success stories from the United States’ effort to counter extremists’ violent ideology with social media. In Afghanistan, the network has achieved far more, allowing Afghans access to information as never before, bolstering education efforts and encouraging political debate, Obama administration officials say. ... The United States spends millions of dollars a year on social media programs as part of efforts to promote democracy and better governance. Some programs operate openly, but others have not been publicly disclosed. Eileen O’Conner, deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia and the senior director of communications and public diplomacy in the office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Paywast was one of several media-related programs financed by the United States in Afghanistan."Image 

Macon Phillips: We need to talk about America - Russell Brown, publicaddress.net: "Macon Phillips has had quite a career path. He was director of strategy and communications at Blue State Digital, the web and communications firm that helped Barack Obama to the US Presidency in 2008 and was a key internet strategist for the campaign. He was then hired as the White House director of new media, where he had responsibility for first the Presidential transition and then for the operations of the Whitehouse.gov website. Late last year, he was tapped by US Secretary of State John Kerry to head the Bureau of International Information Programs and tasked with the overhaul of America’s 'digital diplomacy' efforts. He’s speaking via live video stream at The Project, a seminar being held at AUTUniversity on Wednesday and Thursday (tickets here). I spoke to him by phone last week and asked him a few questions … [Q and A follows] ... Phillips: The fundamental idea is that it’s not enough to talk to people anymore. You have to be able to have a conversation and that also includes listening and a healthy dose of empathy."

Young ASEAN Leaders Put Ideas into Action [scroll down link for item] - nayheak.wordpress.com: "More than 100 young Southeast Asian leaders aged 18 to 35 from ten ASEAN Member States attended the opening ceremony of the 'Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Generation-Ideas into Action' workshop held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last week. ... The workshop, funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by StartupMalaysia.org, is the inaugural training program under President Obama’s YSEALI. The opening ceremony was attended by U.S. Department of State Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel . ... More information on the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) can be found online at youngsoutheastasianleaders.state.gov."

CNAS Report: American Influence in the Middle East - pomed.org: "In a Center for a New American Security policy brief, Dafna Hochman Rand asserts that the idea of declining U.S. influence in the Middle East  'is an oversimplification of the issue' and argues that U.S. policy has at times influenced the decisions of leaders in the Middle East and North Africa and at others it has not. She then writes about America’s four main positive policy tools, 'private diplomacy and persuasion, public diplomacy, civilian assistance in the form of economic support funds, and military assistance and training.' She explains that, while it is challenging to determine whether these forms of positive intervention are decisive in affecting outcomes, there is some evidence which demonstrates 'how these four positive levers are translating U.S. power into positive outcomes.'"

The Daily: Celebrity Diplomacy Still Trumps - Michael Ardaiolo, thepublicdiplomat.com: "Our round-up of news, notes, tips and tweets exhibiting


how public diplomacy affects the world each and every day."Uncaptioned image from entry

Araz Azimov: “Development of information environment has led to the creation of new opportunities for public diplomacy” - Anakhanim Hidayatova, en.apa.az: “Public diplomacy can not play a decisive role by itself and consequently much depends on Armenian leadership. This country should take measures and its leadership should express its readiness to reach strict decisions, Azerbaijan Deputy Prime Minister Araz Azimov told journalists, APA reports. 'Public diplomacy is a popular term. This diplomacy includes various methods and mechanisms. Development of information environment has led to the creation of new opportunities for public diplomacy', Azimov noted. The Deputy Minister regretfully emphasized that no pluralism on Karabakh issue is observed in Armenia."

Zardusht Alizadeh to attend two events along with Armenians - en.apa.az: "Politician Zardusht Alizadeh will participate in an event to take place in Istanbul within the framework of 'Impact of the three states on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict' project implemented by Chairman of the Analytical Centre of Globalization and Regional Cooperation of Armenia, political scientist Stepan Grigorian with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation. ... Zardusht Alizadeh said the Constitution of Azerbaijan or any other laws do not forbid 'public diplomacy'. He also noted that he had played an active role in public diplomacy since 1989, when Karabakh War began, and that he had regularly been attending events in Russia, Georgia, and Armenia."

In praise of Malbec diplomacy- Andrés Federman, buenosairesherald.com "[I]n terms of influencing, World Malbec Day is ideal. Addressing non-government but influential audiences has become vital.An embassy can spend hours in drafting and sending letters to editors in order to rebuke disagreeable press coverage. But, unless the rebuke has to do with very hard facts, it will be wasted time. However, a quiet 10-minute chat hosted by an ambassador, a councillor or a minister, while sipping good wine can do wonders in terms of changing perceptions. And it so happens that the interlocutors to be found in an event like this one are also attentive readers of  The Wall Street Journal, The Economist or the New York Times. ... In short: glasses up for the Malbec Brigade. Interest declared: the author is totally unrelated to the wine industry. But has a 20-year-long, love affair with public diplomacy."

