September 6 Public Diplomacy Review

“I miss George W. Bush. ... That man knew how to sell a war."

--Political satirist Stephen Colbert; cited in Bulletin News, LLC (September 5); image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Shilling for a Living: Public Diplomacy in Russia - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well:  "Wow, Russia. ‘Lot going on there, Obama attending the G-20, what with Russia taking in NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Russian support for the other side in Syria, the famous Obama-Putin sourpuss photos, why, golly, you’d figure America’s public diplomacy warriors at Embassy Moscow would be busy, busy, busy seeking out Russian hearts and minds to influence. Instead, those diplomatic warriors are seeking Russian stomachs to fulfill with America’s last domestically-made product, junk food. Shilling for a living, one of our best, Joseph Kruzich, is pictured

to the left. He posted on his Facebook page: ['] Krispy Kreme doughnuts have arrived in Moscow. We had some at the American Embassy in Moscow yesterday. Delicious! [']  And oh yes, he did add the final exclamation point. Oh yes. Kruzich, who as a slim man makes a poor advocate for the goodness of America’s toxic junk food to the stout Russians, also apparently like potato chips. Here’s another terse Facebook post. He posted in Russian but here’s the Google version: ['] Today is the birthday of potato chips! Credited with creating the popular snack is American chef George Crumb, who invented the chip this day 160 years ago. The finely chopped crisp was for a disgruntled restaurant customer at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, who said the french fries were cut too thick. ['] Nobody commented on the fact that the inventor of the potato chip was surnamed 'Crumb,' so I will. Also, it is not at all certain that Crumb was even the inventor. Facts, meh. Kruzich also seems to have a habit of reposting a lot of his boss’ stuff, but that is really just part of the overall job of a foreign service officer, so no points off for that. And to be fair, shilling for [crossed out in entry] promoting American products abroad is indeed one of those things America’s diplomats are told to do, whether it is Boeing 747s or the ever-popular F-16s we sell to various thugs and dictators, for freedom. …or is it? Perhaps Kruzich is… more clever, shall we say, more cunning, than we give him credit for? While Putin plays checkers, sticking his thumb in Obama’s eye and then moving on, perhaps Kruzich is playing chess. The long game here may be to slowly choke the Russian people to death on American-infiltrated cholesterol, until, gasping with strokes and heart attacks, they realize that you just. don’t. mess. with the U.S. Well played young diplomat, well played." Image from entry

Pope Francis on Syria – Voice of America website ignores papal statement - BBGWatcher, usgbroadcasts.com: "The Huffington Post reported that 'Pope Francis urged the Group of 20 leaders on Thursday to abandon the ‘futile pursuit’ of a military solution in Syria as the Vatican laid out its case for a negotiated settlement that guarantees rights for all Syrians, including minority Christians.' The Huffington Post used a story written by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press correspondent based in Rome, covering Vatican. As with many important international news stories in recent years, the papal statement was ignored Thursday by the Voice of America English website. VOA failed to post even a short news item on this story from Reuters, a practice that has become common for the Voice of America English website as badly managed VOA news operation seems less and less able to offer original reporting. As of Thursday evening, the Huffington Post report on Pope Francis’s statement had 2,233 Facebook 'Likes' and 2,605 comments. The most popular top VOA Syria-related story Thursday had only 25 Facebook 'Likes' and 1 (one) comment from the entire worldwide audience. ... The VOA Russian Service

is doing a better job of reporting. They are providing constant updates on the meeting in St. Petersburg. The Russian Service covered the Pope’s statement while VOA English did not." Image from entry

Accelerating cultural collaboration - Paul Madden, High Commissioner, Canberrablogs.fco.gov.uk: "I announced this year’s participants in the British Council’s Accelerator programme in Melbourne yesterday. The initiative takes up-and-coming indigenous cultural leaders from Australia to the UK, to work with mentors and peers. ... The British Council do a great job in promoting cultural relations around the world.

I’ve worked very closely with them during my career, particularly when I was head of Public Diplomacy at the FCO. In a country like Australia with such strong cultural ties to the UK, there seems to be some artistic event with a British link going on in most cities on most nights." Madden image from blog

RELATED ITEMS

Zapping Syria: Don't Do It, Mr. President - Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled View: Better than assassination, Assad and his co-conspirators in chemical warfare

should be subjected to the strictures of the International Criminal Court, which is equipped to deal with war crimes. Image from

Why America Is Saying 'No' Syria and Obama: Wrong time, wrong place, wrong plan, wrong man - Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: The world must think—and speak—with stature and seriousness, of the moment we're in and the darkness on the other side of the door. It must rebuke those who used the weapons, condemn their use, and shun the users. It must do more, in concert—surely we can agree on this—to help Syria's refugees. It must stand up for civilization. But a military strike is not the way, and not the way for America. We don't have to bow to the claim that if we don't attack Syria we are over as a great power.

Just Whose War Is This? - Pat Buchanan, townhall.com: If the rebels lose, we lose.

