NATO recently launched a new website through the Public Diplomacy Division called NATO TV. The site has so far been producing front-line operational footage, interviews on NATO issues, press conference videos, an archive with footage going back to 1945, and more.
Undoubtedly much of the footage will be propaganda, though NATO is billing it as news and "the voice of 26 countries". However, this propaganda may not be a bad thing, for at least two reasons:
• First, there is a broad lack of understanding about NATO's role in the post-Cold War world, and reasonably so: today's threats are more complicated and nuanced than ever before, making NATO's role in responding to them more difficult to understand than when it had one main mission: deter a Soviet onslaught. NATO TV increases transparency on NATO's activities and organization in an easily digestible format.
• Second, while NATO has accomplished a lot historically, and continues to be a key Alliance for both Europe and the United States today, often the media (including yours truly) only highlight controversies or failures – “the only good news is bad news,” as they say. NATO TV will provide information on positive achievements.
As an example of a NATO TV product, the website is running a series that follows the daily life of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) located in Southern Helmand Province, part of the NATO International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF). I found the second episode (three of six parts have been released at the time of this post) to be the most interesting. In it, Sergeant Ryan Messina provides the following quote on progress in Afghanistan from the perspective of a foot soldier:
When you see the way it was, and the effect you have on it, and the way it is now, it has a big impact on you as a person, you feel good about yourself, you feel like you have done something for these people.
You can find the three videos released so far at the natochannel.tv website.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
German Politics on Monday, September 3. 2007
"A German orchestra will play Beethoven and Brahms in Tehran in a rare visit by a European ensemble amid tension between Iran and the West," writes The Washington Post:
The 60-member Osnabrueck Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Hermann Baeumer will perform Wednesday and Thursday as part of an exchange that saw the Tehran Symphony Orchestra perform to a packed hall last year in Osnabrueck. (...) Some hard-line clerics say music comes between the faithful, and God and leads to impure thoughts, therefore being incompatible with the Shiite school of Islam that rules Iran. Secular songs were banned as un-Islamic, and in the early 1980s, police stopped cars to check tape decks and smashed offending tapes. In the 1990s, music gradually made a comeback in Iran under the then reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. Then in December 2005, the hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced a ban on Western music on state radio and television.
Do you approve of the German orchestra's concert as some contribution to possible change in Iran or do you disapprove because Iran should be isolated at this point because of its current policies and because musical exchanges won't lead to change anyway?
Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, actor and director of the Jason Bourne movie, have criticized James Bond as an imperialist, who likes violence and has no guilt. Scottish journalist Alex Massie cannot leave such serious insults of Britain's super agent unanswered. Interesting transatlantic pop culture "fight" in The Debatable Land.
Personal question: Why are the initials J.B. so popular for (former) special agents who are loners? Jack Bauer, James Bond, Jason Bourne...
"The Miracle of Wedding: In one of the Berlin districts with the biggest social problems an American turns frustrated young people into a successful musical company," writes Thomas Hanke in the German daily Handelsblatt; translation at the US embassy. The above mention American is the 38-year-old New Yorker composer Todd Fletcher. The US embassy points out in an email: "The project took place under the patronage of U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr., and his wife Sue Timken. At the invitation of the patrons, German Federal President Horst Köhler and his wife as well as Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and his wife attended the event." Photo Gallery. I recommend the Handelsblatt article -- published on the Fourth of July -- because it is an example of pro-American articles in the German press and an example of the outreach work by the US embassy. Ambassador and Mrs. Timken have supported many similar efforts in the past, which also got some press coverage. In this context, check out these Atlantic Review posts about praise and criticism of the US embassy's work in Germany: • First Anniversary: Praise for Ambassador Timken's Work • Medienkritik on How to Improve US Public Diplomacy
Daniel Mark Harrison, a financial journalist and Englishman in New York, describes the 12 "most subtle but important mistakes English people and Europeans in particular make when they come to America. In fact, I think on many levels, these are some of the reasons for break-downs in political and business communications between the USA and the EU." According to him, a bit more cultural awareness would help European economies and improve transatlantic relations: "Building our trans-atlantic political and economic alliances to create a power center which is capable of doing bigger and better things is exactly what both Europe and the United States should be striving for."
