Thursday, September 30, 2010

September 30



"I come from a culture that understands storytelling. The president's advisers do not understand that a convincing tale can have only one plot."

--A fictional interior monologue, as plausible as any, recorded by Bob Woodward, the author of "Obama's Wars," of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reflecting on Mr. Obama's administration; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Daily Digest Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - patriotnews1.com: "Senate Chamber Action Routine Proceedings, pages S7565-S7669 Measures Introduced: Eighteen bills and eleven resolutions were introduced, as follows: S. 11, 3848-3864, and S. Res. 652-662. Pages S7668-69 Public Diplomacy Program: Senate agreed to S. Res. 660, expressing support for a public diplomacy program promoting advancements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics made by or in partnership with the people of the United States."

Senator Kaufman Gives Farewell Speech on Senate Floor - coastalsussex.com: "Senator Kaufman full remarks: ... Along with Senator Brownback, I co-founded the Senate Caucus on Global Internet Freedom to promote greater access to freedom of expression and freedom of the press online.

I also highlighted the importance of U.S. public diplomacy efforts, especially international broadcasting. I have sought to raise awareness of limitations on press freedom in countries such as China and Iran through the passage of resolutions, and have co-authored legislation funding the development of Internet censorship circumvention technology in Iran." Image from article

Judith McHale to Deliver the 2010 Frances McNulty Logan Lewis Lecture‎ - Rockbridge Weekly: "Judith McHale, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, will deliver the 2010 Frances McNulty Logan Lewis Lecture for the George C. Marshall Foundation on Thursday, October 7 at 7:30 pm in Lee Chapel in Lexington. Under Secretary McHale will talk about 'Enduring Leadership: Marshall’s Legacy for American Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century.' The public is invited."

Meles In A Jam Again With VOA - Alex Belida, VOA News Blog: "[Ethiopian Prime Minister] Meles Zenawi believes it is permissible for Ethiopia to jam VOA broadcasts into his country because the U.S. legally bars the dissemination of VOA programming within the United States itself. (See this on Smith-Mundt Act.)
There’s just one problem with that attempted justification. As VOA Director Danforth Austin tells the NewsBlog: 'The U.S. government doesn't jam foreign broadcasts heard and seen by U.S. citizens. The Ethiopian government does jam foreign broadcasts heard and seen by Ethiopian citizens. I think the question has to be: What is it about these international broadcasters that Meles Zenawi and his government fear?'" Melawi image from

What's really mind-blowing is how much conservatives want to increase government spending on international broadcasting - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: Heritage Foundation, The Foundry blog, 24 Sept 2010, Helle Dale. "'It is ... amazing and disturbing to find that China has now, in certain areas of international broadcasting, overtaken the United States. While strategic decisions have been made here in Washington to reduce the amount of global short-wave broadcasting produced by the U.S. government in favor of TV and Internet, China has been moving full speed ahead. According to the World Radio TV Handbook, China Radio International now broadcasts on short-wave in 45 languages, compared to Voice of America’s 32, and does so on 284 frequencies, compared to Voice of America’s 200 frequencies. And most mind-blowing of all is the fact that China Radio International carries more English language broadcast hours than Voice of America.' [Elliott Comment:] It's not so mind-blowing from a market-based analysis. (Heritage is more into central planning.) This is international broadcasting, as in broadcasting to other countries, as to countries where they speak other languages. China Radio International includes as target countries the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. VOA targets none of these countries, especially not the United States, not even Americans abroad. So, outside of Africa, CRI has much more reason to broadcast in English than does VOA. And if CRI wants to invest in shortwave when it is obviously declining in popularity, it's their money. Note that China was manufacturing steam railroad locomotives until 1999."

Columnist says Radio Free Asia Korean "is facing an immediate budget cut" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "This is the first I have heard of any budget cut for RFA Korean. Given the present importance of North Korea to US foreign policy, I would be surprised if such a plan exists.

RFA and VOA (unmentioned) each broadcast in Korean five hours a day, not concurrently, for a total of ten hours USIB output per day. Any expansion would get into sleeping or working hours in North Korea. Is Free North Korea Radio funded by the State Department, or by the National Endowment for Democracy?" Image from

Artist Lisa Vershbow Discusses Her Artistic Overseas Experience at Morrison House - theartleaguegallery.blogspot.com: "Morrison House Lecture Series Presents: Art and Diplomacy: A Torpedo Factory Metalsmith Makes Cultural Diplomacy with her Craft. Accompanying her husband, Alexander Vershbow abroad for eleven years with three back-to-back Ambassadorships to NATO (Belgium), Russia and Korea, Lisa set up a studio and worked at each posting, made connections with local artists, participated in exhibitions, and taught. She was active with the State Department's Art in Embassies Program and also organized two exhibitions including fellow Torpedo Factory colleagues.

