President Obama's war in Afghanistan is, from a historical perspective, unique.

That's because what he's telling us, the American taxpayer, about this conflict is a notable departure from how the White House has traditionally "explained" most past US overseas military engagements to audiences here at home.

If you accept the...

As I compile, for my sins (which are many), the Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, I have noticed, in recent weeks, a backlash against what is known as "cultural diplomacy," often defined as government-supported promotion of a country's artistic achievements overseas.

These critical reactions are, in...

During the U.S. presidential campaign, the Obama-Biden team announced it would
would "expand cultural and arts exchanges throughout the world." And Michelle Obama recently stated that the "spouses of world leaders forge bonds by sharing the arts. ... It is a form of diplomacy in which...

"And therefore I choose partnership and I choose -- to put aside being a child of the Cold war -- I choose to move beyond the rhetoric and the propaganda that came from my government and yours."

--Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at a Town Hall Meeting at...

Thanks to the indefatigable Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, the assessment by General Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. official in Afghanistan, is now available to the public.

The Assessment, dated August 30, reflects the continuing debate within the U.S. government on the role of strategic communications...

There seems to be yet another bureaucratic battle brewing in Washington. On one side of the ring, we have a high ranking State Department official, Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan; on the other, an admiral, Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The conflict is...

If there is one theme at today's impressive conference at George Washington University's "Face-off to Facebook: From the Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen debate to Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century", it is that US public diplomacy [PD], though its tools of persuasion have changed during the past fifty years, is, above all,...

Twittering, as we all know, is the latest hyped form of communication, the craze of the moment.

Even that bastion of anachronistic "packaged information" journalism, TIME magazine, has "twitter" on its recent cover.

As a child of the Cold War, kept awake worrying about a nuclear holocaust and wanting to...

Pundits from the left and the right have been advising President Obama about what to say in Cairo.

How about this suggestion, Mr. President, from an ordinary US citizen?

Declare, Mr. President, that the "war on terror" is over.

We won, they lost.

"We" are all who believe in non-violence.

What is public diplomacy (PD), defined by the State Department as "engaging, informing, and influencing key international audiences"? A term coined in the mid-1960s by Dean Edmund Gullion of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, it covers programs ranging from the Fulbright educational exchange to information about US foreign...

"Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, Mironton, mironton, mirontaine, Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, Ne sait quand reviendra."
--French song

I've been asked by a former Foreign Service officer about Richard Holbrooke, so here's my take on him.

An ex-US diplomat myself, I worked with (he'd say "under") Holbrooke, currently Special Representative...

Few US government activities have been more maligned in recent years than public diplomacy, defined by the US state department as "engaging, informing and influencing key international audiences". Dozens of reports, from all sides of the political fence, have argued that the US had failed to make its case overseas....

The Obama administration isn't talking much about "public diplomacy" these days.

To be sure, "engaging, informing, and influencing key international audiences" -- the State Department's definition of public diplomacy -- is on Obama's and Clinton's agenda. Consider the president's appearance on Al-Arabiya and YouTube as a way to "reboot"...

A recommendation suggesting the ideal person to fill the post of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department, coming from a private citizen who has publicly given "ten reasons why we don't need an Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs" (as posted recently...

1. Nobody with a normal jaw can pronounce this title, a mouthful of a name that is a bureaucratic offense to the English language.

2. Most foreigners (and many Americans as well) have no idea what the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs actually does,...

The former Defense Secretary isn't known for believing in public diplomacy. So why is he calling for a new US information agency?

"Rummy Resurfaces," announced a widely read blog item by Sharon Weinberger on Wired magazine's website last week. The reference was to a speech given by the former...

"Osama dyes his hair and nobody likes him -- what is this, grade six?"
--Blogger byoolin

Karen Hughes, George W. Bush's longtime confidante and spin-stress, is one of his few loyal creatures left on the sinking USS Dubya. Unlike other White House cronies, Ms. Hughes refuses...

Bush's propaganda czarina Karen Hughes -- her official jawbreaking title is Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs -- has had her ups and downs since being sworn in her State Department position in September 2005. When the long-time Bush confidante rejoined the "mission-accomplished" team in her...