The presidential elections of June have brought to the surface, like never before, the deep rifts that exist within Iranian society and its power structure. What is really happening there? And more importantly, what should the United States do about it? The delicate and serious nature of the current situation in Iran requires a very wise approach by the Obama Administration. The stakes are very high and the opportunity is unique.
In a chance to turn the table on the media, a group from the private sector engaged in homeland security work were able to grill some top-notch beat reporters who cover homeland issues. One point of discussion that arose was that while DHS seems more low key and less visible than it was under the previous administration, many of the previous administration’s policies are being carried into the Obama era.
One has come to expect the standard assertions from apologists for Middle Eastern autocrats that American media are controlled by the U.S. government. And certainly CNN and the New York Times take their hits in this article. What is fascinating, however, is how quickly new media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have achieved the same level of fear and loathing from these apologists in such a short amount of time.
Nextgov – Social media could frustrate diplomatic efforts, online researchers say New media specialists at the event struggled to answer the question of how the State Department can leverage social networks to engage citizens and officials abroad. People in Iran, China, the United States and other foreign countries are having informal conversations through Web services […]
MountainRunner.us – a discourse on Public Diplomacy Of special interest is this report from the Internet and Democracy project at Harvard’s Berkman Center on the Arabic blogosphere. A key finding is that politics are local and that the US is not a major topic: Some of the reports findings: * Arabic blogosphere is organized primarily […]
Federal News Radio 1500 AM: Emergency Response and Social Networking Social networking is permeating the Federal government, and according to Eric Holdeman, it’s “changing everything” in emergency response. Holdeman is a nationally known emergency response expert and former emergency management director for King County, Washington. He is also the host of Disaster-Zone.com. He talked about […]
Military strives to understand social media By now, social media and networking are old hat to America’s youth. But to those in charge of keeping America safe, social media is just starting to be something more important than an obscure diversion for teenagers. But as they enter the world of social networking, military leaders have […]
Counterterrorism Blog: Kids Martyrdom Videos Get New Sophistication, Huge Audience The little girl’s dark brown eyes look heavenward as she sings, When we seek martyrdom, we go to heaven. You tell us we’re small, but from this way of life we have become big. Without Palestine, what does childhood mean? This is not a song […]
Disaster Zone: Emergency Management in the Blogosphere: Social Media Taking Over If you are trying to figure out social media and how it is changing everything, including emergency management preparedness, response and recovery (I still need to figure out the mitigation link). Check out the video on how Twitter and other devices will change history. […]
Whose Side Are We On? You Have to Ask? – WSJ.com Some ask if the impact of the new technology is exaggerated. No. Twittering and YouTubing made the story take hold and take off. But did the technology create the rebellion? No, it encouraged what was there. If they Twittered and liveblogged the French Revolution, […]
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