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COMMENTARY: IRRELEVANCE THREATENS ALL OF US
By Joseph J. Honick
HNN Huntingtonnews.net
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/c olumns/081008-honick-columnsirrelevance.html
Oct. 8, 2008
USA
The greatest single danger to America may not be terrorists, housing
foreclosures or the many, many other media reported catastrophes. More
than any of those is the reality of how we are becoming irrelevant
in the minds and decisions of other nations important to us -- and
the roles key PR firms and advisers may well be playing in all of this.
Were it not for our wealth, natural resources and military power,
all of which are being squandered at a record pace, it is hard to
believe very many other nations would pay much attention to us with
reference to their own major decisions.
It does not take much to observe realities of key nations virtually
thumbing their noses at us as they form alliances with hardly a
consult with America.
Russia and Iran wind up as nuclear sweethearts and arms partners even
as we publicly try to figure out how or whether we need to think
about attacking Iran in retribution for alleged smuggling of arms
and other help to our enemies in Iraq.
North and South Korea figure out how to cooperate in a manner we could
not work out with our former enemies. Japan says it has had enough
of the Iraq mess and starts the pullout of the cooperation with us
there with cries of "no more American wars." Then North Korea and
Syria are found unabashedly dancing together with apparent nuclear
cooperation until, that is, Israel took action similar to its efforts
in 1981 against Iraq, and knocked out the Syrian site.
We have made common cause in vast commercial investment, diplomatic
and other means with Communist North Vietnam which had killed about
58,000 of our armed forces even as we could not find a path toward
diplomatic relations with Cuba only 90 miles from our shores, now
warning that nation about its means of succession at the top.
But these are only a few examples of how, in only a few years, we have
lost the power and dignity of presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt
to Bill Clinton, including even the disgraced Richard Nixon who, in
his better days, had accomplished significant diplomatic successes
in China and elsewhere.
In short, few if any nations seem to give a tinker's dam about our
opinions on most any international major concern. One of the more
recent shockers was the report in the reliable Financial Times of
London that China will help out GE by building a research laboratory
in that country.
Our relationships with Turkey have so deteriorated that this nation
has had to determine whether to invade Iraq to beat back Kurdish
agitation, even as some in Congress want to pass a resolution to
condemn allegations of Turkish genocide of Armenians nearly 100 years
ago. However justified or otherwise that charge might be, the timing
once more reveals how fragile national leadership is.
These are only a few examples of the realities. What most Americans
do not think about or even figure on is how so many of these actions
can be accomplished with little or no action by our own leadership
which seem virtually impotent in the face of these events.
It is imperative to determine what all of this implies for the future
no matter who replaces George W. Bush. The question remains: is the
United State still relevant on the horizon of world affairs?
But where will you find this concern framed in the media or political
discourse anywhere. Answer: virtually nowhere.
Much of this is revealed in the direction our economy is taking at
the same time as our dollar takes a nose dive further discouraging
investment from abroad. There was a time, and not very long ago, that
such international disruptions would have to include our leadership in
very profound ways. Today we have our own Secretary of State putting
together enough air miles rotating around the world to develop a
thousand first class flights on all airlines combined -- but with
little to no progress at any single and major point.
Underneath all of much of these realities are the results of some of
the world's largest and most powerful public relations firms or the
work of many former high level operators within the federal government
or the Congress who are influencing events.
For instance, Robert D. Blackwill, once the Iraq director for the
National Security Council, pushed to have a tough, secular Shiite Ayad
Allawi made Prime Minister of the "new" Iraq. That didn't work out but
has not stopped Blackwill's efforts to make things tough for Nuri Kamal
al-Maliki,ultimately the victor in free elections. He and his firm,
Barbour Griffith & Rogers, received $1.4 million to promote a nuclear
deal between the United States and India, oil contracts with Kurdistan.
What stands out in the abbreviated array of much broader ventures is
the shadow impact on American foreign policy that not only confuses
that much of the public who actually cares but also our theoretical
friends who are not part of these efforts and, ultimately decide either
to throw up their hands in frustration or simply ignore us altogether.
Among other things, the results of this increasingly profitable public
relations representation for any and all comers with the money to
pay for it raises questions that extend well beyond ordinary limits.
So it should not be at all surprising that the White House propaganda
chief Karen Hughes recites the confusion of nations around the world,
or, as she reportedly told PR Society, "People around the world aren't
just sitting around to hear from America anymore," especially with
our involvements in an endless war. What she did not say, however,
was how much of the confusion is developed by influences from public
relations firms and former high level American officials.
It is not naive to be raising these points since we all understand
the logic of going after business to help influence opinions that
count for clients. What all of us as professionals and Americans
must understand and calculate very carefully is how this expanding
influence has already contributed to our nation's irrelevance abroad
even as it may accomplish the ends of international, corporate and
special individual clientele in an increasingly complex world at what
some call the "Tipping Point."
* * *
Honick is president of Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based GMA International
Ltd, the consulting and public relations firm he formed in 1975 to
help companies broaden their business abroad especially in China and
Japan. He also contributes to a variety of publications on public
policy issues. This article was originally published Oct. 31, 2007
in O'Dwyer's PR Report.
