April 6

“The problem is that you Americans think every problem has a solution.”

--One member of Congress quoting former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt as saying; image from

VIDEOS

Street Art of the Arab World on YouTube - Robert Mackey, New York Times: "The Cairene journalist and blogger Soraya Morayef, who has written extensively about the Egyptian revolution’s graffiti, has produced a series of new video reports on street art of the Arab world, as part of a series forMOCAtv, the YouTube channel of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles."

New North Korean Propaganda Video Shows Soldiers Shooting Cut-Outs Of American Soldiers…Oddly not shown on the video, the soldiers eating a delicious bowl of tree bark soup because there’s no food in Marxist utopia - weaselzippers.us

Creepy BioShock Infinite propaganda trailer sings tales of the Songbird - geek.com

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

North Africa: Under Secretary [for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] Sonenshine On Women in a Changing Middle East - United States Department of States, posted at allafrica.com: "In the public diplomacy realm, which I head, we promote women's empowerment and participation in conflict resolution and decision-making. We conduct leadership seminars for foreign women Fulbright students in the U.S. And we encourage women's leadership and confidence through a number of exchange programs, such as our Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership and our Empowering Women and Girls through Sports Initiative. Through our TechWomen and TechGirls programs, we foster connections between women in the region and their counterparts working in technology and social media—two sectors traditionally closed to women. Graduates of those programs pass along their experience - including two women to whom I'll refer as Fatma and Nadia, who are now teaching technology to poor students in Yemen. Stories like these give us the confidence and the evidence that our work matters - and underscores our commitment to supporting civil society, media, political parties, and academic institutions that understand and work to empower women. We see incremental progress all over the region."

Egypt’s Morsi tweets against US Embassy “propaganda”, then deletes - Joseph Mayton, bikyanews.com: "Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s official Twitter account responded to the United States Embassy in Cairo tweet that promoted the response by American television comedic host Jon Stewart after his 'counterpart' Bassem Youssef was charged with defaming Islam and insulting the president. 'It’s inappropriate for a diplomatic mission to engage in such negative political propaganda,' Morsi initially wrote on the micro-blogging site. Then a short while later, after massive responses, the tweet was deleted by his account. But local media were able to take screenshots of it before it was taken down and the news has sparked numerous conversations on the topic.

Youssef, using his wit, then tweeted at both of them, saying 'guys calm down, there is bread and strawberries between us,' mocking the term Egyptians use, 'to have bread and salt between us,' meaning 'we are close as a family.' The TV host was released on 15,000 Egyptian pounds bail on Sunday. The prosecutor general had ordered the arrest of Youssef on charges of contempt of religion and insulting Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Youssef hosts a weekly evening political satire show 'al-Bernameg' (The Program) that has been a major success since it premiered in November on CBC channel. Several lawsuits had been filed against Youssef to ban his weekly show, accusing him of mocking Morsi, violating the social code of conduct and defaming religious scholars." Image from 

Parking under the National Mall should be part of an integrated approach to visitor services and management - Richard Layman, urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com: "While controversial, the current state of public opinion with regard to federal institutions (Congress, the President, federal agencies) should be discussed, and provision for better and more coordinated information, services, and programs should be considered in that context--to improve public opinion and attitudes about the federal government, its institutions, and agencies.

The revision of this element is also timely given the increased recognition that the US needs to market itself (e.g., as discussed in the recent Washington Post article, ‘Selling the U.S.A.,’ and general concerns about public diplomacy and what Simon Anholt calls ‘Brand America’). It's not helped by the fact that most members of Congress are more focused on their districts/states and less concerned about how DC and the Federal Interest is presented, managed, and marketed." Image from entry

China Doesn’t Need Soft Power To Make Impact Leave a comment - charlotteyoung, thediplocable.wordpress.com: "China still has a far way to go in asserting itself through public diplomacy, but with the spotlight from the Olympics and its economic prowess, I doubt a lack of soft power will stop it from reaching its foreign policy goals."

