1. THE STRUGGLE TO REFORM PUBLIC DIPLOMACY STAFFING: As any PD officer knows, the effort to inform and influence foreign publics relies heavily on support from approximately 2,600 loyal PD Locally Employed Staff (LES) who do PD work in 189 U.S. missions around the world. Any attempt to reform their functions, structures, and position descriptions is…
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At a two-day Washington virtual summit April 22-23, President Biden urged the 40 participating nations to counter the problem of increasing planetary pollution seriously and with the urgency that crisis demands. One approach: what philanthropist Bill Gates describes as huge new public and private investment in innovation globally to avoid catastrophic climate change. “Just using…
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The epidemic in the world’s second most populous nation (with 1.3 billion residents) is difficult to fathom: According to VOA News on April 26, India posted 2,812 COVID-related deaths the previous day, the most in a procession of expanding daily fatalities since the middle of the month. The total India death toll is now at…
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1. UNITED STATES PULLS OFF “LEADERS SUMMIT ON CLIMATE”: This year’s “Earth Day” was different. It really was “Earth Days” — plural. April 22-23, 2021 were rather remarkable days for the Biden Administration and U.S. public diplomacy. Timed for the annual “Earth Day” observance, the White House and State Department quite smoothly managed a two-day Leaders…
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Vartan Gregorian, an internationally-known teacher and president of New York’s Carnegie Corporation, passed away unexpectedly on April 15 shortly after being hospitalized with a stomach pain. He was 87 years old. Dr. Gregorian was an honorary board member of the Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California, and earlier served for nine…
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1. “GLOBAL TRENDS 2040” — TOWARDS A SCARY FUTURE? Intelligence reports — the rare ones that are unclassified and officially made public — aren’t always very helpful in explaining an issue or concern. They usually are cryptic and sanitized, and not very readable. But let me highly recommend one released April 8, 2021 by the National Intelligence…
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Ancient ruins, a prime asset for Egypt’s soft power, just made new headlines. Egypt’s most famous archeologist, on the scene in Luxor on the Nile, told journalists from around the world on April 10 that his team has unearthed brick houses, artifacts, tools from a large city buried for three millennia. The archeologist, Zahi Hawass,…
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1. COMING UP: A COSTLY U.S. DEPARTURE FROM AFGHANISTAN?: For literally decades, one of the most challenging and frustrating jobs for U.S. diplomats, as well as the military and non-governmental organizations, has been trying to deal with the Afghanistan war and the Afghan government and the Taliban. Billions have been spent on various well-intended “nation-building,” “reconstruction,” and…
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From East Asia to North Africa, we are witnessing a determined effort on behalf of proposed democracies struggling to overcome authoritarian regimes. These occur in two key countries, Myanmar (previously known as Burma) in East Asia, and Algeria on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. Daily and unrelenting protests in Myanmar threaten a dictatorship that…
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1. HUMAN RIGHTS ARE BACK: Anyone doubting that U.S. policy towards human rights has changed under the Biden Administration should take a look at Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s words on March 30, 2021 when he unveiled the 45th annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. In releasing the comprehensive review of human rights in nearly 200…
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