When I think of the "implications for public diplomacy" in the wake of the 2012 election, I can only come with—zero, zip, zilch... All of this is to say that few elements of our foreign policy will, for awhile, be a significant part of our national conversation. Thus, a small subset of our foreign policy concerns, like public diplomacy, will be even less salient.

This week was actually a double-victory for Barak Obama, who won both the White House and the title of first Western leader to survive re-election for some time. According to the polls, it was also a victory for America's international appeal.

Soon, I realized that the event was not intended for Americans. It was to impress people from here in Jakarta: Invited Indonesians and Indonesians who read the news from the invited press. It was a showcase of American “soft power”, a term popularized by Joseph Nye, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

In marked contrast to a euphoric surge four years ago, when many hailed Mr. Obama’s victory as a herald of renewal, the mood was subdued, reflecting not only the shadings of opinion between the American leader’s friends and foes but also a generally lowered expectation of America’s power overseas.

Supporters of both candidates rode an emotional rollercoaster last night as results were slowly reported, ending in disappointment for some, elation for others, as Barack Obama now heads into a second term as President of the United States. Collected here are images from yesterday's election, from here at home, and abroad.

Cilliers said after the election that Dlamini-Zuma’s candidacy for the AU seat was pursued with such valour in order to facilitate South Africa’s greater campaign for permanent representation on the UN Security Council. “The South African campaign for a permanent seat on the Security Council is particularly important to (DIRCO) Minister Maite Nkonae-Mashabane,” he explained.

U.S. airstrikes remain the most reliable means of targeting AQAP members in the near term, but overreliance on them is unsustainable if the U.S. wants to maintain a positive relationship with Yemen for years to come. The negative impact of collateral civilian damage and hitting misidentified targets can quickly undermine U.S. foreign assistance and public diplomacy efforts.