A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Utahns Understand What the Olympics Mean to the Host
In 2002 the setting was Salt Lake City, in 2008 it's Beijing, but in both cases the political objectives of the hosts were the same. Utahns should understand better than most what the Olympics mean to the Chinese and why they are so anxious to make them an unblemished success.
Flags, Protests and Surprising Restraint
On the eve of the Olympics, the Chinese authorities have become enmeshed in a cloak-and-dagger game with an array of foreign protesters, detaining some activists while failing to block protests by others.
Bush Criticises Beijing Rights Record, Leaves For Games
US President George Bush has expressed his "concern" over China's human rights record as China declares it is ready to stage one of the greatest Olympics ever.
U.S. Shifts ‘Hearts And Minds’ Fight
Instead of trying to explain America, it promotes alternatives to extremism. "The key" to the new approach is "that the US is not at the center of the war of ideas, [and in that way] we can accomplish our goals with people who don't necessarily like our policies," says James Glassman, the newly appointed undersecretary of State for pubic diplomacy. "The focus becomes defeating an ideology – not making ourselves liked."
Israel Brings Largest Contingent, Great Expectations to Beijing
Israel's Olympic contingent of 43 athletes is its largest ever and possibly its strongest -- despite inexperience.
Olympic Message to Some in Beijing Is ‘Please Leave’
Like thousands of others who packed Beijing’s main train station on Thursday, Li Tianchao, an itinerant worker, was prompted to leave Beijing by a lack of work and an unwritten government policy encouraging migrant workers to clear out until the dignitaries and journalists have gone home.
China’s Chinese Food
"Real" Chinese food is a compelling crazy-quilt of cuisines as diverse as the world's most populous nation itself. Your taste buds will never be bored. For Americans visiting Beijing during the Olympics, the best advice is the most Chinese of all: Be omnivorous. Try that duck webbing, that sea slug, that deer tendon, that pigeon wing. Be open to tastes and textures and sensations you've never sampled. And please, please — don't loudly summon the waiter and ask for sweet-and-sour pork.
Gritty Renegade Now Directs China’s Close-Up
For much of the past quarter century, the Chinese director Zhang Yimou made films that showcased his country’s struggle against poverty, war and political misrule to the outside world — films that Chinese, for the most part, never saw. But when the Olympics kick off Friday at China’s new National Stadium, with President Hu Jintao of China, President Bush and other world leaders in attendance and perhaps one billion people watching live on television, Mr. Zhang will preside over the opening ceremonies.
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