The Negative Unintended Consequence in Public Diplomacy- Nicholas J. Cull, uscpublicdiplomacy.org: "In communication as in physics every action a reaction even if the complexity of environment makes it hard for us to tell whether it is what Isaac Newton so elegantly termed ‘an equal and opposite reaction.’ The task for scholars of public diplomacy is to build the active search for unintended consequences into the analysis of public diplomacy."

Azerbaijan: Treason and other charades: The arrest of a leading political activist is another sign the oil-rich country is nowhere near democracy - "Azerbaijan's leadership takes great pride in its achievements since the fall of the Soviet Union. The country's wealth stems from the millions of barrels of oil pumped daily through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. However, there is a hidden side to this fast modernising Muslim nation on the shores of the Caspian Sea, which touts itself as the 'European charm of the orient'. The arrest of Azerbaijani activist Leyla Yunus at BakuHaydarAliyevAirport on April 28, has highlighted Azerbaijan's questionable record on press freedom and human rights.  ... Apart from her advocacy work, Yunus has also been involved in a number of cross-border initiatives with neighbouring Armenia ever since the ceasefire was signed between the two countries in 1994. The conflict, which erupted at the end of the 1980s, may have ended but tensions remain. As a result, a number of public figures and journalists have been engaged in what is now known as 'track two'


diplomacy or people-to-people diplomacy. Yunus and the Peace and Democracy Institute have spearheaded such efforts. Whether it was her advocacy work or her involvement in track two initiatives which resulted in Yunus' detention, it is not yet clear. However, in light of the recent arrest of another well-known public diplomacy advocate and respected journalist, Rauf Mirkadirov, it might well be the latter."Image from entry, with caption: Azerbaijan has been criticised by Human Rights Watch for its dubious election practises and ongoing violent crackdown on freedom of expression, writes Geybullayeva

Op-Ed: The Pope’s Anti-Semitic Plan for Jerusalem [scroll down for item]- "For Israel, as with most states, the ability to assess diplomatic relations with a state that is lacking economic relations, cannot be quantifiable. Furthermore, since the Vatican is not a full member of any international organisation but only an observer and since official Vatican statements are phrased in extremely nuanced language, much public diplomacy amounts to interpreting papal statements. Thus, In order to understand this unique relationship, traditional parameters must be replaced with a framework that employs a totally different set of parameters."

Open Letter to Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs - worldexpositionssnapshot.blogspot.com: "30 April 2014 The Honourable Ms Tanya Plibersek MP Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Commonwealth Government of Australia Dear Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs: ... I write to you on this occasion further to previous correspondence concerning next year's World Exposition at Milano Italy and Australia's representation there. ... Australia has a proud and long record of hosting and being represented at World Expositions . ... Already over 150 nations have committed to Milan, including the UK, USA, China, Japan, Korea - in fact most of our major trading partners and the developed and developing world. Australia's absence from Milan 2015 would be a major loss for our nation's trade and foreign affairs branding, in this decade's major cultural public diplomacy opportunity. ... Yours sincerely, John McGregor Founder Celebrate 88 http://celebrate88.com/ Progressing Brisbane's World Expo 88 and Australia at World Expositions"

DANIDA brings comedy to Hifa- newsday.co.zw: "The Hifa 2014 DANIDA comedy programme features high-profile regional and international comedy practitioners . ... 'One in three girls in Zimbabwe experience sexual violence before they turn 18. And almost half of all women in Zimbabwe experience either physical or sexual violence at some point in time in their lives. Addressing gender-based violence is, therefore, a key development priority and a human rights imperative. 'The engagement with Hifa is part of our renewed commitment and engagement towards Zimbabwe and its people as we respond to the challenge of gender-based violence in this country.


We believe the programme provides an innovative platform for public diplomacy, debate, and engagement on this serious issue,' said the head of mission at the Royal Danish embassy office Erik Brøgger Rasmussen. ... In a statement, Hifa said comedy had the power to make a contribution to the changing behaviours of and attitudes through satire, compelling social messages and commentary that challenges the status quo. 'The comedy programme is designed to engage with gender-based violence in a way that catalyses discussion, debate and motivates attitude change within the community. Comedy can be used to foster richer and more open conversations about social, political, economic and environmental challenges facing Zimbabweans, particularly gender-based violence,' said the statement."Image from, with caption: DANIDA brings comedy to Hifa

Danish queen's Nanking visit a crowning moment for China amid row with Japan: Despite Danish FM saying visit was non-political, queen's visit may encourage Beijing to place Nanjing on world leaders' itineraries as a mark against Japanese aggression - "China is expected to encourage more world leaders to visit the Nanking Massacre memorial after the Queen of Denmark’s landmark visit, which mainland analysts say may increase awareness about this period of Chinese history and Japan’s past military aggression. ... 'This visit sends out a good signal. I hope the world will have a better understanding of this history, to learn lessons from it,' former ambassador to London Ma Zhengang, who is now with the China Public Diplomacy Association, told The Beijing News."

