Yet another example of why strategic communication is a complete waste of time

■"Saudi Women Have Message For U.S. Envoy," by Steven R. Weisman, New York Times, 28 September 2005, p. A12.

Painful story about Karen Hughes, uber-UnderSecretary of State, on her "listening tour" in the Middle East. She gets in front of a slew of women in Saudi Arabia (all of whom, I'm sure, just wandered in off the street) and guess what? They give her an earful in this very public setting, taking offense with virtually every word that came out of her mouth.

Anyone who "debated" Soviets during the Cold War in such public shows, whether they occurred here in the U.S. or over in Russia, will tell you that this is pretty much all you will get in these settings. You wanted to talk some real turkey with Russians, you went off-line with them, smoke some of their papyrosi and drank some of their flavored vodka, and then, after about three hours of that, family photos came out and you really started to have an honest discussion.

I imagine there is some version of this (probably sans alcohol) if you want to have a serious discussion with your average Saudi woman (none of whom were likely in this meeting) from your average Saudi town (this meeting occurred in a university in one of the most liberal cities in the country; I say, show me the women who don't go to college).

But even in such circumstances, you'd be hard pressed to find a lot of women, I imagine, who can easily stand having the big-boned American woman march into their ranks and start telling them about how much they "suffer" is her twangy Texas accent. I mean, people anywhere just don't like having strangers come in and diss them (and a Texan like Hughes should know better).

Sure, Hughes tried hard to be humble and "listen," but this tour is mostly about propaganda, not the re-education of Karen Hughes.

The best line in the piece said it all: "Many in this region say they resent the American assuption that, given the chance, everyone would live like Americans."

It's true that no one conflates globalization with Americanization more than Americans, and that tendency will die here last. In the rest of the world, though, India and China and Brazil and other New Core powers will increasingly shape the tone and pace of globalization's spread, meaning you won't just become American, you'll become all those cultures as well.

Of course, therein lies the ultimate rub, because let me tell you what you look like when you truly globalize your culture in all those directions: you guessed it! You look closer to American than any other culture in the world.

But that will take time, just like it has for us. America of 50 years ago was nowhere near the globalized culture it is today. As I harp on inside BFA, this journey from Gap to Core is nothing something we can direct or mandate, and it does not happen as fast as we might want. Watch the Gap become more like the New Core (e.g., China and India and Brazil especially) and watch the New Core become more like the Old Core (e.g., more American, certainly, than European or Japanese).