A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Planning of online platform for language learning takes shape
A group of international experts gathers today in Shanghai, China, to discuss the feasibility of a Cyber Network for Learning Languages, an online portal to web resources for learning languages. Opening the meeting this morning, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General, Abdul Waheed Khan, said that the initiative, which was launched by the Chinese Government during the meeting of UNESCO’s Executive Board in October 2008, is “very timely indeed since it has the great potential to contribute to widen the access to the Internet and to promote its language diversity at the same time”.
China says ‘no thanks’ to G-2
At the Sino-European Union (EU) summit in Prague last week, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao rejected the concept of a Group of Two (G-2) comprising China and the United States, saying "it is totally ungrounded and wrong to talk about the dominance of two countries in international affairs". It was the first time a Chinese leader has publicly commented on the notion of a G-2, though Wen and a number of Chinese officials and think-tanks had cast doubt on the practicability of past notions of a "Chimerica".
Middle East Hangs on Obama’s Words
Elections in Lebanon and Iran; a long-promised Obama speech to the Muslim world in Cairo; summits with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and a growing rift between the US and Israel. The Middle East is heading into one of those watershed periods that could define the region for years to come.
Alhurra Bleeding Viewers, Poll Finds, But Spending is Up
The last two years, the budget of the U.S.-funded Alhurra satellite station has grown 20 percent. From 2008 to 2009, a poll found that Alhurra's viewership in the Middle East dropped from about 2 percent to 0.5 percent. Results from the largest public opinion poll in the Arab world indicate that Alhurra, the U.S.-funded Arab satellite station that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than half a billion dollars, is the least-watched station in the region and is losing viewers.
During His Trip to Egypt, Obama Should Visit Gaza
Obama should take the opportunity, during this visit to Egypt next week, to visit Gaza. He should express his condolences for the loss of so many innocent lives, call for a lifting of the inhumane siege that continues to imprison an entire population, and support an investigation of how U.S. military funds to Israel are being spent.
What Will Obama Say in Cairo?
The speech is expected to offer a redefinition of American foreign policy in the region; it’s meant to replace the Bush administration’s “war against terrorism” and to repudiate Samuel F. Huntington’s famous formulation of a war between Islamic civilization and the West, which many in the Middle East believe motivates American policy.
Is Public Diplomacy Journalism Dead?
Maybe public diplomacy journalism is only dying, or maybe it has just become boring to write about the subject these days. This seems to be so on both sides of the pond… there must be a wake-up call at the source to regenerate interest in the dialogue on U.S. PD among writers and readers of the subject, and that wake-up call must come from the White House itself.
Hanoi Hopes to Spread ‘Vietnamese wave’ in S. Korea
Vietnam is planning to open its first cultural center in South Korea to spread a "Vietnamese wave" among the Koreans, amid the rising popularity of South Korean television shows and other cultural content in Vietnam
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