Who Remain in the Past Will Have Ukraine’s Fate! - Dan Dima, caleaeuropeana.ro: "We hear from a while, if it happen to be heard, that Romanian diplomacy, I would add even Eastern European diplomacy, need pragmatism, mobility and versatility. Even here, in principle, I would agree, but I always wondered what binds our feet, what blinds us and how we can become more open minded in the diplomatic practice.


Like any declared and deeply passionate about diplomacy (public diplomacy, in my case) I could not resist to scroll thirsty 'the doctrinal source' of the science of Romania’s foreign relations management – 'Diplomacy, Schools and Institutions', work signed by Mircea Malita. If somebody will ask any Romanian diplomat today, maybe with very few exceptions, from the oldest and to youngest ones, they will tell you that 'Diplomacy – Schools and Institutions' is the bedside book for a career diplomat. ... An old system, an exaggerate formality diplomatic corps grafted in typology of Malita’s diplomacy as is described in that book appeared in 1970. Which makes Polish diplomacy different is the acceptance of additional diplomacy ( the new diplomacy practice, public diplomacy ) since the 90s when Poland made the first steps along the road of public diplomacy and on responsible management of foreign perception. ... Today the foreign public is one of the most important players in international affairs and in front of this player we cannot bring with a tightly kept secret counterpart , an conventional diplomat only because the conventional diplomatic speaker suffer from the perspective of credibility at the contact with civil public."Image from

InterExchange Foundation Announces Christianson Grantees for Spring 2014: Funding supports young Americans who are committed to helping solve important humanitarian issues around the world - prweb.com: "The InterExchange Foundation is pleased to announce the first three recipients of Christianson Grants in 2014. ... Ecuador [:] Lee B. began serving as a program coordinator for the Arajuno Road Project in Puyo, Ecuador, in February 2014. The Arajuno Road Project provides educational opportunities to 10 small schools in the rural Arajuno region of Ecuador. Lee combines her Spanish-language skills acquired during travel in Mexico, Argentina and Chile with her strong background in education as an English teacher for Ecuadorian children. Lee also works as a liaison with local school directors, assists English teacher volunteers from around the world and monitors and records class progress. 'Teaching English abroad can contribute to better cross-cultural understanding anywhere,' Lee says. 'I see my work as part community service and part public diplomacy. I cannot represent my entire country while I am abroad, but I can act with integrity, honesty, and an open mind to demonstrate the diversity of American opinion. ... Visit us at http://www.InterExchange.org."

Yaba Tech’s Erg holds 3rd biennial conference on environmental issues - spurmag.com:" Keynote speaker on the theme; Professor Anthony O. Nwafor, Professor of Law, University of Verda, South Africa, highlighted the need for soft power diplomacy by governments and organisations to achieve environmental growth. 'Of soft power, monetary, hard power and public diplomacy, the most peaceful diplomatic solution that would lead to reversal of environmental problems and appeasement of communities whose interests are not adequately factored or outrightly disregarded


in the course of corporate operations over the years, is soft power diplomacy.' Soft power approach would require coming together of the people, government and organisations in decision- making. Nwafor explained that 'soft power diplomacy is seen as the ability to attract and co-opt rather than to coerce, use force or give money, as a means of persuasion.'” Image from entry, with caption: From left: Mr. Godwin Ovioma, Mr Martins Nzekwe, Dr. Loretta Ofodile, Mr Banji Okesoto, Mr N.M.C Nwakanma, Mr Kayode Oluyo and Dr Funmi Doherty, members of ERG, Yaba Tech


Instant Issues to Feature Haroon Ullah - Cynthia Melcher, worldaffairscouncil.com: "Haroon K. Ullah currently serves on Secretary John Kerry’s Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. State Department, where he


focuses on public diplomacy and countering violent extremism. He grew up in a farming community."Ullah image from entry

RELATED ITEMS

Americans Want to Pull Back From World Stage, Poll Finds: Nearly Half Surveyed in WSJ/NBC Poll Back Anti—Interventionist Stance That Sweeps Across Party - Lines [subscription] - wsj.com: Americans in large numbers want the U.S. to reduce its role in world affairs even as a showdown with Russia over Ukraine preoccupies Washington, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. In a marked change from past decades, nearly half of those surveyed want the U.S. to be less active on the global stage, with fewer than one-fifth calling for more active engagement—an anti-interventionist current that sweeps across party lines.

