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The CPD Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.
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FEB 22, 2010
Posted by Rob Asghar
All posts by Rob Asghar
If Pakistan were a person, who would it be? Would it be Odysseus, undergoing a series of grueling tests in order to claim its true heroic identity? Would it be a hapless Sancho Panza, looking on with alarm as it’s dragged into ruin by the misadventures of those around it? As a Pakistani-American, I hope Pakistan someday turns out to be Odysseus. But for my money, Pakistan could best be characterized in 2010 as Uncle Leo of “Seinfeld” fame. Can you recall the “Shower Head” episode in which Jerry, on The Tonight Show, pokes fun of Uncle Leo’s paranoid tendency…... Full Text
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OCT 30, 2009
Posted by Rob Asghar
All posts by Rob Asghar
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is spending a few days in Pakistan, ostensibly to build up trust. It should be of great concern to the Obama administration, however, that one prominent Pakistani greeted her with a Daily Beast column headlined, “Hillary, Go Home.” That column was penned by Fatima Bhutto, the young and progressive journalist and poet who just happens to be the niece of the late Benazir Bhutto. Fatima’s concerns include this: Clinton, who has fondly reminisced about her decades-long friendship with President Zardari, dating back to the time when they were both first spouses, promised when she landed…... Full Text
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OCT 7, 2009
Posted by Rob Asghar
All posts by Rob Asghar
Alex Rodriguez recently wrote an excellent page-one piece in the Los Angeles Times, examining broad distrust among Pakistanis regarding the United States’ plans to expand its well-fortified embassy in Islamabad. The Obama Administration coolly states that such an expansion—involving the acquisition of 18 acres nearby and a sharp increase in long-term embassy staffing—is necessary to administer a tripling of nonmilitary aid to Pakistan, to the tune of $1.5 billion annually. Those on the Pakistani street and in the halls of power aren’t buying it. "That just doesn't sound plausible," former army chief Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg told the Times. "People…... Full Text
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AUG 27, 2009
Posted by Rob Asghar
All posts by Rob Asghar
How do you perform public diplomacy effectively in the Age of Drama Queens? It’s a special challenge if you’re Judith McHale, the State Department’s new Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, with a special charge to rebuild America’s image in the Muslim world, especially in places such as Pakistan. I sat in on a meeting in early August in which a successful Pakistani businessman assured Undersecretary McHale, who was about to make her first visit to Pakistan, that she would find the majority of Pakistan’s population to be moderate and friendly, despite what all the polling data says. McHale went on to…... Full Text
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JUL 20, 2009
Posted by Rob Asghar
All posts by Rob Asghar
One of the mysteries of our day is that American hard power has been so ineffective for so many years in apprehending Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri), leaving the group free to use public diplomacy to speak to Muslim publics — especially to a Pakistani nation that distrusts the United States. Somehow, recorded messages keep making their way to the media, most recently when al-Zawahiri released an audio message warning Pakistanis that the United States plans to "break up this nuclear-capable country and transform it into tiny fragments, loyal to and dependent on the…... Full Text
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