Once More: That State Department Twitter-Diplomacy

Time to upset my good friends working on State Department Twitter-diplomacy: DipNote has just Twittered that I can "watch what the U.S. Department of State is saying about the Middle East today". So I click the link, and it's the Daily Press Briefing...<em>from three days ago</em>.

Tomorrow: DipNote brings you President Eisenhower's statement on the Suez Crisis.

Follow-Up: That State Department Twitter-Diplomacy....Gives the Game Away?

After our "full and frank" discussion earlier this week over the US State Department's emergence on Twitter, American officials have made their first foray back into the cyber-woods.

Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy is asking, "Did You Know [that] State Dept has a Senior Advisor on Muslim Engagement?" while State's bloggers are putting out the line, "Cease-Fire in Gaza Must Be Durable, Sustainable."



The twist comes when you read that blog, which is a re-print of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech to the UN Security Council last night without any further exposition or explanation. And, following up on our interpretation that Rice's statement is much more than a call for a "durable, sustainable cease-fire" --- "US Seeks Regime Change in Gaza" --- the killer phrase is still there:

....a principled resolution of the political challenges in Gaza that reestablishes ultimately the Palestinian Authority’s legitimate control....

There is a comment box available for those wishing to take up this small matter.

Rice to UN: US Seeks Regime Change in Gaza

Last night, as I followed Condoleezza Rice's statement to the UN Security Council, I claimed that she had just asked --- under cover of the conditions for a cease-fire --- for a "legal coup" to replace Hamas with the Palestinian Authority.

Because of the seriousness of the allegation, I have rechecked this morning. Here are the two sentences from Rice's statement, reprinted at the State Department website:

Our goal must be the stabilization and normalization of life in Gaza. This will require a principled resolution of the political challenges in Gaza that reestablishes ultimately the Palestinian Authority’s legitimate control and facilitates the normal operation of all crossings.

Rice's following sentence is also important, as it points to the strategy of putting forth Cairo --- with the "Mubarak proposal" for the ceasefire --- as the public face of this process:

The November 26 Arab League statement will serve as an important guide in these efforts, efforts that are led by Egypt.

(I cannot find a "November 26 Arab League statement". The closest match is a statement by the UN-US-Europe-Russia Quartet on 26 November 2007 welcoming "the commitment of the Israeli and Palestinians leaders to launch bilateral negotiations toward the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace".)

US State Department Twitter-Diplomacy- Colleen Graffy Responds

Yesterday Scott posted on US State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy's use of Twitter, noting that while the Gaza situation escalated, her latest tweet was about a visit to the Apple store.

A short while ago Ms Graffy stopped by Enduring America to offer a response:

Successful communications begins with listening, followed by engaging and developing relationships and only then communicating. Those who use Twitter know that it blends the personal with the professional. I am meeting interesting people and connecting with them in the Twitter-style on the everyday life experiences we all share. In addition, I communicate what America is doing on public diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs where I work.

You can read her comments in full here.

That US State Department Twitter-Diplomacy in Action

Last month Colleen Graffy, the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy, made a very big deal about how US diplomats are using new cyber-media such as Twitter to connect with people around the world:

One clear lesson that emerged from the Cold War was that winning hearts and minds required communicating in a way that "connected" with people on their terms, whether through film or jazz or jeans. To keep our public diplomacy relevant today, we have to reach out and connect with people on their terms, whether we use blogs or texts -- or tweets.

So, as the Israel invasion of Gaza and the subsequent humanitarian crisis escalates, let's check out Graffy's latest "reach out and connect" tweets on Twitter:

Apple Store 1 to 1 lessons v cool. thx all 4 encouraging me to get a Mac. Love it. Who is yr best blog model in case i learn how to do that?

With postings of such relevance to current events, I wonder how anyone could ever again be sceptical about the US approach to the Middle East.