War Toys for Kids: Back to the Future in Afghanistan - Peter van Buren, We Meant Well: Hit the Google with the search term “iraq giving toys to children” and you’ll come up with pages of photos.


And they are all the same: a U.S. service member dressed like a Space Marine handing over some plastic piece of junk to some kid. Sometimes one or both are smiling, often times not. The images feel more like some freakish form of pedophilia than even decent propaganda. Image from entry

InfoWar over Ukraine - from sad to ridiculous - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: In conflict situations and in cases


where there are dueling and parallel narratives, we have to be weary of anyone who claims to have "the truth" (and no, "patriotism" or Hollywood stereotypes should not be dictating our perceptions here...). Image from entry

Why Did Gunmen So Easily Take Over in Eastern Ukraine? Umm, Here’s Why [includes video] - Irena Chlupa, atlanticcouncil.org: How have pro-Russian militants taken over city halls and police stations across eastern Ukraine with such surprising ease? Ukrainian journalist Valentyn Chernyavsky decided to test that question in his hometown, the provincial capital of Cherkasy, about 125 miles south of Kyiv. He donned the uniform of a Russian separatist militant, grabbed a (fake but realistic) AK-47 assault rifle and got a friend to drive him downtown to explore his chances of seizing power.

Kinder, Gentler Russian Propaganda Shifting to Disrupting Ukraine Election - Craig Mellow, minyanville.com: Russia will almost surely keep up its psychological warfare and will probably try to spark some new local uprisings in the East immediately before election day.

Messages from Moscow: Don’t Trust. Definitely Verify - Patricia H Kushlis, Whirled View: A propaganda/disinformation blitz is only as effective as the lack of knowledge and gullibility of the intended recipients. The most effective antidotes are clear, rapid and credible refutation of whatever the content might be and a simple telling of the truth. Over and over and over again.

John Kerry’s Sad Circle to Deceit - John Parry, consortiumnews.com: Secretary of State John Kerry is framing the Ukraine narrative to make the U.S. side – despite neo-Nazis overthrowing an elected president – the good guys and Russians the bad guys. But Kerry’s strident propaganda is a sad ending to a career that began as a truth-teller. The facts and context of the Ukrainian events have been forgotten or bowdlerized to such an extent that the American people are being systematically misled. Whenever the fuller context is mentioned, it is dismissed as “the Russian narrative.”

Another Sucessful American Propaganda Effort - Timothy Gatto,opednews.com: Russia needs a civil war or a confrontation in Ukraine like most people need cancer. There is nothing in it for them. They sell natural gas to Ukraine and I'm sure they don't want that income to stop. The provinces that are protesting against the people that pulled the coup in Kiev were given to Ukraine by Russia. Kerry is lying, Obama is lying and nobody seems to care.

Window on Eurasia: Would You Like Pelmeni with Your McShchi? - Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia: One of the more notorious if somewhat humorous aspects of high Stalinism was Moscow’s effort to claim that Russians invented baseball, the radio and other things that all too obviously came from abroad as part of a campaign to boost Soviet patriotism and undercut any positive feelings about the West.  Now, in an echo of this, Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed developing Russian “fastfud” on the basis of national cuisines, something that he suggested could “compete with McDonald’s,” help the Russian economy, and most important allow Russians to stand up to the West (ria.ru/society/20140428/1005788370.html).

Promoting propaganda - israelhayom.com: One key element of global jihad is propaganda aimed at turning lies into truth and vice versa. Trained by the Soviets masters of this art, Arab-Muslim apparatchiks have taken it to a whole new level. Their success lies in their two-pronged self-portrayal as downtrodden victims of Western imperialism and as destined victors against the "infidels." Chief among these are the "Great Satan" (America) and the "Small Satan" (Israel). That Europe's response is to sell its soul to appease the beast is bad enough. But when the administration in Washington follows suit, the sense among the sane is that even science fiction couldn't do justice to the horror of it all.

Syria: Iran Propaganda “Insurgents Used Chemical Weapons Near Homs” - eaworldview.com: In a propaganda move echoing the attempt to shift blame from the Assad regime for last August’s mass killing with chemical weapons, Iranian media is accusing insurgents of using “poison gas” near Homs.

Royal tour of Australia is soft propaganda - David Marr, dawn.com: The royals are proving all over again how charming and durable they can be. All but the diehards agree the republic has to be forgotten for a few years: nothing until the Queen dies.

