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.
In From the Cold
After years of isolation Syrian diplomacy is suddenly scoring successes...It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the perception of Syria began to change and Damascus embarked on its rehabilitation from problem-maker to problem-solver. It is not that long ago that Syria enjoyed strong ties with, among others, the US, Great Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt, yet these seemed to evaporate overnight and Damascus was left with only Iran.
To Counter Iranian Ambitions, The Gulf Needs Greater Self-Confidence
It is not often that comments made by a second-rank bureaucrat at a university conference set off a storm in Gulf newspapers and invite stern statements by otherwise cautious Gulf officials. But this is what happened this week after an Iranian news agency reported comments made by the Iranian deputy foreign minister Manouchehr Mohammadi.
Chinese Fans Show Love for NBA Stars
The NBA is big worldwide, and especially so in China. The league is marketing itself with merchandise stores and other avenues, while staffing offices around the country and staging exhibition games. NBA telecasts are watched by an estimated 450 million viewers -- about one-third of the population -- and some 300 million Chinese play recreational basketball.
Hot Summer, Olympics, Slow Pork Consumption Amid Industry Expansion
With hundreds of millions glued to home television sets and factory canteens running on low speed, the normal summer lows of pork consumption are being exacerbated by China’s hosting of the Olympic games.
BBG Should Enhance SW, Not Replace It
One million real-time listeners, small by shortwave standards, entail very high cost bandwidth requirements on the Internet. The competition, by start-up bloggers for example, could not possibly afford being on shortwave radio. The business example should be: “Go where your competition can not follow.” The U.S. government can afford shortwave radio.
Cyberspace: New Frontier In Conflicts
As Georgian troops retreated to defend their capital from Russian attack, the websites of their government, also under fire, retreated to Google. In an Internet first, Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reopened its site on Google's free Blogger network and gave reporters a Gmail address to reach the National Security Council.
Debating Domestic Propaganda, Part III
The U.S. government's current approach to “public diplomacy” is removed from reality, and I don't buy, as former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld argues, that establishing an entire agency is the way to solve the problem. The United States can’t get anyone to listen to Radio Sawa, and no one has come up with a plan for how they would make it any better. The U.S. can throw as much money as it wants at public diplomacy, but unless there is an idea of how to spend the money, the U.S. government can't compete with CNN, let alone Al Jazeera.
Israelis as Friends? Iran Legislators Say No
There are some things, Iran’s Parliament has decided, that a public official should simply not be allowed to say — especially in reference to Israel. Threats of a “crushing response” to Israeli aggression seem to be fine, as a representative of Iran’s supreme leader recently demonstrated. But suggesting that Iran is a friend of the Israeli people, well, that is an “unforgivable mistake,” Parliament declared Wednesday.
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