In Art and Diplomacy, Lisa will share images of some of the places that inspired her own work, projects in Moscow and Seoul with Torpedo Factory colleagues and a few glimpses into life in an Embassy. Lisa Vershbow, a Torpedo Factory artist and Art League instructor, spent over 30 years as a Foreign Service spouse. She has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions both at home and abroad. Her most recent solo exhibition was in June, 2010 in Seoul and her work is currently in the Madeleine Albright exhibition of brooches in the Smithsonian Castle. In 2005, the American Foreign Service Association awarded her the Avis Bohlen Award for public diplomacy in the arts while in Russia." Image from article

Israel Sincerity on Peace Weakened by Minister's Remarks, Palestinian Says - Gwen Ackerman, Bloomberg: "Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said Israel’s credibility in peace talks was undermined by its foreign minister’s UN speech, as the U.S. accelerated efforts to resolve an impasse over Israeli construction in the West Bank. 'He provided a very, very clear reason for all our skepticism,' Shaath said today in a phone interview, referring to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s comments yesterday at the United Nations. Lieberman, who heads the second-largest party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, called for an 'intermediate' accord with the Palestinians because it will take 'a few decades' to establish the trust needed for a so- called final-status agreement. ... Netanyahu isn’t likely to push Lieberman out, said Jonathan Spyer, a political scientist at Israel’s Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. 'While Lieberman’s remarks are harmful to Netanyahu from a public diplomacy point of view, the prime minister is not desperately keen to broaden his coalition at the moment,' Spyer said. 'This incident shows the strange and unusual nature of Israeli coalition politics, where a foreign minister thinks he can express a different foreign policy than the government’s without resigning.'”

Strenger than Fiction / Political learnings for make benefit of understanding glorious nation of Israel - Carlo Strenger, Ha'aretz: "Israel after years of dedicated experimentation has developed the Glorious New Method of Government by Chaos. It is my pleasure to introduce readers to the basics of this method, in the hope other countries will benefit from it as well. ... This is a truly wonderful system, in which most groups genuinely feel that they are running the country. I suggest that Israel’s Ministry of Public Diplomacy, which is showing enormous creativity lately in explaining Israel, should offer courses for aspiring politicians from around the world on Israel’s glorious new method of governing. Unfortunately there is a dwindling minority in Israel that has so far not made the transition to government by chaos, and continues to adhere to outmoded notions like the rule of law, equal rights for all citizens, the separation of state and religion and even wants government to follow coherent policies."

Israeli invention for electric hair removal device contributes to female happiness worldwide - ‎Belén Fernández, Palestine Think Tank:

"Viewers interested in multilingual pictorial change are invited to visit a website established by the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, which refers to visitors as 'Novice Ambassadors' . ... For those of us convinced that Israel’s presentation to the world has nothing to do with what its Air Force does while hypothetical foreigners in vests are busy propagating stereotypes about ... , the website provides an arsenal of rotating factoids on the right side of the screen for use in countering barbs of criticism against Israel. I have listed a few below: An Israeli invention for an electric hair removal device makes women happy all over the world.

85% of the garbage in Israel undergoes treatment to make it friendly to the environment. Each month Israelis consume close to 15 million bags of [the snack food] Bamba; every fourth snack sold in Israel is Bamba, and 1,000 bags of Bamba are manufactured every month. Muslim terror takes place throughout the world with no connection to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Palestinian issue, Israel-US relations or the existence of Israel and its policies." Images: (1) (2) Zog / Hair-removal Laser device by RADIANCY, from Isreali Design Center

University of Leicester focuses on the Olympics‎ - press release, 24dash: "On Monday, 8 November, Professor Gary D. Rawnsley will deliver the lecture on Media and Communications at Beijing. The Beijing Olympics of 2008 are considered as China's 'coming-out' party, representing the country's 'peaceful rise', astounding economic development and growing stature in the global community. On the other hand, it is clear that hosting the Olympics was a huge risk: with thousands of foreign journalists descending on Beijing, all of whom were promised unprecedented freedom of movement, China was in the world's spotlight like never before. This lecture provides an overview of Chinese public diplomacy and soft power - China's attraction via national values and cultural appeal - and tries to understand how the Olympics and their media coverage helped the projection of modern, dynamic and peaceful China."

