APDS Blogger: Karen Calderon

On February 3rd, 2012, the USC School of Cinematic Arts held a screening for “Education Under Fire,” a film that provides a provocative insight into the lives of Bahá'ís in Iran who lack access to the country’s education system.

What does Asia’s increasing prominence mean for ASEAN – a ten-member political community whose regional presence has received growing attention from the global community of late? Already Washington has embarked on its “forward-deployed diplomacy” strategy in the region as evinced by Clinton’s attendance at last year’s ASEAN Regional Forum and her landmark visit to Burma in December.

ECA is pleased to announce the 2012 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF), which aims to harness the leadership capacity of exchange program alumni worldwide. AEIF awards up to $25,000 to winning teams of alumni to fund projects tackling issues from human rights to women’s entrepreneurship to interfaith understanding.

Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein talked about the best way to combat Israel-bashing, which he said had become a very popular subject. His advice was to tell the truth. “The more accurate the picture of Israel, the easier it will be for us to deal with those on the Israel-bashing campaign."

Most everyone involved in U.S. public diplomacy policy seems ready for the Smith-Mundt Act's overhaul -- especially the Broadcasting Board of Governors, who oversee U.S. international broadcasting efforts. They included the repeal of the domestic distribution ban as a goal in their recently-released strategic plan for 2012-16.

"I tell all our ambassadors, remember, you only have one mouth but you have two ears, so use this as a way not just of communicating with the citizens of the country where you are serving, but also understanding the point of view of people who may not be sitting at a mahogany table inside the embassy," says Alec Ross, the State Department's senior adviser on innovation.