QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
?OUR DIPLOMATS SERVE AT THE FRONT LINE OF COMPLEX NEGOTIATIONS, CIVIL WARS, AND OTHER HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHES.?
--From the White House, ?National Security Strategy,? section IX (as of 3/21/8:33pm) at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss9.html
A) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
1. AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON AGAINST TERRORISTS: RIDICULE - PETER SCHWEIZER (USA TODAY, MARCH 23): In a new white paper on public diplomacy, Michael Waller, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg chair in International Communication at The Institute of World Politics, makes a strong case for America's employing a new powerful weapon against the terrorists: ridicule.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/edito...editorial_x.htm
2. GAME CREATORS TAKE FUN SERIOUSLY - ALICE TAYLOR (BBC NEWS, MARCH 22): Can Massively Multiplayer Online Games be used for public diplomacy, asks Joshua Fouts, Director for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. Yes, he concludes: while government and public diplomacy ambassadors believe -- when polled -- that "a coffee-table book" is the best form of media communication for public diplomacy, Fouts understands that there is a generation growing up with their communication mediated almost entirely via texts, instant messages and videogames who wouldn't give a coffee-table book a second glance.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4833348.stm
3. WE NEED TO REACH ISLAMIC HEARTS, MINDS - EDWIN J. FEULNER (TOWN HALL, MARCH 22): Our enemies are succeeding, in a way that the Soviet Union never did, on that crucial, nonmilitary front: public diplomacy.
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/ed.../22/190900.html
4. UPI INTERVIEW: THE TERROR WAR'S VIRTUAL BATTLEGROUND - MARTIN SIEFF (WORLD PEACE HERALD, DC, MARCH 21): Q. Are you arguing for an expansion of U.S. public diplomacy with an activation of the structures needed to achieve it as a crucial part of our broader strategy in this struggle? A. (Bruce Hoffman, corporate chair in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation): "I am arguing that now we have achieved that fundamental base line expectation we need to move forward. We need to bring more tools to the tool box.?
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?Stor...21-105136-8106r
5. KEEPING OUR COOL ABOUT CHINA - TOM PLATE (SEATTLE TIMES, MARCH 23): Public diplomacy -- for the all-important China question -- best begins at home, not abroad. We have to convince ourselves of what our vision is before we can convince anyone else of what their vision ought to be.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opin...59_plate23.html
6. STATE'S HUGHES URGES PEOPLE OF FAITH TO COMBAT TERRORIS: UNDER SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIKENS EFFORT TO ABOLITION OF SLAVERY - MICHAEL JAY FRIEDMAN (WASHINGTON FILE, MARCH 22)
http://usinfo.state.gov/scv/Archive/2006/Mar/22-892434.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?Stor...23-100040-2947r
http://washingtontimes.com/national/200603...14250-4339r.htm
7. A VIEW FROM THE EMBASSY: A FORMER PRESS ATTACHÉ AT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD HANDS OUT GENERALLY HIGH MARKS TO REPORTERS COVERING EMBATTLED IRAQ AND EXPLAINS WHY THE SITUATION IS SO DIFFICULT TO PENETRATE FOR JOURNALISTS AND DIPLOMATS ALIKE - ROBERT J. CALLAHAN (AMERICAN JOURNALISM REVIEW, APRIL/MAY)
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4071
VIA
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/public_di...r_us_press.html (SCROLL DOWN FOR LINK FOR ITEM)
8. VOICE OF AMERICA'S DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS - STEPHEN JOHNSON (HERITAGE FOUNDATION WEBMEMO #1019): Because public diplomacy efforts such as international broadcasting take years and decades to do their work, shifting massive resources to current hotspots may net little in the end. America needs a more balanced long-term strategy for its foreign broadcasting, and its overseers need to use greater creativity to spread American culture and ideas successfully.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/wm1019.cfm
9. DON'T LET AMERICA LOSE ITS VOICE AROUND THE WORLD - ED WARNER (BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 23): When members of VOA's respected Arabic service protested its abolition in favor of more frothy -- and far more expensive -- broadcasts (Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra TV), they were visited by security personnel warning them not to contribute to "negative publicity" about the agency.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines
10. THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING VOICE OF AMERICA - ALVIN SNYDER (WORLDCASTING, MARCH 23): The VOA is shrinking almost by the hour. The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the VOA, and wants to cut its English language "News Now" program service.