Public diplomacy can help resolve Karabakh conflict‎ - News.Az: Irina Ghaplanyan News.Az interviews Irina Ghaplanyan, a graduate student of politics and international studies at the University of Cambridge. ... What role can public diplomacy and cultural dialogue play when the positions of the two sides on Karabakh are completely different? Public diplomacy builds bridges that are used to conduct cultural dialogue, which in turn increases awareness about the two nations that are socially and culturally rather similar, but have been forcefully isolated from each other for almost 20 years.

An increased awareness about commonalities in the cultural and socio-economic lives of the two nations will gradually increase the social as well as political will to find a mutually beneficial resolution of the conflict. The root problems of the conflict stalemate today are, first of all, a lack of political will and, secondly, an absolute lack of trust. I believe that through public diplomacy and cultural dialogue both problems could be addressed and the way paved to a resolution." Image from

Akhmadov followers caught - Stan Rogers and Rukhshona, Central Asia Online: "[T]he Tajik opposition Social Democratic Party suggested making the Rasht Valley a public diplomacy zone, Ferghana.ru reported September 28."

Russia: “Web of Justice”‎ - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: Last week, Russia's foreign broadcaster - Russia Today TV (RT) - ran a report about Russian bloggers and how they, heroically, expose crimes and corruption in the system. ... [I]t seems such stories would serve Russia's public diplomacy well, especially given President Medvedev's attempts

to demonstrate to the world that Russia can be en par with the West in terms of technological progress, as well as the social and economic transformations that accompany it. ... [T]hey might as well be examples of what the Tangled Web referred to as 'an old strand of thought in Russia, where the tsar was fundamentally decent and it was the corrupt mid-level officials who were to blame for everything.' It should be mentioned, however, that democracy - real or virtual - proves itself, time and again, as being very relative. When even some of the more prominent Western democracies have major issues with Internet access and surveillance, perhaps Russia should not be judged as strictly?" Image from

Cyber Probing: The Politicisation of Virtual Attack - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "Despite its pervasiveness in our daily lives, from social media to electrical networks to banking, the critical nature of the online remains ill-understood or appreciated. 'Cyberspace,' a recent report asserts, 'remains inadequately defended, policed and indeed comprehended.' This is the conclusion of Alex Michael, a researcher for the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. In Cyber Probing: The Politicisation of Virtual Attack, Alex dispels the comfortable belief – expressed in practice and conceptualization of online and new media – that the cyber world is somehow separate from the 'real' world. ... This unclassified report will be required reading for the graduate course on public diplomacy that I teach at USC. 'Cyber Probing' demonstrates that distinguishing between 'old media' and 'new media' is naive and dangerous in the environment of blended offline and online activities we live and operate in. My term 'now media', focused more on information activities, addresses this reality. Alex’s paper shows the 'convergence' is greater, deeper, and more pervasive than many appreciate."

Missionaries, Carpetbaggers, Highjackers, and Honkies: Dharma in the West - tibetanaltar.blogspot.com: "If you want to engage in quick and dirty, tactical persuasion of a target population, do an opinion poll, call a press conference, and massage the results. It is done all the time, for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes we call it public diplomacy, and other times we call it plain, old-fashioned spin doctoring. When we do it to sell toothpaste, we say that nine out of ten dentists agree, and call it truth in advertising.

Truth be known, it is all bullshit." Image from

"Tuesday Came and Went One, One September ... " - Emily, Life, Hope, Truth, Trust, Faith, Pride, Love, Lust: "And since I’m considering ... these serious commitments (an FSO is like a military officer who is stationed in places for a certain amount of time), I am looking into what area I’d join in. Especially since you have to tell them as soon as you let them know you want to be recruited. So if I do the foreign service officer route for the Department of State, I’m considering being either a consular officer or a public diplomacy officer. As a consular officer, I’d 'make judgments about foreign nationals who want to travel to the US. [I’d] also facilitate adoptions, help evacuate Americans and combat fraud to protect our borders and fight human trafficking.' I think public diplomacy is pretty obvious. But since I’m not exactly a diplomatic person in all conditions (aka when I get angry), then maybe consular would be best for me."

