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.
Diplomacy Gets a New Lease on Life
For more than a year Gates has been banging American heads against the hard – if hardly new – truth that soldiers need more help from diplomats and aid agencies to counter insurgents. In sharpening the point that war just isn't what it used to be, Gates made famous the statistic, repeated by Obama, that the U.S. has more military musicians than foreign service officers. Losing "soft" power isn't unique to the U.S. In rebuilding Canada's decayed military – a worthy project begun by Liberals and accelerated by Conservatives – the federal government let its other foreign policy arms wither.
Obama’s Middle East Policy: Beyond Special Envoys…
Shaping appropriate policies to set in motion the peace process also needs to be supplemented with adequate measures to remedy the way in which the US is perceived in the Middle East. There has been a vacuous dearth of measures at the official level in the realm of public relations to address public opinion amongst Muslim populations. A vigorous public diplomacy drive to engage the youth in populations that are prone to be swayed by radical Islamic ideology is imperative.
Working Toward Change in Perceptions of U.S. Engagement Around the World
Roundtable with traveling press in Seoul, South Korea.
Clinton Stresses Women’s Role
Clinton said she has a strong will to improve women's rights since they are more than just morality-related issues. "No country has yet achieved full equality for women. There is still a lot ahead for us to make sure that gender equality becomes reality," she said. "Part of my mission as the secretary of state is (making sure) the United States is committed to enhancing the rights of women."
India needs a lot more love from Obama
Secretary Clinton deserves enormous credit for making her inaugural official trip to Asia. But the original Policy Planning Staff transition memo suggesting such a visit included India along with Japan, South Korea, China, and Indonesia in its recommended itinerary. What happened? No senior U.S. official can go everywhere, especially across the vast expanse of Eurasia. But skipping New Delhi only reinforced an Indian perception of U.S. coolness.
Clinton: Nobody Knows Whether North Korea Had Uranium Program
Clinton said she's certain the regime in North Korea would try to produce the substance if it could to further its "nuclear ambition," but that the U.S. does not have solid evidence that any program exists or ever existed...One of Clinton's chief aims this week is to reinvigorate the stalled Six-Party talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear programs.
Flournoy Aims to Curtail or Nix Pentagon’s Public Diplomacy Shop
Newly appointed Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy is pushing an idea to downsize or eliminate the department's public diplomacy shop at a time when the Obama administration has vowed to renew U.S. public diplomacy efforts, according to Pentagon and Capitol Hill sources. Under Flournoy's plan, the Pentagon's Support for Public Diplomacy Office "either goes away or is severely downgraded," a DOD source told Inside the Pentagon.
The Arab World’s (uneven) Progress
Five years ago, the United Nations published the Arab Human Development Report on Building a Knowledge Society. That widely read – and highly controversial – report found a "knowledge deficit" that threatens human development, economic growth, and the future potential of Arab societies. This week the Brookings Institution published a new study, in Arabic, that evaluates what has and has not changed since 2003.
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