The Obama Administration is back to practicing public diplomacy — with the American public. Stung by the loss in last week’s election in Massachusetts, the White House is bringing back public outreach specialist David Plouffe, the mild-mannered star of the Obama election campaign. Plouffe had stepped back from politics after the election to write a […]
At the anniversary of Obama’s first year as president, the press is predictably constructing narratives of a president who is blazing trails and one who is barely hanging on. Chatting on GPS with Fareed Zakaria this Sunday, Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan says Obama’s first year went all wrong. Here’s part of it: “One of […]
The news media is awash with reports on the first year anniversary of the Obama presidency. Take a look at this assortment on Google News and you will find that the assessment is grim. The Economist, for example, offers this rather dismal analysis of President Obama’s foreign policy: Mr Obama has been on a goodwill […]
John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0. If you aren’t reading this on a daily basis you should be. It is the best collection of everything you need to know about public diplomacy and it’s downright entertaining, too. An excellent post on putting Ottoman ghosts into proper historical context – by Patricia […]
This report in the World Politics Review suggests that the U.S. and our allies have lost a contest you may not have realized we were engaged in. The contest was over energy resources in Central Asia and those of you who believe that much of what happens in world affairs is linked to the competition […]
Today is a national holiday here in the U.S., celebrating the life and achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr. There is nothing I could add to the many paeans to King (but I recommend that anyone needing a refresher look up his writings and speeches). But in thinking about the times King lived in and […]
My last post highlighted the efforts of the U.S. military to assist the Haiti relief effort and now I’m turning to the commercial and private sector, they have really stepped up to make it easy for people to donate to earthquake relief. Many major U.S. media companies have created special donation portals to allow the […]
Here is another update on the U.S. role in dealing with the Haiti earthquake disaster. In the MSNBC video report below, Ann Curry reports on how the U.S. military is assisting the Haiti rescue and relief effort. The role of Army, Air Force and Coast Guard personnel is highlighted:
1. Is there a silver lining to Somali pirates roaming the ocean? Yes: more fish. 2. “…if some other country solves the problem of green energy, so much the better for us.” Tyler Cowen on the fruitful economic growth, in other countries, over the past decade. 3. The Director of the Energy Security Initiative at […]
SAN FRANCISCO — The President of Kosovo, Dr. Fatmir Sejdiu, likes to say that he is the head of the world’s youngest state, but after nearly two years of nominal independence for his country, this is a statement with an asterisk. Independence was declared by Kosovo on February 17, 2008, but recognition is still a […]
You are invited to participate in an online discussion today about “Obama’s Foreign Policy—One Year On” hosted by BBC Live at Carnegie. The online event will bring together foreign policy experts and scholars Jessica Tuchman Mathews, Robert Kagan, Douglas H. Paal, Paul Salem, Robin Lustig, Ashraf Ghani to assess, “President Obama’s first year in office […]
Two days ago, just before the earthquake hit, Tyler Cowen blogged encouraging news about Haiti. In an odd twist of irony, he wrote that the small Caribbean country was experiencing a “renassaince” where economic growth was expected rise by 2.4 percent in the short term. Earlier in 2009, Haiti’s Central Bank Governor Charles Castel said […]
The Economist had an interesting article last week on Muslim students studying in the West – “the West” being the UK, US and Canada for this article. The piece is written in the wake of the attempted bombing of a US airliner on Christmas Day by a Nigerian man who had, until recently, attended university […]
The U.S. is rushing aid and assistance to the quake stricken nation of Haiti in response to the unfolding disaster. President Obama made a public statement this morning expressing the condolences and support of the American people and directing his administration to, “respond with a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives.” Based on […]
Stratfor is a global intelligence company founded in 1996 that is well respected for both the breadth and depth of their strategic analysis. In the following video report, Stratfor founder George Friedman examines the U.S. relationships with Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, noting U.S. goals and the likely complications that may arise in this new year. […]