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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.

NOVEMBER 16, 2004
by John Brown

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PRESS REVIEW, NOVEMBER 16 QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY “THESE ARE NOT ASSERTIONS. WHAT WE’RE GIVING YOU ARE FACTS AND CONCLUSIONS BASED ON SOLID INTELLIGENCE.” —Secretary of State Colin Powell, addressing the United Nations Security Council on Feb. 5, 2003, regarding Iraq; cited in editorial, “Good Soldier Powell” (New York Times, November 16) (see below item 22) **** “THIS IS LIKE A PLANET INSIDE A CONTINENT.” —Ariel Machado, manager of a Cuban dancing group, as he stood in the Las Vegas Stardust’s Wayne Newton Theater; cited in Nick Madigan, “Asylum Papers In, It’s Back to Work for Cuban Dancers” (New York Times, November 16) (see below item 42) **** “EXTREMOPHILES” —Microbes can survive in some of Earth’s most inhospitable environments; cited in John J. Fialka, “Position Available: Indestructible Bugs - To Eat Nuclear Waste Scientists Envision New Role For Sturdy Bacteria Breed; Creating ‘Super Conan’” (Wall Street Journal, November 16) LINK PAID SUBSCRIPTION A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY 1. THE POWELL LESSON - REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 16): A consequence of Mr. Powell’s failure to take control of his department was the near-collapse of U.S. public diplomacy. Partly this had to do with the department’s misbegotten efforts to sell American values to the Middle East by way of a Madison Avenue-inspired ad campaign. But the U.S. can’t be sold as a “brand,” like Cheerios; what America has to “sell” are freedom and democracy. The larger problem was that so few in the middle ranks at State—the folks the media call “sources”—were willing to defend and advocate the President’s policies behind the scenes; nor were they pushed to do so by their often equally ambivalent higher-ups. Instead, the department’s idea of public diplomacy too often amounted to spinning itself to an obliging media as the supposed last bastion of sanity amid an Administration overrun by neocon crazies. LINK PAID SUBSCRIPTION 2. MR. POWELL DEPARTS – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 16): Powell’s reluctance to travel—he spent less time abroad than any secretary of state in decades—greatly reduced his ability to cajole foreign leaders and charm their publics at a time when effective American public diplomacy was desperately needed. LINK 3. FROM BEHIND THE SCENES, RICE ON STAGE - TODD S. PURDUM (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 16): As secretary of state, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice would be charged with resolving the clashing views of the world. Ms. Rice has told friends that she sees Mr. Bush’s second term as a time when American diplomacy can return to the forefront after three years of international turbulence following the Sept. 11 attacks. But her own skills in the hot glare of public diplomacy have yet to be fully tested. LINK 4. STATE DEPT. DAILY PRESS BRIEFING FOR NOVEMBER 15 - PRESS RELEASE: US STATE DEPARTMENT (SCOOP.CO.NZ NEW ZEALAND): QUESTION: Do you expect any change in public diplomacy, especially in the U.S. international broadcasting, to Arab world in Iran? MR. BOUCHER: To the Arab world in Iran? You mean because of the Secretary’s…... FULL TEXT
 
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