Do NOT: 1. Assume that your typically understated demeanor will be recognized and admired by your American colleagues. 2. Politely respond to the question "how are you doing?" with a brief "fine, thanks" and walk away shyly without engaging in much further dialog. 3. Try to exaggerate an overseas experience for dramatic effect. Or, for that matter, underestimate the intelligence of your American companion. 4. Seize every point an American colleague is saying in a debate by analyzing and deconstructing his/her sentence structure word-by-word and pointing out the flaws in his/her logic 5. Hold back on sharing fairly intimate/personal stories on a first meeting. 6. Assume that anyone who is on some kind of anti-depressant or who has been on one/several is insane and that you shouldn't talk to them. 7. Assume that every American is pro-war in Iraq. 8. Assume that because wealth is greatly admired and sought after in the United States, your inherited wealth will be similarly admired. 9. Draw parallels between European pre-industrial revolution colonialism and America's post-world war II involvement in world economies and politics. 10. Make assumptions about America or American people based on what you have seen on Hollywood movies. 11. Assume that once you've been to one part of America you know it all. 12. Be afraid to ask for a pay rise.
He explains all of this Do NOT advice in detail in his blog Global Perspective. I disagree with several of his explanations and consider some of his advice obvious or not helpful, but some is quite interesting. Just my personal opinion, of course.
What is your advice? What should Europeans avoid in conversations with Americans? What should Americans avoid in conversations with Europeans? Not the obvious stuff, but the "hidden" dangers of putting one's foot in it (ins Fettnaepfchen treten). Or more positively put: What is the best way to impress Americans/Europeans, i.e. give a good first impression? Yeah, I know, tough question and very generalized. It all depends on the situation and the individual. Americans and Europeans have probably more in common than differences. Thus making a good impressing on an American or European is not so different. What do you think? Any tips to share?
Related: The American blogger Scot has some great advice for Germans in his blog USA Erklaert: "Warum Amerikaner (Briten, Kanadier) nicht sagen, was sie meinen."
UPDATE: Germany's The Lives of Others has won the Oscar! Director Von Donnersmarck thanked Arnold Schwarzenegger "for teaching me that the words 'I can't' should be stricken from my vocabulary." I know many Germans, who learned this can-do spirit in the United States. This optimism and positive attitude is one of the main reasons, why many Germans are fascinated by Americans and love the American way of life. [End of update]
"If there is any justice, this year's Academy Award for best foreign-language film will go to The Lives of Others," writes the The New Yorker about a German movie dealing with the system of observation in former East Germany.
The IHT writes "Oscar-nominated 'Lives of Others' arrives in US from Germany, where it prompted national debate." Trailer with English subtitles below and at google video. You might have to click twice on play.
The Boston Globe starts its review with this paragraph:
The Bush Administration has taken a pounding for its unauthorized spying on American citizens in the name of national security. But imagine living in a country, the former East Germany, in which the secret police, known as the Stasi, had 100,000 employees and 200,000 informants, and whose stated goal was "to know everything." And all this for a population that never exceeded 16 million. A new German film, "The Lives of Others" (Das Leben der Anderen), which opens Friday, makes the horrors of this police state concrete by focusing on the relationship between a writer, Georg Dreyman (played by Sebastian Koch), and his actress wife, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), and a Stasi agent named Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) who monitors every minute of their waking lives through the listening devices planted in their apartment. The film has already won a host of prestigious prizes in Europe and is one of five finalists for the foreign-language Oscar this year.
