QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

'I THINK THE PROBLEM IS THE REST OF THE WORLD DOESN'T UNDERSTAND DEKES (DELTA KAPPA EPSILON). WE NEED A DEKE SHORT-COURSE IN EMBASSIES AROUND THE GLOBE.'

--Commentator Molly Ivins, regarding George W. Bush's fraternity at Yale; cited in her 'In Politics, Comedy and Tragedy' (TruthDig, July 19/Common Dreams)
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0720-20.htm
ON DEK, SEE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Kappa_Epsilon

TO SAVE A REVOLUTION - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 21): The challenge for the Bush administration as the Lebanon war explodes into its second week isn't simply a question of appearances and public diplomacy. Unless Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora's government can be strengthened, there is little hope for achieving the U.S. and Israeli goal of bringing Hezbollah's guerrillas under lasting control.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2001633_pf.html

PRYOR URGES DIPLOMACY IN MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT - AARON SADLER (ARKANSAS NEWS, AR, JULY 20): It is difficult to judge the Bush administration's response to recent Middle East fighting, mainly because there has been little public diplomacy so far, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor (Democrat, Arkansas) said Wednesday.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/0...eau/336943.html

WHY IT'S TAKING SO LONG - GARANCE FRANKE-RUTA (TAPPED, AMERICAN PROSPECT, JULY 19): 'A reliable source tells me that the reason the United States has been so slow in evacuating its citizens from Lebanon is that the public diplomacy (i.e., P.R.) issues raised by evacuating under Israeli assault are so complicated.'
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/07/post_880.html

WINDOW ON THE WEEK - EDITORS (NATIONAL REVIEW, JULY 21): Russia and China successfully blocked any threat of economic sanctions or other punitive measures against Pyongyang. In this, they were supported by South Korea. The U.S. should wage a campaign of public diplomacy against their appeasement.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTE0M...mE2NDQ0YTVlYjg=

HECKUVA JOB KAREN DIGBY (HULLABALOO BLOG, JULY 20): It appears that the last anyone has heard of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes was back on June 26th when she gave a speech to the US-Arab Economic Forum in Houston. Where in the world is Karen Hughes?
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_...336469470754582 (scroll down link for item)

MAKING THEIR OWN REALITY (FLYING DUTCHMAN BLOG, JULY 20): 'Where's Karen Hughes? Remember her? ... I fantasize about some imaginary person confronting Bush at a photo-op and asking: 'What exactly is the American taxpayer getting in return for Karen Hughes's salary and her billion-and-a-half-dollar budget?"
http://flyingdutchmanblog.blogspot.com/200...wn-reality.html

BLOG COMMENTARY ON -- WAR OF IDEAS: THE MORE YOU HEAR, THE LESS YOU LIKE? - DAVID E. KAPLAN (U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, JULY 17 http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060717/17war.htm; PDPBG July 18-19): A new study by Mohammed el-Nawawy, a communications professor at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., surveyed 394 Arab college students in five Arab countries on the credibility of the U.S.-government funded Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra television.
http://technorati.com/search/http://www.us...m?partnerid=220
or
www.usnews.com (left column, 2nd to last box, at the Blog Roundup)
SEE ALSO
http://www.publicdiplomacywatch.com/2006/0...says_ameri.html
http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/writings/elnawawy.html

RA'ANAN GISSIN: IT'S IRAN, STUPID - HERB KEINON (JERUSALEM POST, JULY 21): Ra'anan Gissin, former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's recently sidelined spokesman, said Israel needed to go on a public-diplomacy counteroffensive to show that a weakened Hizbullah was not only good for Israel and Lebanon, but for the entire world.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull
SEE ALSO
http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1153478191.shtml

ISRAEL MISREPRESENTED CLAIMS AMBASSADOR (HARROW TIMES, UK, JULY 20): Gideon Meir, the newly appointed Israeli ambassador to Italy, in a speech on his country's public diplomacy at Stanmore Synagogue in London Road just before the conflict between Israel and Lebanon broke out, was keen to impress upon his audience the fact that his homeland was presented unfairly in the press.
http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/localnew..._ambassador.php

CONVERGING UPON WAR - ROBERT BLECHER (ZNET, MA, JULY 19): Frozen out of official negotiations, in the past Hamas could only carry out public diplomacy.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...07&ItemID=10599

WHERE DO WE STAND? - YUSUF KANLI (TURKISH DAILY NEWS, JULY 21): Turkey definitely needs to learn how to conduct public diplomacy.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=49476

