Oh, the Weather Outside...

Well, ICkateers, it's snowing in Washington, D.C., which means snowballs are flying, police are packing, and my cozy little ivory tower is frosted over and bitterly cold. It's the perfect day to be anywhere that's not an attic bedroom, and a quick scan of the Washington Post's Weekend Section revealed a fabulous article by the illustrious Michael O'Sullivan on the cultural film offerings available in D.C.

Many of these film series are organized by embassies and cultural centers, a service the United States offers abroad--although not as much as it once did. Like many aspects of modern U.S. diplomacy, cultural outreach programs decreased (as did their funding) in the wake of the Cold War. John Kerry addressed the situation in a February 2009 report titled "U.S. Public Diplomacy--Time to Get Back in the Game," in which he laments the disappearance of the American Centers of yore.

American Centers, for the noncognoscenti, were libraries of sorts that offered book clubs and lectures and civic youth programs and cultural series and English lessons to foreign publics until a trifecta of events conspired to bring about their demise. The end of the Cold War, the information revolution and the mollification of Senator Jesse Helmes led the U.S. Information Agency to be absorbed, like an extra in The Blob, by the State Department. American Centers were gradually shuttered, shrunk and otherwise underfunded until the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon convinced Congress that cultural outreach might have more value than previously assumed.

In subsequent years, the United States has stepped up public and cultural diplomacy efforts once again, but progress is slow and hindered by lack of vision, leadership and resources. This is not to suggest that U.S. public and cultural diplomacy is ineffective or unnecessary, rather that there is a general consensus on the need for reform. The catch is that the consensus is strong among people with the skills to effect reform, but weaker among people with the ability to lead the charge. There's plenty of snow on the hill. What's needed is a few kids with mittens* to set the ball in motion.

Fortunately for D.C. residents and Beltway outliers, our town is hopping with options for the foreign film enthusiast, and I encourage you to check out the article and take full advantage. Alas, I've got too much reading this weekend to join you. Eat some popcorn for me! I'll be bundling up in my tauntaun sleeping bag until the weather turns.


* A totally irrelevant aside: Why does a google search for "congressional mittens" turn up more pictures of Mitt Romney than any other U.S. politicians? Can anyone help?

The Presence of Absence

In a recent Slate article, writer Daniel Gross notes a relative decline in U.S. presence at the World Economic Forum.

The smaller U.S. presence confirms that the world's economic geography is shifting. The United States matters less than it used to, and the U.S. financial sector is continuing to shrink. This was evident as well at the most important activity at Davos—the nightlife. For a certain subset of the attendees, the high-minded conferences during the day are simply prologues to a series of receptions, dinners, nightcaps, and after parties.... The party staged by Forbes, the swashbuckling celebrator of capitalism, American-style, was sedate, sparsely attended, devoid of young people.

Mr. Forbes, a quick aside, if I may: You may dismiss the Davos dancehalls as a garnish, the conference equivalent of parsley -- charming, pleasant to look at, but ultimately little more than a festive visual complement to the meat and potatoes of the conference sessions* -- but as a representative of the United States, you have an obligation to party like it's 1999 even if you're feeling a little more 1929. "Sedate" and "devoid of young people" is a description for a water aerobics class, not a party. The private sector exercises extraordinary influence via unofficial cultural diplomacy, and it pains me to announce that your tepid gathering reflects poorly on the entire nation. When your DJ neglects to blow the speakers up, the terrorists win.

I have a modest proposal from which I believe we both can benefit. To fulfill your civil obligations, you are clearly in need of exuberant young people, unmarred by any connection to the current financial crisis. As it happens, I am intimately acquainted with a number of young patriots who would be only too happy to supply the services you so desperately seek. You provide the venue, and my associates will gladly fulfill their patriotic duty and draw the world's attention to your prestigious company, and our great nation, once again. It is -- and I mean this sincerely -- the absolute least I can do.


* That's a metaphor, kids. Try it at home, but stretch first.

Foreign Policy: Haiti's Regrowth

This NPR segment includes commentary on Haiti from Bob Perito and Larry Birns, who has the dubious distinction of being both my former boss and the only man I've ever hit with a car. While Perito and Birns agree that international support for Haiti has been less than reliable, they disagree regarding how much room there is for optimism on Haiti's regrowth.

