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.

The Prince and the Party: Five Elephants in the Room

On Sunday evening, Prince William arrives in Beijing at the start of a three day visit to China.  At state level, the objective is to promote brand Britain, and at a personal level, it's an opportunity to talk about his abiding passion: elephant protection.

Tags: prince william, uk, brand britain, elephant protection, royal diplomacy, china, beijing, public diplomacy

Netanyahu Heads to Washington for 'Historic Mission' to 'Guarantee Israel's Future'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington on Sunday ahead of his controversial speech to Congress."Today, on the eve of the Fast of Esther, I'm embarking on a historic mission," the prime minister said before boarding the plane. "I feel like the emissary of all the people of Israel, even those who don't agree with me. "I am profoundly concerned about the fate of Israel and our people. I will do everything in my power to guarantee our future," Netanyahu added.

Tags: prime minister netanyahu, united states, congress, israel, public diplomacy

Vietnam Opens Door to Hard Money and Soft Power

Japan and South Korea are building on a long interest in a country notable for its cheap labour and 90m-strong consumer market. From Hanoi’s point of view, there is a political imperative to draw more foreign investment because of structural economic problems such as bad debts and inefficient state companies, which have dragged Vietnam’s growth down from above 7 per cent a year before the western financial crisis to 5.4 per cent in 2013.

Tags: vietnam, soft power, korea, film, business, foreign investment, japan, regional relationships

On Turkey’s Push to Salvage Syrian Fighting Spirit

After months of negotiations and reviews, Turkey and the U.S. have signed a train-and-equip agreement aimed at bolstering moderate Syrian opposition fighters. This agreement is likely to have diplomatic outcomes between the two NATO allies and provide answers to many questions currently in the air, however, if we analyze the situation objectively, the “train-equip agreement” is going to make very little change in the civil war situation – if any.

Tags: turkey, syria, public diplomacy, united states, train-and-equip agreement, arab spring, civil war, nato

The War at Home: How Russia is Winning the Battle for Hearts and Minds

Last week, a report from a committee of the House of Lords offered a brutal judgement on British and European policy toward Russia. Europe went “sleep-walking” into the crisis in Ukraine, said the report, and Western countries had lost the “robust analytical capability” to understand Russia. The truth about UK policy toward Russia, however, is much worse.

Tags: russia, hearts and minds, public diplomacy, uk, ukraine, europe, soft power

PM’s Iran Tweet Ignites Social Media

Israeli social media exploded Wednesday and Thursday in reaction to a tweet by Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the prime minister attempted to shift focus from the findings of a state report on the country’s housing crisis to Iran’s nuclear program
 

Tags: social media, twitter, israel, iran, nuclear program, united states, congress, netanyahu, digital diplomacy

Europe Cannot Continue to Rely on Soft Power, Eurocorps Commander Warns

Europe will be "in deep trouble" if it continues to rely only on soft power, given the threats it now faces from the east and south, according to the Belgian commander of the five-nation Eurocorps headquarters.

Tags: europe, soft power, russia, nato, islamic state

Media Industry Heavily Taxed, Was Expecting Relief

Dr. Chandra stressed that to emerge as a leader in this global race for mind share, India will have to strengthen its reach to the humanity across the globe and for this traditional as well as the new media will be required to be strengthened.

Tags: india, international broadcasting, soft power, subhash chandra, new media

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