It's one thing to maintain ruthless control over an oppressed citizenry. But quite something else to tweet about it well. In today's Davos-driven geopolitics, even authoritarian leaders need to be savvy about public relations. That's why even the toughest leaders are all up on the Internet; they use Twitter to craft their images without the hassle and noise of competing parties or media bias.

India said on Tuesday that arch-rival Pakistan had accepted its offer of flood aid, but analysts say this piecemeal attempt at disaster diplomacy will not help improve relations between the two sides.

Google can be seen as an American political tool, argues cyber diplomacy analyst Evgeny Morozov in a new editorial pegged to the announcement of an Iranian national search engine. Furthermore, he indicts many Silicon Valley companies for collaborating with the State Department to turn business matters into political questions.

A U.S. “Legacy of Waste” in Iraq, by Liz Sly, Los Angeles Times, documents the culmination of seven years of failed public diplomacy...

One of the lessons of Iraq, he [President Obama] said, is that “American influence around the world is not a function of military force alone.” “We must use all the elements of our power, including our diplomacy, our economic strength and the power of America’s example, to secure our interests and stand by our allies,” he said.

Under U.S. law, nearly all of our food aid is produced in the United States—predominantly by large agribusinesses like Archer Daniel Midland—and nearly all is delivered to stricken countries by American shippers. The system is shamefully rife with inefficiencies and misplaced priorities.

Pro-Vatican politicians have complained about Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's effort to convert Christians to Islam during his visit to Italy.

South Korea has made its first offer of aid to North Korea since it accused Pyongyang of sinking one of its warships in March. South Korea's Red Cross has offered 10bn won ($8.3m, £5.3m) worth of flood aid to its impoverished neighbour.