Birns: ... the real problem that we've suffered in Haiti - and probably was a broader kind of problem elsewhere in the developing world - was a great reluctance to sustain a funding effort to a country where, for example, it may be each day that Haiti is in the news and tomorrow it may be Rwanda, Darfur or Ethiopia or some other new tragedy. And very often, what we have is an evaporation of existing commitments.

Perito: ... last year was something of renaissance in Haitian terms. The economy was in positive growth terms, businesses were beginning to invest in Haiti. Haiti is the beneficiary of new economic incentives provided by the U.S. Congress for Trade. And so, things, you know, things were looking up ... I think that now we have to - we have to update our perspectives on Haiti.

My own opinion is considerably more moderate. I always found Larry to be intelligent, well informed and gracious (particularly regarding that episode with the car) but we didn't always see eye-to-eye, and I have in the past adopted a more optimistic view on U.S.-Latin American relations. I can't offer any insight into Perito's personality, but his view strikes me as going too far in the opposite direction. Even with the sympathy of the world and an outpouring of economic and logistical support, Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. If our goal is to rebuild Haiti to pre-quake standards, such actions would still abandon thousands of Haitians to poverty and hunger. And if our goal is to rebuild to a superior level, then we'll be relying on an increased level of support, without any indication that such support is sustainable. After all, you'd be hard pressed to prove that Phuket or New Orleans are in better shape now than they were a decade ago.

Ultimately I believe that people are moved by the situation in Haiti, and there are many individuals, governments, religious organizations and NGOs with the desire to help them. But I think it's inevitable that some will lose interest when the cameras move away, and even those that are willing will be limited by resource constraints. I hope Perito's optimism is well founded, but I suspect Birns' caution about the "evaporation of existing commitments" may have more precedence in hemispheric affairs.

But to close on a hopeful note, here's a video of U.S. marines in Haiti (courtesy of YouTube, via John Brown's Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review), showing our tax dollars at work.

News Bits

Alone in the darkness beneath layers of rubble, Dan Woolley felt blood streaming from his head and leg.

Then he remembered -- he had an app for that.

Congrats to CNN's Josh Levs for one of the more captivating ledes I've seen this week. Trapped Father Survives with Help of Phone App demonstrates some practical applications for mobile technology in a nation whose communication infrastructure has been severely limited.

And evidently nobody has explained to Slate's Ron Rosenbaum that satire loses most of its bite when you deliberately label it. In his latest article, he very nearly undermines his point by tossing the word about with a degree of literary carelessness unseen since Alanis Morissette's Ironic. Nonetheless, his "modest proposal" for improving U.S. intelligence efforts

... fire the entire CIA and our other many tragically inept intelligence agencies and outsource all intelligence operations to investigative reporters downsized by the collapse of the newspaper business. Thereby improving our "intelligence capability" (it can't possibly get worse!) and giving a paycheck to some worthy and skilled investigative types ... reporters who once made the journalism profession proud, exciting, and useful ...

deserves some consideration, if only for his bold vision of a brave new world in which TMZ monitors Taliban fashion faux pas and Page 6 starts running photos of prominent ji-hotties.

Finally, the Catholic church has never quite reclaimed the communication monopoly it enjoyed before the printing press came along, but that doesn't mean it's stuck in the dark ages! As Randy Sly reports in Catholic Online, Pope Benedict is encouraging priests to increase their online engagement. It's only a matter of time before @JC4evaaaah! is regaling the masses with such inspirational tweets as "help! 4got wine 4 vsprs! nearest lqr stor?"

Sorry, Father. There's not an app for that.

Extreme Makeover: Taliban Edition

Add this to the soft power files:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Taliban Public Relations
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

And the GOB goes to...

Here's a good rule of thumb for foreign relations amateurs: Don't offend an entire culture.

This week's GOB award (named for Will Arnett's hapless character on Arrested Development, and awarded to an individual, group or insitution that's "made a huge mistake" in international communication) goes to Russian ice-skating duo Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin. As reported here and here, Domnina and Shabalin have offended Australian aboriginals with their loin-clothed interpretation of a native aboriginal dance, inviting the condemnation of indigenous leader Bev Manton for disrespectful, exploitative behavior.

It seems unlikely that offending the minority population of a foreign country was among the pair's main objectives, but it's hard to imagine who approved this idea. And given Domnina and Shabalin's Olympic hopes, it's fair to expect a little cultural awareness and sensitivity in their public performances. But perhaps we're overthinking this. Is it possible that Shabalin was simply looking for an excuse to staple a fake marijuana leaf to his forehead? Oksana, Domnina, this is for you.