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.
Bernard-Henri Lévy: An Appeal to World Leaders: Protest the Election of Farouk Hosni
The September election brings together eight candidates from different countries. But one of them, Farouk Hosni, Egypt's minister of culture for the past 20 years, threatens UNESCO's legitimacy, competence and means of action. We launch an urgent and solemn appeal to prevent the moral and financial meltdown of the institution.
Eastern Europe Feels Neglected By Obama
Czechs feel betrayed, Poles irked, Romanians slighted. Ask them who's to blame, and the answer may come as a surprise: President Barack Obama. George W. Bush fawned over Eastern Europe, and its leaders rushed to join his post-9/11 "coalition of the willing." Now many – officials and ordinary citizens alike – are grumbling over what they perceive as the Obama administration's neglect. It's a startling shift in a region
The ‘Forgotten War’
Five years ago, Sen. John F. Kerry argued during his presidential campaign that the United States had dangerously neglected the war in Afghanistan. On Thursday, when he convened a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hear a status report on Iraq, only five of the panel's 19 members showed up long enough to ask a question. "Iraq today . . . has become the now-forgotten war," Mr. Kerry rather ruefully concluded.
Terms of Engagement
President Obama will have a hard time achieving his foreign policy goals until he masters some key terms and better manages the expectations they convey. Given the furor that will surround the news of America’s readiness to hold talks with Iran, he could start with “engagement” — one of the trickiest terms in the policy lexicon.
A U.S. Navy band gets booed, but plays on
A U.S. Navy band tries a little brass band diplomacy in Serbia. A bit of heckling by Serbian nationalists ensues. The story is illustrated in a a slideshow voice-over.
Help Us Give Clean Water to Our First Million People
I can't quite see to a billion people yet, but I'm getting closer. Your generosity has helped us do that. In only three years, 60,000 people around the world have donated $11 million. That means 750,000 lives will change. 750,000 people will get clean water to drink. So in the spirit of solving enormous problems, we want to step it up this September, and serve our first million people.
Rap is Da Bomb for Defeating Abu Yahya
That’s right. We should turn to the urban music genre born among disenfranchised African-Americans in the city of New York three decades ago. It now rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars every year for folks with names like Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil’ Wayne, and the Black Eyed Peas. It’s one of America’s most popular exports around the world, including the Muslim world.
Jane Fonda: Expanding the Narrative
I recently signed a letter protesting the Toronto International Film Festival's decision to showcase and celebrate Tel Aviv. This in the very year when Gaza happened. The decision made the festival a participant in the newly launched campaign to "rebrand" Israel.
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