Comments on: Soft, Geeky Power

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:13:10 +0000

This reminds me of the argument for giving harm reduction strategies a place in addiction treatment. If you do nothing except criminalize drug use, and insist that the ONLY help you’ll give someone is to put them on a path to abstinence-based cure, then you tend to have no opportunity to interact with them and nudge them along the path to being ready to accept that cure. I just think you’ve touched on a very broad and general principle here. It bears thinking about how it applies elsewhere. Others have framed it as a choice between a strategy of control, or a strategy of relationship.

By: The Crossed Pond » Soft Power

The Crossed Pond » Soft Power — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:34:24 +0000

[...] first is simply a quote from Julian Sanchez: [P]erhaps the administration is finding subtle ways to support democratic openness without a lot [...]

By: Alice AN

Alice AN — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:13:48 +0000

Exactly right! Not to mention that claims of the great satan in the form of a black man named Barack Hussein Obama, packs very little negative emotional punch even they do try it out of desperation.

The thing to watch is how much Obama’s response to this situation boosts his credibility in the Muslim world. Dissident Arab populations can presume they won’t be undermined by international political grandstanding and any aid will remain covert and not obvious enough to be used against them. Implicitly Obama has earned strips with words, and deeds – or rather lack thereof – taking the political hits from those not too long ago advocating we bomb Iran to shreds. How will all the moving parts of this puzzle line up?

On the international stage, Obama’s stature is being established through this moment as well – the silence from all western powers is too synchronized not to have been coordinated. After all, the impulse for political grandstanding is not purely an American one…

By: iran (cont) « unconquerable gladness

iran (cont) « unconquerable gladness — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:43:38 +0000

[...] 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment julian sanchez (via sully natch): It turns out that while all this was going on, the State Department [...]

By: neil

neil — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:39:11 +0000

No Internet in North Korea at all.

By: Julian Sanchez

Julian Sanchez — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:39:20 +0000

Iran will blame The Great Satan no matter what, but in an interconnected world where people there effectively have access to international media, our actions can affect how credible that strategy is.

By: B. Kennedy

B. Kennedy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:14:42 +0000

At last an example of FP intelligence from the Executive Branch. After all his various gaffes, blunders, and deplorable diplomatic gifts, someone finally has their head on straight.

That being said, Iran’s propaganda machine will blame “The Great Satan” for any unrest anyhow. In fact, even after Obama’s tapdance on eggshells, Iran still used his mere speaking shiftily at length as confirmation of a sinister Great Satan-esque plot to undermine the mullacracy.

In the endgame it won’t make much difference. Mousavi is still going to be largely a puppet for the mullahs, and rigged elections will probably remain par for the course.

Does North Korea have Twitter, or does the electrical grid only service Kim Jong-Il’s Playstation3?

By: Dan Summers

Dan Summers — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:43:20 +0000

Huh. Didn’t know that about the State Department and Twitter. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more pithy example of “soft power.”

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:26:44 +0000

And that’s why socialism doesn’t work! lol.