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.

Obama Finds His Footing

It’s a colossal shame that presidential life has no magic rewind button, for if it did—and we could whirr ourselves back to June 2009—we’d have had Barack Hussein Obama skip Pharaonic old Cairo, city of the ghastly Hosni Mubarak and a tightly coiled hatred of the West, and deliver his first major speech to a Muslim nation in Indonesia...

Tags: public opinion, islam, barack obama, indonesia, muslim, speeches

In Jakarta Speech, Some Hear Cairo Redux

In a much-anticipated speech focusing on development, democracy and religion, President Obama sought on Wednesday to strengthen America’s ties with Indonesia, a rising Asian power with the world’s largest Muslim population. But his intended audience was also elsewhere in the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East...

Tags: middle east, islam, barack obama, indonesia, muslim, speeches

Obama’s India visit generates science collaborations

India and the United States signed three science pacts, covering clean energy, disease surveillance and monsoon forecasting, during US president Barack Obama's Asia visit this week.

Tags: united states, india, science diplomacy

The President’s Indonesia Opportunity

President Obama arrives today in Indonesia, a country he knows well, where he lived for part of his childhood and is extremely popular. Indonesia is on the other side of the world, 12,000 miles from Washington, and most Americans know little about it. So they may not appreciate the importance of the president's visit as an opportunity to cement a closer relationship with an ally in the fight against Islamist extremism.

Tags: government pd, public opinion, barack obama, indonesia, muslim

Soft Power of Art: Lifelong Cultural Commitment Pays Diplomatic Dividends

The power of culture can often be underestimated as a diplomatic tool, but cultural exchange can not only serve as a universal icebreaker, it can tear down walls and build bridges between the most hardened of enemies. It may not turn foes into instant friends, but it does allow nations to find points of commonality that transcend politics.

Tags: united states, soft power, Cultural Diplomacy, art diplomacy, venezuela

Obama reality show in Indonesia rewards people who know presidential trivia

As he finally makes it to Jakarta, it's worth noting just how much Indonesia, the country that considers him a native son, loves all things Obama. Case in point: the Barack Obama reality show.

Tags: soft power, public opinion, barack obama, indonesia, television diplomacy, us image

The Wrong Way to Combat ‘Islamophobia’

This week, member states of the United Nations will vote on what has become an annual resolution, “On Combating Defamation of Religions,” put forward by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a group of 57 states with large Islamic populations.

Tags: faith diplomacy, islam, united nations, religion, muslim, arab, christians

How China Mimics US Soft Power

That China and the United States are in a race to gain sway over countries possessing vital natural resources, not only in Africa but across the developing world, is hardly news...Yet while the two powers approach the question of influence from different starting points, they are also increasingly overlapping in the way they develop their soft power—particularly in the use of their navies.

Tags: china, united states, soft power, military, development

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