RELATED ITEMS

Can Twitter Lead People to the Streets? - New York Times: In The New Yorker this week, Malcolm Gladwell offers a bracing critique of the notion that social media like Twitter and Facebook are reinventing activism -- claims that were broadly made after Twitter became identified with protests in Moldova and Iran last year. "Social networks are effective at increasing participation — by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires," he writes. And the "weak ties" created by these platforms, he adds, cannot promote the discipline and strategy that true political activism requires. Can social media tools like Twitter nurture political action? What are their limitations and how might that change as social media mature? Contributors: Power of the Personal Message Timothy B. Lee, computer scientist; Virtual vs. Real Protests Evgeny Morozov, author; In China, Even Weak Ties Are Crucial Michael Anti, blogger; Digital and Traditional Tools William Powers, author, "Hamlet's BlackBerry"; Following and Leading Online, Howard Rheingold, author, "Smart Mobs."



Most Tweets Produce Zero Replies or Retweets - Jennifer Van Grove, mashable.com: Sysomos, maker of social media analysis tools, looked at 1.2 billion tweets over a two-month period to analyze what happens after we publish our tweets to Twitter. Its research shows that 71% of all tweets produce no reaction — in the form of replies or retweets — which suggests that an overwhelming majority of our tweets fall on deaf ears. Above image from article

Shadow Elite: Pat Tillman & Why Soldier Hero Worship Serves The Powerful ... Not the Soldiers - Andrew Bickford, Huffington Post: To understand how soldiers are imagined, we need to go back to the word "aesthetics" in its original Greek meaning- to experience the world through bodily feeling and emotion. This is also the basis of the word "anesthetics," to block out pain, feeling, and emotion. Our conceptions of soldiers as heroes comes from this interplay. By imagining our soldiers - all of our soldiers - as heroes, we create not only a class of heroes, but also a class of superheroes - men and women who can do no wrong, whom we think of as invincible, and perhaps more troubling, as indestructible. As a propaganda term, a term that shapes the political playing field, "Hero" does not simply mean someone who has done a single heroic act: it implies someone who will always perform heroically, again and again and again.


Video Hints at Executions by Pakistanis
- Jane Perlez, New York Times: "An Internet video showing men in Pakistani military uniforms executing six young men in civilian clothes has heightened concerns about unlawful killings by Pakistani soldiers supported by the United States, American officials said. The authenticity of the five-and-a-half-minute video, which shows the killing of the six men — some of whom appear to be teenagers, blindfolded, with their hands bound behind their backs — has not been formally verified by the American government. The Pakistani military said it was faked by militants. But American officials, who did not want to be identified because of the explosive nature of the video, said it appeared to be credible, as did retired American military officers and intelligence analysts who have viewed it. After viewing the graphic video on Wednesday, an administration official said: “There are things you can fake, and things you can’t fake. You can’t fake this.”

Beyond The Rhetoric: The Human Impact Of Settlements - Cynthia Schneider, Sam Schneider - Newswire – CPD Blog & Blogroll, US Center on Public Diplomacy: President Obama faces his own catch-22: to tolerate the renewal of settlement activity to keep the talks going, and possibly force Abbas to walk; or to pressure Israel to cease building at the risk of turning Netanyahu away from the talks. We hope that the President can keep the talks going and keep his word in the Cairo speech of a “complete settlement freeze”. Mr. President: show that America is not a “land of hypocrisy”.

Young Kim's debut isn't exactly picture-perfect: The son rumored to succeed his father as North Korea's leader finally shows his face, and it's more "Where's Waldo?" than "Look at me!" - John M. Glionna and Ethan Kim, Los Angeles Times:


For an official photographic introduction to the world, the picture of North Korean strongman-in-waiting Kim Jong Eun released by the reclusive regime Thursday had anything but a marquee wow-factor. This is no larger-than-life propaganda billboard heralding a dazzling visage of Kim Jong Il's mysterious youngest son — rumored to soon succeed his ailing 68-year-old father. Rather, it's a grainy postage-stamp-small image of the jug-eared Jong Eun, perched awkwardly amid a group of grim-looking politicos at this week's national convention of the ruling Workers' Party. Image from article

Not Much Hope for Change as Kim Jong-il Prepares to Ascend His Double Rainbow Back to Baekdu Mountain - Paul Sogge, technorati.com: He was portrayed as a cockroach in the movie Team America. "He was portrayed as a drunken lecher by his former sushi chef. And much less convincingly, Kim Jong-il has been portrayed as a brilliant and benevolent leader whose travels are often accompanied by miracles in the natural world. This week, as expected, his son Kim Jong-un was awarded various official titles by the Workers' Party of Korea and seems destined to become third and final dictator of the world's last remaining Stalinist regime.

