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John Brown aggregates all the most recent public diplomacy related news, including current issues in U.S. foreign policy, international broadcasting and media, propaganda, cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, anti-Americanism, and the reception of American popular culture abroad.

AUGUST 18-19, 2004
by John Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS REVIEW, AUGUST 18-19 QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY “ON OCT. 23, JUST 10 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION, THE WAR IN IRAQ WILL HAVE LASTED AS LONG AS THE 584-DAY U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN WORLD WAR I, FROM THE APRIL 6, 1917, DECLARATION OF WAR TO THE NOV. 11, 1918, ARMISTICE.” —Columnist George F. Will, “Ignoring History In Iraq” (Washington Post, August 18) **** “AN IMMENSE VACUUM THAT SUCKS EVERYTHING INTO INSTANT OBLIVION.” —Critic Jonathan Yardley, describing the Internet, in his “Halftime for Gonzo [review of “Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness: Modern History From the Sports Desk” by Hunter S. Thompson]” (Washington Post, August 19) **** “IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER FOR EMPIRES IN THE PAST, BEFORE THE DAYS OF INSTANT COMMUNICATION. THE ROMANS AND THE BRITISH DID NOT HAVE TO WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT POPULAR OPINION. THEY RAN THEIR TERRITORIES BY CO-OPTING LOCAL LEADERS AND CONSCRIPTING LOCAL ARMIES. THEY DID NOT TRY TO DO IT ALL THEMSELVES.” —Commentator Quentin Peel, in his “No Way To Change The World” (Financial Times” [see below item 22] CONTENTS A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY 1. TROOP MOVEMENT - DAVID L. ENGLIN (NEW REPUBLIC): The Bush administration’s plan to reduce U.S. forces in Europe and Asia would end probably the best thing America has had going in public diplomacy during the past 50 years – and at a time when public diplomacy is vital to U.S. security. Easily recognized by their jeans and baseball hats, military families have for decades been front-line ambassadors of American values and culture to the nations in which they have been stationed. And the diplomacy works both ways. When those same military families return to the United States, they become, in effect, ambassadors to their fellow Americans of the countries in which they have lived. Even allowing for the black eyes that America has occasionally suffered in Japan and elsewhere, there can be little doubt that, on balance, the presence of U.S. personnel and their families overseas has been a good thing for our country’s international image. LINK 2. WAR OF IDEAS: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IS VITAL IN BEATING TERRORISTS – OPINION (DALLAS NEWS, AUGUST 18): We can fight terrorists all we want in caves and at security checkpoints, but we also must challenge them in the classrooms, over the Internet and on the airwaves. That’s where the United States and its allies must reach the generation growing up in the Persian Gulf, Indonesia and the Philippines. We must show young Muslims – and their parents – the difference between dying as an al-Qaeda pawn and living free in a prosperous democracy. The State Department needs to expand student and professional exchanges between the U.S. and Muslim nations. Yes, some 9-11 hijackers abused student visas. But we can better enforce our own visa rules and at the same time step up efforts to show young, rule-abiding Arabs what Americans are like. The State Department also should send textbooks to Arab students so they learn…... FULL TEXT
 
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