7 June: Propaganda in Wartime – where do we draw the line? The Index on Censorship Magazine Big Debate: Censorship and Propaganda in Wartime: where do we draw the line? - David Heinemann,

'Dinner with Goebbels' and the power of propaganda- rabble.ca/news:  War requires self deception and someone is always there to provide it. In Red Sandcastle Theatre's production of "Dinner With Goebbels"


we get to spend time and share wine with modern history's most infamous purveyors of the cruelest commodity. The play, by psychiatrist and Physician Against War activist Mark Leith, gives us a short history of public relations (when you're doing it), otherwise known as propaganda (when it's a bad thing). Image from entry

What A Disembodied Finger In Jay Carney’s Photo Says About Media Propaganda- Soopermexican, ijreview.com: In a profile of Press Secretary Jay Carney appearing in the magazine Washingtonian Mom, this photo of the loving family appears:


Cute, isn’t it? But, as savvy Twitter users noticed almost immediately, the picture is photoshopped, and not very well at that. The right side of the book case is a mirror image of the left, which poses a slight problem. A problem I like to call “disembodied finger of a child floating in air”! It’s a common photoshop mistake:


Now we’re used to Jay Carney giving us the finger, but to lop off his kid’s pinkie to prove a point is rather extreme.

Picasso’s Guernica: The Difference Between Art and Propaganda - Richard Bledsoe, westernfreepress.com: Despite the heralding of Guernica as a triumph of political art, is that really the source of its haunting presence? Those who claim it as such bring external knowledge to the piece, being aware of the circumstances of its creation. There is nothing in that work that makes it specifically about the bombing of a Spanish town or the power struggles of the early 20th century. What ideological side is there to be chosen amongst those tumbling ghosts and stricken animals? The power of the piece has nothing to do with a particular time or viewpoint; the audience does not need to know anything about the Republic, the Condor Legion or white phosphorus to feel the horror. It tells a universal story of the tragic violence in life. There are important distinctions between art and propaganda.


Although both are forms of visual communication, their aims are completely different. Great art explores the mysteries of human experience. Propaganda seeks to influence an intellectual decision by stirring up obscuring clouds of emotionalism. Strong art reaches universal, shared experience by honestly presenting the results of self-exploration. Propaganda seeks to substitute that universal appeal with the presentation of ideology it assumes to be commonly held by all right-thinking people. But what if the audience doesn’t share the same convictions, or are indifferent to them? Then the art fails to connect, falls flat. The more blatantly political a work is, the smaller its audience will be. Our contemporary cultural institutions’ strident advocacy is big part of why the visual arts art are suffering such a crisis of relevance now. Guernica image from entry

This WWI propaganda poster has surprisingly good advice about your diet - Matthew Yglesias, I'm seeing a fair amount of enthusiasm on Crunchy Twitter for this 1917 poster from the United States Food Administration that serves as a welcome antidote to the conflicting and often politics-driven advice of the modern federal government:



Bernay's Propaganda (from Macedonia) at Lemp Arts Center Tonight [includes video] - wrongdivision.blogspot.com: Bernay's Propaganda comes from an alternate world


where Fugazi's Red Medicine is the most influential album of all time and post-punk bands outnumber punk bands. Plus, they flew here from Macedonia. Ghost Mice from Indiana is also on the bill, as well as local openers Little Big Bangs and Union Electric. Lots of reasons to go out on a Monday night.

AMERICANA



--From: Donald Sterling's Girlfriend's Visor Game Is Already Legendary, gawker.com

IMAGE, OR LIFE IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE


Via KC on Facebook

SOVIETICA


From, via AS on Facebook

Remember when the social media were the Solution to All Our Global Problems (SAOGP)?

Cyberutopians proclaimed that the "Arab Spring" could not have occurred without Facebook/Twitter. Iran youth was "Western" because it used social media.

Oh-so-publicity-conscious Jared Cohen and Alec Ross, former State Department politically-appointed apostles of how virtual communications would free the world, are now both off the MSM radar screen and in the "private sector" -- I hope for them making big bucks.

But instead of universal love and peace, proclaimed by the cyberutopians, we now see the social media being used in the most Hobbesian sense -- survival of fittest -- by states. Just take a look at the bitter, crude exchanges between the State Department and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (documented in recent issues of the Public Diplomacy Press and Bog Review).


I forgot to say: "ridiculous" exchanges.

Meanwhile, one of the most intelligent skeptics of cyberutopianism -- Evgeny Morozov -- is strangely silent, at least in the public sphere at the moment.

Maybe Morozov -- a thinker, not a snake-oil salesman like so many cyberutopian enthusiasts now making big bucks -- feels that he was right all along, and has no need to comment further on the social media being eventually used as crude realpolitik/authoritarian weapons, not gentle tools in bringing about universal democracy/harmony.

