On Aug 27 the New York Times covered Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen’s recent essay to military personnel.

“‘To put it simply, we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate,’ Admiral Mullen wrote in the critique, an essay to be published Friday by Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal.”

The Times article also emphasized Adm. Mullen’s views on the effectiveness of current efforts: “American messages to counter extremist information campaigns ‘lack credibility, because we haven’t invested enough in building trust and relationships, and we haven’t always delivered on promises,’ he wrote.”  Adm. Mullen’s words go a long way, acknowledging and reminding military and policymakers that the old adage, “Actions speak louder than words” is true.

Mark is a guest on Min (From) Washington, a current events show on Al Jazeera’s Arabic Channel which broadcasts to over 40 million households globally, including the U.S. on September 14 [update: the air date is changed to Sept 21] airing at 3:00 PM ET.  The show broadcasts in Arabic.  Click here for a link to an English translation of their webpage with more details on the show (powered by Google Translator).

Today Bridges Sudan is organizing a symposium for the timely book A Deadly Misunderstanding, 7:30 pm Khartoum time.

The symposium will be chaired by Peter Tipi, General Secretary of the Sudanese Churches Council and the main speaker will be Ambassador Alkhider Haron, Sudanese Foreign Affairs Ministry.  Commentators will include: Prof. Abd Alrahem Ali from Khartoum International Institute of Arabic Language and Prof. Altayeb Zain Alabideen, Khartoum University.

Attendees include many representatives from organizations concerned with issues in the book, such as studies centers, ministers, NGOs, and universities.

Thank you Bridges for hosting such an event to discuss and encourage dialogue on the issues addressed through Mr. Siljander’s A Deadly Misunderstanding!