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.
How to Win the War of Ideas
We do that by helping to build networks (virtual and physical) and countermovements – not just political but cultural, social, athletic and more: mothers against violence, video gamers, soccer enthusiasts, young entrepreneurs, Islamic democrats. For example, there is an emerging global network of families of Islamic victims of terrorist attacks. While winning hearts and minds would be an admirable feat, the war of ideas needs to adopt the more immediate and realistic goal of diverting impressionable segments of the population from being recruited into violent extremism.
Mao, Nixon and the ping-pong breakthrough
But Mao was worried. Relations between Beijing and the Kremlin were at an all-time low. China could do with a powerful ally to stave off the possibility of war. At the same time President Nixon was looking for a way out of the war in Vietnam, and fearful that growing Chinese involvement in Laos might escalate. What to do on both sides, without losing face? The answer came: ping-pong.
Branding a country calls for clear strategies
Anholt also said that this requires constant work and, most importantly, coordination. “These three sectors need to tell the same story…Countries need to go through a plan — not a brand strategy, but a plan — to compete and participate in the global environment in the future. These three sectors need to identify which segment will drive the economy in the next 10 to 15 years, and strategy must be identified — What reputation must the country have in order to achieve those goals?” said Anholt.
Lively links between Vietnam and the US
Last year more than 400,000 Americans visited Vietnam, a rise of nearly 6 percent from 2006 and doubling the number in 2000...In the field of culture exchange, music performance, fine arts, literature and exhibitions have all been used to help convey ideas and cultural values. The United States has demonstrated its respect for Vietnam's culture by financing restoration at several pagodas such as the Dau Pagoda in Bac Ninh Province and the preservation of music of the Tay people in the northeastern region.
Al-Qaeda’s Growing Online Offensive
The exchange was part of the latest propaganda coup orchestrated by al-Qaeda: an online chat between Zawahiri -- one of the world's most wanted fugitives -- and hundreds of curious people around the globe. After announcing in a Web forum in December that he would entertain questions on virtually any topic, Zawahiri received 1,888 written queries from journalists and the public.
Iran and religious diplomacy
Bishop John Bryson Chane, a leading voice of religious diplomacy, is the eighth Episcopal bishop of Washington, a diocese that encompasses 93 congregations and about 45,000 church members in the district of Columbia, and Maryland. He has traveled to Iran on two occasions at the invitation of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami and has spoken with numerous religious leaders and at numerous cultural events as well as at seminaries and universities in the cities of Tehran and Qom.
Sustainable Approaches to Cultural Diplomacy
Future cultural diplomats will need to recognize this fact and work more closely to implement programs with a wide range of soft powers, in the economic sphere as well as in the cultural one. Sustainable investments in cultural diplomacy are the best way of achieving longer term results, rather than the ‘Madison Avenue’ short term and short sighted approaches that have characterised US cultural diplomacy in recent years.
Artists to fete Viet Nam-Canada ties
Two Vietnamese-Canadian artists will perform with the Viet Nam National Opera and Ballet in a concert to celebrate the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries as well as commemorate Canadian Day.
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