The historical pattern is a long one: The state takes the new media over to push its propaganda, with movies in WWI, radio in WWII, TV/videos in the Cold War, email right after the Cold War, new social media in our century.

Nothing is ever quite new under the sun.

Image from

Putin's Brain
Alexander Dugin and the Philosophy Behind Putin's Invasion of Crimea
By Anton Barbashin and Hannah Thoburn MARCH 31, 2014 Foreign Affairs Via IK on Facebook

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has searched fruitlessly for a new grand strategy -- something to define who Russians are and where they are going. “In Russian history during the 20th century, there have been various periods -- monarchism, totalitarianism, perestroika, and finally, a democratic path of development,” Russian President Boris Yeltsin said a couple of years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, “Each stage has its own ideology,” he continued, but now “we have none.”

To fill that hole, in 1996 Yeltsin designated a team of scholars to work together to find what Russians call the Russkaya ideya (“Russian idea”), but they came up empty-handed. Around the same time, various other groups also took up the task, including a collection of conservative Russian politicians and thinkers who called themselves Soglasiye vo imya Rossiya (“Accord in the Name of Russia”). Along with many other Russian intellectuals of the day, they were deeply disturbed by the weakness of the Russian state, something that they believed needed to be fixed for Russia to return to its rightful glory. And for them, that entailed return to the Russian tradition of a powerful central government. How that could be accomplished was a question for another day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, to whom many of the Soglasiye still have ties, happened to agree with their ideals and overall goals. He came to power in 1999 with a nationwide mandate to stabilize the Russian economy and political system. Thanks to rising world energy prices, he quickly achieved that goal. By the late 2000s, he had breathing room to return to the question of the Russian idea. Russia, he began to argue, was a unique civilization of its own. It could not be made to fit comfortably into European or Asian boxes and had to live by its own uniquely Russian rules and morals. And so, with the help of the Russian Orthodox Church, Putin began a battle against the liberal (Western) traits that some segments of Russian society had started to adopt. Moves of his that earned condemnation in the West -- such as the criminalization of “homosexual propaganda” and the sentencing of members of Pussy Riot, a feminist punk-rock collective, to two years in prison for hooliganism -- were popular in Russia.

True to Putin’s insistence that Russia cannot be judged in Western terms, Putin’s new conservatism does not fit U.S. and European definitions. In fact, the main trait they share is opposition to liberalism. Whereas conservatives in those parts of the world are fearful of big government and put the individual first, Russian conservatives advocate for state power and see individuals as serving that state. They draw on a long tradition of Russian imperial conservatism and, in particular, Eurasianism. That strain is authoritarian in essence, traditional, anti-American, and anti-European; it values religion and public submission. And more significant to today’s headlines, it is expansionist.

RUSSIAN ROOTS

The roots of Eurasianism lie in Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, although many of the ideas that it contains have much longer histories in Russia. After the 1917 October Revolution and the civil war that followed, two million anti-Bolshevik Russians fled the country. From Sofia to Berlin and then Paris, some of these exiled Russian intellectuals worked to create an alternative to the Bolshevik project. One of those alternatives eventually became the Eurasianist ideology. Proponents of this idea posited that Russia’s Westernizers and Bolsheviks were both wrong: Westernizers for believing that Russia was a (lagging) part of European civilization and calling for democratic development; Bolsheviks for presuming that the whole country needed restructuring through class confrontation and a global revolution of the working class. Rather, Eurasianists stressed, Russia was a unique civilization with its own path and historical mission: To create a different center of power and culture that would be neither European nor Asian but have traits of both. Eurasianists believed in the eventual downfall of the West and that it was Russia’s time to be the world’s prime exemplar.

In 1921, the exiled thinkers Georges Florovsky, Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Petr Savitskii, and Petr Suvchinsky published a collection of articles titled Exodus to the East, which marked the official birth of the Eurasianist ideology. The book was centered on the idea that Russia’s geography is its fate and that there is nothing any ruler can do to unbind himself from the necessities of securing his lands. Given Russia’s vastness, they believed, its leaders must think imperially, consuming and assimilating dangerous populations on every border. Meanwhile, they regarded any form of democracy, open economy, local governance, or secular freedom as highly dangerous and unacceptable.

In that sense, Eurasianists considered Peter the Great -- who tried to Europeanize Russia in the eighteenth century -- an enemy and a traitor. Instead, they looked with favor on Tatar-Mongol rule, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, when Genghis Khan’s empire had taught Russians crucial lessons about building a strong, centralized state and pyramid-like system of submission and control.

Eurasianist beliefs gained a strong following within the politically active part of the emigrant community, or White Russians, who were eager to promote any alternative to Bolshevism. However, the philosophy was utterly ignored, and even suppressed in the Soviet Union, and it practically died with its creators. That is, until the 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia’s ideological slate was wiped clean.