http://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.ph...ice_of_america/
11. NOT YOUR FATHER'S VOICE OF AMERICA: THE INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING BUREAU GOES DIGITAL TO GET THE WORD OUT - WILLIAM JACKSON (GCN, March 20)
http://www.gcn.com/print/25_6/40114-1.html
12. [RECENT ITEMS ON RFE/RL VOA] - KIM ANDREW ELLIOTT (INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY)
http://kimandrewelliott.com/
13. VALUE OF CANADIAN EXPATRIATES IGNORED, UNDERUTILIZED, SAYS NEW REPORT FROM ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION OF CANADA ? PRESS RELEASE (CNW TELBEC, CANADA, MARCH 23): Canada should regard its citizens overseas as part of a larger community that can contribute to economic, cultural, and political ties around the world. Furthermore, the "Canadian diaspora" is at the frontlines of projecting Canada's image abroad and should therefore be seen as an integral part of Canadian public diplomacy.
http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/Marc...6/22/c4476.html
14. ISRAELI CONSULATE MAKES STATE ECONOMIC TIES - BILL O'BRIEN (EDMOND SUN, MARCH 21): Paul Rockower, who served as the Press Officer for the Consulate General of Israel in Houston to the Southwest from July 2003 until February of this year, spent a considerable amount of time engaging in what he describes as ?media and public diplomacy outreach? that consisted of assisting in the preparation of speeches and columns that were written by the diplomats in the office to explain Israel?s position on issues involving the Middle East.
http://www.edmondsun.com/opinion/local_story_080213124.html
15. (WAYNE MADSEN REPORT, MARCH 23): A gay Latino group reportedly has particularly close ties to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her public diplomacy assistant Karen Hughes. Interestingly, Hughes is the daughter of Maj. Gen. Harold Parfitt, the last U.S. Governor of the Panama Canal Zone.
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
RELATED ITEMS (detainees, 16-17; Pentagon propaganda, 18-19; terrorism, 20; Iraq, 21-37; Afghanistan, 38-39; Iran, 40-48; Israel, 49; Egypt, 50; France, 51-53; Venezuela, 54-55; Belarus 56; Russia, 57-58; national security strategy, 59-60; U.S. in world, 61; State Department, 62-64; AID, 65; others, 66-69)16. THE JOY OF BEING BLAMELESS ? EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 23): The Bush administration decided to go outside the law to deal with prisoners, and soldiers carried out that policy. Those who committed these atrocities deserve the punishment they are getting, but virtually all high-ranking soldiers have escaped unscathed. And not a single policy maker has been called to account.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/opinion/23thu1.html?hp
17. YOU HAVE MY BODY: THE GUANTANAMO DETAINEES TRY TO FIGHT THEIR WAY INTO COURT - BY EMILY BAZELON (SLATE, MARCH 22)
http://www.slate.com/id/2138480/
18. NO BREACH SEEN IN WORK IN IRAQ ON PROPAGANDA - THOM SHANKER (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 22): An inquiry has found that an American public relations firm did not violate military policy by paying Iraqi news outlets to print positive articles, military officials said Tuesday. The finding leaves to the Defense Department the decision on whether new rules are needed to govern such activities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/politics/22lincoln.html
19. PACE WANTS REVIEW OF PROPAGANDA PROGRAM - LOLITA C. BALDOR (YAHOO! NEWS, MARCH 23): The U.S. military should say so when it pays foreign journalists for favorable news, and the Defense Department should review policies that let it secretly pay Iraqi media, the Pentagon's highest ranking officer said Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060323/ap_on_...HNlYwN5bmNhdA--
VIA
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/
20. DEFINING TERRORISM AT THE U.N. ? WASHINGTON TIMES (MARCH 23): The United States appears to have a clear negotiating position: While Washington may accept language in the preamble to the terrorism convention recognizing a general right to self-determination, it will not permit creation of a massive legal loophole that that terrorists and their state sponsors can use to justify mass murder. That strikes us as the right balance. SEE BELOW ITEM 67.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060...90715-5900r.htm
21. REPORTERS IN IRAQ UNDER FIRE THERE, AND FROM CRITICS - MARK MEMMOTT (USA TODAY, MARCH 23)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/20...criticism_x.htm
