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.
30 Most Dynamic Cities in the World
What is the most dynamic city in the post-recession world? Grading each metropolis by the growth of its income* and employment, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program found that the world's fastest recovering cities are overwhelmingly in three key areas: China and India, Southeast Asian islands, and Latin America. The surprising answer is Istanbul, according to a new report that shows the developing world is leading the way out of the Great Recession.
WikiLeaks vs. U.S. Diplomacy
The online release of a quarter of a million classified U.S. diplomatic cables by the WikiLeaks organization has stirred up a world of controversy. Days after the release, with world leaders and U.S. government officials scrambling to exercise damage control, journalists and experts continue to pick over the revelations for the most revealing tidbits about the conduct of U.S. foreign policy.
What We Should Know About The WikiLeaks Cables
WikiLeaks' slowly spilling flood of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables has sparked a fierce debate around the world about not only the ethics of this leak, but its very value. My first training is not as a journalist, but as an historian and a philosopher, which means I've got a fancy way to describe this situation: an epistemological quandary, i.e., we don't know what we should know.
Muppet Ambassadors?
In order to determine whether Sesame Street is a form of public diplomacy, we must first establish which lens to view public diplomacy through.If public diplomacy is citizens—or in this case Muppets—acting on behalf of a political body to establish interpersonal connections, then no, Sesame Street is not a vehicle for public diplomacy. However, if public diplomacy is measured by outcome, and not intention, then I dare say that Elmo and friends are cultural ambassadors.
Rock music through the Iron Curtain via US international broadcasting—a bit overstated.
Larry Schweikart, co-producer of the film "Rockin’ the Wall": "Rock music was blasted to through the Iron Curtain through government-subsidized Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, and we interviewed the legal counsel for VOA who described the debates inside the Reagan administration about the appropriateness of sending 'degenerate' rock music eastward. But even the advisory boards came to understand that it was the structure of rock, as much as the lyrics, that counted.
An increasingly public and competitive info system
I have to admit, I'm kind of in awe of all the recent WikiLeaks chaos. One of the most engrossing aspects of the subject is how 5 of the world's largest newspapers were simply ordinary (albeit B-list) shills in the process of information dissemination - in other words, it was a website that actually broke the story. The big papers simply republished what was already out there on the world wide web. Really makes you notice how the traditional media is now so easily left in the dust vis-à-vis the web - and therefore, unfortunately, as irrelevant as we've ever witnessed.
NATO condemns WikiLeaks
NATO has condemned the release of confidential and secret diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, calling the site's actions 'irresponsible and dangerous'. The revelations include a report detailing the location of US tactical nuclear weapons among the NATO nations in Europe. NATO did not want to comment on any specific issue contained in the leaks, but criticised the site for releasing the cables.
Will the WikiLeaks release damage U.S. diplomacy?
Diplomacy is the second oldest legal profession but arguably the least understood. This reality has triggered disparate assessments of the impact of WikiLeaks’ release of thousands of U.S. confidential diplomatic dispatches. The consequences for the conduct of diplomacy are far-reaching and go beyond U.S. fundamental values of freedom of speech and transparency.
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