Conflicting Narratives in South Africa - Jennifer Yael Green, PD News–CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "[T]he strength and charm of South Africa’s citizens has long been its strongest public diplomacy tool, the diverse and complex substance of the country far superseding its mere style. ... The Ubuntu philosophy is one of the first

things I learned upon stepping on South African soil over eight years ago – literally that 'people are people through other people.' ... If South Africa is going to reenergize its citizens and overcome its own negative narratives, it will need to remember that Ubuntu is more than the heart of a branding campaign, but the true core of the new South Africa. Jennifer Yael Green is a graduate student pursuing a Master's degree in Public Diplomacy from USC's Annenberg School for Communication and  Journalism." Image from entry

Why Kurdish politicians should start learning the language of development - hurriyetdailynews.com: Turkey is in a process of reconciliation. After 30 years of armed Kurdish uprising, the country is in a state of cautious optimism. This is Turkey’s second attempt in the last 10 years to move toward a solution. The first one failed after a series of public diplomacy disasters. The government was at the time unaware of the nonlinear dynamics of reconciliation processes. I hope that this time is different. If peace does come about, should we expect a dividend? Yes. But who has the most to gain from the process, Gaziantep or Diyarbakır? Gaziantep, definitely. ... Gaziantep ... [has] mostly Turkish while Diyarbakır has a mostly Kurdish population."

'Africa's young population is huge market for Indian business' - newindianexpress.com: "Indian firms should work to cash in on the demographic dividends on offer in the African continent, an Africa-based Indian corporate leader said here. 'The youth of both India and Africa are becoming very attractive. While the western world, Russia, China, Japan are all graying, the median age in India is 25 and in Africa it is only 18,' said Manoj Kohli, CEO (International), Bharti Airtel, who is based in Kenya. 'This (young population) is fantastic for the mobile industry, for internet and broadband in particular. Millions of customers in Africa use our phones as mobile ATMs,' Kohli said at an event Friday evening at the India Habitat Centre to award young entrepreneurs from India and Africa, organized by the initiative Indiafrica: A Shared Future, and supported by the Public Diplomacy Division of India's Ministry of External Affairs."

Ex-FM not to fight polls - Oman Daily Observer: "Pakistan's youngest and high profile former foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, is out of the race for the upcoming May general elections. ... Responding to a report in media about regularising temporary employees of the Foreign Ministry, most of them from her home town of Muzaffargarh during her last day in office [,]Khar

responded 'Have you forgotten that I got four additional seats of grade 22 approved for the Foreign Ministry.' This in itself was no easy task. I ensured during my tenure that I got private sector expertise from the legal, international law and public diplomacy side for the Foreign Office." Image from article

International Culture Week in Hungary Emphasizes Debate - globaldebateblog.blogspot.com: "The ICWiP International Culture Week in Pécs is one of the most important and popular complex summer school events of Central Europe and the Alps-Adriatic region.

ICWiP and its International Studies Summer School provide an opportunity for students from all corners of the world to get engaged with a series of debates on topics closely connected with our transnational and ‘glocal’ world. After 17 years we decided to rethink the official program structure, and transform our project into a debate summer academy with the central topic: 'Culture and Diplomacy in Our Global World'. The major topic, i.e. the role of cultural and public diplomacy in international relations will be discussed from different angles, using interactive methods such as British Parliamentary Debating (BPD) with the help of invited debate experts and trainers."

US law professor - Karu Hangawatte - next Sri Lanka envoy to France - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: "Karunaratne Hangawatte, Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) has been appointed by the Government of Sri Lanka as the next ambassador to France. ... The Asian Tribune wishes Ambassador Karu Hangawatte

a rewarding experience in Paris with his expertise in public affairs, public diplomacy and strategic communication." Image from article

Two months in and trip to Nyanga - The Adventures of Nikki and Evan: "I've finally started work and am loving it. I get to cover a huge range of environmental and development issues – from wildlife poaching to corporate social responsibility to developing a technology hub in Harare – which perfectly matches my generalist tendencies and broad interests.

Nikki and I have even been able to collaborate on a number of projects, merging the public diplomacy and economic perspectives. What a fantastic opportunity! Nikki is working hard and is generally very busy. Although her office building is not the best (i.e. sporadic elevator functionality, frequent blackouts, limited workspace, and a HVAC system literally based on a termite mound – no, seriously), she has enjoyed meeting some incredibly bright and motivated Zimbabweans."
Image from entry

RELATED ITEMS

North Korea 'Rattles Sabres'; Meanwhile, U.S. Pretends to Drop Nuclear Bombs on Them - Peter Hart, fair.org: there are some real world events that might bother North Korea's leadership–no matter what one might think about the level of North Korean paranoia. On much of the U.S. television coverage, the threats are virtually all coming from one side, without any explanation, and the United States is merely on the scene to bring down the level of tension.