Will we miss the Kims? It is difficult to imagine the world without its parallel universe--a version of reality that has fascinated me ever since I heard my first North Korean propaganda while living in China in the early 1990s." Image from article

North Korea's US 'trophy' ship is tourist site - Ian Timberlake, AFP: North Korea denies involvement in a deadly attack on a South Korean warship this year, but proudly shows off the "trophy" it captured from the United States in another maritime incident 42 years ago. The USS Pueblo -- still listed as a commissioned US Navy vessel -- sits docked and open to visitors at a riverside berth in the capital Pyongyang. A steady flow of tourists, including some Americans, boarded the vessel for a guided tour one day recently. The price of admission: Watching a lengthy propaganda video that mentions terms like "US imperialist aggressors" and "brazen-faced US imperialists" repeatedly as it recounts what happened on January 23, 1968 and over the next 11 months before the captured crew were released. 1A8A North Korean army guide aboard the captured USS Pueblo - a vessel still listed as a commissioned US Navy boat.

TOP TEN WAYS

"David Letterman: Top Ten Ways Barack Obama Can Boost His Popularity With Younger Voters:

10. Refer to himself as the Chillaxer-in-Chief.

9. Limit speeches to 140 characters or less.

8. Broadcast all Oval Office addresses in 3D.

7. Replace Rahm Emanuel with a hunky, brooding vampire.

6. Trade in Air Force One for rocket-powered Obama-cycle.

5. Answer tough questions with 'Whatevs.'

4. Change name to Bajustin Obieber.

3. Refer to his abdominal muscles as 'The Administration.'

2. Check into rehab, go to prison, check back into rehab, go back to prison; check back into rehab.

1. Join Team Coco."

--From Bulletin News, LLC.

WHY DON'T YOU TWEET/LOVE ME?

"Here are 7 possible reasons that no one responds to, or retweets your tweets:

1. What are we supposed to say when you tweet that you 'love Mom’s cooking.' Are we REALLY supposed to care?

2. You tweet all sorts of cheesy inspirational quotes. This is more likely to elicit a punch in the nose than a retweet.

3. Twitpics of your latest pair of socks are of no interest to us.

4. We cannot figure out how to respond when you tell us, via Foursquare, that you’re 'at the Fuckandshuck Oyster Bar and use the hashtag #foodporn'

5. You are not a member of a Tea Party Republican chapter (don’t laugh, those nutjobs are a tight-knit bunch of freaks)

6. You follow no one and are not @KanyeWest, or @britishmonarchy – time to get over that ego

7. You run the official Twitter account for BP

Have a great day!"


--Jackson Wightman, Proper Propaganda

IMAGE

from Boing Boing

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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

VMFA ~ Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris

Now is the time to visit the newly renovated Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. I was so happy to hear that in February 2011, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will host the most important exhibition in its history, Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris. VMFA is the only East Coast venue for the exhibition’s seven-city international tour. The exhibition, which will be on view from February 19 through May 15, 2011, is co-organized by the Musée National Picasso, Paris and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Interesting fact: It is rumored that Picasso’s first spoken word was, "piz," short for lápiz, the Spanish word for pencil. The first clue that this baby would grow up
to be an artist!
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September 29


On the war in Afghanistan:

"Basically we're screwed."

--U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry, quoted as saying

"you can't win."

--National security adviser James L. Jones's view

"This is a house of cards."

--Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, who is the senior coordinator for Afghanistan on the National Security Council; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Walter Isaacson: America's Voice Must Be Credible And Must Be Heard - RFE/RL: "Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Walter Isaacson tonight announced a new direction for U.S. international broadcasting that 'seizes on the latest media tools and technology to stay one step ahead of those who seek to repress free information around the world.' As Chairman of the BBG, Isaacson oversees RFE, VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio/TV Marti, Radio Sawa, and Alhurra TV, which have a combined weekly audience of more than 171 million people. 'The challenges we face in the new global struggle against repression and intolerance are as great today as they were during the Cold War,' he said at a reception marking the 60th anniversary of RFE's first broadcast.


