Digital outreach teams may wage a war of ideas against extremism on the Russian Internet.
Photo: Andrey Mahonin
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America Defends Itself on the Internet
A briefing was held in Washington on Tuesday on “U.S. Public Diplomacy and the War of Ideas.” Under Secretary of State James Glassman spoke about the work of “digital outreach teams” that will work to improve the image of the United States and fight extremist propaganda on the Internet. Those teams may begin activity on the Russian-language segment of the Internet. They were set up a few years ago to combat myths and disinformation on Arabic-language blogs and “talk about American policy, correct mistakes that are being made, and refer people back to factual documents.”
Glassman explained that there are three elements to the teams’ work. They explain American policy, encourage cultural exchange and engage in a “war of ideas.” The war of ideas has received particular emphasis in recent months. It is, according to Glassman, the use words to combat violent extremism. He said that one of the team members made contact with a press advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Glassman reported that and other details of the “war of ideas” to U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney personally two weeks ago.
The digital teams work in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu now, but Glassman said the hiring of Russian-language specialists is under consideration. Russian officials have not officially reacted to that possibility. Russian bloggers are discussing it very actively, however. Some make comparisons to the so-called (and apparently mythological) “Dulles plan” to undermine the Soviet government, while others compare it to the activities of the FSB, to which some attribute 60-80 percent of all communications on political forums since 2003.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 30, 2008
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