U.S. international broadcasting needs a new leadership, new plan and more public scrutiny

By Ted Lipien The BBG restructuring plan would remove much of U.S. international broadcasting from Congressional and public control and scrutiny. The surrogate broadcasters were created in the first place because there was too much control, centralization, interference, and ineffectiveness at the Voice of America. Their job was to undermine dictatorial regimes. The BBG plan [...]

Looking for Part-Time Work? The Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors just opened up

The Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Walter Isaacson, is resigning his position at the BBG.  Walter’s decision has surprised many.  He was a well-respected leader of the BBG, a prolific author (most recently of the Steve Jobs biography, but also biographies of Einstein and Benjamin Franklin) and tremendously busy person (he continues to [...]

The Public Diplomacy of Drones

Today’s article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “More Drones, Fewer Troops” looks at the policy behind the increasing use and reliance on drones, but it misses an essential point: unmanned warfare’s impact on public opinion and public diplomacy.  While the technical and budgetary advantages of unmanned systems are front and center, their impact on [...]

Submit a Guest Post to MountainRunner.us

One of the values of MountainRunner.us is the diversity of voices on the diverse subjects related to understanding, informing, and influencing global publics.  If you are interested in contributing to these topic areas, review the submission guidelines and follow up with me through email.

BBG gets a Director of Communications and External Affairs

The Broadcasting Board of Governors announced today that Lynne Weil has been named Director of Communications and External Affairs.  She starts February 6. The BBG, as many know, is in dire need to improve its engagement with the Hill and the public.  Lynne, in leaving her job as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Public [...]

Blogging on the New Diplomacy in 2010: New Premises

This blog constitutes my first attempt at using a group blog on a class-taught module. While it had a number of clear benefits in terms of developing students' writing and enabling them to comment on each other's work, there were some problems. Not least was the fact that on a blog with 50 students all posting their entries at similar times on similar themes, the blog became repetitive and overloaded. To address this problem, I have set up seven groups blogs of ten or so students each for the current semester. Please follow and comment on their work on the following blogs:

http://newdiplomacy2010a.blogspot.com/
http://newdiplomacy2010b.blogspot.com/
http://newdiplomacy2010c.blogspot.com/
http://newdiplomacy2010d.blogspot.com/
http://newdiplomacy2010e.blogspot.com/
http://newdiplomacy2010f.blogspot.com/
http://newdiplomacy2010g.blogspot.com/

How can means used in 'public diplomacy' facilitate this incident?

Although it has been a while since we completed the 'New Diplomacy' module with Steven, I just wanted to share something which has been in the news for quite some time now.

Back in October (23rd) last year, a British couple Rachel and Paul Chandler were kidnapped by Somali pirates whilst sailing along the Indian Ocean on their yacht. Three months on, and the British couple remain in pirate's hand. David Miliband, Foreign Secretary, has made clear that the British government will not get involved in any 'ransom payment' in order to secure the release of Mr and Mrs Chandler. Miliband further deliberates that the British government has never been attracted to the idea of making 'concessions' to 'hostage-takers', rendering such incident plus the request to 'oblige' (by paying the demanded 'random') is not in Britain's interests.

This kind of response reminds me of Peter R. Neumann's claim when he said that 'democracies must never give in to violence, and terrorists must never be rewarded for using it. Negotiations give legitimacy to terrorists and their methods and undermine actors who have pursued political change through peaceful means. Talks can destabilize the negotiating governments' political systems, and undercut international efforts to outlaw terrorism' (Neumann, R. P (2007), 'Negotiating With Terrorists', Foreign Affairs on-line).

Returning to the Somali pirates case, would Britain's reaction in a way be representing its 'commitment' and 'compliance' with internationally accepted measurements in countering piracy?

British High Commissioner, Rob Macaire, based in Kenya, informed the BBC (in the early aftermath of the incident) that: '...our main concern is to make them understand that what they are doing is entirely unjustified and that they should release the Chandlers immediately and unconditionally'.

From a 'new diplomacy' point of view, British government response to the £4.3 million random demanded by the pirates resembles a form of 'hard power'. 'Hard power' in this context involves the British government and its foreign affairs officials to engage in (via 'media' channels) 'disciplining' the 'wrong-doers (pirates), and reaffirm the international protocol against such unjust activities. Despite the application of 'hard power', Whitehall officials and the government have an expert 'hostage negotiator' on stand-by as the event unravel.

Could the Somali pirate's reluctance to release the Chandlers be due to the fact that a similar hijacking (on the 29th November, 2009) of a Greek supertanker 'Marcan Centaurus' (carrying a $156 million worth of oil/or equivalent to two million barrels of oil) by another pirate gang off the coast of Somalia...successfully received a $7 million ransom as they freed the Greek ship..

Similar outcomes also apply for the Saudi-owned 'Sirius Star' supertanker, it was hijacked in November 2008, and freed in January 2009, as the hijackers received a concession of $3 million in ransom.

"A very diplomatic blog: British ambassadors worldwide tell (nearly) all on the web"

It seems only appropriate - if a little self-referential - that I should use this blog to highlight a very interesting piece in The Guardian on the growing use of Web 2.0 by British diplomats and ambassadors. For the full article click on the title above. It includes the reflections of Ambassador John Duncan, who has generously commented on some of the students' work on this blog.