• The only German movies, that won an Oscar for best foreign film, were set in the Nazi era:"The Tin Drum" and "Nowhere in Africa." The last two years the academy nominated films about Nazi-Germany as well: "Downfall" and "The Final Days." I like best The Tin Drum and The Final Days about Sophie Scholl of the resistance group White Rose.
I have created an aStore at Amazon.com with direct links to all four films and a few more good German movies, including "The Boat" and "Beyond Silence," which were nominated for an Oscar in 1983 and 1997, as well as three excellent German movies, which were submitted for the Academy Award, but did not receive a nomination: "Run Lola Run" (1998), "The Experiment" (2001) and "Good Bye, Lenin" (2003). Three more decent movies ("Manitu's Shoe," "Edukators," and "Rosenstrasse") are included as well. My favorite German movie is "Run, Lola, Run." What is your favorite German movie? German Films has a list of German films submitted for the Academy Award (OSCAR) for Best Foreign Language Film.
• "German films are riding on a wave of critical and commercial acclaim as directors find that they can make people laugh—to everyone's surprise," writes the Economist.com (via: TheYellowDuckPond)
The 12th annual "Berlin & Beyond" seven-day cinema celebration of films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland starts in San Francisco, writes the SF Chronicle:
German-language films are more popular than ever in the United States, says Ingrid Eggers, Berlin & Beyond's program director and co-founder, who has watched the festival's audience grow from several hundred to more than 10,000. She cites recent U.S.-distributed Deutsch hits such as "Downfall" [Amazon.com, Amazon.de], "Run Lola Run" [Amazon.com, Amazon.de], "The Edukators" [Amazon.com, Amazon.de], and the Oscar-winning "Nowhere in Africa" [Amazon.com, Amazon.de] as reasons for the rise in popularity.
Is that true? Are German films indeed increasingly popular in the US? What would that mean for transatlantic relations on a cultural level? The Karnick blog noticed that American TV series are very popular in Europe and opined that "the reports of an increasingly tense relationship between the United States and Europe may be a bit exaggerated." How can we assess the cultural (or any political?) influence of CSI, 24, Lost, The Simpsons, South Park, Desperate Housewives, ER, Grey's Anatomy and many other American TV series and movies, which are watched by millions of Germans every day? The San Francisco Chronicle continues to describe the program of the festival and also asks whether you have ever heard of "The Monks"?:
They were a group of five American GIs stationed in Germany during the 1960s who started out playing Chuck Berry covers and ended up becoming one of the first bands to mix pop music with offbeat art. They shaved the tops of their heads and dressed up like monks, and considered themselves to be the anti-Beatles. "The Transatlantic Feedback" captures a reunion of the influential group as the members reunite for the first time in more than 30 years. It screens at 3 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Castro.
While some newspapers and magazines run very critical or even Anti-American opinion pieces, some of them also write very pro-American commentaries: "America: The Misunderstood World Power" is the headline of an article in the travel section of arguably Germany's most influential newspaper. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ, in German) argued on November 18, 2006 that everybody who spends holidays in America, returns with an "image of the friendliest nation of the world," because:
In hotels visitors are treated as if they have left home for the first time; walk into any store and you are received like a family member; before ordering in a restaurant you are invited to be on a first name basis with the wait staff; and if you need to ask for directions at a gas station, you may find yourself exchanging life stories with the attendant. This combination of the pioneer spirit of helping your neighbor and the business practice of taking customer service seriously has developed into a type of openness which I would not hesitate to characterize as the realization of Kant's categorical imperative.