NEW DIMENSIONS TO FOREIGN POLICY - C. D. BHATTA (GORKHAPATRA, NEPAL, JULY 20): Besides dealing with unresolved foreign policy issues, we also need to adopt sound public diplomacy to resolve the Maoist insurgency and clean up the country's image at the international level.
http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=4533

JUDICIAL-LEGAL REFORMS GREAT RESPONSE TO CRITICISM OF WEST (UZREPORT.COM, UZBEKISTAN, JULY 21): 'Uzbekistan adopted several legislative acts, which serves as evidence of serious reforms in judicial-legal system, Russian political scientist and chairman of commission on international cooperation and public diplomacy of Public Chamber of Russia Andranik Migranyan told to Jahon news agency.'
http://news.uzreport.com/mir.cgi?lan=e&id=15389

NEW BOOK: 'TOTAL COLD WAR: EISENHOWER'S SECRET PROPAGANDA BATTLE AT HOME AND ABROAD' - KENNETH OSGOOD (UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KANSAS, 2006): Osgood focuses on major campaigns such as Atoms for Peace, People-to-People, and cultural exchange programs.
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/osgtot.html
VIA
http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/

STUDY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES A LOW PRIORITY IN U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION: BUSH ADMINISTRATION WANTS TO EXPAND STUDY OF CHINESE AND OTHER LANGUAGES DEEMED CRITICAL TO SECURITY - RALPH K.M. HAURWITZ (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, JULY 17)
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news.../17foreign.html

LINCOLN GROUP OUT OF MILITARY PR CONTRACT: TV, RADIO DEAL UNRELATED TO CONTROVERSY OVER REPORTS IN IRAQI PAPERS, PENTAGON SAYS - GRIFF WITTE (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 19): Lincoln Group spokesman Bill Dixon said the company believes the military's Special Operations Command needs more money "and clearer policy guidance in order to fight the 'War of Ideas,' a key component of the global War on Terrorism."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1801372_pf.html

I'M COVERED IN LEAFLETS!: THE SECRETS OF AIRBORNE PROPAGANDA DISTRIBUTION - DANIEL ENGBER (SLATE, JULY 18)
http://www.slate.com/id/2145997/

WHEN WILL WE LEARN? - SHAWN POWERS (PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BLOG, USC CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, JULY 19): Consistent criticism by Arab and Western governments, far from damaging al-Jazeera, has perhaps served as the channel's most effective public relations.
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/ne..._will_we_learn/

SUPER-EMPOWERED VICTIMS: AN EXPLANATION FOR ADMINISTRATION INACTION IN THE (NEWEST) MIDDLE EAST WAR PAUL KRETKOWSKI (BEACON NO. 96, JULY 19): The administration has long neglected the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the eastern Mediterranean generally, except insofar that terrorists and money cross from Jordan and Syria into Iraq. It's not surprising that if finds itself so distracted by crises and Iran?s full-court deftness that it can't get more than a single Arabic-speaking American official on Al-Jazeera.
http://softpowerbeacon.blogspot.com/ (scroll down link for item)

A CONFLICT VIEWED THROUGH VERY DIFFERENT LENSES JONATHAN MORLEY (WORLD PUBLIC OPINION ROUNDUP, WASHINGTONPOST.COM, JULY 21): Are Americans being given a very different view of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict than their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere? Yes, according to commentators in Muslim and European media.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/worldopinio...ugh_very_1.html

U.S. AT ODDS WITH ALLIES ON MIDEAST CONFLICT: CITING CIVILIAN CASUALTIES, EUROPEAN NATIONS AND U.N. EAGER FOR CEASE-FIRE - ROBIN WRIGHT AND COLUM LYNCH (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 20)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1901932_pf.html

HIZBULLAH WINNING OVER ARAB STREET: KEY ARAB LEADERS CONDEMN THE SHIITE GROUP, DESPITE ITS POPULARITY WITH THEIR CITIZENS - DAN MURPHY AND SAMEH NAGUIB (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JULY 18)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0718/p01s03-wome.html

SANCTIONING ISRAELI CRIMES MARKS NEW ERA OF LAWLESSNESS SALIM LONE (COMMON DREAMS, JULY 20): The last few weeks have created intense new hatreds against Israel and the United States, and radicalized many Arabs and Muslims towards extremism.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0720-30.htm

