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.
Nepal: US in the Neighborhood
Barack Hussein Obama, President of Nepal's "neighbor in the northern hemisphere" (to paraphrase words of President Ronald Reagan who, in mid 1980s, described Nepal as the US's "neighbor in southern hemisphere") is now passionately engaged in the Trans-Pacific affairs between the US and Asia. By preferring to call himself as the first "Pacific President" of the US, he has raised America's a neighborly standing vis-à-vis Asia.
Debbie Allen’s ‘Oman…Oh Man’: New production examines Christian/Muslim cultural similarities
This weekend Allen presents her latest theater project “Oman Oh Man!” at UCLA’s Royce Hall...“It previously played to a standing-room-only crowd at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater last March,” Allen said of the new project. “It was part of a festival called Arabesque that celebrated Arabic culture. I was the only artist chosen to create a newly commissioned piece that would somehow narrow the gap between Muslim and Christian cultures.”
We Have a Real Emergency
Saving our planet should be a task shared by governments, the business and scientific communities, and civil society...Governments can set firm standards and norms that are indispensable to fighting climate change. Only the state is capable of mobilizing the resources and incentives to implement cutting-edge technologies. Only the state can help those who are the most vulnerable to climate change.
General Malaise
From the hills outside Mandalay, Burma’s second city, the vista resembles a postcard of Asian serenity. Monks climb stone steps to a hillside shrine, where local men and women leave offerings of flowers and fruit. But the placid scene conceals one of the most repressive states in the world--a state that the Obama administration has decided may be more worthy of American friendship than American threats.
Sarkozy delivers a mixed message to France’s Muslim immigrants
Faced with swelling unease over the place of Muslim immigrants in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy called Tuesday for tolerance among native French people but warned that arriving Muslims must embrace Europe's historical values and avoid "ostentation or provocation" in the practice of their religion.
The Disappearing Foreign Ministry
Despite serial attempts at reform, the department has mainly failed to adapt to the imperatives of globalization. It remains overly state-centric, rigid in structure, and risk-averse in culture. At a time when it might be focused on managing the clusters of cross-cutting issues that are not the responsibility of other departments or levels of government...the department must instead devote its energies to identifying further cuts.
And here’s another picture of us
"I would have thought that cultural diplomacy is essentially at the heart of all diplomacy, historically," Thompson tells The Australian. "When people meet each other and do business they do it best when they have an appreciation of each other's culture. That culture ranges from popular song to fashion through to manners and customs, and all of that is expressed best in whatever may be the lingua franca of the age.
Ads seek to rebrand ‘Made in China’
If you see "Made in China" on something you're buying, or thinking about buying, one of two things probably happens. You don't think twice about it. Or you do. And then you think of the recent scandals over tainted baby food and lead paint on kids toys and you go buy something else. Beijing knows that. So it's turned to a Madison Avenue PR firm to help rebrand its image. A 30-second ad running on CNN that shows "Made in China" labels on a bunch of products and then tag lines underneath. Things like "Made in China with American technology" or "Made in China with European styling."
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