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.
Iranian hoopsters in Utah say basketball - not politics - is their game
The State Department encourages "people-to-people" relations, and approved the idea. McIntyre said Jazz owner Larry Miller did, too, despite recent escalations in tensions between the rival nations over issues such as Iran's nuclear program. "Everyone said, 'It's not a bad thing to do, let's go along with it,' " McIntyre said. "Sports through diplomacy is not a bad thing." It might already be working, too.
Hysteria alert: Barack Obama starts world tour
You have to go back to the Beatles' first US tour to find a transatlantic trip freighted with the sort of pregnant excitement that attends the one Barack Obama is about to make next week...He will remind Europeans that they have obligations as noisy supporters of multilateralism as well as rights. In Afghanistan, over Iran's nuclear programme and in the broader war on terrorism, he will tell weak-willed European publics (and some governments) that the soft power they value so highly is not enough, and that a bit more hardware is needed.
It’s Time For Americans To Master A Second Language
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's recent comment that Americans should get their children to study Spanish or another second language has drawn an avalanche of criticism from English-only advocates and cable television anti-immigration zealots. But Obama couldn't have been more right. Whether it's Spanish, or other languages, Americans are way behind the rest of the industrialized world when it comes to mastering other languages.
U.S. Civil Military Imbalance for Global Engagement: Lessons from the Operational Level in Africa
This report describes how the increased militarization of U.S. foreign aid is complicating the achievement of American foreign policy goals in Africa. The report recommends that the US Africa Command, or AFRICOM, remain focused on security sector and peacekeeping capacity building, rather than hunting terror suspects under a thin mantle of humanitarianism when it becomes fully operational in October 2008.
Bill Would Amend Smith-Mundt Act, Let Al-Hurra Broadcast In U.S.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is poised to introduce a bill amending a Cold War-era law restricting how the U.S. government communicates with Americans at home, which could open up U.S. airwaves to al-Hurra, a controversial U.S.-sponsored Arabic-language satellite TV network.
Network May be Busy but Not Paralysed During Olympics
Beijing's telecom network may be busy during the coming Olympic Games but will not be paralyzed, said a senior Chinese telecom official here Thursday. When asked whether the mobile phone network would work if the 100,000 audience at the Bird's Nest made phone calls at the same time during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Chinese Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xi Guohua admitted at a press conference that the network was likely to go through temporary congestion.
We Didn’t Snub Manmohan on Olympic Visit, Clarifies China
China rejected suggestions that it had snubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by not extending an invitation for the Olympics opening ceremony and said Indian leaders were welcome to the event. Beijing also clarified that it is the national Olympic committee of the nation concerned which invites the head of a government or state.
America and China: The Eagle and the Dragon Part Four: Higher, Faster, Stronger
China has a lot invested in the Olympic Games - and not only the $20 billion that has been spent on building the new sports stadiums, airport terminals, subways and other facilities that will serve the city in the long term. More significantly, it has the investment of national pride: $20 billion is roughly the same amount that, 40 years ago, the US spent on putting the first man on the moon - a demonstration to the world of the primacy of America and the capitalist way. The Beijing Olympics might be seen as China's moon-shot - the showpiece of the nation's emergence as a global power.
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