AND AFTER THE ATTACKS IN LEBANON AND ISRAEL ... ISRAEL WILL HARVEST A FUTURE OF VIOLENCE AND CONFLICT WITH LEBANON - GEORGE E. BISHARAT (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, JULY 20): Lebanese and other Arabs also know the American origins of the weaponry Israel uses to kill their children and smash their homes. They will recall President Bush's statement that Israel "has a right to defend herself," a green light for the carnage they now face.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...&type=printable

SUNNI-SHIA OR REGIMES-PEOPLE? MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, JULY 18): The Saudis and Mubarak are practically aligning themselves with Israel and America against Hezbollah, Hamas, and their own publics (which, of course, was always what their Arab populist critics accused them of).
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark...cas_arab_a.html

THE SHOWDOWN: ISRAEL HAS DECIDED TO PUT A FINAL STOP TO HEZBOLLAH AND ITS LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH -- AND FOR ONCE THE WORLD SUPPORTS IT. BUT EVEN IF IT WINS THIS WAR, ANOTHER IS PROBABLY COMING - ALUF BENN (SALON, JULY 19): President George W. Bush's support for Israel is no surprise, but for key Arab states like Saudi Arabia to criticize Nasrallah, and then remain silent when Israeli warplanes destroy parts of an Arab capital, is unprecedented. The Arab media, as expected, supported Nasrallah.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/...rael/print.html

THE ARAB MAJORITY MAY NOT STAY SILENT - YOUSSEF M. IBRAHIM (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, JULY 19): All in all, it seems that when Israel decided to go to war against the priestly mafia of Hamas and Hezbollah, it opened a whole new chapter in the Greater Middle East discourse. And Israel is finding, to its surprise, that a vast, not-so-silent majority of Arabs agrees that enough is enough.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...ncommentary-hed

THE FEVER IS WINNING - DAVID BROOKS (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 20): World opinion is abandoning both Palestinian-style democratic transformation and the cultural modernizers who are being crushed in places like Egypt. People are rushing back toward the illusory stability of Mubarak and the House of Saud. That is what brought us 9/11.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/opini...agewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

MORE THAN A CEASE-FIRE NEEDED EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 21): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- who has been dragging her feet to give Israel more time to fight -- needs to get on a plane and visit Damascus as well as Jerusalem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/opinion/...agewanted=print

LEBANON IN CRISIS; BUSH, MOST DEMOCRATS IN DENIAL - JOHN NICHOLS (NATION, JULY 20/COMMON DREAMS): President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. leaders who have authority have chosen a hands-off approach that effectively encourages the expansion of violence in the region.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0720-24.htm

ORDER VS. DISORDER - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 21): The forces of disorder -- Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Iran -- are a geopolitical tsunami that we need a united front to defeat. And that united front needs to be spearheaded by American leaders who understand that our power is most effective when it is legitimated by a global consensus and imbedded in a global coalition.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/opini...agewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

U.S. NOW SUPPORTS A BUFFER: THE WHITE HOUSE SEEKS A BEEFED-UP MULTINATIONAL MILITARY PRESENCE ON LEBANON'S BORDER WITH ISRAEL. ARMS MONITORS ALSO WOULD BE DEPLOYED - PAUL RICHTER AND LAURA KING (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JULY 20)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wa...418,print.story

ROSA BROOKS: BUSH'S BURNED BRIDGES: THE MIDDLE EAST CATACLYSM IS THE LAST GASP OF AMERICA'S WASTED POST-9/11 OPPORTUNITY - ROSA BROOKS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JULY 21): We've burned up every ounce of goodwill we ever had, we've burned every diplomatic bridge we ever had, and now we can do nothing but sit on our hands as the ashes rain down all around us.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...inion-rightrail

OPEN MIKE, CLOSED MIND ROBERT SHEER (NATION, JULY 19): The Bush Administration, having overstretched our military and generated no foreign policy ideas beyond the willy-nilly "projection" of military force, has become a helpless bystander as the entire region threatens to burn.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060731/bush_open_mike

NEONUTS KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL (NATION, JULY 20): With the Middle East on the cusp of war, President Bush's foreign policy for the area -- remaking the region through invasion and occupation -- is now effectively buried under the rubble of bombed out buildings, decimated bridges and civilian bodies.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7

LEBANON LEFT FOR DEAD PEPE ESCOBAR (ASIA TIMES, JULY 21): There is the terrifying possibility that these may be the early stages of the Great Middle East war; the chance for the US/Israel axis to strike at both Syria and Iran -- with no one, be it Russia, China or the cowardly EU, being able to stop it.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG21Ak01.html

