Articles by Helle Dale

 

Confucius to Their Enemies: China’s Investment in Public Diplomacy

Helle Dale | April 09, 2010

Anyone who doubts the value of money spent on competition in the world of ideas – a key aspect of public diplomacy – needs to… Read More

 

The Two Faces of Obama’s Human Rights Policy

Helle Dale | April 08, 2010

If you are a human rights activist or suffer under the yoke of an oppressive regime, do not expect the United States to be rushing… Read More

 

New Poll Shows Carteresque Trend for Obama

Helle Dale | March 11, 2010

A top priority of the Obama presidency has been to restore the image of the United States in the world; in image allegedly left in… Read More

 

Free Flow of Information: A Great Tool Against Totalitarianism

Helle Dale | February 25, 2010

Of all the isolated places on earth, North Korea is a strong candidate for the most dismal. Yet it is the case in the information… Read More

Security

Senate Moves to Bolster Freedom in Iran

Helle Dale | February 13, 2010

Congress has become increasingly restive about the Obama Administration’s lack of leadership on supporting opposition forces that seek to advance freedom and human rights in… Read More

Security

Time for Regime Change in Iran

Helle Dale | February 11, 2010

If ever there was a case for regime change, today’s Iran is it. Today on the anniversary of the revolution that brought the country’s authoritarian,… Read More

 

American Confusion, European Disunion

Helle Dale | February 04, 2010

President Obama’s decision to skip the annual U.S.-EU summit in Europe, May 24-25, has not endeared him to some Europeans; many of whom once again… Read More

Economy

Budget 2011: New Money, Old Ways in the State Department Budget

Helle Dale | February 02, 2010

Increasing spending on the State Department and international affairs while freezing discretionary domestic spending is probably not likely to endear President Obama further to constituencies… Read More

 

Looking For A Few Good Friends

Helle Dale | January 26, 2010

Internet outreach is the hottest new item in the U.S. government’s array of public diplomacy tools. While international broadcasting is in disarray, the focus has… Read More

 

Voice of America Reaches Out to Haiti

Helle Dale | January 20, 2010

While television and new technologies like Internet and cell phones are the focus of strategy at the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees the U.S…. Read More

 

Obama’s Flowing Rhetoric Hasn’t Brought Real Change in Public Diplomacy

Helle Dale | January 19, 2010

The National Security Council is priding itself on a successful first year for President Barack Obama in terms of strategic communications. In a blog posting… Read More

 

Another Government Boondoggle or Worthwhile Investment?

Helle Dale | January 14, 2010

With all the money that has been shelled out through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Act, it turns out that the State… Read More

 

Obama’s Northern Exposure

Helle Dale | December 10, 2009

The Nobel Committee’s choice of President Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize was baffling, to Norwegians and Americans alike. Even President Obama himself was amazed…. Read More

Security

Taliban Out-Surging Us in Information War

Helle Dale | December 03, 2009

A glaring omission in President Obama’s speech Tuesday was any attempt to address the propaganda war that is currently being waged with increasing sophistication and… Read More

 

No Change in Climate of Waste at State Department

Helle Dale | November 20, 2009

The challenge thrown down this week by the U.S. State Department to the world’s home video makers is an ambitious one — apparently nothing less… Read More

 

Selective Engagement in Iran and Honduras

Helle Dale | November 06, 2009

The Obama Administration ironically recognized the legitimacy of Iran’s thuggish Islamist regime only a few months before the Iranian people renounced its legitimacy in a… Read More

 

A Year of Living Dangerously: Expectations Undermining Public Diplomacy

Helle Dale | November 04, 2009

International expectations went through the roof one year ago today with the election of Barack Obama. The United Stated had elected the man whom many… Read More

 

Peace Prize for Obama, Cuts for Iranian Reformers

Helle Dale | October 16, 2009

In the citation for President Obama’s award of the Nobel peace prize, the Norwegian Nobel Academy mentioned that his style of leadership would bring in… Read More

 

We’ll Know If He Deserved It By December

Helle Dale | October 09, 2009

Like much of the rest of the world, President Obama this morning declared himself “surprised” that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, for which… Read More

 

Obama Won’t Meet With Dalai Lama

Helle Dale | October 07, 2009

It was a sad week for American support for oppressed nations. The White House announced that it will not be meeting for now with the… Read More

 

“Obama Bounce” Not Enough To Capture Olympics

Helle Dale | October 02, 2009

President Obama and Mrs. Obama have done it again — demonstrating, that is, that personal appeal only goes only so far when it comes to… Read More

 

Fall of the Wall: 20 Years Later

Helle Dale | September 29, 2009

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which culmitated a series of events in the summer and fall of 1989, allows us… Read More

Security

Missile Diplomacy Disaster

Helle Dale | September 17, 2009

Of all the days President Obama could have chosen to announce that the United States will abandon its plans for a missile defense site in… Read More

 

Is Putin Out Charming Obama?

Helle Dale | September 01, 2009

When Russia threatens to outdo the United States on public diplomacy in a place like Poland, something is seriously amiss in the way the State… Read More

 

Troubling Signs On Foreign Student Applications

Helle Dale | August 27, 2009

International graduate students are cooling on the United States a new study released this week by the The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) shows. Offers… Read More

 

Engaging The AfPak Information War

Helle Dale | August 21, 2009

The State Department is establishing a new unit for countering militant propaganda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in an effort to win the war of ideas… Read More

 

Obama on Iran: Don’t Blame Me

Helle Dale | June 23, 2009

President Obama provided some much-anticipated guidance on his policy towards Iran today in the fourth news conference of his presidency. But even without teleprompters, Mr…. Read More

 

Obama at Normandy: Mistakes Were Made

Helle Dale | June 08, 2009

Not even D-Day, June 6th, went by without an international apology from President Obama, despite it being one of the most heroic days in American… Read More