A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Was There Another Way With Cuba?
There’s something strange about the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s recent visit to Cuba: It’s largely revolved around whether the Castro government deserved restored relations with the United States and a visit from the U.S. president. [...] If diplomacy is three-dimensional, the political debate in America over U.S.-Cuban affairs has been occurring on only one plane.
How Colombia's Fight for LGBT Equality Differs From Ours
The Advocate hosted Marco Jaramillo, a Colombian journalist who launched one of the country’s most prominent LGBT multimedia outlets, EgoCity. Jaramillo was the first out journalist to take part in the International Center for Journalism’s multipart fellowship [...] which brought experienced journalists from five different Latin American countries to the U.S. to work in 10 different newsrooms.
The ‘Soft Power’ of Kuwait
Kuwait is one of the masters of soft power in the Middle East. As I was having dinner with two Emiratis, two non- Kuwaiti Arabs were having dinner at a table beside ours; the two non-Kuwaiti Arabs were stuck to one phone watching the second episode of “Swar Shuaib,” Kuwait’s Shuaib Rashed’s popular talk show.
How to Create 'Wikiplomacy'
According to Matthew Barzun, U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, diplomats in the digital age have a lot to learn from the story of Encarta, Microsoft’s ill-fated digital encyclopedia. In the early 2000s, Encarta briefly outsold the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica, historically the top seller in the field. But by 2009, despite being backed by the richest company in the world, Encarta had been discontinued. It was unable to compete with Jimmy Wales’ user-generated, user-audited Wikipedia, which had become and remains the predominant model for sharing knowledge.
Has Obama Brought “Hope and Change” to Cuba?
There are a number of no-go zones in the world for President Barack Obama these days. [...] But this week, President Obama is in Havana, and the greeting crowds have been enraptured. Such a trip was inconceivable back in 2008, when Obama was running for president. But as he finishes his last year in office, the president is determined to make his détente with Cuba irreversible.
Turkish Institute to Open 100 Offices Worldwide by 2023
The culture and education organization of the Yunus Emre Institute has laid out a 15-article road map for its 2023 goals during a recent advisory meeting in Ankara. The meeting [...] set forth that the institute will strive to establish 55 centers on five continents by 2017 in efforts to strengthen communicative ties with the international community.
Abe Offers ¥600 million Grant to Zimbabwe in Bid to Counter Chinese Economic Offensive
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a ¥600 million grant-in-aid pledge to Zimbabwe on Monday to help bring more Japanese companies back to the former agricultural powerhouse amid an aggressive foray by China. [...] also said Japan would maintain close consultation with Zimbabwe to counter the severe food shortages there.
What Most Americans Don’t Know About Yoga
The incident was the latest in a string of cultural flashpoints surrounding the centuries-old Indian practice, and has made many a yogi rethink the lines between cultural exchange and cultural appropriation.
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