According to the FAZ, the only reason, why America has an image problem, is that there are still people who have not traveled somewhere between San Francisco and New York. Those people's image of America is shaped by Kyoto, Guantanamo, Iraq war and Abu Ghraib. A recent opinion poll in 17 countries concluded that Americans are considered materialistic, arrogant, loud, and lacking interest in other cultures. To change this perception, America should encourage more people to travel to the United States, says Keith Reinhard in the FAZ article. Reinhard has founded the Business for Diplomatic Action initiative. [Thanks to David for the translation]
"A lot of people hope that the ugly rifts between Europe and the U.S. will close when George W. Bush leaves office. Don't bet on it." writes J.F.O. McAllister in Time Magazin:
Ron Asmus, an American who heads the Marshall Fund's Transatlantic Center in Brussels, says: "Europe has made up its mind on George Bush. But in 2008, the page will be turned. Europeans will take a new look at America, and that's when it gets interesting." Well, maybe. But I have been writing about U.S. foreign policy for 30 years and living in Europe for the last seven, and while I hope Asmus is right, I fear there are bigger centrifugal trends at work than a single President and his unpopular war. In historical perspective, that's almost inevitable. The overarching Soviet threat of the cold war was extraordinary; so was the cooperation, from the Marshall Plan to Nato to Fulbright scholarships, it inspired. "The closeness we grew used to of shared perspectives between 1950 and 1990 was the exception rather than the rule," says Tony Judt, a British-born professor of European history at New York University. "Before World War II, no one spoke about 'the West' as a shared cultural area. Americans, mostly of recent European descent, saw themselves as getting away from Europe.
Conclusions:
Some Americans dismiss Europe entirely. Kenneth Feltman of Radnor Inc., who surveys high-level "decision makers" for corporations and political candidates, says his U.S. decision makers have little sense of connection with Europe. One word always gets them nodding about Europe: "Whiney." Says Feltman: "Americans say, 'We used to worry about what Europe wants, but we can't figure it out. So we stopped worrying.'" (...) So how could Europeans be persuaded to stop turning away from the U.S. and engage again? A first step would be for the U.S. not to demand submission from Europeans or lecture them all the time, but to argue and persuade: not on the basis that the "war on terror" justifies all, but showing respect for the international legal norms on which Europe now grounds its own peace and security.
October 3rd is German Unity Day. It has been often said that there would be less Anti-Americanism in Germany, if Germans would be more patriotic. Anti-Americanism has been described as:
inverted nationalism for people who think nationalism isn't cool. (think about it, what better way to believe in the superiority of your nation without being explicit about it?)
The American Enterprise Institute's James Q. Wilson writes in the American Spectator about "American Exceptionalism". Among other topics he points out:
While 71 percent of Americans say they are "very proud" to be in America, only 38 percent of the French and 21 percent of the Germans and the Japanese say they are proud to live in their countries. And Americans are much more committed to individualism than are people elsewhere. Only one-third of Americans, but two-thirds of Germans and Italians, think that success in life is determined by forces outside their own control. (...) Americans typically have a low opinion of our governing institutions, especially Congress, but an exceptionally high opinion of the constitutional system of which they are a part.
Many people from all over the world have praised the relaxed, joyful, healthy patriotism during the world cup. Some German newspapers called it
"party-otism." So... In order to reduce Anti-Americanism, let's promote some fun patriotism with the trailer of a documentary about the German national soccer team at the world cup this summer. Your browser should display a video to your right. If you don't have a Flash Player plug-in installed to play the trailer, you can download it from Macromedia or read about the movie at Deutschland. Ein Sommermaerchen. It is probably not a coincident that cinemas premiere this documentary on German Unity Day. American influence: Notice that Podolski even sleeps with one of Lance Armstrong's Live Strong yellow wristbands (first few seconds) and Neuville's Texas style Hook'em Horns salute in the shower. There are many more substantial US influences, like the American fitness trainers the head coach Juergen Klinsmann brought over from California. He also inspired and pushed his team with Eminem's song "Lose Yourself" (Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity / To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment / Would you capture it or just let it slip?).
Still, it's not easy being German... ;-) The guy in the second video is not afraid to out himself ;-) This MTV spot could be considered controversial. Of course, Germans are not really discriminated. There is a lot of real discrimination against many groups. That is a serious problem. Therefore, please, do not consider this spot as making fun of real discrimination. Just laugh about the German stereotypes, which are shown in a funny way.
