While U.S. military and economic hegemony may decline, it does not follow that American filmmakers -- or other agents of culture-making -- will lose global influence at the same time. America has... taken its advantages in money and power and linked them to the creation of cultural forms that have broad appeal to people worldwide.

America's adversaries are not really most afraid of its military or even economic power. They are most afraid of its moral power...America's greatest natural resource and comparative advantage is its dynamic, multicultural society drawn together by a unifying concept...But, the way we approach the world through our foreign and national security policies is woefully inappropriate and counterproductive.

China’s economic power over the US is now substantial, and will limit not only America’s influence in the financial markets, but also its capacity to use military power. If this forces America back towards what the international-relations scholar Joseph Nye calls “soft power and multilateral diplomacy,” it may well be a good thing. But such approaches are anathema to the US Republican Party...and they might unnerve the many Asians who are nervous at China’s growing military might.

With the twin crises of the American budget deficit and the European public borrowing emergency, China has ample worries. China is nonetheless active in bilateral relations with EU member states, and this involves commercial diplomacy, high-level visits and public diplomacy. The last increasingly revolves around the notion of “helping friends,” whether these are nations in need of investment or simply cash.

Now, scores of brands with sagging fortunes in the United States are reinventing themselves as must-have luxury items in the Far East, a strategy they've adopted with particular fervor in the wake of the global economic downturn.

The best way to diffuse a sense of injustice for those people involved in the Arab Spring is through improving material circumstances, London said. British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in a speech before delegates at the British Council in London said the British government has committed more than $180 million during the next four years to development in the Arab world.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton launched a new business loan program in Haiti on Tuesday aimed at helping bolster an economy that was devastated by the January 2010 earthquake. Clinton said the first loan in the $20 million program is being made to Caribbean Craft, which produces colorful goods such as carnival masks, sculptures and paintings for export and lost its workshop in the earthquake.

Harpa—the Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Center—is too new to be in guidebooks. But as Iceland’s latest attraction, it’s a sign that this country, which essentially went bankrupt during the global financial crisis, is crawling back onto its feet. Harpa adds a cultural dimension to Iceland’s appeal...Visitors are coming not only to see performances, but also to shop and to eat.