By Joseph J. Honick
HNN Huntingtonnews.net
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/c olumns/081008-honick-columnsirrelevance.html
Oct. 8, 2008
USA
The greatest single danger to America may not be terrorists, housing
foreclosures or the many, many other media reported catastrophes. More
than any of those is the reality of how we are becoming irrelevant
in the minds and decisions of other nations important to us -- and
the roles key PR firms and advisers may well be playing in all of this.
Were it not for our wealth, natural resources and military power,
all of which are being squandered at a record pace, it is hard to
believe very many other nations would pay much attention to us with
reference to their own major decisions.
It does not take much to observe realities of key nations virtually
thumbing their noses at us as they form alliances with hardly a
consult with America.
Russia and Iran wind up as nuclear sweethearts and arms partners even
as we publicly try to figure out how or whether we need to think
about attacking Iran in retribution for alleged smuggling of arms
and other help to our enemies in Iraq.
North and South Korea figure out how to cooperate in a manner we could
not work out with our former enemies. Japan says it has had enough
of the Iraq mess and starts the pullout of the cooperation with us
there with cries of "no more American wars." Then North Korea and
Syria are found unabashedly dancing together with apparent nuclear
cooperation until, that is, Israel took action similar to its efforts
in 1981 against Iraq, and knocked out the Syrian site.
We have made common cause in vast commercial investment, diplomatic
and other means with Communist North Vietnam which had killed about
58,000 of our armed forces even as we could not find a path toward
diplomatic relations with Cuba only 90 miles from our shores, now
warning that nation about its means of succession at the top.
But these are only a few examples of how, in only a few years, we have
lost the power and dignity of presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt
to Bill Clinton, including even the disgraced Richard Nixon who, in
his better days, had accomplished significant diplomatic successes
in China and elsewhere.
In short, few if any nations seem to give a tinker's dam about our
opinions on most any international major concern. One of the more
recent shockers was the report in the reliable Financial Times of
London that China will help out GE by building a research laboratory
in that country.
Our relationships with Turkey have so deteriorated that this nation
has had to determine whether to invade Iraq to beat back Kurdish
agitation, even as some in Congress want to pass a resolution to
condemn allegations of Turkish genocide of Armenians nearly 100 years
ago. However justified or otherwise that charge might be, the timing
once more reveals how fragile national leadership is.
These are only a few examples of the realities. What most Americans
do not think about or even figure on is how so many of these actions
can be accomplished with little or no action by our own leadership
which seem virtually impotent in the face of these events.
It is imperative to determine what all of this implies for the future
no matter who replaces George W. Bush. The question remains: is the
United State still relevant on the horizon of world affairs?
But where will you find this concern framed in the media or political
discourse anywhere. Answer: virtually nowhere.
Much of this is revealed in the direction our economy is taking at
the same time as our dollar takes a nose dive further discouraging
investment from abroad. There was a time, and not very long ago, that
such international disruptions would have to include our leadership in
very profound ways. Today we have our own Secretary of State putting
together enough air miles rotating around the world to develop a
thousand first class flights on all airlines combined -- but with
little to no progress at any single and major point.
Underneath all of much of these realities are the results of some of
the world's largest and most powerful public relations firms or the
work of many former high level operators within the federal government
or the Congress who are influencing events.
For instance, Robert D. Blackwill, once the Iraq director for the
National Security Council, pushed to have a tough, secular Shiite Ayad
Allawi made Prime Minister of the "new" Iraq. That didn't work out but
has not stopped Blackwill's efforts to make things tough for Nuri Kamal
al-Maliki,ultimately the victor in free elections. He and his firm,
Barbour Griffith & Rogers, received $1.4 million to promote a nuclear
deal between the United States and India, oil contracts with Kurdistan.
What stands out in the abbreviated array of much broader ventures is
the shadow impact on American foreign policy that not only confuses
that much of the public who actually cares but also our theoretical
friends who are not part of these efforts and, ultimately decide either
to throw up their hands in frustration or simply ignore us altogether.
Among other things, the results of this increasingly profitable public
relations representation for any and all comers with the money to
pay for it raises questions that extend well beyond ordinary limits.
So it should not be at all surprising that the White House propaganda
chief Karen Hughes recites the confusion of nations around the world,
or, as she reportedly told PR Society, "People around the world aren't
just sitting around to hear from America anymore," especially with
our involvements in an endless war. What she did not say, however,
was how much of the confusion is developed by influences from public
relations firms and former high level American officials.
It is not naive to be raising these points since we all understand
the logic of going after business to help influence opinions that
count for clients. What all of us as professionals and Americans
must understand and calculate very carefully is how this expanding
influence has already contributed to our nation's irrelevance abroad
even as it may accomplish the ends of international, corporate and
special individual clientele in an increasingly complex world at what
some call the "Tipping Point."
* * *
Honick is president of Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based GMA International
Ltd, the consulting and public relations firm he formed in 1975 to
help companies broaden their business abroad especially in China and
Japan. He also contributes to a variety of publications on public
policy issues. This article was originally published Oct. 31, 2007
in O'Dwyer's PR Report.