Monday, March 4, 2013

March 4



"In 1941, my parents and two siblings were among thousands of Lithuanian citizens deported to the remotest regions of Siberia. After two years, more than 40 percent of the deportees had perished. Still, the exile offered my parents a better chance of survival than the alternative. Shortly after they were deported the Nazis crossed into Lithuania and all the Jewish families in their town perished. So, paradoxically, my family could say: 'Thank you, comrade Stalin for deporting us.'”

--Samuel Rachlin, a Danish journalist based in Washington and born in Siberia, where his family lived in exile for 16 years; image from article

DOCUMENT

OMB Report To The Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration For Fiscal Year 2013 (March 1, 2013). Via HB

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy Re-Authorized – Where the Heck Is It? - Domani Spero, DiploPundit: "Back on January 13, 2012, we blogged about the demise of ACPD or the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (see PD Commission KIA by Congress; Welcome Back, Matt Armstrong) . ... So the Commission has been dead for about 15 months but now it’s been re-authorized, retroactively re-authorized on January 3, 2013. ...[I]t’s been


60 days since ACPD had been reauthorized and it is still hobbled in the bureaucracy." Image from

Department of State Public Schedule Monday, March 4, 2013 - posted at rockycoastnews.blogspot.com: "UNDER SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS TARA SONENSHINE 12:00 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine delivers remarks at the Women in Action International Leadership Program Event, at the Department of State. 3:00 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine attends a meeting at the White House. 6:15 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine delivers remarks via digital video conference at the launch event for Embassy Wellington’s Digital Engagement Center."

What would George Orwell say about journalism at Radio Liberty? - BBGWatcher, usgbroadcasts.com: "'Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.' – attributed to George Orwell [.] 'News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising.' – William Randolph Hearst [.] George Orwell died in 1950 and the U.S.-funded Radio Liberation’s (later Radio Liberty) first Russian broadcast went on the air 60 years ago on March 1, 1953 with the ambitious goal of piercing the Iron Curtain with uncensored news. A quote attributed to Orwell, although it has never been definitively sourced, stating that the role of journalism is to uncover the truth and not to write or repeat press releases and politburo communiques, was as appropriate during the existence of the Soviet Union, as it is now. We do know that William Randolph Hearst said something very similar: 'News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising.' Unfortunately, Radio Liberty, or more precisely some of the leftover managers of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), are in violation of the first part of this rule, despite the best efforts of its newly-appointed interim president for one year, Kevin Klose, who himself is a distinguished journalist, former Washington Post Moscow correspondent, former NPR president, and professor of journalism. Klose was also RFE/RL president in the 1990s. And if public relations or U.S. public diplomacy in Russia are to be believable and effective, the old management team at RFE/RL is also in violation of the second part of Orwell’s or Hearst’s rule because effective PR cannot completely ignore the unpleasant truth.


Not that there is any doubt that Klose has every intention to promoting good journalism, but he has only been at his new post a few weeks, dealing with some of the most difficult management problems he had inherited. ... George Orwell would have been proud of those who did their job according to sound principles of journalism despite being told by the former management team they were wrong, proud of those who resigned in protest and those who signed protest letters, risking their careers. Their spirit has not been broken. There is a lot of outstanding work being done Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists in defense of freedom for very little money. Kevin Klose must make sure that those who made this work difficult, and in some cases impossible, are no longer able to do their damage to the organization, which is by far America’s most cost-effective national security asset that all Americans should be proud of and protect." Image from entry, with caption: Lyudmila Alexeeva with RFE/RL acting President Kevin Klose and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine

60 Years of Radio Liberty (Svoboda): Coverage as Exercise in Propaganda - BBGWatcher, usgbroadcasts.com: "By Leon (pen-name of RFE/RL insider) [:] Some of us are working at Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty in Prague and write this letter under  an opaque pen-name because we know very well that those people who did their utmost to do away with the 60-year-old glorious traditions of Radio Liberty, are still there where they used to be: in high places. What we don’t know, is how long the present limbo situation will last under the interim Acting President of RFE/RL, Mr. Kevin Klose, assigned to his post for one year. Will they survive his tenure? Hence, the pen-name.  In the meantime, while Mr. Klose in Washington resolutely  denied that Radio Liberty is practicing propaganda, being rather in “constant iterative search for  'factual reality,' the coverage of Radio Liberty (Radio Svoboda) anniversary by RFE/RL site in English and RL’s site in Russian was propaganda at its worse: relevant facts were not reported, analyses avoided, connections between events absent, names dropped."

