[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/tnjKmpIlFn8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Senator Obama has inspired yet two other musical cultivations, both coming from the Caribbean. The Mighty Sparrow, a Caribbean-American of of Grenadian/Trinidadian origin known as the “Calypso King of the World,” composed a song praising Obama. In the song, titled “Barack the Magnificent,” Sparrow sings: "Barack! Barack! He is fighting for openness […]
Lisa Mullins of Public Radio International's “The World” program spoke with Mohamad Manzarpour of the BBC's Persian Service on Iran's move to suspend talks about Iraq's regional security. Toward the end of the conversation Mullins asks Manzarpour about the Iranian public's reaction to Senator Clinton's recent remarks about what she would do as President if Iran […]
This October, Georgetown University Press will publish a new “manual” on the Foreign Service titled Career Diplomacy. Authored by former Foreign Service Officer Harry Kopp and the recently-passed Charles “Tony” Gillespie, a former Ambassador to Colombia and Chile, the book serves as an A to Z guide on the Foreign Service and US diplomacy. Here's some […]
Do the mass media form or reflect public opinion? Specialists in these matters always answer "both," but in this election year it's critical to know which predominates. Take the Rev. Wright "issue." In the seven weeks since March 18th, when ABC-TV unveiled footage of Wright's most notorious quotes, the media have incessantly declaimed on behalf […]
NAFSA: Association of International Educators is a non-profit, professional association of international educators dedicated to promoting international education in America and worldwide. US International education centers around two flows: foreign students travelling to the US to study and experience American life, and American students travelling abroad to study and experience living abroad. Recently, we have […]
Diplomacy isn't just an activity civil servants engage in. the average American (gasp!) can be a diplomat too. Whether it's going th extra mile to be nice to foreigners you meet on the street, or trying your hardest to be a well-behaved international tourist, Americans themselves can together help to polish the US tarnished image abroad. One […]
According to Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler, the release of intelligence on the Syrian nuclear site at al-Kibar, has had adverse effects on the negotiations with North Korea. Unfortunately, this development came at time when significant progress was being made. Blake Hounshell of FP Passport rightly points out evidence of North Korea actively aiding Syria […]
These days, the two connected concerns of this blog — foreign opinion of the U.S. and how U.S. Presidential candidates would deal with it — are in the background while America struggles at home. The economy overshadows Iraq as America's chief concern. The dead-heat race for the Democratic nomination is in turmoil over the inflammatory […]
Harvard professor Joseph Nye and former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week on their Smart Power initiative. Joe Nye has been writing about smart power and its earlier version soft power since The “smart power” concept was first introduced to the Senate Foreign Relations committee by Admiral […]
Today is the sixteenth anniversary of the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. As Ghosts of Alexander reminds us the United States finds itself battling the radical sentiment it helped proliferate to fight the Soviets. Pakistan's President Musharraf, addressing the 88th National Management Course, noted the growing extremism , which he fears "the spread of Talibansation beyond […]
Michael Gerson, George W. Bush's former speechwriter, spent his twice-weekly Washington Post column this Friday offering advice to the next US President on the virtues of unilateralism. Gerson begins by tuning his argument to the conservative ear: “In their total war for the right to be dubbed the peace candidate Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack […]
The Washington, DC-based Brookings Institute and the University of Bern's Project on on Internal Displacement has released an interesting report focusing on how to fuse human rights with US foreign policy. The author is Roberta Cohen, who, among her impressive credentials in the field of human rights, was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights at […]
This blog previously discussed Iranian President Ahmedinejad's preferred US Presidential candidate. Now, while presidential elections are underway in Iran and in the US (albeit with an election day much further down the road), and while these countries’ governments clash on the international political stage, who do the Iranian public want to see in the Oval office come January? […]
Jimmy Carter's controversial visit with Hamas has yielded an unexpected offer to Israel. Hamas' leading strategist, Khaled Meshaal has publicly announced a ten year "hudna" (truce), as recognition of Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Of course, this offer is met with cynicism here in the United States: […]
We may be witnessing the most unusual overseas public affairs climate for the United States in the modern era. One the one hand, public opinion regarding the United States is as low as at any time since the beginning of modern polling. On the other, there appears to be an unprecedented level of international interest […]