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.
China in Africa: Soft power, hard results
Building upon interviews from a broad range of Africans, it is shown that elites generally favor China’s presence in the region while the lower classes do not. Importantly, such divided opinions on China’s presence in Africa, if not addressed, could have a detrimental effect on what could be a positive relationship – China has been investing in infrastructure in the region, while the West has not.
Germany - Minister of State Pieper leaves for China
On Sunday (15 November) Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, leaves on a five-day visit to China that will take her to Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. In her new post Minister of State Pieper will represent Germany’s cultural relations and education policy.
Cultural Leaders Meet in Damascus to Discuss and Debate the Challenges
More than 80 people from across the Arab world, the UK and Europe will come together in Damascus for a 2-day British Council-run conference on 'Cultural Leadership and the Arab World' to share knowledge and experience on the key issues facing the cultural sector in the Arab world.
Obama faces Chinese youth
The United States President Barack Obama has been tackling issues from Taiwan to universal human rights in an encounter with a group of several hundred Chinese students. Today in Shanghai, he was exposed to the face of young China. The audience, vetted by the Communist Party, was given a clear opportunity to grill the most powerful man in the World, and some took up the opportunity with gusto.
The Importance of ‘Democracy Promotion’
The overly enthusiastic embrace of "democracy promotion" by the Bush administration could have smothered that phrase for years to come. Fortunately President Obama resisted the temptation to abandon it. Eloquent and culturally-sensitive speeches by the President in Prague, Cairo, and Accra effectively promoted this fundamental American value.
Iran media plans stir talk of elite force at helm
The portfolio of Iran's Revolutionary Guard keeps on growing. Its troops watch over nuclear facilities, its rocket scientists enlarge Iran's missile arsenal and its engineers have taken on a rail line as their latest big-ticket project. Could media mogul be next?
‘Obama should speak to Al Jazeera’
In 2001, George Bush, the former US president, appointed Richard Grenell as the director of communications and public diplomacy for the US permanent representative to the UN. Last week, Grenell wrote an editorial advising Barack Obama, the US president, to reach out to Arab populations through Al Jazeera.
COMMENT: In throes of a change —Shahzad Chaudhry
Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to Pakistan has been instructive on many counts. Here was a case of the newer form of diplomacy at its best. Steeped in tradition and closeted in the safeties of staying mum even as Rome burns, our classic diplomats need to learn a thing or two in the art of public diplomacy from the US Secretary of State.
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