Greek shares suffered their worst hammering in nearly three decades Tuesday, on concerns the country is heading for a political crisis that could jeopardize its vital bailout program.

The Games are at a crossroads and a historic meeting is being held this week in Monte Carlo to map a viable future.

The program has been so successful, in fact, that it’s inspired spin-offs among other cultural groups. The idea that young people of a certain heritage should visit their ancestral homeland — the “birthright” behind the name of the Israel program — is not exclusive to the Jewish diaspora, and that’s the thinking behind programs following in Birthright’s footsteps.

Social and cultural exchanges across the Aegean Sea are bridging the gap between Greece and Turkey.  A recent joint project by two photography groups was the latest in a decades-long series of cultural collaborations that experts say are important for providing political leaders with the impetus to resolve differences.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Greek counterpart, Antonis Samaras, on Saturday witnessed the opening of the new Heraklion Archaeological Museum in Crete, pledging to beef up bilateral cultural exchanges.  Describing civilizations as the crystallization of human wisdom, Li said cultural exchanges serve as an important basis for country-to-country relations.

The premier also visited the Acropolis of Athens and the National Archaeological Museum on Friday, and had dinner at the Acropolis Museum on Thursday. Analysts said such arrangements are for paying tribute to another great civilization. It also shows that, after decades of rapid growth, Chinese leaders' overseas visits no longer focus solely on practical results, such as forging deals. They also make time for spiritual and cultural understanding.

In 2008, 1.9 million Portuguese workers in the private sector were covered by collective bargaining agreements. Last year, the number was down to 300,000. Spain has eased restrictions on collective layoffs and unfair dismissal, and softened limits on extending temporary work, allowing workers to be kept on fixed-term contracts for up to four years. Ireland and Portugal have frozen the minimum wage, while Greece has cut it by nearly a fourth. This is what is known in Europe as “internal devaluation.”

Congratulations are in order for CPD as Jay Wang took the helm this fall and began engaging with the public diplomacy community as the new CPD director. As often happens with such beginnings, the focus intuitively turns to the future. I would like to suggest a counter-intuitive move and challenge public diplomacy scholars around the world to explore the contributions of ancient heritages to the practice of public diplomacy.