THE EVOLUTION OF A REVOLUTIONARY

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, ultranationalist ideologies were decidedly out of vogue. Rather, most Russians looked forward to Russia’s democratization and reintegration with the world. Still, a few hard-core patriotic elements remained that opposed de-Sovietization and believed -- as Putin does today -- that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. Among them was the ideologist Alexander Dugin, who was a regular contributor to the ultranationalist analytic center and newspaper Den’ (later known as Zavtra). His earliest claim to fame was a 1991 pamphlet, “The War of the Continents,” in which he described an ongoing geopolitical struggle between the two types of global powers: land powers, or “Eternal Rome,” which are based on the principles of statehood, communality, idealism, and the superiority of the common good, and civilizations of the sea, or “Eternal Carthage,” which are based on individualism, trade, and materialism. In Dugin’s understanding, “Eternal Carthage,” was historically embodied by Athenian democracy and the Dutch and British Empires. Now, it is represented by the United States. “Eternal Rome” is embodied by Russia. For Dugin, the conflict between the two will last until one is destroyed completely -- no type of political regime and no amount of trade can stop that. In order for the “good” (Russia) to eventually defeat the “bad” (United States), he wrote, a conservative revolution must take place.

His ideas of conservative revolution are adapted from German interwar thinkers who promoted the destruction of the individualistic liberal order and the commercial culture of industrial and urban civilization in favor of a new order based on conservative values such as the submission of individual needs and desires to the needs of the many, a state-organized economy, and traditional values for society based on a quasi-religious view of the world. For Dugin, the prime example of a conservative revolution was the radical, Nazi-sponsored north Italian Social Republic of Salò (1943–45). Indeed, Dugin continuously returned to what he saw as the virtues of Nazi practices and voiced appreciation for the SS and Herman Wirth’s occult Ahnenerbe group. In particular, Dugin praised the orthodox conservative-revolutionary projects that the SS and Ahnenerbe developed for postwar Europe, in which they envisioned a new, unified Europe regulated by a feudal system of ethnically separated regions that would serve as vassals to the German suzerain. It is worth noting that, among other projects, the Ahnenerbe was responsible for all the experiments on humans in the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps.

Between 1993 and 1998, Dugin joined the Russian nationalist legend Eduard Limonov in creating the now banned National-Bolshevik Movement (later the National-Bolshevik Party, or NBP), where he became the chief ideologist of a strange synthesis of socialism and ultra-right ideology. By the late 1990s, he was recognized as the intellectual leader of Russia’s entire ultra-right movement. He had his own publishing house, Arktogeya (“Northern Country”), several slick Web sites, a series of newspapers and magazines, and published The Foundation of Geopolitics, an immediate best seller that was particularly popular with the military.

Dugin’s introduction to the political mainstream came in 1999, when he became an adviser to the Russian parliamentarian Gennadii Seleznev, one of Russia’s most conservative politicians, a two-time chairman of the Russian parliament, a member of the Communist Party, and a founder of the Party of Russia’s Rebirth. That same year, with the help of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of Russia’s nationalist and very misnamed Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Dugin became the chairman of the geopolitical section of the Duma’s Advisory Council on National Security.

But his inclusion in politics did not necessarily translate to wider appeal among the politics of the elite. For that, Dugin had to transform his ideology into something else -- something uniquely Russian. Namely, he dropped the most outrageous, esoteric, and radical elements of his ideology, including his mysticism, and drew instead on the classical Eurasianism of Trubetzkoy and Savitskii. He set to work creating the International Eurasian Movement, a group that would come to involve academics, politicians, parliamentarians, journalists, and intellectuals from Russia, its neighbors, and the West.

TO EUROPE AND BEYOND

Like the classical Eurasianists of the 1920s and 1930s, Dugin’s ideology is anti-Western, anti-liberal, totalitarian, ideocratic, and socially traditional. Its nationalism is not Slavic-oriented (although Russians have a special mission to unite and lead) but also applies to the other nations of Eurasia. And it labels rationalism as Western and thus promotes a mystical, spiritual, emotional, and messianic worldview.

But Dugin’s neo-Eurasianism differs significantly from previous Eurasianist thought. First, Dugin conceives of Eurasia as being much larger than his predecessors ever did. For example, whereas Savitskii believed that the Russian-Eurasian state should stretch from the Great Wall of China in the east to the Carpathian Mountains to the west, Dugin believes that the Eurasian state must incorporate all of the former Soviet states, members of the socialist block, and perhaps even establish a protectorate over all EU members. In the east, Dugin proposes to go as far as incorporating Manchuria, Xinxiang, Tibet, and Mongolia. He even proposes eventually turning southwest toward the Indian Ocean.