DON'T BLAME BUSH: THE WAR IN LEBANON ISN'T HIS FAULT - JACOB WEISBERG (SLATE, JULY 19): You can blame Bush for a lot of mistakes but not for the latest turn in the seemingly eternal and eternally depressing Arab-Israeli conflict.
http://www.slate.com/id/2146145/#

NO TIME FOR 'RESTRAINT' EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, JULY 20): Dispatching the American secretary of state to the region right now would only achieve a stalemate that permits Hezbollah to project military power and remain an armed militia that dominates Lebanese politics. That would be a disaster for the war on terror -- and U.S. foreign policy interests generally.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060...81911-1565r.htm

STRATEGIC GEOPOLITICAL CONFUSION - TONY BLANKLEY (WASHINGTON TIMES, JULY 19): One cannot understand the significance of the current Mideast war being fought out in Lebanon and Israel without seeing it as part -- however ambiguously connected -- of the larger struggle between radical Islamists and the rest of us.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...18-083430-8430r

A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY: THE WAR AGAINST THE TERROR MASTERS REDUX - MICHAEL LEDEEN (NATIONAL REVIEW, JULY 20): The battle against Hezbollah is part of the broader war, as the mullahs well understood when they unleashed Nasrallah and Mughniyah against the Israelis. Israel is now conducting that battle; it is up to us to prosecute the rest of the war.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjlmN...zk3ODZjYjEyNTU=

WHY CEASE-FIRE MAKES NO SENSE FOR ISRAEL - JONAH GOLDBERG (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, JULY 20): A loose coalition of propagandists, Israel haters and idiots argues that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians in Lebanon.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...ncommentary-hed

IN MIDEAST STRIFE, BUSH SEES A STEP TO PEACE - MICHAEL ABRAMOWITZ (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 21): The U.S. position also reflects Bush's deepening belief that Israel is central to the broader campaign against terrorists and represents a shift away from a more traditional view that the United States plays an "honest broker's" role in the Middle East.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2001907_pf.html

OTHER MEANS: AMERICA'S PROXY WAR - LAWRENCE F. KAPLAN (NEW REPUBLIC, JULY 20): The Bush team has spent many more hours encouraging Israel than constraining it.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060731&s=kaplan073106

ISRAEL'S MOMENT, THE FREE WORLD'S GAIN: WE ARE ALL ISRAELIS NOW - LARRY KUDLOW (NATIONAL REVIEW, JULY 17): All of us in the free world owe Israel an enormous thank-you for defending freedom, democracy, and security against the Iranian cat?s-paw wholly-owned terrorist subsidiaries Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel is doing the Lord?s work.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjM1O...zQzM2MzNzdiNDc=

ISRAEL HAS A WAR TO WIN: WHITE HOUSE NEEDS TO HELP ITS ALLY TAKE A HARD LINE AGAINST HEZBOLLAH, PALESTINIANS AND IRAN - DANIEL PIPES (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JULY 20): Israel has a significant role in the U.S.-led war on terror; it can best defend itself and help its U.S. ally not by aspiring to agreements with intractable foes but by convincing them that Israel is permanent and unbeatable.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...inion-rightrail

TERRORISM AS SOCIAL CONTRACT: AN ARAB FAILURE - MARIO LOYOLA (NATIONAL REVIEW, JULY 20): If the international community demands anything of Israel, it should first demand that Lebanon enforce its own laws against the terrorist Hezbollah. In the meantime, the United States should leave no doubts that it stands with Israel in this fight.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWRiY...DhhNDlhZDJhYzg=

A 'CYCLE' OF NONSENSE - THOMAS SOWELL (WASHINGTON TIMES, JULY 20): Of all the Western democracies, only two have no choice but to depend on their own military forces for their survival -- the United States and Israel.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...19-081925-8434r

A HANDFUL OF NEOCONS ARE INSTIGATING A WIDER WAR: WILL AMERICANS JOIN IRAQIS, LEBANESE, AND PALESTINIANS AS NEOCON VICTIMS? - PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS (ANTIWAR.COM, JULY 10): If Bush were Israel's friend, he would not have given a green light to Israel's aggression, which will create more hatred of Israel.
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=9354

OLMERT'S FOLLY?: HIS ATTACKS ENDANGER ISRAEL AND AMERICA BRIAN M. DOWNING (ANTIWAR.COM, JULY 20)
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/downing.php?articleid=9356