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.
Obama Faces a Chasm in Mideast
More than any other president in a generation, Obama enjoys a reservoir of goodwill in the region. But Obama will still encounter a landscape in which two realities often seem to be at work. Distrust of the United States runs so deep that almost anything it pronounces, however eloquent, lacks credibility, imposing a burden on Obama to deliver something far more than the unfulfilled pledges of Bush's speeches.
Why Obama Can’t Sell America
Four years ago, Foreign Policy asked me to write an open memo to Karen Hughes, one of U.S. President George W. Bush's under secretaries of state. Hughes was then charged with improving America's battered image in the Arab world, and I was tasked to suggest ways to accomplish her mission...It has been four years since that article was published, and relations with the Arab world are now the concern of a very different president.
Trial of Journalists Pits North Korea Against World
The day after North Korea riled up the world by exploding its second nuclear device, authorities in Pyongyang did something surprisingly thoughtful. They allowed Laura Ling, an American journalist detained in March along the North Korean border with China, to call her sister Lisa in the United States. "She said the only way that she may be able to get released is if our two countries communicate," Lisa Ling told CNN's Larry King.
Summit Fails to Reach Accord on Cuba
Thirty-four members of the Organization of American States gathered here Tuesday to argue over whether to readmit Cuba. By the end of the day, the United States had failed in an attempt to broker a deal that would have lifted the ban on Havana.
US Jazz Rocks Hearts in Algeria
A jazz festival may seem a little out of place in this remote Algerian town battered by social unrest and unemployment. But it's part of an attempt by the United States to sponsor cultural events across the Arab world to capture the "hearts and minds" of people often wary of American policies in the Middle East.
Israel’s Official Blog Gets New Design
The official blog of Israel, isRealli.org, has become a defining tool in Israel's public diplomacy efforts, attracting users from more than 150 countries across the globe; a large constituent of them from Europe, Asia, and Muslim countries such as Iran, Turkey, and Egypt.
Where’s U.S. Public Diplomacy When Bin Laden Whines About Obama
Osama bin Laden has released his latest mix-tape screed against Obama and the United States more broadly. This time, to blunt the message of reconciliation and respect that Obama intends to send in his speech to Cairo tomorrow, bin Laden hinges U.S. support for Pakistani military action against his Taliban friends in the Swat Valley to create a broader message of Obama’s continuity with the Bush administration.
Obama and the Arabs
Either Barack Obama is the most intelligent president that has ever entered the White House, or he is trying his luck in his first presidential months by walking into the dangerous minefield, the Middle East.
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