Public diplomacy

pdaa.publicdiplomacy (Updated Feb. 18, 2019) After decades of hostile or no communication, difficult, often halting efforts to negotiate, “soft power” diplomacy (including visits to North Korea by the New York Philharmonic and basketball player Dennis Rodman), and a dangerous ratcheting-up of nuclear brinksmanship in 2017, in March 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to meet. That first-ever US-DPRK summit took place on June 12, 2018, in Singapore. Hailed as a success by both leaders and by South Korea, which played a key role in brokering it, the summit’s results have been mixed or limited, although both leaders have pledged to hold another summit this year. President Donald J. Trump with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un | June 12, 2018 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)Looking beyond the prognosis for success of this latest effort, how can and should the United States engage a hard-to-reach country like North Korea, both diplom..

Erik Sass, Mental Floss, April 4, 2017; original article contains additional illustrations; see also article on Creel and WWI propaganda in Excerpt: [I]n the speech’s climactic passage, Wilson laid his request before Congress: With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it, and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end the war. ... Wilson hastened to emphasize that America’s fight was with the..

Kerrie Kennedy, thepienews.com, Feb 18 2019 Image from article: The Committee urged the UK and the EU to work together to avoid any disruption to Erasmus+ placements in the event of a no-deal scenario. Photo: Wikicommons/ Dave Kellam. The House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee has called on the UK government to clarify its plans for the country’s future access to Erasmus, warning that it would be a “formidable challenge” to try to replicate at a national level the benefits of the EU’s programs. In its report ‘Brexit: the Erasmus and Horizon programmes’, the Committee urged the UK and the EU to work together to avoid any disruption to Erasmus+ placements in the event of a no-deal scenario. “It is in the UK and the EU’s mutual interest to preserve current close levels of cooperation” It also stated that losing access to the program would “disproportionately affect” people from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with medical needs or disabilities. “We strongly believe…that it is i..

John Feeley, univision.com; John Feeley was US Ambassador to Panama and is a Univision political analyst. Image from article: President Trump signing a new Cuba policy order in Miami, June 16, 2017. Left to right: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Florida Governor Rick Scott, Senator Marco Rubio, Vice President Mike Pence. Cubans are playing a key role in the Venezuelan crisis, on both sides. Excerpt: President Trump is bringing the Venezuela road show to Miami on Monday in an attempt to keep the pressure on Nicolas Maduro. He will no doubt repeat his State of the Union dig at Democrats, when he raised the specter of socialism in that long-suffering country and linked it to his domestic political opposition. "Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country," the president said in his speech to Congress. "Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country," he added. The truth is, Maduro ..

cincinnati.com Image from article: Steve Herman, VOA White House Bureau Chief. Steve Herman is a native Cincinnatian and attended elementary school here, but he’s traveled the world throughout his journalism career. Now the White House bureau chief for the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., Herman will speak on “Covering the White House and the World” Wednesday, March 6, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the National Voice of America Museum in West Chester. The free event is the first of the museum’s four-part series, “The Voice of Truth in America: Celebrating 75 Years of the VOA Bethany Station," hosted in collaboration with the MidPointe Library System. Herman will speak about the Voice of America today, what it’s like to cover the White House as a VOA correspondent and the VOA’s public diplomacy [JB emphasis] regarding disinformation campaigns from China and Russia. Dayton-based law firm Sebaly, Shillito and Dyer, as well as VOA museum board member Jay Adrick, sponsor this event. RSVPs are re..

Afkar Abdullah, khaleejtimes.com February 18 Image from article, with caption: Dr Kamel Al Mu'aini, president of the International Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (IIDC)-Photo by M. Sajjad/ Khaleej Times The conference will focus on how the media affect the cultures of the people. The International Institute for Cultural Diplomacy announced on February 18 that it will launch its first cultural diplomacy conference on "The Impact of Media on Diplomacy, Security and State Reputation" in AbuDhabi on February 27. The conference will see the participation of 21 experts in various fields of politics, economy, culture and media, in addition to university professors, ambassadors, public and security experts from 10 Arab and foreign countries around the world to discuss media issues and its role in the current time. Dr Kamel Al Mu'aini, president of the International Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (IIDC), said that the conference is a platform for discussing the media issues and..

tufts.edu, February 13, 2019; original article contains a video and photographs image from Alan K. Henrikson, the Lee E. Dirks Professor of Diplomatic History Emeritus and founding Director of Diplomatic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, was on hand at the American Center in Moscow at the U.S. Embassy, to discuss the origins and development of “public diplomacy [JB emphasis].” Professor Henrikson was on hand in Moscow to teach a short course at MGIMO University, and in both his courses and lectures he has stressed the importance of “diplomatic understanding”, a term encompassing the need to take a longer view, consider unintended consequences of formal agreements, and understanding that cultures differ greatly. ...

Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner, February 16, 2019 Yang Jiechi image from Wikipedia MUNICH — European leaders should disregard "lectures" from Vice President Mike Pence and other U.S. officials about Chinese encroachment into Europe, a top diplomat from the communist nation said Saturday. Pence — amplifying warnings by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — told the Munich Security Conference that Huawei, a Chinese multinational telecom company, posed a threat to regional security. “Chinese law requires them to provide Beijing’s vast security apparatus with access to any data that touches their networks or equipment,” Pence said in his prepared text. “We must protect our critical telecom infrastructure, and the United States is calling on all our security partners to be vigilant and to reject any enterprise that would compromise the integrity of our communications technology or national security systems.” That prompted a rebuke, during a question-and-answer session, from Yang Jiechi, a top ..

Emma Bowman, NPR, February 16; on Nauert, see below Image from entry, with caption: Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert withdrew herself from consideration for the nomination of U.S. ambassador to the U.N. on Saturday.State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert withdrew herself from consideration on Saturday for the nomination of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations."I am grateful to President Trump and Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo for the trust they placed in me for considering me for the position of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations," she said, according to a statement released by the State Department. "However, the past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration."President Trump picked the former Fox & Friends host to become the next ambassador to the U.N. in December. Had she been confirmed, Nauert would have replaced Nikki Haley, who resigned as ambassador in Oct..

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