APDS Blogger: John Nahas While the controversy surrounding the proposed Muslim Community Center and Mosque at Ground Zero continues on in the U.S., another site of worship has been restored and opened in the most unlikely place—Beirut, Lebanon. The Magen Avraham Synagogue in Beirut’s Wadi Abu Jmil district reopened this past week after nearly three decades of being closed due to significant damage during the Lebanese civil war. Ironically, the Synagogue was destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as they sought to route the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Beirut in 1982. The restoration project is the culmination of…... Full Text

APDS Blogger: Tala Mohebi As the field of public diplomacy expands, there is a great need to engage with the diverse actors who shape the discipline in theory as well as practice. Like any emerging discipline, public diplomacy can be referenced in a number of different publications, but having a forum entirely dedicated to this one subject is immensely beneficial. From its first issue in January 2009, PD Magazine has created such a setting, where a dynamic and innovative discussion of public diplomacy can take place. The magazine’s audience is as diverse as the topics covered, allowing intellectual exchanges that…... Full Text

APDS Blogger: Mark Preston Once every two years, the world’s leading aerospace, air defense, and commercial aviation corporations converge approximately 30 miles west of London at a small airfield in the bucolic English county of Hampshire. Throughout the course of seven days in mid-July, the little town of Farnborough transforms into more than just a place where aviation enthusiasts can indulge in a daily course of Red Arrows and black pudding. The Farnborough International Airshow, in most regards, is a premier accelerant of international exchange, advocacy, and trade, a place where the most important diplomatic tool may be a business…... Full Text

APDS Blogger: Kenya Davis-Hayes When I entered the US Pavilion at the 2010 World’s Exposition in Shanghai, I anticipated the presentation of the nation’s character to its predominately Chinese audience and hoped to deconstruct its message. I wondered what virtues, ideas, personas, landmarks and struggles would, in the brief experience of Expo, encapsulate the entity I have dedicated my career to studying. After entering the Pavilion I stood among over one hundred mostly Chinese tourists fascinated to know more about the United States. US student ambassadors greeted each cohort of tourists in Mandarin, and to my absolute delight, the first…... Full Text

APDS Blogger: Paul Rockower With the recent earthquakes that devastated Haiti and Chile, the concept of aid diplomacy has arisen in the global consciousness. Aid diplomacy is predicated on the notion that in times of crisis, nations can do well in public diplomacy terms by doing good works for those in need. Recently, as I wandered around Stanford University, I was reminded of what might be the first case of American aid diplomacy.. On display at the museums and library of Stanford’s Hoover Institution and Hoover Tower is a moving reminder of the remarkable example of aid diplomacy carried out…... Full Text