'And just as the founders of Radio Free Europe succeeded in developing creative and innovative ways to get news and information to people suffering behind the Iron Curtain, so too must today's U.S. international broadcasters respond to modern threats to freedom in new and inventive ways.' Speaking at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Isaacson said, 'America cannot let itself be out-communicated by its enemies.' 'Our traditional role of delivering the news top down needs to be complimented by a new approach that catalyzes social networks,' said Isaacson. 'By creating peer-to-peer global communities, we help guarantee the universal human right of access to the free flow of information.'" Isaacson image from article. [PDPBR compiler note: According to the invitation to the event, it was made possible "With generous support from the Freedom Broadcasting Foundation." Little information about this organization is available on the Web]

Get Green Alerts‎ - Bob Jacobson: Huffington Post: "As the [Shanghai] Expo nears completion, it's difficult to point to a single aspect of the USA Pavilion that has genuinely and honestly kept to the Expo's sustainability theme. Not a single one. And with each USA Pavilion faux pas, Clinton's argument for privatizing public diplomacy grows weaker. The bottom line: turning the State Department's functions over to Beltway bandits and Hollywood hucksters is not in the interest of the American people. And never will be."


America The Invisible - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View:

Observations by Ms. Kushlis regarding public diplomacy in the comments section [scroll down link]: "[T]he Internet and its social networking components are powerful tools but they should be seen as one part of an information officer's tool box not as a substitute for bricks and mortar (information centers and libraries) or one-on-one communications (Murrow's last three feet.) ... Publicly accessible Information Centers and Libraries are crucial outreach tools. ... I'd like to see the USG take a proactive role in top level international expos. ... Military strategic communications and civilian public diplomacy are not the same and should not be mixed intellectually or in reality - although they employ some of the same communications tools. They play by different rules and have different goals. ... If and, hopefully when, the US government reduces its military footprint abroad, I think it should increase, not reduce its public diplomacy efforts. ... I think the BBG needs to be depoliticized and broadcasting rethought. ... I really like Ari Fisher's communications continuum employed by the British Council and Foreign Office to encapsulate the UK's public diplomacy approach. ... And finally (enough already) I continue to think that a separate public diplomacy agency with a permanent charter needs to be created - or recreated. The bifurcation of the functions has, with only a few exceptions, not worked well for so many reasons." Image from

Discussion & Webcast: Freedom vs. National Security: Finding a Middle Ground - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "The Voice of America is hosting a discussion and webcast entitled Online Freedom vs. National Security: Finding a Middle Ground. Government efforts seeking new controls over the Internet and mobile communications are raising concerns about the possible erosion of human rights and basic freedoms. Participating are: Bob Boorstin, Director, Corporate & Policy Communications, Google; Arnaud de Borchgrave, Director & Senior Advisor, Transnational Threats Project, Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS); Julie Barko Germany, Vice President for Digital Strategy, DCI Group; and Marc Rotenberg, President & Executive Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center. When: Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 10:00am ET - 11:00am ET. Where: Voice of America Briefing Room 1528-A 330 Independence Ave, SW Washington, DC 20237 RSVP at askvoa@voanews.com or call (202) 203-4959 [Armstrong comment:] It is not clear to me that this worthwhile and necessary discussion should be available to audiences within the borders of the United States as a result of continuing Congressional censorship found within the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948. Further, will someone mention irony of the firewall at the US border that inhibits informing audiences both abroad (at the very least by such engagement to Americans, including its value and content) and ignores diasporas (real or manufactured through empathy, sympathy, or other joining beyond the traditional ethnic, cultural, or linguistic bonds)?"

Pentagon Burns Books in Name of National Security... - LaurenceJarvikOnline: "The book is called Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan -- and the Path to Victory by Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, and the Pentagon has bought the initial press run to burn before reading, according to this article in Digital Journal ['Pentagon purchases and burns memoir written by ex-officer'].

I just have one question: Has anyone considered the public diplomacy implications of this story for US credibility in relation to freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and so forth in the struggle against Islamist extremism? IMHO, I'd say that after the handling of Abu Gharib torture pictures, this is the second worst P/R move I've seen since 9/11 from the United States government." Image from

1 October Event at American Center - TonyEnglish: English learning environment for English learners: "Join State Department Public Diplomacy Officer, Peter Velasco at the American Center as he takes a look at the current state of political affairs in the U.S. Speaker Program: Mid-term Elections in the U.S. Time: 9:30 - 10:30, October 1, 2010 Venue: The American Center, 1st Fl, Rose Garden Tower, 170 Ngoc Khanh Street, Hanoi."