22. FREEDOM, YES, IRAQIS SAY, BUT AT GREAT, GRAVE COST: CONTRASTS TO HUSSEIN ERA LEAVE SOME HOPEFUL, OTHERS BITTER - JOHN WARD ANDERSON AND OMAR FEKEIKI (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 21)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032001568.html
23. U.S.: IRAQ ON OWN TO REBUILD - THOMAS FRANK (USA TODAY, MARCH 23): The head of the U.S.-led program to rebuild Iraq said Thursday that the Iraqi government can no longer count on U.S. funds and must rely on its own revenues and other foreign aid, particularly from Gulf nations.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/20...q-rebuild_x.htm
24. PASSING THE DINAR - JOHN TIERNEY (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 21): As Iraqis watched looters and criminals taking control, they kept asking why nobody put a stop to the crime. The answer from officials in Washington, it turns out, is the same one that would have been given by the old Iraqi police: not my job.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/opinion/21tierney.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION
25. BUSH FOLLOWS JOHNSON'S LOGIC - DERRICK Z. JACKSON (BOSTON GLOBE, MARCH 22): Rand military analysts determined that it would take 500,000 troops -- our peak Vietnam-era troop strength -- to achieve successful nation-building in Iraq. We currently have about 133,000 troops there.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...johnsons_logic/
26. GEORGE BUSH'S TRILLION-DOLLAR WAR - BOB HERBERT (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 23): estimates the "true costs" of the Iraq war at more than $1 trillion, and possibly more than $2 trillion.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/opinion/23herbert.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION
27. CIVIL WAR? WHAT CIVIL WAR?: DESPERATE TO CONVINCE VOTERS WE'RE WINNING, BUSH IS DENYING THAT IRAQ IS HAVING A CIVIL WAR. BUT THE FACTS CONTRADICT HIM - JUAN COLE (SALON)
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/03/23/civil_war/
28. THREE YEARS LATER, 'PROGRESS' REPLACES 'VICTORY': IF EITHER PRESIDENT BUSH HAD FORESEEN THE OUTCOMES, WOULD EACH HAVE INVADED IRAQ? - DANIEL SCHORR (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, MARCH 23)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0324/p09s02-cods.html
29. THE PLANET OF UNREALITY - EUGENE ROBINSON (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 21): Do Bush et al. really see only the democratic process they have installed in Iraq and not the bitter sectarian conflict that process has been unable to quell?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032001417.html
30. FROM BAGHDAD TO BELARUS ? OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, MARCH 22): Why indulge fantasies about success in Iraq and the doctrine of further pre-emptive wars in support of democracy?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines
31. MAKE THE PRESIDENT PRIME MINISTER ... - DAN SENOR AND ROMAN MARTINEZ (WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARCH 2): The time has come for Iraq's leaders to break out of the ethnic and sectarian straitjacket constraining talks over the new government. By uniting around a Talabani-led coalition government, Iraqi leaders can move to address the pressing security challenges now facing their country.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1143083054...in_commentaries
PAID SUBSCRIPTION
32. INCREASINGLY, RUMSFELD A LIGHTNING ROD FOR IRAQ CRITICISM: RETIRED US GENERAL, FORMER TOP OFFICIALS 33. TAKE RUMSFELD TO TASK ON IRAQ WAR'S 3RD ANNIVERSARY - TOM REGAN (CSMONITOR.COM, MARCH 20)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0320/dailyUpdate.html
33. SPIN BATTLES TRUTH ON THE WAR'S THIRD ANNIVERSARY - DANNY SCHECHTER (COMMON DREAMS, MARCH 22)
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0322-23.htm
34. WHY IRAQ IS STILL WORTH THE EFFORT - FAREED ZAKARIA (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 22): Iraq may be stumbling toward nation-building by consent, not brutality. And that is a model for the Middle East.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2101152_pf.html
35. THE HUMANITARIAN CASE FOR WAR IN IRAQ - JEFF JACOBY (BOSTON GLOBE COLUMNIST, MARCH 22): While most of the left was always opposed to liberating Iraq, a small but honorable minority never lost sight of the vast humanitarian stakes: Defeating Saddam would mean ending one of the most unspeakable dictatorships of modern times. Wasn't that a goal anyone with progressive values should embrace?
