The Arab Spring has diminished Iran's ability to wield soft power in the region. Instead, the momentum has shifted to Turkey, which has not been shy about stealing pages from the Iranian playbook for appealing to the Arab street.

Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized the structure of the United Nations...I think this speech is a public diplomacy measure and...for the most part they will have an influence among their audience that they are directed at.

The Sept. 21 release of U.S. hikers... "affirms the importance of the role of religious dialogue and its end product in this case, public diplomacy, as we seek ways to define common ground between our two countries," said Diocese of Washington Bishop John Chane, who returned from a weeklong visit to Iran on Sept. 19.

In addition to using its hard power to slow down Tehran’s pursuit of an indigenous nuclear program, the Israelis will find it worthwhile to exploit soft power as well. Putting a good face on the African continent is one aspect of that soft power approach.

In the lead-up to next week's UN General Assembly in which he was scheduled to speak, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad allowed NBC's Ann Curry to shadow him in Iran for a feature entitled, "A Day in the Life of Iran's President."

In order to prevent further deterioration of the United States’ relationships in the Middle East, it should conduct more public diplomacy in Egypt in order to maintain a civil relationship in the long term...Egyptian public opinion of the U.S. must change before the revolution ends, and the likelihood of a radical coming to power increases.

APDS Blogger: Naweed Lemar

Tehran has hosted a two-day international conference on dialogue among religions and cultures in Asia. The aim of the conference was to review cultural relations among Asian nations and promote respect for cultural and religious diversity.