Intel Briefing

America's Image Abroad – Stop It Getting Worse

I have a longtime interest in the effects of perceived image around the world for it was President Reagan that gave me the unique opportunity to travel around the world many times, visiting 125 US Embassies and Consulates advising on the required needs to implement the global WorldNet television network.

This involved meeting and briefing several hundred diplomats and Embassy staff, and meeting media, corporate and government leaders around the world.

Those were the days when the world listened when the President of the United States spoke. These days the emphasis has somewhat moved from government image to corporate image as corporations realize that the antics of blundering politicians can devastate their relationships, and they need their own image to be decoupled from the image of their government. The ability to minimize damage and maximize opportunity from business meetings is essential, and a good positive image is needed.

That image needs to apply from meetings with the CEO, down to product pitches by sales representatives.

Global image is important for persuading people to Buy American and support the bloated US economy. Few understand how much we have borrowed to maintain our lifestyle, a media driven lifestyle beyond our means. As every unproductive foreign military escapade is launched, with money borrowed from the Chinese, our ability to repay, and our economic independence is reduced.

The US Economy appears strong, but like the roads and bridges around the country, it is crumbling at it’s foundations.

Poll after poll shows the image, trust and reputation of the United States is in free fall, and despite hollow words from Bush and his supporters nothing is slowing the rate of fall. Sadly the point is close, and may have been passed, where the only solution is major surgery and removing the factors that cause this negative perception. There is no way Bush will ever admit an error in his judgment, for that came directly from God. Vice President “Dr. Evil” Cheney is not moving, despite sabotaging the Republicans opportunity for promoting the sitting Vice President ready for the General Election.

There leaves only one alternative, that of sitting and waiting until the Lame Duck Presidency times out and is replaced. Unfortunately that means our competitors have even more time to get stronger. The Chinese will have even more debt to give them unprecedented leverage, which they will eventually use to destroy the US economy and become the World’s only Superpower. That’s how important Global Image is to the USA.

Thank You Pentagon

The Bush Administration could not have done more long term damage to the carefully crafted image of America if they had tried. Some would say they did try to destroy the hard won image, as a knee jerk for 9/11 and their carefully scripted exploitation of the attack, whoever planned and executed it.

The problem is that this declining image is costing us billions of dollars a year, and will eventually cost us trillions. As one who has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles promoting the image of America and Britain, it seems a lifetime of work was destroyed by a Country Bumpkin, with very smart and scheming advisers and handlers. Sadly the world agrees with me.

But Bush will be gone shortly, banished to ride his Mountain Bike around Crawford, Texas till he falls off. The damage to the US image will be left to future generations to repair. But there is enough blame and stupidity to go around the entire Administration. Rumsfeld’s Pentagon has wasted $400 Million on trying to plant “Nice” stories of American victories in Iraq and Afghanistan by bribing journalists and paying editors to carry stories written by Army PsyOps personnel.

Department of State has Karen Hughes dumped onto them and she is running around demanding people overseas better be nice about America or else! A good whip to keep White House Staff “On Message” but sadly not the best person for the position she occupies.

A major problem is declining inbound tourism and the treatment paying guests get at airports. The Travel Industry NeoCons, brought in from big Republican donors, pander to the Administration as seen in the recent WTTC Lovefest in Washington, where the Neocons who have done most to destroy American inbound tourism were given the platform, and the people who mattered, such as from New Orleans and the ravaged Gulf Coast were left out. What a disgrace.

America has a huge arsenal of cultural and creative delights, from food to fun, from Hollywood to the Art Galleries and Museums. Yet watching US TV Networks like CNN overseas, and it is a diatribe of Terror, Death and Threats. Bush can’t do a televised news conference without enraging a couple of billion people, with his constant Terror threats. It’s time to stop the slide before it becomes mean and nasty. It’s time to go back to Reagan’s way of managing the global image.

Electronic Diplomacy – America’s Media Image

During the quiet summer months I have been calling contacts around the world to get an idea of the “State of the Image” of the United States. Remember under President Reagan I visited these countries and have first hand experience of the people and their valued opinion. The results were startling, and worrying. Under President Reagan many people thought he was a threat to world stability because of his attitude to Nicaragua and his tendency of considering what John Wayne would have done before making a decision. Much of the rhetoric was well meant, and not that serious. The world still liked Hollywood, McDonalds and US brands in the shops.

Sadly the United States has replaced Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union as the perceived torturing aggressor in billions of eyes, which needs to be contained. The vast majority of former friends believe the US Military deserves a “Bloody Nose”, a far cry from the gratitude and affection of World War II. The image of D-Day has been replaced by Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. The loud culturally-challenged American tourist is now seen with contempt, and not with the benevolent affection of earlier decades.

………….. This all suggests that years and years of work of American diplomats, military men and women, Peace Corps volunteers, and citizen ambassadors in trying to present a favorable view of the United States to the peoples of other countries is now down the drain — thanks to the neocon-adopted Machiavellian tenet that the “ends justify the means.”

President Reagan’s Public Diplomacy

Today the United States finds itself with the worst public image in the history of the Republic. Even staunch Allies are turning away from the highly visible failures of everything from Intelligence to Humanity.

The Rabid Religious Right don’t care, for they are isolated from reality, often living in comfortable luxury awaiting Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. Sounds like a Conspiracy Theory, but it’s too real.

It wasn’t always so bleak. President Reagan realized the slipping public image of the United States around the world, and sought advice from the world’s experts, not just Beltway Bandits carving up the national coffers for friends and family.

His advisers knew that there had to be a third party operation to pull this together, and one that could be seen as not being part of the Washington Beltway Brigade. The contracts to explore the feasibility and build the key parts of the network were given to Alan Simpson. He was responsible for visiting 125 US Embassies and helping create the first global political TV network and Developing Reagan’s Public Diplomacy Trump Card