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.
Cyber-Rebels in Cuba Defy State’s Limits
A growing underground network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine Internet hookups has been mounting some challenges to the Cuban government in recent months, spreading news that the official state media try to suppress.
Eric Clapton is a musical diplomat
Yet the small signs of a new musical openness in North Korea may be the first notes of an altogether more major change of key, and evidence that music and culture can move politics when diplomacy is otherwise deaf.
Russia Pumps Tens of Millions Into Burnishing Image Abroad
Flush with foreign reserves from oil and natural gas sales, the Kremlin is pumping tens of millions of dollars into various forms of public diplomacy. They include new media ventures to target international audiences; foundations to promote Russian language and culture around the world; conferences to charm Western opinion-makers; and nongovernmental organizations that are setting up shop in Western capitals to scrutinize the failings of Western democracy.
Senegal Prepares for Spotlight in Major Islamic Conference
I think that it will enhance the cooperation between Islamic umma members and especially between Africa and the non-African members of the Islamic umma," he said. "Today, many people in the Islamic umma consider that we need to enhance cooperation. We need to develop economic exchange, cultural exchange. And I think the summit in Dakar will be a major step.
BBC Arabic TV service tunes in to crowded news market
Funded by a £25 million Foreign and Commonwealth Office grant, BBC Arabic TV promises a mix of news and debate, drawing on the corporation’s network of more than 250 correspondents in 72 bureaux worldwide. It will be freely available to anyone with a satellite or cable connection from North Africa to the Gulf. And its impending arrival is provoking strong emotions.
Pentagon Terminates Strategic Communicationi Integration Group
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England decided not to renew the group's charter, so it expired March 1, officials familiar with the decision told Inside the Pentagon…In a memo to England, [Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael] Mullen argued that U.S. deeds -- not Pentagon Web sites or communications plans -- are the best way to impart the country's intentions on the world stage. The Pentagon should focus less on promoting its own story globally and more on listening to Muslims worldwide and understanding the subtleties of that community, the admiral wrote.
A bid to enroll Arabs in U.S. colleges
MIT students help dispel their fears and doubts about applying to American schools, where they remain a relative minority after 9/11.
Feeling the Spirit
From Paris to Karachi, Canada to Turkey, interest in this U.S. election season began months ago...."This is a vital election, more than normal," says Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid. "It's vital for all of us, and for the Muslim world even more so. [The new Administration] will have to set a new world agenda because the Bush agenda is totally bankrupt. It's a landmark point for America and for people everywhere."
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