[NYC-L] Communal Warming and the Chemistry for Failure

[Isa Blumi]

Public outreach takes place from 6-11:00 every night
on the boob tube, writing letters in some hidden
corner of the "liberal" print media is wasting time
(and yes J. lots of hot air). We need to rechannel our
"emissions," and not let it just float off into thin
air. Part of that rechanneling requires gaining a
deeper appreciation for how the world operates. The
United States is not a cluster of societies among
which things get done by persuasion in op-ed pages or
full-page ads. Israeli or Oil corporation lobbies
spend far more of its resources cultivating
relations---not only with the Haslets, DeLays and
Powells--but their operatives, who go out, dance the
night away and love to make friends. They are the
"ear-to-the-ground" who ultimately write policy papers
for their bosses to sign. Often, they consult those
young kids (who of course are to be coddled, petted
and groomed--no need to remind me J [or at least
insinuate] that I should conduct myself with humility
at the right time; I have been doing it for many
years). ButI am digressing, as usual because of
distractions. The operatives of this great (and
extremely corrupt and unfair) system are the targeted
audience. One full-page ad does absolutely nothing and
is quickly countered. It is by stealth, underground
and long-term cultivation. 

Southeastern Europe is a big black hole. There are
only free lancers submitting to AP, AFP, etc., the
days when Carletta Gall was sending back reports are
long gone. Getting an Albanian journalist a job in
DC...A leper could count the fingers on his hands the
amount of newspapers, news agencies or others willing
to foot the bill for someone to report from DC (or
from the Balkans) on matters that have no consequence
to people's lives. Hell, NYT has cut back dramatically
on its full-time overseas correspondents. I am sure
those of you who study at Media Studies programs are
already familiar with the sociology of the media
market, it is in that nether world of the television
and the talk-shows during the commuting phase of a
person's daily existance in the United State. 

No, the community cannot hope for Hearst or Murdoch to
subsidize this agenda. Moreover, the fight is not
public relations but reformation of influential
people. These are the people you never hear about,
they will never autograph their portraits but they are
the entourage surrounding every decision-maker in
Washington, the faceless suites who are suaded by the
silly things they hear in USSD press briefings and
over a beer at the local bar. This is how the
Bolsheviks and STB and UDBA and all those other
counter-intelligence operations worked. Perhaps I
should ask Putin to contribute his personal
experiences at head of the KGB in Berlin to emphasize
the point.

I completely and utterly disagree with the notion that
the last ten years have been something akin to a media
victory for Albanians. If Kosovars and Albanians still
believe they convinced Clinton to come and save them,
they are saddly misguided. It is indeed a tragedy that
the rationale for intervention, and what were the
conditions that ultimately led the US Airforce to step
up their "air campaign" is stunning. In the end, the
trust we have in our special relationship with the US
has cost Kosovars (I leave out Southern Albanians from
this equation, they have their own problems with Nano
and Greece) the golden opportunity in 1999 to have set
the agenda. But I have written about this before. Let
us not forget that our best and brightest are either
dead (and largely unaccounted for) or in the Hague,
charged as war criminals. The discussions in DC are
again back to decentralization, minority rights and
Hitler creating Kosova and the Albanian problem. 

Be as SOPHISTICATED as you want, but by being cute,
time is wasted and pogrom after pogrom visits those
Albanians who are not as lucky as we are, far away
from artillary shells, Arkan's monsters and abject
poverty. In the end, it is because we hate to look
each other in the eye and work together; it is more
self-serving to be smug, flippant and disrespectful,
than bend a little. I plead guilty as charged by the
way. The "leaders" of this country do not have my
respect, nor do their operatives and those who are
content with living in such an ethical wasteland.

Isa


--- Jeton Ademaj <jeton at hotmail.com> wrote:
>           === NYC-L: New York City Discussion Forum
> ===
> 
> hey folks
> 
> why not lobby as many albo fat cats as possible into
> taking out a full-page 
> ad in the NYTimes, WashPost Or WSJ...preferably for
> a non-holiday monday or 
> tuesday and preferably in the their A or primary
> section ?
> 
> as for the State transcript with the Hitler
> agit-prop, it's not at all clear 
> that the questioner is even taken seriously. it's
> certainly to our 
> disadvantage that we don't have a voice asking
> contrasting questions and 
> lobbying State to denounce the underlying premise of
> a given question, but i 
> would suggest a more sophisticated touch than simply
> planting someone to 
> play call-and-response with the latest serb/greek
> wacko to gain a State 
> press pass. i've heard far too many Albanians focus
> on reaching "people who 
> matter"...well frankly we need direct public
> outreach. State will not stick 
> its neck out to fight with this or that chauvinist
> if the propaganda victims 
> in question (Albs) are not independently conducting
> public outreach.
> 
> As for K-desk officers, it's reductionist to call
> them naive careerists, and 
> i doubt holding such a view will make one more
> charismatic or influential to 
> them. one is more likely to end up being tuned out.
> it's more important to 
> be approachable and *credible* than merely
> combative..save THAt for the 
> PUBLIC outreach. the sheer hysteria and smarmy
> mendacity of 
> Serbian/Greek/American-Stalinist "journalists" has
> been a great gift to 
> Albanians for the last decade, even if we too often
> fail to seize the 
> advantage. op-eds and letters to newspapers and
> fullpage ads (and a focus on 
> how Albanian interests intersect with American
> interests..."bridge to the 
> Islamic world/balkan stability" etc etc) are all
> useful elements of what 
> needs to be a broader outreach on our part. we need
> to press that strategy 
> without joining the sheer wall-of-noise unleashed by
> our enemies.
> 
> Anybody know any level-headed anglo-fluent albo
> journalists who live in (or 
> would be willing to relocate to) the DC area? if u
> do, encourage them to 
> pitch themselves to almost any news service as a
> SouthEast Europe 
> correspondent, and get State or even White House
> press credentials. From the 
> transcripts I've read over the years, wackjobs are
> filtered out of the White 
> House briefings and cast down to State briefings
> anyway (Jeff Gannon/Guckert 
> etc NOTwithstanding ;) so it would be cool to have a
> competent, affable and 
> credible Albo journalist able to attend either.
> 
> If it happens that i can help with any of this, let
> me know.
> 
> J
> 
> 
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> 


		
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