Radio Free Europe was rather more than "a flea on the behind of an elephant" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "Canada Free Press, 27 Sept 2010, Ron Ewart: 'In the 20th Century, with the new technology of radio and eventually TV, the news reached the people virtually instantly. But never have the people of the planet been able to obtain so much news and information and communicate, discuss and debate that information amongst themselves, individually, until the Internet and e-mail was born. The World Wide Web has brought the citizens of the world together like no other time in history. Never before have the roots of freedom been able to reach almost anyone in the world with a computer and internet access. Radio Free Europe was a flea on the behind of an elephant, in comparison to the millions who are now wired into the Internet.' [Elliott comment:] In Cold War Eastern Europe, RFE/RL and VOA were the two main sources of information, with BBC and Deutsche Welle also important.

With this paucity of competition, each station was assured of large audiences. When East Europeans were able to get access to satellite television in the 1990s, they had a choice of a hundred or so channels. When the internet emerged, hundreds, then thousands of websites were available. Blogs were easier to produce than conventional websites, so tens of thousands emerged. With the social media, millions are participating. With the migration of to the internet, international broadcasting finds itself in an environment of vast oversupply. The large audiences of decades past have been subdivided." Image from

Daily Press Briefing ‎Washington, DC September 28, 2010 - US Department of State: "MR. CROWLEY: ... [B]efore taking your questions, we’d like to welcome our guests today at the briefing, the spokesperson for the European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton, spokesperson Darren Ennis, also her senior media advisor Kasper Zeuthen and Silvia Kofler, who is the spokesperson and head of the office of press and public diplomacy for the EU mission here in Washington, D.C."

00 minutes 10 seconds at the 8th September, 2,010 29 - WeBLOG Nagashima Akihisa: Google translation: "Dear Prime Minister Naoto Kan, We would like to advance our views on the responses regarding the recent collision between the Chinese fishing boat and the Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels near the Senkaku Islands

of Okinawa Prefecture . ... [W]hen we look back at reports in the international media of the past couple of weeks, especially in relation to international public opinion, we should have pressed for an understanding of the legitimacy of asserting our claim of the islands and our series of measures involving domestic order of law, but it is highly regrettable that there was a decisive lack of efforts in public diplomacy to capture firm support." Image from

Hitler at the gate: ‎Nevertheless, how can Netanyahu refrain from an action to stop Hitler's heir, Ahmadinejad, when the year is already 1939, if not 1940? - Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz: "According to Netanyahu's reasoning, if he refrains from acting history will condemn him for 'not preventing a crime' . ... This, of course, is not going to happen. The risks are too great and the intention here is not to give operational advice but rather to demonstrate the gap between those shouting from the opposition and those in power, and between 'public diplomacy' - Israel's latest official translation for the term hasbara, which is something between self-justification and propaganda - and statesmanship.

When you are talking and looking for messages to get yourself into prime time, you can say anything without taking risks. But when you are the prime minister, the constraints of reality become clear and the gap between talk and deeds is revealed. Therefore, it is best to be cautious in speech and to remember that not everything is hasbara, as even a media gimmick can come back to haunt you. And perhaps I'm wrong. Could it be the elite special operations unit is training and Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah are on their way to secret detention facility 1391, to the cell that served the captives Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani?" Image from

Everything Democracies Can Do on Social Media, Terrorists Can Do Better - David Saranga, Huffington Post: "This month I was invited to participate in a conference held by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). The talks at the panel in which I spoke - 'New Media, Terror and Counter-Terrorism' - all led to the same conclusion: everything democracies can do on social media, terrorists can do better. However, as someone who is engaged in Public Diplomacy and Social Media, I wish to examine this question from a different angle, and propose a different approach, which in the long run might reduce the motivation of young people to join terrorist organizations, and challenge them within the very social environments where terrorism is bred. ... I believe, therefore, that if we remain committed to presenting the truth objectively, and avoid cheap propaganda, chances grow that we can help reduce the motivation to carry out terrorist actions against Israel. It's important to emphasize that I am not talking about government activity: messages coming from a government, any government, will always be perceived as tendentious propaganda.