Sergei Kovalyov at Radio Liberty 60th anniversary event in Moscow [video] - BBGWatcher, usgbroadcasts.com: "The gathering in Moscow on March 1 was organized by Radio Liberty in Exile, a group of fired Radio Liberty journalists and their supporters.


Sergei Kovalyov a Russian human rights activist and politician and a former Soviet dissident and political prisoner. The video is in Russian." Kovalyov image from entry

Vitaly Portnikov at Radio Liberty 60th anniversary event in Moscow voices support for fired journalists - BBGWatcher, usgbroadcasts.com: "The 60th anniversary event was organized in Moscow on March 1 by Radio Liberty in Exile, a group of fired Radio Liberty journalists and their supporters. Vitali Portnikov is one of Ukraine’s most famous independent journalists.


Vitaly Portnikov, is the president of TVi (Ukrainian: ТВі)  which is now Ukraine’s only independent TV channel. His station is known for its critical coverage of the Ukrainian government. Until recently, Portnikov also participated in Radio Liberty programs." Portnikov image from entry

Ivan Tolstoy praises solidarity of Radio Liberty journalists who resigned in protest - BBGWatcher, usgbroadcasts.com: "Ivan Tolstoy, who still works at Radio Liberty in Prague, spoke at the gathering organized on March 1 in Moscow by Radio Liberty in Exile about solidarity of those Radio Liberty journalists who resigned in protest against the mass firing of their colleagues.


He also mentioned Mario Corti in Italy and Ted Lipien in the United States among those who gave support to fired Radio Liberty staff." Tolstoy image from entry

Verbal combat: The rise of Israel’s word warriors - Shmuley Boteach, Jerusalem Post: "How did Israel, the Middle East’s sole democracy, which respects the rights of women, gays and everyone in-between, become one of the most maligned and hated nations on earth? How is it possible that Israel retains, in a global poll of citizens of 22 countries conducted by Globescan, the same negative rating as North Korea (50) and is seen more negatively then even Iran, which stones women to death? The answer is that Israel has paid lip service to the verbal assault against its reputation for decades. Israeli hasbarah (public diplomacy) has been a monumental failure not because Israel cannot speak but because it failed to understand the importance of words. While Israel was developing advanced radar and the Iron Dome defensive shield, the Arabs were unleashing a global army of articulate spokespeople on campuses, the BBC and CNN. Arab leaders who were Israel’s ostensible allies were criticizing Israel daily at the UN. It did not take long before Israel – defenseless and silent – became one of the great pariah nations of the world. And the only way to combat it now and reverse the growing deligitimization it is to create an army of 'word warriors' who employ the power of truth to champion Israel’s cause. First, we must create an institute, an advanced scholarship, where young Jewish leaders will be trained to become charismatic spokespeople of the Jewish community and defenders of Israel worldwide. The institute would provide real-world media training, debate preparation, broadcasting, op-ed writing and rhetoric in an effort to create the most charismatic spokespeople for Israel and a new generation of global champions of the Jewish cause. It is the objective of This World: The Jewish Values Network, to create this institute in the near future. Second, the biggest battles for Israel’s defense today are taking place on college campuses worldwide. But the focus of pro- Israel activism at universities has been to bring pro-Israel speakers to address student groups. This is a noble effort but is ultimately hampered at many a campus by a fatal flaw. For every student that comes to listen to pro-Israel groups, there are two students that come to protest. The key is to rob them of this victory by inviting Israel’s detractors and their spokespeople to formal debates."

