No time for blogging today, so a bunch of links to worthwhile reads:
- Mark Grimsley with GWOT Gems (I’m still laughing)
- Tom with an MST3K clip (a truly classic show)
- Mary Dudziak channels HNN and reminds us of previous Congress / President struggles over war
- Hill and Knowlton’s blog quotes from Mark Twain on the use of key grammar for vital communication that is very important.
- Adam reminds us of the lack of a hierarchy, as we know it, in our “#1 enemy”.
Specifically for the public diplomacy audience:
- Jason feeling the love with Karen Hughes (public diplomacy folks must read this)
- Mark (again) with Condi bringing on an excellent advisor (I suppose to help fill a void Kilcullen left)
Just posted the same comment on Jason’s blog re: Karen Hughes’s failures among ethnic Kurds and Arabs in Germany:I’m among the last people you’ll ever hear defend Karen Hughes. But I feel I should point out that blaming the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs for the terrible image of the U.S. amongst ethnic Arabs and Kurds in Germany is a lot like blaming the head cheerleader for a football team that just lost 55-0.
I don’t care if you have a combination of Bill Clinton, Edward R. Murrow and Martin Luther King Jr running public diplomacy for the United States. NO ONE could sell U.S. policy in Iraq – because it is completely unsellable.
Even the best public diplomacy cannot be a cover for bad policy. Like a few of us like to say – it’s like putting lipstick on a pig.
“I suppose to help fill a void Kilcullen left)”I thought Kilcullen was still with the MNF in Iraq?
He is, but not with State.
Ah–I wasn’t aware he was a former state dep’t advisor.