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.

Kyrgyzstan Votes for a President, Feeling the Pull of Russia

A soft-power campaign that included documentary films on Russian television and denunciations by Russian officials of human rights violations preceded the uprising in April 2010 that overthrew Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev, a corrupt autocrat who had sometimes thwarted Russian interests, particularly regarding the American base, which the Russians wanted shut down.

Tags: united states, soft power, russia, nato, security, elections, kyrgyzstan, president, eurasian union

Panel Reflects on US-Vatican Relations

Lancaster alluded to the soft power of the Vatican, which panelists agreed plays a significant role in international affairs. She noted that in the modern world, military and economic power, while important, can play second fiddle to religion, which is traditionally seen as a soft power.

Tags: united states, government pd, public diplomacy, europe, vatican

Iranian culture minister attends UNESCO General Conference in Paris

Culture is the place to convert ugliness to beauty and separation to sympathy. We Iranians have always put culture on top during our thousands of years of civilization and have communicated with the world through our culture, read other part of the speech.

Tags: Cultural Diplomacy, public diplomacy, iran, unesco

Music provides a bridge between cultures

American Voices works in countries emerging from isolation or conflict, said John Ferguson, the founder of the organization...“In many cases, we are the first Americans people have seen who are not diplomats or soldiers,” Ferguson said.

Tags: united states, Cultural Diplomacy, public diplomacy, non-state actors, music diplomacy, kurds

India Blog Series: Public Diplomacy: An Education

Students can function as citizen diplomats... and collectively contribute to strengthen shared values between cultures. This year, nearly 100,000 Indian students are enrolled in American colleges... but only 3,000 American students are studying abroad in India.

Tags: united states, Cultural Diplomacy, india, non-state pd

Lessons from Turkey’s new ‘soft power’

Although Turkey’s economic and political culture is deeply integrated into Europe, it has aggressively carved a diplomatic niche in the Iranian nuclear-enrichment crisis, Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and recently the Arab Spring.

Tags: soft power, middle east

Students helping to connect nations

Grassroots Chinese students' associations are taking it upon themselves to bridge the gap between the United States and China at Harvard University. "Representing China today shouldn't be only dumplings and Chinese-style dresses because people from outside China know it already,"

Tags: china, united states, soft power, public diplomacy, non-state pd

Afghan reconciliation

How will the core group of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan work alongside the bilateral effort that Pakistan and Afghanistan have supposedly been working on?...It is about time to start implementing the reconciliation process... but the path forward is not as clear as public diplomacy might suggest.

Tags: united states, government pd, public diplomacy, pakistan, afghanistan, reconciliation

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