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.
The International Message of National Identity: L K Advani
In one of my earlier blog posts I had quoted from a thought provoking piece written by former BBC correspondent in India, Mark Tully, as to how India had given a very distinctive meaning to secularism. Tully’s observation were excerpted from the foreword he had written for a coffee table book titled “ India : A Timeless Celebration” by Amit Mehra.
The UN’s Orwellian Language on Israel
In the chorus of denunciation from much of the world community of Israel's defensive incursion into Gaza, nowhere was the feverish bleating more evident than from the UN's Human Rights Council, the perennially biased 47-member group of panjandrums that replaced the Israel-loathing UN Commission on Human Rights in 2005.
When soft power meets hard choices
The problem with “soft power” is that it evaporates faster than does a nation’s relative economic or military heft. For proof, just look at the disastrous decline in America’s reputation during the eight years of the Bush presidency.
Soft power beckons as time comes for academia to act sustainably
What clicked was the idea that environmental and sustainability education might be a global soft-power niche for Japanese universities to fill. A long shot, no doubt, but with Japan's birth rate declining, schools need foreign students, and foreigners already look to Japan for unique technologies and culture.
How Did the Media Cover the War in Gaza?
How did the media portray the Gaza crisis? With the limitations on foreign journalists’ work there and the targeting of the ones who were inside Gaza, the coverage was affected immeasurably.
Obama takes ‘smart power’ approach
Barack Obama's administration will be taking a "smart-power" approach to foreign policy. Just the phrase is comforting to a world fed up with recent U.S. "hard power" military strategy, where all relationships were subsumed into a with-us-or-against-us mindset. But what exactly is it?
Israel’s Propaganda War in Gaza: Once David Now Goliath
Amongst other means, Israel has tried to achieve ‘information superiority’ by restricting the access of foreign correspondents into Gaza. However, sources within Gaza and the ubiquity of Internet access prevent Israel from controlling, much less dominating the information battle space.
Public Diplomacy is not Public Relations
The power to engage global audiences is a national security imperative and must not be a mere tool of public relations. To ignore the critical components in the global struggle of minds and wills is to put our national security at risk.
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