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...or_war_in_iraq/
36. WHAT IF WE LOSE? ? REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARCH 22): Victory in Iraq is possible, indeed likely, notwithstanding its costs and difficulties. But the desire among so many of our political elites to repudiate Mr. Bush and his foreign policy is creating a dangerous public pessimism that could yet lead to defeat -- a defeat whose price would be paid by all Americans, and for years to come.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1142986668...days_us_opinion
PAID SUSBCRIPTION
37. RIGHT INVASION, WRONG EXPLANATION - JONAH GOLDBERG (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 23): One reason Bush is down in the polls is that he's giving the impression that he's trying to change the subject from "our mistaken invasion" to "building democracy in Iraq." He would serve himself and the county better if he simply explained that he's been right all along.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...home-commentary
38. OUTRAGE IN AFGHANISTAN ? EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 23): What's the point of the United States' propping up the government of Afghanistan if it's not even going to pretend to respect basic human rights? President Bush himself said it was "deeply troubling" that an Afghan man is facing the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/opinion/23thu2.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060322-090715-8777r.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032201113.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0323/dailyUpdate.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0324/p09s01-coop.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines
http://www.townhall.com/news/ext_wire.html?rowid=46797
39. OFF COURSE IN AFGHANISTAN - CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 21): With the Bush administration and political Washington focused on Iraq, many Afghan leaders worry that the reduction of U.S. forces is a sign that we will again lose sight of Afghanistan. (The writer is a Democratic member of Congress from Maryland).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032001504.html
40. FINGER-POINTING AT IRAN IS MISDIRECTED - MOHAMMAD MIRALIMOHAMMADI, HEAD OF THE PRESS SECTION, PERMANENT MISSION OF IRAN TO THE U.N., NEW YORK (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 23): Iran has condemned Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorism as well as all other terrorist acts, and it has fulfilled its responsibility respecting the U.N. resolutions against the evil of terrorism by arresting scores of Al Qaeda terrorists venturing inside Iran, presenting lists of their names to the United Nations and turning them over to their respective governments.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/o...1,3688718.story
41. FOREIGN POLICY GOOD VS EVIL DOES NOT WORK - MADELEINE ALBRIGHT (FINANCIAL TIMES, MARCH 23): Three years after the invasion of Iraq and the invention of the phrase ?axis of evil,? the administration now highlights the threat posed by Iran -- whose radical government has been vastly strengthened by the invasion of Iraq. This is more tragedy than strategy, and it reflects the Manichean approach this administration has taken to the world.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4da31aee-baa1-11d...00779e2340.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION
42. SPEAKING TO TEHRAN, WITH ONE VOICE - JESSICA T. MATHEWS (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 21): The international community's record on Iran's nuclear program (as on North Korea's) has been feckless. Only the United States can change that. If we fail to pursue this effort with unwavering, clear-minded diplomacy, a nuclear-armed world will be the Bush administration's chief legacy, no matter how the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism turn out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/opinion/21mathews.html
43. OPENING WITH A TRAP DOOR -- HOW BEST TO MANAGE THE TALKS WITH IRAN - JIM HOAGLAND (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 23): President Bush must treat the Iranian decision to open discussions in Baghdad as trap and opportunity. It is both.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032202168.html
44. LOOKING FOR A DATE, MAYBE MORE - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 22): The talks between America and Iran will start small, but they connect with the biggest issue in the world: how to stabilize a Middle East that is still shaking from the tremors of the 1978 Iranian revolution.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032101127.html
45. IRANIANS SEE TALKS WITH U.S. AS HISTORIC: DESIRE FOR IMPROVING TIES GREW WITH POPULATION TOO YOUNG TO RECALL HOSTAGE CRISIS - KARL VICK (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 20)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6031901026.html