Yesh Atid's wimps: What Yair Lapid needs most right now is for the Knesset members of the party he heads to recover their lost spines and keep him from becoming a dictator - Oudeh Bashara, haaretz.com: "The first signs of Lapid's delirium can be detected in his journalistic writings [on Lapid, see]. A column of his after the Turkish flotilla incident in 2010 raised questions in my mind about his judgment. After attacking those responsible for Israel's public diplomacy, Lapid set out his doctrine: 'You want an example? If [the hasbara officials] understand anything from this, then hundreds of missiles and other materiel that were intercepted on previous weapons ships that tried to reach the Gaza Strip would be waiting on the beach, arranged on tarpaulins, for the dozens of television crews who turned up on Monday at the Ashdod beach. And you know what the foreign television crews would do? They would have filmed it! And these would be the only pictures broadcast in the early hours by all the world's television stations! Why? Because there would be nothing else to broadcast.' He added: 'The flotilla's spokespeople would of course try to explain that this weaponry is not from their ships, but nobody would have listened to them.' The column was headed 'Amateurs.' Putting aside the moral issue, that lying is wrong, the fact is that anyone who believes that such a transparent lie could deceive the world is much more deserving of the epithet 'amateur.' But the fault does not lie with him alone, most of it belongs to the wimpy environment in which he operates."

Interview with CPPCC member Yao Ming - globaltimes.cn: "FEI YE: As a Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association, how are you planning to push the work in this area? YAO MING: The way public diplomacy works, is just like visiting your neighbors, your relatives or your friends.


The atmosphere is very relaxed, but through this process you get to know each other’s families, personalities and thoughts in a very natural and fluid way. If a problem arises in the future, this base that you have established with each other will help you in better communicating and understanding the situation and that’s public diplomacy." Ming image from

RELATED ITEMS

Hollywood’s propaganda - presstv.ir: There isn’t any part of popular culture which allows the citizens of this country to escape the glorification of American imperialism. One can’t watch a football game without seeing an honor guard present the colors, or soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, or in the worst case scenario a flyover of military jets. Commercials advertising everything from cars to dog food present endless images of soldiers returning home from the battlefield. The movie industry has embraced the glorification of militarism and American violence practiced abroad as eagerly as professional sports or advertising. There is scarcely a big budget action movie whose plot doesn’t include a scene on an aircraft carrier and even children’s cartoons and games are brought back to life with story lines made in cooperation with the Department of Defense. Now the propaganda has migrated from the backdrop of action movies to being the focal point of serious drama. Two recently commercially successful and award winning movies were all about the empire. They were praised by critics and popular with audiences as they spread vicious lies and or defended the worst impulses of the American government. Osama bin Laden had barely taken his last breath when Hollywood gave the green light to dramatize the story of his assassination.


The film Zero Dark Thirty filled the bill, complete with a validation of torture, which is considered a war crime nearly everywhere on earth except the United States. The producers of Zero Dark Thirty were given access to classified documents, an action which ought to have impugned the film makers’ integrity and made it unacceptable to audiences and critics. The Obama administration forgot about its draconian whistle blower punishments in order to make sure that the president and his policies were lionized on film. While in one instance propaganda demanded a speedy take on history, in another case an old story suddenly became interesting. Thirty years after Americans were held at their embassy in Iran, Hollywood came calling at an opportune moment politically. Argo won an Academy Award at the precise moment that the Obama administration is making its most serious case for war against Iran. The story of the six Americans who escaped to the Canadian embassy would seem to be interesting enough on its own merits, but the filmmakers added a climactic but completely fictional chase down an airport runway just in case any viewers didn’t hate Iranians enough by the end of the movie. Not to be outdone in the propaganda department, the lead role was played by a white actor when the real life and still living protagonist, Antonio Mendez, is Latino. Image from entry

RUSSICA



--From (Loose translation: "Rap -- Our Faith!")

No comments: