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.
Against the Wall
Now in its tenth year of construction, Israel's separation wall stretches almost 450km. In some places, it cuts deep into the occupied West Bank, excluding Palestinian communities and annexing land around illegal Israeli settlements. This film introduces some of the people protesting against the wall: from Palestinian villagers to Israeli and international activists.
3 Cities in Running for 2020 Olympics Have Shortcomings
The recent trend of the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, the organizer of soccer’s World Cup, has been to award the planet’s two largest sporting events to cities, countries or regions that have never hosted the global competitions. If that mind-set holds, Istanbul might seem to have the edge over Madrid and Tokyo on Saturday, when about 100 delegates of the Olympic committee will choose the host city for the 2020 Summer Games.
Putin Scores on Syria
After months of standing firm (and almost alone) against international intervention in Syria, by the end of August, Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed resigned to the prospect of a U.S. strike against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. To be sure, he was not happy about it, but the use of chemical weapons against civilians in a Damascus suburb appeared to have brought the current phase of the Syrian crisis to its inevitable climax.
Interactive: Where U.S. Presidents Fear to Tread
When President Obama touched down in Sweden early Wednesday morning, he notched his 43rd foreign country visited since taking the oath of office. The president probably doesn’t need the frequent flyer miles or the sense of worldliness that comes with a well-stamped passport, but presidents are still judged on their global itinerary. Obama’s two most recent predecessors each visited 74 different nations or sovereign states during their eight years in office, according to the State Department’s history of executive travel.
Foreign Aid: How Much Does Australia Spend Now?
In 2012, Australia reported spending $5.4bn (£3.2m) on official development assistance (ODA), making it the eighth-largest aid donor in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of rich countries, and just ahead of Sweden ($5.2bn). As a percentage of gross national income (GNI), Australia seems far less generous and was closer to reaching the international target to spend 0.7% of GNI on aid in the 1960s and 70s than it is today.
Iranian President Rowhani Tweets Jewish Blessing - Or Did He?
Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has confirmed reports of President Hassan Rowhani's well-wishes on Jewish new year on social networking platform Twitter on Thursday. CNN's Christiane Amanpour posted a message on Facebook stating that she had just spoken to the Iranian foreign minister who confirmed to her Rowhani' tweets. “Just spoke with Iran's foreign minister who confirms he IS tweeting and wishes Jews in Iran & around the world a happy new year!,” Amanpour wrote in a tweet.
Iranian Officials Take to Twitter to Wish Jews a Happy New Year and Welcome Diplomacy
A series of tweets by Iranian leaders over the past couple of days has students of diplomatic semantics — a sometimes exact science — wondering whether a mere greeting is an opening to the country’s adversaries. Both Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, and the new foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, sent Rosh Hashanah greetings via Twitter to Jews celebrating the new year.
US Consulate Officers Gone Wild
In June, Michael T. Sestak, a former cop and naval officer who went on to work for the US Foreign Service in Vietnam, was brought before a judge in Washington, DC on corruption charges. Sestak was allegedly a major part of one of the most lucrative illegal visa scams in history—while he was employed at the US consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, he had a side business rubber-stamping fraudulent visa applications for paying clients fed to him by a Vietnamese-American family, a gig that netted nearly $10 million all together according to the Department of Justice.
Pages
Visit CPD's Online Library
Explore CPD's vast online database featuring the latest books, articles, speeches and information on international organizations dedicated to public diplomacy.