[kitchencabinetforum] WINNING THE BATTLE FOR GLOBAL PUBLIC OPINION

The independent Institute for Government in the United Kingdom points out international politics is undergoing a fundamental shift, driven by power diffusion, technological advances, networks, and an empowered global public. The sum total of these changes means that addressing the world's major foreign policy challenges will require soft power approaches.

Driving international affairs in the 21st century will rest on shaping narratives, setting international norms, mobilizing transnational networks, and winning the battle for global public opinion. This is not to say that soft power alone will always win the day, but its relative strategic importance compared to hard power will continue to grow at a time when the world's established powers are chipping away at their own capacity to operate under the changing conditions of international politics.

Public diplomacy is the process by which an international actor conducts foreign policy by engaging a foreign public. Public diplomacy has five components: listening, advocacy, cultural diplomacy, exchange diplomacy, and international broadcasting. Sinokleptocrats try to buy friends by cultivating influential figures in developing countries in the hope of displacing Western influence and values. China is demonstrating a growing sophistication and determination in this endeavor.

As the global threats facing Occident evolve, the importance and complexity of public diplomacy grow along with them. To improve the performance of Occidental public diplomacy, especially under the constraints of tightening budgets, Occidental governments must become more nimble and better organized.

The last time Occident had a clear, overarching goal for public diplomacy was under planetarch Ronald Reagan, for whom the battle for hearts and minds was second nature. If America is to remain the shining city on a hill for people around the world, a new era of U.S. public diplomacy must begin.

From all the slave countries of Fourth Reich, Greece has the worst diplomacy. Greece applies negative public diplomacy by persecuting dissident bloggers and journalists. It's ironic and funny for Fourth Reich to criticize foreign countries, when its member country Greece persecutes dissident bloggers, violates human rights, and applies kangaroo justice. Fourth Reich should rein in Graecokleptocrats and kangaroo judges first before accusing foreign kleptocrats of misconduct. Clean your own house first, before opening your mouth about the dirt in other houses.

The Greek government is so stupid that it hoodwinked all media that I was conspiring to trigger a war between Greece and Turkey and blame Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, for it! Accusing dissident bloggers of treason, Graecokleptocrats have manufactured a blood libel in cyberspace, which in turn incites hatred and violence. http://venitism.blogspot.com

Many Balkan and Middle-East countries kowtow to Turkey. Even Greece offered my head on plate to Erdogan, because Xenogiannakopoulou wrongfully thought it could make him happy! Needless to say, Erdogan was offended by this stupid gesture. Nevertheless, it has destroyed my life. My live was stolen. Now I demand my life back!

For the first time in history, there are huge changes going on simultaneously in every part of the world, and these changes are not of the same nature. In Europe, where the state system originated, the state is losing its significance, and they're trying to form a larger unit. In the Middle East, the states never took hold in the same manner, and there is a religious overtone to the contest. In Asia the states have a character more similar to what the European states used to have. http://venitism.blogspot.com

Anglosphere is the dominant power in the world today. The art of diplomacy is to balance the power you have with the aims you seek in an attempt to bring as many people with you in a common effort and to draw lines where one must to protect your interests and your security and advance your values. There is a lot of questioning and even some anxiety, particularly among leaders and among intellectuals about what the Anglosphere is trying to achieve.

We stand in solidarity with the peoples of Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans in their demands for an end to repression, kleptocracy, and cybercop brutality, for their freedom, their basic human rights, and immediate reforms. We stand in defiance against all those kleptocrats who try to suppress the growing movement of people standing up for their rights, facing down injustice and offering hope for a better world. Please show your solidarity and defiance by wearing the colors of their flags.

For Hillary Clinton, modernizing U.S. diplomacy is a strategic imperative. The widespread diffusion of technologies such as broadband Internet, social media and mobile phones requires updating policies and practices. Connection technologies now increase our impact across the range of diplomatic activities, from public diplomacy to commercial outreach, from disaster response to democracy promotion.

Building on the White House International Strategy for Cyberspace, the State Department is promoting policies that support our values and objectives in cyberspace:

• Internet Freedom: The free flow of information online empowers individuals and strengthens societies, but some governments censor and use surveillance to chill free expression and arrest dissidents merely for the opinions they express. In addition to promoting Internet freedom globally, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) financially support human rights activists in this area.

• Internet Governance: Preserving an open, free, and secure Internet requires a stable and effective system of Internet governance. Uncle Sam is committed to the decentralized, multi-stakeholder model that includes governments, businesses, academia, and civil society. This has proven capable of solving technical and policy problems to address issues, such as data privacy and protection, intellectual property and taxation.

• Cybersecurity: Uncle Sam is strengthening cybersecurity globally by: 1) ensuring that law enforcement agencies have tools to investigate cybercrime and deal with electronic evidence; 2) promoting enactment of cybercrime laws; and 3) creating mechanisms like the G8 24/7 network to ensure international cooperation.

• Access and Development: Increasing access to connection technologies promotes development by enhancing economic growth, governance, education, health, anti-corruption, and citizen journalism. The State Department is working to improve access, particularly for women and other underserved populations.

• Open Government: Obama and Brazilian President Rousseff launched the Open Government Partnership (OGP) to advance global progress on good governance. OGP brings together technology companies, civil society, and government leaders to share innovative practices that promote transparency and accountability, fight corruption and energize civic participation.

Wow! Smart words are more effective than smart bombs! Mighty words of a charismatic keynote speaker can transform your people to a new dimension of organizational climate, efficiency, self-actualization, enthusiasm, belonging, and motivation. I would like very much to speak at your conference in order to explain critical points much further. Basil Venitis, venitis@gmail.com