I am talking about the kind of communication that civil society, and in this case, Israeli civil society must establish with its neighbors, and this is possible by means of the social networks, which are making great inroads even into Arab societies in the Middle East." Saranga image from

Another ways to pursue public diplomacy – Foreign Policy Focus: "The development of social networks is offering a wide array of opportunities for public diplomacy. And equally, for abuse and widespread hate and terrorism on line. I was this year to a conference about the Middle East where one participant, originally from Pakistan, was encouraging the contacts between Westerners and people from the Muslim world, as a way to exchange ideas and share insights from the two worlds. On the other side, the reality is that, from my own experience, this kind of dialogues are limited unfortunately to sharing our own stereotypes and taking the advantage of anonimity for sharing the hate. In this case, a mix between classical public diplomacy tools to be continued and pursued in the virtual environment. Using only one tool is not enough and the enthusiasm is not a miraculous cure of old and aggressive hates."

Family Time; Dialogue of the Deaf - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "As we were walking up, we noticed two Taiwanese guys talking in sign language. Ellen [Paul Rockower's sister], who speaks ASL, ran over to see if she could communicate. They were floored, and we sat on the concrete, drinking tall boys and watching Ellen try to communicate with her hands. Although ASL and Taiwanese signing is different, they were able to connect enough with international signing that they could communicate. The deaf guys were overjoyed at this American girl speaking their language and conversing with them. As was Ellen, who was bursting with joy at this unexpected but poignant moment of public diplomacy and cultural exchange."

RELATED ITEMS

In flood-ravaged Pakistan, no sign of American aid - David Ignatius, Washington Post: The U.S. military has been working hard to provide flood assistance, but most of that is invisible to Pakistanis.

They read about American drone attacks but not about helicopters bringing food supplies. That lack of recognition upsets U.S. officials, but they haven't been able to change it. Image from

Pink Cadillac: The Communist Party propaganda film with an all-American sponsor - Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: Moviegoers in China will probably find few surprises in the Communist Party's latest propaganda biopic, "The Great Achievement of Founding the Party." But readers outside of China may be surprised to learn the identity of the film's sponsor: Cadillac.

What Is Russia Today? The Kremlin’s propaganda outlet has an identity crisis - Julia Ioffe, Columbia Journalism Review: When there’s nothing for the propaganda channel to propagate, RT’s message becomes a slightly schizophrenic, ad hoc effort to push back against what comes out of the West.

And if there’s nothing to push back against, other than the ghosts of a bygone era, then what, really, is left to say that others aren’t already saying, and saying better? ... [Comment Mark Adomanis] That RT is a government mouthpiece, and that its reports should be treated with skepticism, is a given. But governments have always had mouthpieces and they always will. Compared to Western countries, Russia is poor and ramshackle, and it's therefor not at all surprising that its pet media outlet is often not quite as flashy or presentable as RFE/RL, the BBC, etc. Image from

ONE MORE WORD FOR THE DAY

"vlugvoos"

--Afrikaans word to be left spongy or rotten from jetlag; cited in Paul Rockower, Levantine

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Home Renovation: Small Closet to Wet Bar

Meet the Davidsons! Niki and Bradley Davidson, of Davidson Builders Inc., are established Class A contractors specializing in additions for indoor and outdoor living, and renovations ranging from whole house to individual kitchens and bathrooms. On Bright Bold and Beautiful, I will be sharing with you some of their DIY home projects, renovations and decorating ideas. Today, I want to show this fabulous wet bar they converted from a small closet in their own home.
Wet Bar - Renovation
Bradley states, "In the original build, this was simply a closet to fill the wasted space under the staircase. After some time, I realized the lack of use this closet was receiving and came up with the idea to create a small wet bar." The cabinet door front was built to resemble the inset cabinets used in the nearby kitchen and den built-ins. They found a remnant of Vetrazzo recycled glass and concrete counter top which is gorgeous and so unique. They chose a hand hammered stainless steel under mount bar sink from Elkay.

Closet to Wet bar Home Renovation
The shimmering green glass tiles are spectacular and the coordinating green glass door pulls {from Restoration Hardware} tie it all together! Bradley and Niki design everything first class. Even the glass shelves are floating on two stainless clips.
Closet to Wet bar Home Renovation
Can you believe the before and after shots?Closet to Wet bar Home Renovation
Thank you Bradley and Niki for sharing this amazing transformation with us!
Next up with the Davidsons is the updated Mud Room with hard wood seats,
so stay tuned!
More Home Renovations and
More ways to follow BB&B

Decorating Ideas for Halloween

Think black for Halloween. Here are some easy and affordable decorating ideas from Country Living to celebrate the Halloween holiday. I love the black tapers
in the silver candelabra!



More Halloween Decorating and More ways to follow BB&B