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.
Foreign outreach called deficient
A congressionally mandated commission has issued a scathing criticism of the State Department's public diplomacy capabilities, saying that there is no U.S. official anywhere in the world whose full-time responsibility is to engage with ordinary people.
Beijing starts subway security blitz for Games
More than 3,000 inspectors at 93 stations began random searches of passengers' bags for dangerous articles, "including guns, ammunition, knives, explosives, flammable and radioactive materials, and toxic chemicals," Xinhua news agency quoted Beijing Subway Operation Company spokesman Jia Peng as saying. Stations had also begun operating specially installed x-ray machines to scan larger bags and would make use of specially trained dogs for inspections, Xinhua said.
UN chief wishes Beijing Olympics “most successful”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his confidence that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be the most successful ever in history. "I am quite confident that the Chinese government and people will make this most successful ever Olympic Games in history," Ban said.
Editorial: Broader view helps in understanding world
The advisory committees to Burlington Telecom made the appropriate decision by unanimously recommending that the city-owned cable provider retain Al-Jazeera English in its channel lineup.
When Ambassadors Had Rhythm
Half a century ago, when America was having problems with its image during the cold war, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the United States representative from Harlem, had an idea. Stop sending symphony orchestras and ballet companies on international tours, he told the State Department. Let the world experience what he called “real Americana”: send out jazz bands instead.
America is still loved abroad
During the presidential election campaign we'll hear many dire claims about how unpopular America is throughout the world, and how much we are hated by foreigners. Well, just back from a two-week trip to England and Ireland, I can report that much of the world's alleged anti-Americanism is the product of hype and exaggeration.
General David H Petraeus: The general’s knowledge
As much scholar as soldier, he wrote his doctoral thesis at Princeton on lessons to learn from Vietnam....Defeating terrorists, he contended, required a fresh approach to counterinsurgency, the judicious application of “hard power” (killing the enemy) and “soft power” (getting the lights back on), far more than just the “shock and awe” of the initial US-led invasion that began on March 19, 2003.
Reporting the Olympics? Better Hope That Moderate Officials Prevail in Chinese Policy Rift
Some foreign journalists in Beijing say that at least part of China’s government is aware of the concerns that all is not right with the media preparations for the Olympic Games due to start on Aug. 8. None of them wanted their names used when the Committee to Protect Journalists spoke with them in the last few days, but their perspective as experienced journalists in Beijing offers a slightly different take than what has been reported so far.
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