Barack Obama has the capacity to overcome the recent image of a global bully by restoring America's reputation as a peace-loving, progressive nation. But he faces far greater priorities during his first weeks and months in office as president than say the future of the Voice of America. But the international buzz caused by President-elect Obama earlier in the month offers him an opportunity to revive what had been a valuable American resource for so many years.

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The star outfielder became the newest American Public Diplomacy Envoy, introduced Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Griffey is set to make his first baseball-related trip for the State Department to Panama in January. In his role, he'll represent the "values of the United States, not the government of the United States," Rice said. "When Ken Griffey travels overseas, one of his greatest objectives will be to talk to young people and to spark their interest in America and in our culture," she said.

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With the end of Bush’s second presidential term approaching, and President-elect Barack Obama carrying the hopes of the nation on his shoulders, a new era for American Cultural Diplomacy appears to be on the horizon. Obama has made his stance on this issue clear during his political campaign, and outlined it in Barack Obama: A champion for arts and culture. He touches on three mains points: art education in schools, further consideration of artists’ singular economic situation, and cultural exchange.

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AFRICOM represents a stunning shift in U.S. military doctrine, despite its relatively modest start-up cost of nearly $400 million. It reflects mounting concerns like those outlined just last week by the director of the CIA, Michael Hayden, who warned that North Africa and Somalia are now second only to Pakistan's tribal areas as growing Al Qaeda threats...Many African governments complain that their own security worries aren't linked to international terrorism, but to more basic challenges of political stability. They also fear that the U.S.

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The ’09 budget includes over 450 new positions simply for training, 300 of them for language training...There’s also been discussion about what is our outreach: are we doing enough in the public affairs and public diplomacy world. There are 39 positions in the budget to expand public diplomacy and educational and cultural exchanges, again, focusing on what the Secretary sees is major needs in the time ahead.

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The Air Force is consolidating its public affairs and strategic communications functions. The reason, said the service’s public affairs chief Nov. 13, is to get its message out more proactively to airmen and to the public, and better coordinate its communications. “The bottom line is communication,” said Brig. Gen. Darren McDew. “Sometimes people think in order to do strategic communication, it needs to be a separate organization from public affairs, and it doesn’t.

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Now, with the Marines beginning a gradual pull-out from Iraq after five years of war, it's time to "get back towards our expeditionary culture," Colonel David Coffman, commander of the Marines embarked on the big-deck USS Boxer...In other words, with Boxer, humanitarian "soft power" now has taken its rightful place alongside old-fashioned, firepower-heavy "hard power."

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A NAFSA policy paper to the next U.S. president, issued before the election, emphasized the critical role of international education in advancing U.S. public diplomacy and foreign policy efforts at a time when the global reputation of the United States is at a historic low point.

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