And if the rebels win, who wins? Uncaptioned image from article

Inaction on Syria Threatens U.S. Security: If America's 'red lines' are viewed as meaningless, larger and more costly conflicts are certain - Joe Lieberman and Kyl, Wall Street Journal [subscription]

Would Bombing Syria Be a 'Just War'? Jean Bethke Elshtain believed it is America's duty to 'respond to the cries of the aggrieved' - Robert P. George, Wall Street Journal [subscription]

Does anyone really believe Assad used chemical weapons in Syria? - Thomas Mullen, Washington Times: Does anyone really believe the Assad government launched chemical weapons attacks against rebels and civilians? That virtually every politician and pundit talks about the attacks as if it were proven they occurred and that Assad’s government perpetrated them is beyond surreal. U.N. weapons inspectors say that they won’t even be able to confirm that chemical weapons were used for two more weeks. Yet, the Obama administration says it is not only certain the attack occurred, but that Assad’s government launched it.

Syria highlights the rise of the anti-war right - Ryan James Girdusky, Washington Times: In the wake of a war with Syria, many of the top conservative writers and pundits have turned from war hawks to suspicious pessimists, critical of another Middle Eastern war.

As Obama hesitates, Israel worries: The president's non-action on Syria indicates he can't be counted on to stand up to Iran's nuclear threat either - Benny Morris, latimes.com: Clearly, Obama and America are irresolute and hesitant about launching a short, limited strike against Assad's government, and they can be expected to be much more irresolute and hesitant when it comes to tackling the far greater threat posed by Iran's nuclear project.

Syrian propaganda in full swing - www.3news.co.nz: Syria's government claims half the rebel fighters the US is helping are actually foreigners - Islamic radicals and members of al Qaeda. The US says it's only 15 to 25 percent. But there was also propaganda in support of a US military strike. A CBS reporter was allowed to meet a rebel commander, who implored the US to do more. He was grateful for the US rations they'd been sent, but said they needed weapons.

Xi Jinping rallies party for propaganda war on internet: President's battle cry against 'rumour-mongers' in speech last month is revealed, with call for a 'strong army to seize ground of new media' - Cary Huang and Keith Zhai, scmp.com: President Xi Jinping has issued a call to arms against the country's unruly internet, ordering the Communist Party's propaganda machine to build "a strong army" to "seize the ground of new media."

Xi's remarks, made during a national meeting of propaganda chiefs in Beijing last month, came just as the central government was stepping up its campaign against internet "rumours" and reining in influential online celebrities who can command millions of followers. Xi Jinping image from article

Andrzej Poczobut: China won't give money for Lukashenka's propaganda - charter97.org: Attempts of the Belarusian ruler to get money from China for propaganda seem futile. Andrzej Poczobut, a Hrodna-based correspondent for Gazeta Wyborcza, spoke to charter97.org about the Belarusian ruler's proposal to China to set up a media holding. “Lukashenka's regime has faced problems with propaganda due to lack of money. The idea of uniting state-run newspapers doesn't work being crashed by ambitions of propaganda employees who got used to be editorial heads and occupy other high posts. The authorities want to bring them all into a collective farm, which means the number of positions and the volume of money will decrease,” the journalist noted. He stressed that the media holding required money. China is the only country Lukashenka can appeal to in this situation.

The Criminal Voices of Media Propaganda. The Insiduous Role of the BBC - William Bowles,
globalresearch.ca: The BBC's mandate is to report, accurately and impartially, events. Instead, the BBC’s ‘news’ coverage amounts to nothing more than propaganda for the state, without the slightest attempt at presenting conflicting views or interpretation of events. Is this what we should expect from a publicly funded news organisation especially one that has cloaked itself in a veneer of objectivity?

Germany’s Conspicuous Silence - Roger Cohen, New York Times: The United States wants Germany to assume a global role commensurate with its power. Time then for a reality check: Germany will not lead. “The scars of history are really very, very serious, and so we made the decision to bid farewell to the concept of a state based on power and become a merchant state,” Joschka Fischer, the former foreign minister, said.

Prof.: Nazi propaganda portrayed ‘unmasked’ Jews - Ann Mary Mathew, thedartmouth.com: For the average German, anti-Semitic propaganda offered a way of making sense, or as historian Jeffrey Herf said yesterday in Filene Auditorium, "making nonsense" of World War II. Herf, who is still in the process of researching the topic, used the personal journals of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels as well as the information ministry's press directives to support his arguments. According to Herf, Goebbels' narrative presents Jews as furious with the Germans who "unmasked" them. Goebbels' propaganda eventually contributed to the belief that Jewish "marionette regimes" in the United States, England and the Soviet Union came together to wage war on Germany and the fear that after the war was over, the international Jewry would wipe out the German people. At first, nobody except Goebbels believed this, Herf said, but eventually this "Nazi war narrative" became widely accepted.

A chronicle of Apartheid's propaganda war on black America - Rebecca Davis, dailymaverick.co.za: New York Times correspondent Ron Nixon has written an account of how the Apartheid government repeatedly attempted to win the hearts and minds of African Americans.

Though it’s well known that the Apartheid regime spent millions on its propaganda war internationally, this chronicle of its focus on black America makes for startling reading. Image from article

IMAGE

--From Ryan Grim, "This Photo Tells All You Need To Know About The House Syria Vote," Huffington Post, which notes: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who supports strikes in Syria, will need more than a 100 of her caucus members to approve the resolution. The latest vote count has well more than 200 members of the House leaning no, but the administration still has time."