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DEAF IS DUMB – WHY LISTENING IS POWERFUL
FEB 18, 2009
 Posted by John Worne
All posts by John Worne


The British Council announced at the start of February, that we have had to suspend our operations in Iran. A sad day for the British Council, and also for tens of thousands of Iranians who have engaged with our cultural and education programmes in recent years. So far so uncontroversial. However, let’s not forget the deeper loss – the loss to the people of the UK. It’s easy to think of public diplomacy as being one way – we give to (or often tell) them. The central premise of cultural relations, and I think the ‘smarter’ versions of public diplomacy…... Full Text
Tags: media • iran • british council
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THE KREMLIN’S CHANNEL
FEB 3, 2009
 Posted by Mark Dillen
All posts by Mark Dillen


Students of public diplomacy and propaganda are quick to point out the difference between the two, but sometimes it’s not so easy. One man’s strategic government effort to communicate with foreign publics can be another man’s tendentious information blitz to smear the reputation of another country. Nowadays, the clumsy and blunt-edged attacks that characterized the state-owned media of the Soviet Union are a thing of the past, and even a less than open media environment — such as that in Russia, China, Iran or Cuba — is unable to totally prevent the movement of information and ideas across national borders…... Full Text
Tags: united states • media • russia
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VLAD THE PRODUCER: PUTIN SCORNS SOFT POWER; USES RUSSIAN FILM INDUSTRY FOR DOMESTIC PROPAGANDA
JAN 30, 2009
 Posted by Neal Rosendorf
All posts by Neal Rosendorf


Vladimir Putin is obsessed with cinema’s potential to sway hearts and minds. Over the past several years, Russia’s paramount leader has been tightening the screws on his country’s film industry. What is most remarkable about Putin’s move is not his power grab per se, Radio Free Europe’s anxiety-laden reportage in late December notwithstanding. As an instinctive autocrat in a country with a notorious history of state control of cinema, the logic of his strategy is straightforward. Rather, what is noteworthy and disquieting is the goal of his strategy. Putin’s program evinces little evident interest in burnishing Russia’s overseas reputation. Internal…... Full Text
Tags: soft power • russia • film • cinema • putin
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THE CASE FOR CULTURE
JAN 19, 2009
 Posted by John Worne
All posts by John Worne


As Hillary Clinton said last week, "America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America. "We must use what has been called 'smart power,' the full range of tools at our disposal," she said, embracing diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural strategies. In a poll commissioned by the British Council which we published last week, we found that nearly two-thirds of Americans were worried about the U.S.’s standing abroad, over 8 out of 10 thought it was important for the U.S. to build better relationships with other countries and 79%…... Full Text
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LETTER FROM MOSCOW
NOV 13, 2008
 Posted by Nicholas J. Cull
All posts by Nicholas J. Cull


It is a confession for a historian of the Cold War to admit that he had never visited Russia until last week, and that is the case for me. I nearly went in 1975 but the “evil forces of capitalism” contrived to scrap the educational cruise ship on which my family and I were booked. I saw something of the Eastern bloc in Czechoslovakia and East Berlin in the 1980s; I had Russian friends, and even published on Russian subjects, but never having seen Russia for myself was a significant gap in my experience. And quite an experience it turned…... Full Text
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