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.
Langley Teacher Visits Russia
Mark Robbins, a middle school language arts teacher at The Langley School, returned from 12 days in Russia, where he was one of eight American teachers participating in the final phase of an educational exchange program, Teachers to Teachers, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Kalam Revives 247-year-old India Ties at Trinity College
[Trinity] University announced the establishment of an India chair and a post in Indian studies to coincide with [former Indian President A.P.J.] Kalam's visit on Friday - held amid a warming of India-Irish ties and plans for greater collaborations in education and science and technology.
Iran Election Scrutinized For ‘Obama Effect’
Analysts suggested that President Obama's rhetoric of extending an open hand to old rivals, culminating in his widely watched speech to the Islamic world from Egypt on June 4, may have pushed reform-minded voters to the polls in Iran. A similar claim was made after Lebanon's recent election, which was seen by some analysts as a repudiation of Iran's proxy Hezbollah.
Moussavi Engages in Public Diplomacy Via Joe Klein
Joe Klein sat down with Mir Hossein Moussavi and got a couple answers directly salient for a U.S. audience. They confirm some of the impressions left by Moussavi’s al-Jazeera interview, particularly regarding certain consensus positions in Iranian foreign policy. Moussavi tells Klein something President Obama would find very heartening:
Interview (English version): America.gov, public diplomacy 2.0, citizen ambassadors
Web 2.0 and social media are increasingly important parts of public diplomacy. Twitter is a useful tool because it allows America.gov (@americagov) to actively engage the world’s citizens where they already are without having to wait for them to find our site. Through our own tweets, and the retweets of our followers, our message of diplomacy is being shared across borders quickly and seamlessly.
Enter McHale
As I suggested in a piece in the Guardian (April 22) hers [Judith McHale] is not an easy task, as she will have to convince skeptics the world over that she:
·is not a Democratic clone of the widely ridiculed Karen “Hurricane” Hughes, a Bush confidante who was in charge of public diplomacy (2005-2007) during his second term
Jefferson on Soft Power: Behind Obama’s Cairo Quote
Like many great orators President Obama knows how to quote scripture to maximum impact. His Cairo speech included passages from the Holy Koran, which his audience applauded. His conclusion also mustered words from the Talmud and a final quote from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
In Somalia’s Break-Away Corner, An Oasis of Stability
A self-declared independent republic since 1991 – when civil war broke out after the fall of Somali dictator Siad Barre – Somaliland is an oddity in the conflict-prone Horn of Africa. A multiparty democracy with an elected president and parliament, a secular Muslim country with no tolerance for extremism, a thriving free-market economy with precious little foreign aid, and a strict law-and-order state with no patience for piracy – Somaliland is exactly the kind of country the Western world loves to embrace.
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