Public Diplomacy

Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Reposting from Sept. 16, 2009: September 17 could be a new date in US-Polish relations

On the 71 anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, we are republishing our Sept. 16, 2009 blog post, in which we asked the Obama Administration to consider the significance of the 1939 division of Poland by Hitler and Stalin before making the White House announcement on the cancelation of the ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Poland: “September 17 could be a new date in US-Polish relations

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Public Diplomacy, Russia

US supporting – not exporting – democracy in Russia, says Obama

Democracy Digest from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED): Democracy remains on the US-Russian agenda, President Barack Obama said today. But it is best advanced through the dual track approach entailed in the reset of relations between the two states Follow this link: US supporting – not exporting – democracy in Russia, says Obama  Sourced from: Free Media Online

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Public Diplomacy, Russia

BBG Blamed for Armenian Genocide Denials on Congressionally-funded Radio Liberty

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, May 02, 2010, San Francisco — Armenian genocide and Holocaust denials in radio and TV reports generated by private contractors working for the Broadcasting Board of Governors are linked to mismanagement and flawed programming policy at this US taxpayer-funded Federal agency, says FreeMediaOnline, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization which works to promote independent journalism…

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Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Obama Failed to Notice the Hitler-Stalin Pact but Remembers The Elbe Anniversary 

President Obama announced his decision to scrap the U.S. missile defense system in Central Europe on September 17, 2009, the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. He then signed an arms control agreement with Russia in Prague, the prime site of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. On the day of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s funeral, he…

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Public Diplomacy

Promoting dignity – or democracy?

Democracy Digest from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED): The Obama administration’s new approach to foreign policy has been more successful overseas than at home, Spencer Ackerman contends. Dignity promotion, initially derided as an attempt to dilute the Bush administration’s commitment to promoting democracy, has helped shift ownership of democracy struggles from the U.S. See original here: Promoting dignity –…

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Public Diplomacy

The culture of U.S diplomatic service failed to stop the terrorist attack

TedLipien.com, SAN FRANCISCO — One group of U.S. Government employees that has not received much media scrutiny in the aftermath of the failed terrorist attack are U.S. diplomats who had issued and failed to cancel Mr. Abdulmutallab’s U.S. visa.   U.S. Consular Officers at the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Robin R. Sanders, and Foreign Service…

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Public Diplomacy

U.S. Embassy blames diplomatic gaffe on a Polish translator but a problem runs much deeper

TedLipien.com, SAN FRANCISCO — Bill Clinton might have asked what the “enhanced” definition of  “to enhance” IS?  The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw is busy blaming a Polish translator for mistranslating U.S. Ambassador Lee Feinstein’s TV interview answer about Polish troops in Afghanistan,  which caused a diplomatic uproar in Poland. In an interview broadcast last Saturday,  Ambassador Feinstein  thanked Polish prime minister and…

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Poland, Public Diplomacy

More diplomatic confusion between U.S. and Poland

Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. media has not yet picked up on the latest diplomatic controversy between Poland and the U.S. But the public disagreement between president Obama’s new ambassador in Warsaw Lee A. Feinstein and the Polish defense minister over plans to send additional Polish troops  to Afghanistan is drawing media attention in Poland.   Ambassador Feinstein made a…

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Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia

Obama’s bad foreign policy decisions may have good unintended consequences for public discourse in the U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO — Sometimes really bad decisions produce some unintended good results. Two recent public diplomacy disasters caused by President Obama’s questionable judgement — where was Judith McHale and the State Department diplomats? — had some unexpected good consequences, as did the winning of the Nobel Peace Prize despite his lack of any concrete foreign policy accomplishments. Some of his recent…

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