Americas
![Photo: Screenshot of video taken near Azadi Tower in Tehran, Iran displaying messages of global solidarity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/Sohaela_Amiri_Coronavirus_Global_Solidarity.jpg?itok=DdxVTkYj)
CPD Research Associate Sohaela Amiri on opportunities for a reimagined statecraft in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
![Image via iStock](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/Accelerate_the_Future_Nathan_Gardels_775x469.jpg?itok=AgVtO8Sw)
"The global COVID-19 pandemic will be seen in retrospect as the 'great accelerator' that moved us from the continuity of the past to a new era," writes CPD Advisory Board Member Nathan Gardels.
![Image via iStock](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/Jay_Wang_Public_Diplomacy_and_Pandemics_COVID19_775x469.jpg?itok=znCl2WWX)
CPD Director Jay Wang on a public diplomacy perspective during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
![Image courtesy of ambroo via Pixabay](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/Hollywood%20and%20Espionage_WEB_0.jpg?itok=o66MAFod)
CPD Senior Visiting Fellow (Non-Resident) Oliver Lewis compares and contrasts the film and intelligence industries' approaches to "human intelligence."
![Image courtesy of kat wilcox via Pexels](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/VOA%20on%20Gun%20Violence_WEB.jpg?itok=obKOW25N)
Yolanda Lopez, Director of Voice of America's News Center, introduces VOA's special reporting on the history of gun violence in the United States.
![Image courtesy of Pixabay](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/Geopolitical%20Illiteracy_WEB.jpg?itok=ZMbdNm1K)
Individuals' knowledge about the world has national security implications that public diplomacy can address, writes U.S. ACPD Executive Director Vivian S. Walker.
![Image courtesy of GDJ via Pixabay. Edited by CPD.](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/Blog%20Image_Katherine%20Brown%20SP30.jpg?itok=RVgM2aD0)
In the 2019 Soft Power 30 report, CPD Advisory Board Member Katherine Brown explains the importance of face-to-face exchanges to building trust.
![Image courtesy of The White House via Flickr (Public Domain)](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/White%20House%20America%20First_WEB.jpg?itok=hiLZoDki)
"America First" undermines the U.S.'s ability to form constructive global relationships, writes former British diplomat and Boston University Senior Lecturer Paul Hare.