1.REMEMBERING THE U.S. EMBASSY TAKEOVER IN IRAN: Amidst all the U.S. election excitement, a two-para, November 4, 2020 statement from Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo didn’t get much attention. It was issued to mark the 41st anniversary of the day Ayatollah Khomeini’s followers broke into the U.S Embassy in Tehran and took more than…
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1. A CALL FOR PEACEFUL U.S. ELECTIONS: Less than a week before the November 3, 2020 U.S. general elections, Freedom House — the independent watchdog organization that advocates for democracy and human rights around the world — issued a rather remarkable press release, which called on “politicians and journalists to protect the electoral process.” In…
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The threat to the five international multimedia U.S. networks, at times, seems unrelenting. These networks are a key public diplomacy aspect of the nation’s outreach to at least 100 countries around the world. Herewith, a summary of the ongoing debate about prospects for their future. In an editorial on October 28, the Washington Post headline…
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Are there faint signs of progress in global crisis areas as of November 3 approaches? 1. ISRAELI-ARAB PRELIMINARY STEPS TOWARD CLOSER RELATIONS? The recent joint announcement by the United States, Sudan, and Israel that the two Middle East countries have agreed to begin normalizing relations after decades of hostility appears to mark another possible initial…
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1. MERIDIAN GOES VIRTUAL OVER GLOBAL HEALTH DIPLOMACY: Kudos to Meridian International Center for pulling off its groundbreaking, 5 ½-hr virtual event on October 23, 2020. Approximately 1,000 people around the world engaged in the nonprofit’s ninth annual Meridian Summit convened and produced by Meridian President and CEO Ambassador Stuart Holliday, former Coordinator of State’s…
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1. THE BTS PHENOMENON AND “K-POP” DIPLOMACY: If you haven’t heard of BTS, you either have no access to old or new media, or you live on another planet! The wildly successful, squeaky clean, seven-member boy-band from South Korea continues to take the world by storm with its popular music and powerful social media messages.…
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For America’s publicly-funded overseas broadcasters, it has been the most perilous summer and fall in the 78 years since the Voice of America went on the air during World War II with the pledge: “The news may be good, the news may be bad for us (the U.S.), but we shall tell you the truth.”…
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In two years’ time, shortly after graduating from the Harvard Kennedy School, we will join the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service to begin serving as American diplomats. At that time, we will be presented with the same question that all diplomats must answer: where do we wish to serve? Our answer to that question…
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Imagine the herculean task of feeding nearly 100,000,000 people in 88 countries, as the World Food Programme has done this past year! That’s active lifesaving public diplomacy at its best. The U.N. organization was clearly thrilled at unexpectedly receiving the coveted Nobel Peace Prize, announced in Oslo on October 8 by the chair of Norway’s…
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1.U.S. TECH GIANTS: ARE THEY TOO BIG? Few players have a greater influence on the digital economy — or on international communication or exchange or the work of public diplomacy professionals — than the four so-called “Big Tech” companies: Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. As powerful, private firms with a truly global reach, they are…
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