War / Peace

James Glassman: The Journalist Turned Journo-lobbyist's Bid to Be PR Czar

James GlassmanJames Glassman, the nominee for Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, probably won't have much of an impact on how the United States presents itself to the rest of the world.

For one thing, he'll only have 11 months in the post. For another -- as his predecessor Karen Hughes proved -- putting shinier lipstick on the pig of U.S. foreign policy doesn't do much to assuage widespread anti-American sentiment. Still, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's January 30 hearing on Glassman's nomination provided some insight into Washington's evolving view of public diplomacy.

Rumsfeld Calls for Propaganda 2.0

Rumsfeld with Gen. Peter Pace in Nov. 2005Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is concerned that the United States "is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world, and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of [a] new government agency," writes Sharon Weinberger.

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Pre-emptive War, Pre-emptive Truck Maintenance

Source: army-technology.comFollowing a damaging Associated Press report that Blackwater Worldwide "repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attac

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War on Iran, Anyone? How the Pentagon Spun the Speedboats

"Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the January 6 US-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness," reports Gareth Porter. The incident, described by Pentagon officials as a "careless, reckless and potentially hostile" provocation by Iranian boats that nearly led to gunfire, was actually a nonthreatening, "almost routine" encounter that officials in Washington distorted.

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It's the War, Healthcare and the Economy, Stupid

"Several of the leading presidential candidates have adopted 'change' as a campaign theme and have rushed to claim that they themselves are the candidates for change," notes Frank Newport of the Gallup polling organization. "But exactly what form that 'change' should take has been a little murky. Change is such a broad concept that -- like a Rorschach inkblot test -- an individual can read into it what he or she wants." To clarify things a bit, Gallup surveyed Americans to ask what type of change they wanted.

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War, What Is it Good For? Electing Democrats in '08

Ryan Grim reports that the biggest and best-funded organizations in the liberal peace movement, primarily MoveOn and the groups in its Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI) coalition, are no longer advocating that Congress end the war.

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They Want Influencers for More New Recruits

"The U.S. Marine Corps is rolling out a new ad campaign this week in an effort to target teachers, coaches, clergy and other groups that tend to have influence on kids' career paths," reports the Wall Street Journal.

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