As ABC's Raddatz (3/31/13) explained: "The U.S., which launched two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers last week to carry out a practice bombing run less than 50 miles from North Korea, says it will continue to respond to provocation. The U.S. will not say specifically what those counter-provocation measures may be. But an indication of how serious they are, the Pentagon says they hope they never have to put them into effect." Again, the standard is pretty clear: Statements by North Korea says are threatening provocations, while when the U.S. pretends to drop nuclear bombs just across your border, well, that's just how you "respond to provocation." Image from article, with caption: NBC's Brian Williams is talking about North Korea, which has no weapons capable of reaching the U.S.–not the U.S., which has thousands of missiles that could hit North Korea.

South Koreans Users of Propaganda Website Risk Punishment: Users Could Be in Violation of Archaic South Korean Anti-Communist Law - Records released by hackers show that over 2000 South Koreans are subscribed to North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri, and are now thought to be at risk of punishment under South Korea’s archaic National Security Act if found guilty of engaging in subversive “anti-South Korean” activities. The hacker group Anonymous Korea made the details available in three parts (1, 2, 3), causing South Korean news agency Yonhap to speculate whether or not South Koreans found subscribing to the North Korean propaganda website were in infringement of the law. The website, Uriminzokkiri (meaning “our [Korean] people, together”), is based in China, and produces anti-South Korean and anti-U.S. propaganda for a predominantly South Korean audience. It is not the same as the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea’s official state media mouthpiece. “Prosecutors said they will have to look into whether the email account owners conducted any anti-state activities before deciding on any legal steps,” Yonhap reported. The McCarthyist law was initially introduced in the 1940s to render communism and anti-government activity illegal, and was used to sentence South Korean communists to death in the 1970s. Although those infringing the law no longer receive similarly harsh punishment, cases of South Koreans falling foul of the act are still commonplace, with the most recent high-profile case involving the indictment of a baby photographer who jokingly retweeted tweets from North Korea’s official twitter account.

North Korean propaganda machine used Lithuanian President - lithuaniatribune.com: Over a month ago, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė accepted letters of credence from the Ambassador of North Korea to Lithuania. However, nobody expected that the welcoming speech of the President of Lithuania could be used for the political propaganda of the country that is now threatening the world with war.

KCNA, the state news agency of North Korea, has informed the media that Dalia Grybauskaitė had expressed her approval of the official position of North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) on the unification with the South Korea. Image from article, with caption: President Grybauskaite meets with North Korean Ambassador Pak Kwang Cholo

North Korea Caught Photoshopping Hovercrafts Into Its Propaganda - Maggie Lang, gawker.com: An image released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows several imposing hovercrafts approaching a snowy beach, while armed and battle-ready soldiers dash toward the shore. Writing for the Atlantic, Alan Taylor points out that the image was almost certainly Photoshopped:

South Korea has already won - Max Fisher, Washington Post: As the North remains ever-reliant on a distrustful South and an increasingly wary China, South Korea has expanded its exports beyond technology into popular culture, two realms long dominated by the West and Japan.

Hidden facts, false propaganda - Jameel Barkat and Kimia Parsi, risingkashmir.in: The US imposed sanctions on Iran are solely aimed for nefarious political interests i.e. oil and to demoralize Iran. This has been done in order to solidify the illegitimacy of Israel’s illegal settlements for which Iran has been acting as an “axe [sic] of resistance." On the pretext of “threat to international security”, the sanctions are undoubtfully a vengeance for America’s hegemony which Iran has uprooted by overthrowing the Ahmad Shah Palwa’s dictatorship, successfully resisted a bid of military coup up by US.

From Afghanistan to Syria: Women’s Rights, War Propaganda and the CIA - Julie Lévesque, globalresearch.ca: Women’s rights are increasingly heralded as a useful propaganda device to further imperial designs. Western heads of state, UN officials and military spokespersons will invariably praise the humanitarian dimension of the October 2001 US-NATO led invasion of Afghanistan, which allegedly was to fight religious fundamentalists, help little girls go to school, liberate women subjected to the yoke of the Taliban.

