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.
It’s Mao’s Birthday, But It’s Xi’s Party
December 26 is the birthday of Mao Zedong, and 2013 was a particularly important celebration. This year marked the 120th anniversary of Mao’s birth. In celebration, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang visited Mao’s mausoleum in Beijing and also attended a symposium on Mao at the Great Hall of the People. At the symposium, Xi promised to raise the banner of Mao Zedong Thought “forever.” However, Xi also cautioned that Mao, like other “revolutionary leaders” were “not gods, but human beings.”
How Andy Warhol Explains China’s Attitudes Toward Chairman Mao
Today was the 120th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth, and as the event is celebrated in grand style in Beijing and around China, images of the Chairman are even more ubiquitous than usual this week: A rumored $2.5 billion was invested in celebrations in honor of the figure whose portrait watches over Tiananmen Square and is fastened to the gate of the Forbidden City.
American Schools, Officials Targeted In India As Diplomat Dispute Deepens
India has sought details about staff in American schools in the country for possible tax violations and revoked ID cards of U.S. consular officials and their families, retaliatory steps for the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York. The measures suggest that the two countries are no closer to a resolution of a diplomatic dispute over the treatment of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade this month on charges of visa fraud and underpayment of her housekeeper.
Why US Veterans Are Returning To Vietnam
A photo of Greg Kleven, dated April 1967, shows him posing in front of a tin-roofed hooch, wearing an undershirt so stained it matches the sand beneath his feet. In his right hand, he is holding an M-16 rifle. His shaved head is cocked to the left and he's sticking out his tongue in a half smile. The 18-year-old enlistee is three months into his tour of Vietnam in a Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance company, a special operations unit similar to the Navy SEALs. He looks brash and ready to take on any Viet Cong who cross his path.
Iran’s ‘Unforgivable’ Opposition
"Unforgivable" -- that's how the official website of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has described the alleged crimes of opposition members who took part in mass antigovernment protests in 2009. The website has issued its verdict on a poster that shows a court file with the title "The 2009 Sedition" in green (the color of the opposition movement), on which the adjective "unforgivable" has been stamped in red. A wooden gavel is lying next to the file, which carries the logo of the Islamic republic.
Defiant Greenpeace Activists Return From Russia
Greenpeace activists released following an amnesty over their eye-catching protest in the Russian Arctic say they aren't giving up the fight. As members of the 30-strong Greenpeace crew arrested for protesting outside an oil rig arrived home from Russia, messages of defiance poured forth in interviews and statements released by local branches of the environmental group.
What’s Wrong With U.S. Public Diplomacy?
I had written a couple months ago about the seemingly uncoordinated and scattershot approach in which U.S. embassies engage in the name of public diplomacy. An interlocutor pointed me to a speech delivered by retired Foreign Service officer Donald Bishop to the Council of American Ambassadors earlier this fall. While so many practitioners of public diplomacy circle the wagons to protect budgets and the system they know and in which they thrive, Bishop speaks directly.
Mass Grave Found In Central African Republic, One Day After Peacekeepers Killed
Elodiane Baalbe hid underneath her bed as gunfire echoed around her on Christmas Day in the capital of Central African Republic. When it finally died down on Thursday, she made a dash for safety, hiding behind houses as she fled her neighbourhood. On her way out she passed the calcified car of a unit of Chadian peacekeepers, the charred body of one soldier still upright in the vehicle inside. The sight was so horrifying that she looked away immediately. “I had my 3-year-old on my back. I looked for a second, and then I kept running,” she said.
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