46. TALKING TO IRAN ? EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, MARCH 21): Again and again, Iranian officials have let it be known they are seeking security guarantees that only the Americans, not the Europeans, can provide. Unpleasant as it may be for President Bush to make such an offer to the repressive rulers of Iran, that is the key to keeping nuclear weapons out of their hands.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...alking_to_iran/
47. THE ROVING EYE: A FRENZIED PERSIAN NEW YEAR ? PEPE ESCOBAR (ASIA TIMES, MARCH 22): Iran-US talks on Iraq have done nothing to erase suspicions on both sides.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC22Ak01.html
48. HAPPY NEW YEAR, GREATEST THREAT! - NEIL KING JR. (WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARCH 21): Just days after calling Iran the ?single country? posing the greatest challenge to the U.S., the State Department extends ?its warmest greetings? to all Iranians celebrating the Persian New Year, Nowruz, which begins Tuesday.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/03/21/h...reat/trackback/
49. CUBA ON THE WEST BANK - GIDEON LICHFIELD (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 23): Outside powers should design a policy that combines carrots and sticks, offering both Hamas and Israel incentives to move gradually in the right direction, but preserving some safeguards in case they fail to do so.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/opinion/...%2fContributors
50. IN EGYPTIAN MOVIES, CURSES! WE'RE THE HEAVIES - DANIEL WILLIAMS (WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 20): "The Night Baghdad Fell" depicts Egyptian obsessions with war, sex and the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6031901037.html
51. THE DECLINE OF FRANCE ? REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARCH 21): In its post-Revolutionary history, France has been characterized simultaneously by instability and immobility. In the 217 years that America has lived under a single Constitutional order, France has been ruled by 10 different regimes.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1142905843...ew_and_outlooks
PAID SUBSCRIPTION
52. THE RIOTS OF SPRING ? EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 21): France is having a harder time than other European nations adapting to a globalized economy, largely because the French would rather blame "Anglo-Saxon capitalism" (i.e., free markets) for their problems than examine their own self-defeating policies.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials
53. IMMIGRANTS' BITTERNESS BOILS OVER IN FRANCE - H.D.S. GREENWAY (BOSTON GLOBE, MARCH 21)
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...over_in_france/
54. VISITORS SEEK A TASTE OF REVOLUTION IN VENEZUELA - JUAN FORERO (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 21)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/internat...r=1&oref=slogin
55. CHAVEZ LASHES OUT AFTER U.S. REPORT - WIRE REPORTS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH, 20): President Hugo Chavez lobbed a litany of insults at President Bush, including "donkey" and "drunkard," in response to a White House report branding Chavez a demagogue.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,3022908.story
56. MISERY IN MINSK ? EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 23): President Alexander Lukashenko?s defeat of pro-democracy candidates, and his longtime persecution of protesters, is no less depressing for having been predictable. President Bush has rightly refused to recognize the results.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials
57. PUTIN'S PAL IN MINSK ? EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, MARCH 22): Lukashenko is an unregenerate Stalinoid thug. When Putin hosts the other members of the G-8 this July in St. Petersburg, they ought to tell him Lukashenko is not a fit protege for a Russia with democratic pretensions.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...s_pal_in_minsk/
58. GETTING REAL ABOUT DEMOCRACY IN EURASIA - MONITOR'S VIEW (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, MARCH 21): The biggest democratic challenge of all in Eurasia is Russia, steadily backtracking on freedoms but still vitally important when it comes to global security.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0321/p08s02-comv.html
59. FREEDOM DOCTRINE - HELLE DALE (WASHINGTON TIMES, MARCH 22): As an overarching guideline for where U.S. foreign policy should be moving in the years ahead, the National security Strategy 2006 sets a course that Americans can believe in. There is work ahead for the White House, though, in making the sale.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060321-093257-2192r.htm
60. FOSTERING GLOBAL FRIENDSHIP IS PART OF NEW US SECURITY STRATEGY: BUSH'S FOCUS ON MULTILATERALISM WILL HELP THE US STRENGTHEN ITS INTERNATIONAL TIES - JOHN HUGHES (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, MARCH 22)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0322/p09s02-cojh.html
61. TOMDISPATCH INTERVIEW: CHALMERS JOHNSON ON OUR FADING REPUBLIC ? TOMDISPATCH: Johnson: "I?m considering how we've managed to alienate so many rich, smart allies -- every one of them, in fact. How we've come to be so truly hated.?