The logic of such a humanitarian dimension of the Afghan war is questionable. Lest we forget, Al Qaeda and the Taliban were supported from the very outset of the Soviet-Afghan war by the US, as part of a CIA led covert operation. It was the US which installed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 1996, a foreign policy strategy which resulted in the demise of Afghan women’s rights. Image from entry

America the war-weary and war-wary - David Ignatius, Washington Post: Obama recognizes the national war fatigue and made it a subtle centerpiece of his bid for reelection. He was emphatic about bringing troops home from Afghanistan and doing nation-building at home, rather than abroad. The big question is whether America’s war-weariness will undermine Obama’s pledge to use military force, if necessary, to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

A Syrian no-fly zone is the moral and strategic thing to do - Scott Cooper, Washington Post: A no-fly zone does not address the questions of a major covert-action program and those consequent risks. But it can lessen the slaughter, and it positions the United States on the right side of the conflict, morally and strategically.

The Kremlin's World - Ariel Cohen, New York Times: The Putin Doctrine further separates Russia from Western Europe and is especially critical of the United States. It also leaves no doubt: President Barack Obama’s “reset” policy cannot possibly survive his second term. The Putin Doctrine calls soft power “an integral component of modern international politics.” Astonishingly, it casts soft power as a tool of the Russian government’s commitment to “universal democratic values” and “human rights” — Moscow style.

This includes raising foreign awareness of the Russian language and culture to help burnish Russia’s image abroad. Also in this category: the Kremlin’s hiring of Goldman Sachs to improve investors’ perception of Russia. The document warns of the “destructive and unlawful use of ‘soft power’ and human rights concepts” by other countries to put “political pressure on sovereign regimes” and interfere “in internal affairs.” Image from article

The BBC and war propaganda: learning nothing from the Iraq lies - David McQueen, campaigniran.org: The tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq was marked in Baghdad with a wave of deadly bombings that killed at least sixty people and injured over two hundred. In Britain the anniversary brought on a wave of retrospectives and handwringing recollections by the likes of the BBC’s John Simpson. Simpson and other media pundits who gave credence to the government’s claims on WMD a decade ago have yet to apologise for their role in building the case for invasion. Instead they mourn the deaths of innocents and worry that Iraq has been unable to ‘move on’ ten years after a violent occupation.

Pakistan terms reports on Chamel Singh as 'malicious Indian propaganda' - dnaindia.com: Pakistani authorities on Sunday rejected as "malicious Indian propaganda" reports that Indian prisoner Chamel Singh had died after allegedly being assaulted by jail staff in Lahore, saying his death was caused by a sudden stroke and heart attack.

Nobel Peace Prize promotes propaganda, not peace - Benjamin Welch, dailynebraskan.com: This year, a record 259 people and organizations are competing for the Nobel Peace Prize, which comes with an approximate $1.2 million prize. The time has come to place less credence in awards by elitist organizations that have seemingly lost the original intention behind choosing Prize recipients. The legacy of people like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama (Mahatma Gandhi never won, unfortunately) is being tarnished when associated with laureates who haven’t fully earned their recognition or were awarded based on ulterior motives.

Gorgeous, Strange and Intense Propaganda Posters from China in the 1950s - io9.com: Propaganda posters, like advertisements are designed to be persuasive. And the 1950s, the height of the Cold War between communism and capitalism, were a heyday for propaganda all over the world. Here are some of the most incredible works of propaganda from the Chinese government during this period. Among the posters:

Judgement day for American Imperialism (Ni Gengye, 1954)

An airplane sprays chemicals (Wang Weirong, 1964)

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Russia has two allies: its army and its navy."

--Tsar Alexander III

AMERICANA

What is a B.A. in English worth anymore? - Mary Beth Marklein, USA Today: A record 87.9% of freshmen this year say a very important reason for going to college is "to be able to get a better job," according to an annual survey by UCLA's Cooperative Institute Research Program. And parents are more likely to strongly agree that vocational school — or no college at all — provides a better pathway to a good job than does a liberal arts education, says a survey out in March by Inside Higher Ed, a trade publication.