In order to include Europe in Eurasia, Dugin had to rework the enemy. In classical Eurasianist thought, the enemy was the Romano-Germanic Europe. In Dugin’s version, the enemy is the United States. As he writes: “The USA is a chimerical, anti-organic, transplanted culture which does not have sacral state traditions and cultural soil, but, nevertheless, tries to force upon the other continents its anti-ethnic, anti-traditional [and] “babylonic” model.” Classical Eurasianists, by contrast, favored the United States and even considered it to be a model, especially praising its economic nationalism, the Monroe Doctrine, and its non-membership in the League of Nations.

Another crucial point of difference is his attitude toward fascism and Nazi Germany. Even before World War II, classical Eurasianists opposed fascism and stood against racial anti-Semitism. Dugin has lauded the state of Israel for hewing to the principles of conservativism but has also spoken of a connection between Zionism and Nazism and implied that Jews only deserved their statehood because of the Holocaust. He also divides Jews into “bad” and “good.” The good are orthodox and live in Israel; the bad live outside of Israel and try to assimilate. Of course, these days, those are views to which he rarely alludes in public.

PUTIN’S PLAY

Since the early 2000s, Dugin’s ideas have only gained in popularity. Their rise mirrors Putin’s own transition from apparent democrat to authoritarian. In fact, Putin’s conservative turn has given Dugin a perfect chance to “help out” the Russian leader with proper historical, geopolitical, and cultural explanations for his policies. Recognizing how attractive Dugin’s ideas are to some Russians, Putin has seized on some of them to further his own goals.

Although Dugin has criticized Putin from time to time for his economic liberalism and cooperation with the West, he has generally been the president’s steadfast ally. In 2002, he created the Eurasia Party, which was welcomed by many in Putin’s administration. The Kremlin has long tolerated, and even encouraged, the creation of such smaller allied political parties, which give Russian voters the sense that they actually do live in a democracy. Dugin’s party, for example, provides an outlet for those with chauvinistic and nationalist leanings, even as the party remains controlled by the Kremlin. At the same time, Dugin built strong ties with Sergei Glazyev, who is a co-leader of the patriotic political bloc Rodina and currently Putin’s adviser on Eurasian integration. In 2003, Dugin tried to become a parliamentary deputy along with the Rodina bloc but failed.

Although his electoral foray was a bust, some voters’ positive reception to his anti-Western projects encouraged Dugin to forge ahead with the Eurasianist movement. After the shock of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004, he created the Eurasianist Youth Union, which promotes patriotic and anti-Western education. It has 47 coordination offices throughout Russia and nine in countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Poland, and Turkey. Its reach far exceeds that of any existing democratic-oriented movement.

In 2008, Dugin was made a professor at Russia’s top university, Moscow State University, and the head of the national sociological organization Center for Conservative Studies. He also appears regularly on all of Russia’s leading TV channels, commenting on both domestic and foreign issues. His profile has only increased since the pro-democracy protests of the winter of 2011–12 and Putin’s move around the same time to build a Eurasian Union. His outsized presence in Russian public life is a sign of Putin’s approval; Russian media, particularly television, is controlled almost entirely by the Kremlin. If the Kremlin disapproves of (or not longer has a use for) a particular personality, it will remove him or her from the airwaves.

Dugin and other like-minded thinkers have wholeheartedly endorsed the Russian government’s action in Ukraine, calling on him to go further and take the east and south of Ukraine, which, he writes, “welcomes Russia, waits for it, pleads for Russia to come.” The Russian people agree. Putin’s approval ratings have climbed over the past month, and 65 percent of Russians believe that Crimea and eastern regions of Ukraine are “essentially Russian territory” and that “Russia is right to use military force for the defense of the population.” Dugin, then, has proven to be a great asset to Putin. He has popularized the president’s position on such issues as limits on personal freedom, a traditional understanding of family, intolerance of homosexuality, and the centrality of Orthodox Christianity to Russia’s rebirth as a great power. But his greatest creation is neo-Eurasianism.

Dugin’s ideology has influenced a whole generation of conservative and radical activists and politicians, who, if given the chance, would fight to adapt its core principles as state policy. Considering the shabby state of Russian democracy, and the country’s continued move away from Western ideas and ideals, one might argue that the chances of seeing neo-Eurasianism conquer new ground are increasing. Although Dugin’s form of it is highly theoretical and deeply mystical, it is proving to be a strong contender for the role of Russia’s chief ideology. Whether Putin can control it as he has controlled so many others is a question that may determine his longevity.

From a Facebook Friend in Russia

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The U.S. Is Even More Unequal Than You Realized
The Huffington Post | by Maxwell Strachan