Estonia has summoned the Russian ambassador over what the Tallinn government says is the cross-border abduction of an Estonian intelligence officer operating on the Estonian side of the Russian border. The Estonian Foreign Ministry says the security officer was seized Friday by unknown gunmen and taken into Russian territory.  Moscow says the man was operating on its side of the border and is suspected of being a spy.

Diplomacy is traditionally carried out behind closed doors, in hushed rooms, with perhaps a bowl of Ferrero Rocher to hand to put ambassadors at ease. Diplomacy 2.0, though, is carried out in public and, like everything else on social media, with a fair amount of sarcasm. 

This was the most significant Western arms sale to Russia and its postponement - the exact terms of the suspension of the deal are not clear - marks a very visible rebuff to Moscow on the eve of Nato's Wales Summit. The Mistral assault ships can carry up to 16 heavy helicopters, land troops and armoured vehicles. Their delivery would have resulted in a marked improvement in Russia's amphibious capability.

When political leaders and diplomats from different countries struggle to communicate in a cultured way, it is the artists, poets and museum curators who may bring sanity back to international relations. There is no shortage of cultural bodies, grass roots and state sponsored, that are working to keep up the dialogue between Russia and Britain.

Soft power – using diplomacy, co-operation and the powers of attraction rather than coercion – has become a more potent force in international relations over recent decades. During the Ukrainian crisis, Germany, with its conciliatory, sanctions-focused approach, has been a leading exponent of the approach. Yet faced with what looks increasingly like the use of "hard power" by Russian soldiers on Ukrainian soil, its limits are being tested.

In 2006, executives from the public relations firm Ketchum flew to Moscow to secure an account that has since been worth tens of millions of dollars. President Vladimir Putin of Russia had hired Ketchum to provide advice on public relations before the nation hosted the Group of 8 meeting in St. Petersburg. At the time, Mr. Putin "cared a great deal about what other leaders, especially presidents, thought about him," said Michael A. McFaul, a former United States ambassador to Russia who now teaches at Stanford.

China's president, Xi Jinping, has paid visits to Russia, South Korea and Mongolia since February this year, visits that have "hit pressure points" that "cut right to the chase," according to Duowei News, an overseas Chinese news outlet. Zhang Jiuhuan, vice chair of the China Public Diplomacy Association, compared Xi's recent official foreign visits to hitting pressure points, or points on the energy channels of the body — in other words, they were "short, fast, rich in content and fruitful."