India, Korea, Brazil Now at Heart of Battle for Internet Freedom

WASHINGTON --- If you think China and Iran are where the fight for Internet freedom are centered, you may want to reconsider. According to Bob Boorstin, Google’s Director of Corporate and Policy Communications, the crucial battles today are elsewhere. “India is number one,” he said, when I asked which country was at the top of his list. Another is Russia, where he said the problem is the corrupt private individuals who may soon hold the Internet for ransom. "You may soon be paying large fees to mysterious figures,” he predicted, for Internet access there. Read More

Advertising USA

Brand USA, a non-profit, public-private partnership, is to launch a global advertising campaign next month, as part of the country’s concerted effort in marketing tourism to the world. As its core mission, the organization, created in 2010, is to “encourage and inspire travelers to explore America’s boundless possibilities.” Read More

Public Diplomacy and the Supremacy Sweepstakes

One of the most intriguing aspects of public diplomacy involves efforts by various emerging nations to portray themselves as the "next" world power. Just as intriguing is the willingness of American influencers to reinforce the notion that the United States will inevitably be passed by others as a global power. Read More

The United States, China, and Intellectual Containment

During the past several years, Chinese audiences have flocked to see American movies such as Kung-Fu Panda, much to the alarm of China’s political leadership, which has recently made clear that it is not inclined to surrender any terrain on the global cultural battleground. Read More

Public Diplomacy and the Arab Islamists

For years, Hosni Mubarak and other Arab leaders relied on a straightforward mantra: “It’s me or the Islamists.” American presidents and other Western leaders shuddered at the word “Islamists” and embraced their thuggish allies. What could be worse than Islamists? U.S. public diplomacy followed that pattern. Over the years, there was some splendid rhetoric from Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, and a few others, but the “public” at which public diplomacy was aimed was always carefully limited to exclude the Islamist community. Read More

Culture Posts: Capturing the Ahh and Aha! Experience in Cultural Diplomacy

In previous Culture Posts, I talked about the goal of developing an “in-awareness” approach to culture in public diplomacy. In the comments section, as well as other CPD posts, important observations have been raised about the challenges of cultural diplomacy. Developing a stronger “in-awareness” approach may be the key to designing and implementing rewarding cultural diplomacy initiatives. In this post I discuss the idea of thinking about culture as a concrete noun as one way to develop awareness. Culture as a Concrete Noun Read More

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