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Project Director Gordon Robison's writings on media and public diplomacy issues in the Middle East.
THE LOSER IN IRAN WAS THE WESTERN MEDIA
JUN 30, 2005 - 1:51PM PDT
AMMAN, JORDAN - JUNE 28, 2005
by Gordon Robison
This op-ed piece was originally published on the Daily Star on June 28, 2005. The Daily Star is published in Beirut, and it is the "insert" paper that comes folded inside every copy of the International Herald Tribune published in the Middle East (except Ha'aretz in Israel). -- the Editor
So Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is not Iran's new president. That result must come as a particular surprise to anyone who tried to follow the campaign by light of the Western media.
As recently as last Thursday - the day before the run-off vote between Rafsanjani and his rival, Tehran... FULL TEXT
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A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
MAY 26, 2005 - 12:09AM PDT
DEAD SEA, JORDAN - 23 MAY 2005
by Gordon Robison
When I was younger I occasionally tagged along with my father at conferences in Europe where East-West security issues were discussed. Dad taught me two especially important lessons during this time: 1) find a seat on an aisle near the back, that way you can slip out quietly if things get really boring; and 2) all the really interesting stuff happens during the coffee breaks, at meal times and (especially) in the bar.
All this comes back to me as I contemplate this weekend's meeting here of the World Economic Forum, the Geneva-based organization that runs the annual Davos conference.... FULL TEXT
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IN TIME OF CRISIS, A CHANGING ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN LEBANON
MAR 26, 2005 - 10:18PM PDT
BEIRUT – 25 MARCH 2005
by Gordon Robison
As I write this it is late evening and Lebanon's Future Television is deep into its nightly talk show. Four hours, more or less, on where the country is headed. In the upper left corner of the screen a black mourning band cuts across the station's logo. Next to it is the legend "40 ... for Lebanon." The number marks the days since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The words are part of the Lebanese opposition's slogan: "The Truth ... for Lebanon."
Much of central Beirut is festooned with pictures of Hariri and banners calling for "The... FULL TEXT
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MEMO TO KAREN HUGHES
MAR 15, 2005 - 7:43AM PDT
AMMAN, JORDAN -- 14 MARCH 2005
by Gordon Robison
According to news reports over the weekend, President Bush plans to appoint his long-time media advisor, Karen Hughes, as the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. That this post has been vacant for months, even amid general agreement that America’s image overseas is in need of a radical makeover, is itself testimony to the depth of the challenges the new undersecretary faces.
The downside of the President’s choice is Hughes’ lack of foreign policy credentials. She rose to national prominence as the chief spokeswoman for Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. When Bush entered the White House, Hughes... FULL TEXT
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SEEKING A CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE
MAR 8, 2005 - 2:20PM PDT
AMMAN, JORDAN
by Gordon Robison
This is an important moment in the Middle East. Events have been moving quickly in several countries around the region. The questions now are whether the momentum for reform can be sustained, and whether the United States, despite its poor reputation throughout the Arab World, can play a constructive role.
The year began with elections that went better than expected in both Iraq and the Palestinian territories, followed by voting for municipal councils in Saudi Arabia – a country whose king said a decade ago that elections were culturally inappropriate for Arabs.
What is happening now in Egypt and Lebanon,... FULL TEXT
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THE OSCARS AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
FEB 28, 2005 - 4:04PM PDT
AMMAN, JORDAN
by Gordon Robison
The Oscars wrapped up a bit before 7am over here and I crawled off to grab a few hours sleep after the school bus picked up my teenage daughter. Neither of us usually gets up at three in the morning to watch television, but the Oscars are something rare: a cultural moment we can share with the rest of America, in real time. We almost missed it because of a problem with our satellite dish, and because I had not noticed that the long-time holder of the ceremony’s Middle East broadcast rights, MBC2, had lost the telecast to a new... FULL TEXT
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NOW THAT THE VOTES ARE COUNTED…
FEB 26, 2005 - 1:19PM PDT
AMMAN, JORDAN
by Gordon Robison
Iraq’s election went off better than expected. Now that the results have been announced the hard part begins.
Though Ibrahim Al-Jafaari’s emergence as the prime ministerial candidate of the United Iraqi Alliance makes him the leading contender to head the country’s next government his grasp on the levers of power remains far from certain. The Shia-led UIA emerged with a thin majority in the 275 seat National Assembly, but it is far short of the two-thirds needed to form a government. This is especially the case since the UIA is hardly a cohesive block. It is hard to imagine any... FULL TEXT
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CHANGING THE SUBJECT
FEB 17, 2005 - 3:58PM PDT
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA
by Gordon Robison
I’ve spent a day here in the suburbs of Los Angeles talking about the Middle East with students and faculty at my alma mater, Pomona College. The really interesting thing is that while I came to talk about Iraq, I keep getting asked about Israel and the Palestinians. Add in Monday’s assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and Iraq, the constant topic of the last two years, seems to have vanished from the agenda, at least for a moment.
The thing about living in the Middle East in general, and in Amman in particular, is that Iraq has... FULL TEXT
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EGYPT’S PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TEST FOR WASHINGTON
FEB 11, 2005 - 11:33AM PDT
AMMAN, JORDAN
by Gordon Robison
America’s public diplomacy problems in the Middle East can be summed up in a single word: credibility. Over two generations we have acquired a well-deserved reputation for saying one thing and doing another. We preach the virtues of democracy while supporting tyrants. We proclaim our openness and freedom even as we make the US an ever-more-difficult place to visit (and don’t kid yourself – getting a US visa was a slow and often humiliating process before 9-11, in the three years since it has only gotten worse). Washington has long portrayed itself as an honest broker in Arab-Israeli peace talks,... FULL TEXT
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SCENERY CHANGES… CLIMATE DOES NOT
FEB 8, 2005 - 10:42AM PDT
AMMAN, JORDAN
by Gordon Robison
So I spend three weeks on the road, nearly half that time in the snowy mountains of Italy and Austria. I get home late last night, rise early this morning, look out the window… and it’s snowing.
This is not utterly unknown here in Jordan, it happens roughly once each winter. Last year’s ‘storm’ (I use this word generously. Today’s snow virtually shut down the city but would barely have qualified as a flurry in Vermont, where I grew up) left me stranded in Baghdad for two days because the plane scheduled to bring me home was unable to leave... FULL TEXT
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