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=70576
62. COMMISSIONER RICE /? EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES): It may be time for President Bush to look for another secretary of State.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...1,5977866.story
63. HOST, PRAISING RICE, UTTERS SLUR; FIRED ? AP (CNN NEWS, MARCH 23): St. Louis radio station quickly fired a talk show host for uttering a racial epithet as he talked about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on his morning show Wednesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/23/d...e.ap/index.html
64. IT WAS GENOCIDE ? EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MARCH 22): The State Department's shameful folly of punishing a diplomat, the U.S. ambassador to Armenia John Evans, for calling the Armenian genocide by its name.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...,1,186557.story
65. POLITICIZING AID: CAN PROGRESSIVES IN GOOD CONSCIENCE DEMAND INCREASED INTERNATIONAL AID UNDER RANDALL TOBIAS, BUSH'S PICK FOR DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE? NOT LIKELY - MARK ENGLER (MOTHER JONES, MARCH 21): The paradigm of "transformative diplomacy," unveiled by Secretary Rice in January, is a closer alignment of foreign aid with political concerns. Development advocates worry that this will mean that dollars for poverty -- reduction programs will become conditional aid used as payback for allegiance from poorer governments -- those countries sufficiently eager to join a "coalition of the willing" or to sign a "free trade" pact.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/colu...cizing_aid.html
66. PROPAGANDA AND THE FEAR FACTOR(Y) - GARY ALAN SCOTT (COMMON DREAMS, MARCH 23): Few steps people might take to liberate themselves from fear and propaganda: 1. Turn off the television! 2. Once one has taken this giant step, one may want to continue reading by digging into American history. 3. Take a course in self-defense (?I?m not talking about physical self-defense; I?m talking about intellectual self-defense, a self-defense course for the mind!"). 4. Look beneath the surface.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0323-32.htm
67. IN BUSH WE TRUST: BY PANDERING TO CHRISTIAN ZEALOTS, BUSH HAS COME CLOSE TO ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL RELIGIOUS PARTY. BUT REALITY IS CRASHING IN - SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL (SALON): At the movie theaters, "V for Vendetta" -- a dystopian thriller in which an imaginary Britain is a metaphor for Bush's America, ruled by a totalitarian, faith-based regime, where gays are rounded up and the hero is a Guy Fawkes-like terrorist who blows up the Parliament -- is a surprise No. 1 box office HIT. Bush has succeeded in getting American audiences to cheer for terrorism.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/20...rror/index.html
68. ON BASEBALL: CUBA'S DANCE THROUGH CLASSIC ENDS IN MANAGER'S MISSTEPS - MURRAY CHASS (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 21): Here was Cuba poised to embarrass the United States, Castro's most bitter enemy. Here was a propaganda prize waiting to be snatched along with the 30-pound Tiffany trophy. Here was Castro prepared to deliver yet another two-hour address celebrating the triumph of communism over capitalism. And Higinio Velez, the manager of Cuba, and his pitchers blew it. Japan won, 10-6, because Cuba was unable to overcome a four-run first inning that resulted from Velez's pitching decisions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/sports/21chass.html
69. FOR THE LOVE OF YAKYU ? EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 22): The World Baseball Classic, which ended on Monday night with Japan's 10-6 victory over Cuba, should forever erase any idea that the United States has a monopoly on its national pastime.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/opinion/...Ed%2fEditorials
D) FOUND ON THE WEB
70. AMERICA IN THE WORLD: THE FLAWED MISSION OF MRS. HUGHES ? KIRK H. SOWELL (WINDOW ON THE ARAB WORLD AND MORE!, OCTOBER 1, 2005)
http://www.arabworldanalysis.com/blog/arch...rsecretary.html
E) ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
?THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRIOTISM.?
--Message received upon subscribing to George W. Bush?s Weekly Radio Address E-mail Updates
http://weeklyradioaddress.com/emailconfirm...%20brown&code=3
Today's PDPR as well as an archive of all past editions are available at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy webpage at http://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.ph.../johnbrown_main. On the site you can also post your comments and reactions to any article and/or issue raised in the PDPR.
For more information, please visit www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org
The University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy is
a joint academic research, teaching and training Center created and
run jointly by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the USC
College of Letters, Arts and Sciences School of International
Relations.
USC Center on Public Diplomacy | 3502 Watt Way | Los Angeles | CA | 90089