"It's a success-story we can be proud of", applauded minister of state of Rhineland-Palatinate himself and his creation, the Atlantic Academy in Kaiserslautern, Germany on the occasion of its tenth anniversary this year. Even after massive reductions of the US- and Nato forces stationed in the region, the small town in the Southwest of Germany (nicknamed "K'town" by its American residents) is supposedly still home to the largest American community outside the US. Long before the Americans came here, hundreds of thousands of local people emigrated to the US; both processes combined make Rhineland-Palatinate "the most Atlantic state in Germany", according to Beck.
For ten years now, the Atlantic Academy has organized lectures, seminars, debates, workshops, festivals of music, art and culture and an annual summer school. Topics range from American foreign and world policy to different political cultures, the role of the German federal states versus American states, religion, ecology, the military, the situation of women, constitutional history, the media, elections, think tanks, interest groups, multiculturalism, to the questions of Iran as a rogue state or whether the next century will be the Chinese century instead of the American. Among the Academy’s more recent cooperations is a lecture series at the University of Kaiserslautern called "Atlantic Forum". They also offer a variety of courses for students as well as teachers in local schools. Last but not least we should mention the book series of 25 "Atlantic Texts" (in German only) that the Atlantic Academy has published so far, including: Atlantische politische Kultur (Atlantic Political Culture), Auf der Suche nach einer internationalen Zivilgesellschaft (In Search of a New International Civil Society), Frauen in USA und Deutschland (Women in the U.S. and Germany), Die Rolle der deutschen Länder und der US-Bundesstaaten in den internationalen Beziehungen (The Role of the German "Bundeslander" and the US states in International Relations), and Weltmacht vor neuer Bedrohung (World Power Under New Threats).
The movie "United 93" shows how American heroes take on the hijackers -- but only after a German passenger has tried to persuade them not to. The movie is described as "meticulously researched" and "fact-based", but there is not any indication that Christian Adams, deputy directory of the German Wine Institute and a Fulbright Alumnus, acted in the cowardly appeasing way he is portrayed in the movie. Anthony Kaufman writes in his review in AlterNet: "a German blond businessman who turns out as a stereotypically weak-kneed Euro-pacifist (an obvious non-American who is eventually neutralized)." The Film Fatale blog writes in "United 93's Euro-Pacifist Passenger":
To set up the non-American passenger as a phony obstacle to their heroism-is insulting. Even the four hijackers got a more humane portrayal.
John Harris writes for the Guardian's website: "The film United 93 finds old Europe literally standing in the way of US derring-do. The only trouble is, it didn't happen that way."
There is the awkward question of the much-celebrated bravery of the passengers. Were all of them heroic, or just the half-dozen we see charging the terrorists? It’s interesting that the most vocal passenger to advocate a policy of do-nothing is not an American but a German. Greengrass and his actors meticulously researched and created all the scenarios, but how did they establish that he was the leading advocate of appeasement? Surely one of the passengers didn’t phone home to point out there was a cowardly German on board who wanted to give in? The film doesn't want to deal with the possibility that there were Americans who opted to stay silent and seated. Greengrass wants it both ways: he wants to pose both as the objective documentarist who just presents the facts as they unfolded, and as the dramatist who presents an upbeat portrait of American bravery that makes everybody look good.
"It's a success-story we can be proud of", applauded minister of state of Rhineland-Palatinate himself and his creation, the Atlantic Academy in Kaiserslautern, Germany on the occasion of its tenth anniversary this year. Even after massive reductions of the US- and Nato forces stationed in the region, the small town in the Southwest of Germany (nicknamed "K'town" by its American residents) is supposedly still home to the largest American community outside the US. Long before the Americans came here, hundreds of thousands of local people emigrated to the US; both processes combined make Rhineland-Palatinate "the most Atlantic state in Germany", according to Beck.
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