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.
Radio Free Europe contributor arrested and tortured
Reporters Without Borders “strongly condemns” the action of the Turkmen police in arresting and torturing Sazak Durdymuradov in an attempt to get him to sign a pledge to stop working for US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE).
The key to a better U.S. image
A House subcommittee has held a series of hearings that affirm a "precipitous decline in favorability" toward the US and its foreign policy in recent years. At the urging of Congress, the Department of State, current home of the government's public diplomacy efforts, has commissioned a study to review the instruments and techniques needed to burnish the US image.
Fight Terror With YouTube
Al Qaeda’s online media network is also vulnerable to disruption. Technology-literate intelligence services that understand how the Qaeda media nexus works will do some of the job. The most damaging disruptions to the nexus, however, will come from millions of ordinary users in the communities that Al Qaeda aims for with its propaganda. We should do everything we can to empower them.
China announces Olympics drugs crackdown
China plans to crack down on illegal drugs in Beijing and other cities that will host Olympic events, a top police official said Wednesday. Authorities will target drug use at nightclubs and other entertainment venues, as well as smugglers supplying major cities, said Yang Fengrui, director of the Bureau of Narcotics Control under the Public Security Ministry.
China reopens Tibet to foreigners three months after riots
Tibet was thrown open to foreign tourists today, more than three months after it was kept out of bounds in the wake of unrest following the worst anti-China protests in two decades in the remote Himalayan region.
China’s Hu says Olympics preparations in “final dash”
Chinese President Hu Jintao has said preparations for the Beijing Olympics have entered their "final dash" and urged officials to ensure roads, train stations and airports are ready for a torrent of visitors.
Bach on Beijing
IOC vice president Thomas Bach has been one of the most eloquent opponents of any boycott of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. When asked about comments last week from Zhang Qingli, Tibet’s Chinese Communist party boss: “We will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique.” Bach responded “I don’t consider that to be an acceptable formulation, especially at the Olympic torch relay.” “It’s essential that one carefully chooses the right words — there is after all a dialogue going on now with representatives of the Dalai Lama."
For China’s Olympic guests, a not-so-warm welcome
Fearful of terrorist attacks and of embarrassing protests, the authorities are draping a security blanket over Beijing so thick that many residents fear it will stifle the Games. "They are not taking any chances, whatever the impact on ordinary people, either local or foreign," says Gilbert van Kerckhove, a longtime Beijing resident who is advising the city on Olympic issues. "They are totally paranoid; there is no other word for it."
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