As calls for military action in Syria grow louder some people are pointing to NATO'S 1999 intervention in Kosovo as a model. However others say the Kosovo model should not be applied to Syria as it's a different conflict and military intervention would be a bad idea. So where may the answers to ending the Syrian conflict lie?

Tags: government pd, foreign policy, syria, nato, kosovo, conflict, intervention

As a regional middle power perched on the crossroads of the Indo-Pacific region, Australian diplomacy has entered a more challenging era.

Tags: government pd, australia, foreign policy, economy, un security council, bob carr

The formula has worked in California, Florida and Paris. Now officials in Zimbabwe, eager to rebrand a country notorious for economic collapse and political violence, want to build a "Disneyland in Africa". Walter Mzembi, the tourism and hospitality minister, told New Ziana, the official news agency, that the government was planning a $300m (£193m) theme park near Victoria Falls, the country's top tourist attraction.

Tags: Cultural Diplomacy, africa, tourism, zimbabwe, disneyland

Nelson Mandela is officially "improving," though still in critical condition at a South African hospital. His long battle with a lung infection has South Africans anxiously contemplating their "post-Mandela" future in a still racially divided country. In a unique strategy, one man is hoping to help heal those divisions with a pair of barbecue tongs. Jan Scannell is a 32-year-old former accountant with a dream: To establish a national holiday in South Africa like July 4 called Braai Day.

Tags: Cultural Diplomacy, africa, south africa, gastrodiplomacy, braai day, barbecue

India's online population is growing six times as fast as the global average and now ranks as the third largest in the world after China and the US, a new study has indicated. The 2013 India Digital Future In Focus report from comScore, the digital measurement company, pulled together data from its different surveys to identify prevailing trends in web usage, online video, social networking and online retail.

Tags: india, new technology, digital diplomacy

Peace talks to end Colombia's half century of conflict resumed today following a brief but tense suspension amid complaints from leftist rebels that the government moved too quickly on some of the thorniest issues the two sides must tackle. Delegates from the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) met this morning in Havana, Cuba, despite a surprise “pause” in negotiations declared by the FARC on Friday.

Tags: government pd, cuba, colombia, farc, post-conflict, peace accords

As a committed advocate for soft power and public diplomacy, I look for ways other than military force to address even the most pernicious international behavior. Usually, talking is better than fighting and wise use of political power can make unnecessary the reliance on “kinetic action,” as military thinkers refer to combat. But there are times when a state’s actions are so outrageous and have so little chance of being altered by peaceful means that soft power measures should be set aside. On occasion, blowing things up is essential.

Tags: united states, soft power, middle east, government pd, syria, hard power, philip seib, conflict

In the heat of a Cairo summer, the battle lines have been drawn. In the tense standoff, Abdelazim Fahmy, better known as Zizo Abdo, finds no room on the street for revolutionaries like himself. I met with Zizo at a downtown Cairo café called Hikayitna—Arabic for “our stories.” We’re a stone’s throw away from Tahrir Square, which has been cordoned off by the military with barbed wire, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. Soldiers man checkpoints into the square, searching bags and requesting identification.

Tags: middle east, egypt, non-state actors, non-state pd, muslim brotherhood, protest, cairo