Posted by Nicholas Papp on Nov 18, 2009 - 09:54 AM
![Students smile during YES2009 Nov. 16, 2009 in Malaysia. [State Dept. photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/yes_2009_m.JPG)
As the sun tried to break through the early morning mist in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s fantastic federal administrative center south of Kuala Lumpur, 3,000 of Southeast Asia’s most talented youth leaders began arriving in droves at the Youth Engagement Summit YES2009. Inspired by President Obama’s vision for hope and change, these active young leaders represent a rising generation working to build movements, catalyze change and transform lives in their communities, the region and beyond. World change icons including Twitter founder Biz Stone, Live8’s Bob Geldorf, chess champion Gary Kasparaov and…
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Posted by Michele Peters on Nov 17, 2009 - 04:15 PM
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today launched the Department of State’s second annual ExchangesConnect Video Contest, “Change Your Climate, Change Our World,” with a video message on the ExchangesConnect social network.
The ExchangesConnect Video Contest is a call to action for global…
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Posted by Beatrice Camp on Nov 16, 2009 - 02:59 PM
About the Author: Beatrice Camp serves as U.S. Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, China.
Even before I arrived in Shanghai as U.S. Consul General last September, I knew that the Shanghai 2010 Expo was going…
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Posted by Alina L. Romanowski on Nov 16, 2009 - 01:31 PM
![U.S. students train with members Mangueria samba school, Rio de Janeiro, May 28, 2008. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_1116_us_brazil_music_class_m.jpg)
International Education Week (IEW) is a global celebration of international educational exchange and its positive impact on the world. This joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education allows us to showcase the benefits of studying abroad for Americans and to attract international students to study…
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Posted by Athena Kwey on Nov 16, 2009 - 11:13 AM
![Customers surf the Internet at an Internet cafe in Beijing, China, June 30, 2009. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_1116_china_netizens_m.jpg)
On November 13, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing launched pages on KaixinWang and QQ, two leading social networking portals in China. Our collaboration with these sites uses local platforms in Chinese to communicate directly with the Chinese people. We hope that this outreach will facilitate our ability to share information and promote a dialogue at the grassroots level. The launch is part of our comprehensive new media effort to support President Obama’s first visit to the region.
Our blog page on QQ will provide…
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Posted by Richard Buangan on Nov 16, 2009 - 09:22 AM
![President Obama takes a question at town hall-style event, Shanghai, Nov. 16, 2009. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_1116_obama_shanghai_town_hall_m.jpg)
Updated: Watch the President's town hall with Chinese youth on Whitehouse.gov.
The town hall meeting is at the core of grassroots American democracy. It is a tradition that brings together members of a community -- both leaders and ordinary citizens -- to discuss and shape the direction of their futures. On November 16, President Obama brought that tradition to China -- a country with thousands of years of history, but a land where political and social values are different from ours. In Shanghai, he held an historic town hall meeting with China’s youth to…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Nov 15, 2009 - 03:52 PM
![President Obama delivers speech, Tokyo, Nov. 14, 2009. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_1115_obama_speech_m.jpg)
Updated: Watch the President's town hall with Chinese youth on Whitehouse.gov.
President Obama will have a town hall meeting with Chinese youth in Shanghai, China. The event is planned to start Monday, November 16 at 12:45 p.m. local time in Shanghai, which means late Sunday night in Washington, DC at 11:45 p.m. EST.
The online community in China has been submitting questions on a variety of websites, including the U.S. Embassy in Beijing’s…
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Posted by John Morgan on Nov 14, 2009 - 06:12 PM
![Air Force One pulls out of a tarmac at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 14, 2009. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_1114_obama_airforceone_m.jpg)
I come from an airline family.
My parents both worked for Pan American World Airways, and so ever since I was a little kid, I have been fascinated by planes. When we would go to visit family in Europe for vacations, nothing was more exciting to me than getting on that 747. Sometimes I was allowed to visit the cockpit and ask the pilots what all the instruments were for. We lived near the airport, and by the age of ten I could identify any aircraft flying overhead by its tail colors. As I child I had always dreamed of seeing Air Force One flying overhead, but never had the chance.
In some ways that fascination with airplanes has stayed with me. So when I was asked to be the airport site officer for President Obama’s…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Nov 14, 2009 - 03:02 PM
![President Obama delivers remarks at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 14, 2009. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_1114_obama_tokyo_m.jpg)
"So I want everyone to know, and I want everybody in America to know, that we have a stake in the future of this region, because what happens here has a direct effect on our lives at home. This is where we engage in much of our commerce and buy many of our goods. And this is where we can export more of our own products and create jobs back home in the process. This is a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world, and where…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Nov 13, 2009 - 03:19 PM
![President Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama at press conference, Tokyo, Nov. 13, 2009. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_1113_obama_japan_m.jpg)
"We have to understand that the future of the United States and Asia is inextricably linked. The issues that matter most to our people -- issues of economic growth and job creation, non-proliferation, clean energy -- these are all issues that have to be part of a joint agenda. And we had very productive discussions about these issues this…
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