With
US
Flailing
on Syria & Yemen, Whither Public Diplomacy, McHale?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
21, updated -- As Judith
McHale returns to the private sector
after promoting US foreign policy on a “people to people” basis,
she was asked to assess the Obama administration's work on the Syria
draft resolution, moribund in the UN Security Council.
Recently
France's
Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud wrote an op-ed for newspapers in
Brazil, talking or trying to talk directly to Brazilians past their
government. Inner City Press asked McHale if she thought this was a
good idea.
McHale
nodded and
said, “when we are in discussions, it's important for government of
the United States to makes its views and strategies well known to the
populations of those countries.”
But
why then are
Brazil, India and South Africa (and of course Lebanon) along with
China and Russia declining to even engage on the Syria draft?
Inner
City Press asked McHale if she thought that the critique that the US
and its allies have gone beyond resolution 1973 into “regime
change” is a view held by the people of those countires, or other
their governments.
This
question,
like many asked during the hour long session at the Council on
Foreign Relations, McHale did not directly answer. She said, “one
of the things we're trying to do is provide the context for the
stance the US takes on issues. Our position on Libya and Syria is
well know. We are in a multilateral force there.”
But
a
multilateral force with what goal?
McHale & Rubin at CFR, answers on Syria & Libya not shown
One is left to
conclude that no
amount of social media, or expertise from the Discovery Channel, can
gild an unclear or unacknowledged policy. The moderator was James
Rubin, who posited getting help on Security Council resolutions as
one measure of public diplomacy. If so, the Obama administration's
loud success on Resolution 1973 has turned to a series of defeats, on
the stalled Syria draft and the failure to even make a proposal about
the killings in Yemen.
Most
recently, the US Mission to the UN has taken to opposing an African
Union proposed Presidential Statement on Libya by introducing "poison
pill" amendments they know the African members won't accept. This too
will eventually have an impact.
There
are changes
coming, beyond McHale's departure, in the State Department. If polls
are any guide, Obama's popularity outside of the US has been
declining for some time. In the private sector, this would not be
called success. Is it, in the sector of public diplomacy?
Update:
And later this came in, published here in full:
Subject:
From
Under Secretary Judith McHale
From: Cedar, Andrew N [at]
state.gov
To: matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com
Dear
Matthew,
Below
please
find a letter from Under Secretary of State for Public
Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Judith McHale.
Dear
Matthew,
Thank
you
for attending Tuesday’s event at the Council on Foreign
Relations and for asking your thoughtful question. These
opportunities for discussion are important chances to exchange ideas
and get feedback on how we can best advance U.S. foreign policy.
I
also
read your piece on innercitypress.com, and I wanted to briefly
respond to your thoughts on using U.S. public engagement to advance
our agenda at the UN on important issues. As I noted at CFR, I
believe engagement with a wide set of stakeholders is critical to
advancing our foreign policy interests, and this has been the
approach of the Obama Administration. Through our extensive
communications and outreach platforms at Embassies around the world,
we have interacted with foreign publics on many of the critical
topics of today—from nuclear non-proliferation to democratization
to climate change. This approach, coupled with broader engagement
with partners in multilateral fora over the past two years has led to
many successes at the UN: sanctions on Iran, multilateral agreement
on Libya, and advancing nuclear non-proliferation, among others.
On
the
specific topic of Syria, which you raised, we have attempted to
blend traditional and public diplomacy, working with partners at the
UN and engaging directly with publics. You mentioned the French
Ambassador’s op-ed as an important effort to communicate directly
with foreign citizens. In fact, Secretary Clinton recently published
an op-ed
on Syria in a major pan-Arab newspaper, Asharq al-Awsat, to
reach directly to foreign publics on this important issue.
Neither
public
diplomacy nor traditional diplomacy will generate success on
every issue in every forum. But I am confident that continued
engagement with a broad set of actors—both governments and
citizens—will maximize our chances of success.
Judith
A.
McHale
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public
Affairs
* * *
, 
