That open-air midday prayer video on YouTube illustrates the operational capacity of Turkey as a natural extension of European soft power in the Middle East and North Africa. Turkey would definitely hold greater sway in the region if it was a member of the EU. But that requires visionary European leaders.

"...I also attended Brand Africa Forum in South Africa. The keynote speaker was a certain Simon Anholt, a nation-branding consultant. He has branded 33 countries in his career... he criticised countries, trying to brand their countries by running commercials on some media channels.

"One of the messages we want to spread through the forum is that corporate brands are very important in developing nation brands and nations' economies," says Miller, adding that it is through telling these stories that Africa can be "positioned as the next growth frontier in terms of investment and business".

Sanctions are a hard form of economic power that Joseph Nye discusses in chapter three of his new book, The Future of Power, and a topic that is discussed widely today in relation to Syria. Many policy makers are pondering whether sanctions will be useful in convincing President al-Assad to stop killing his people.

The war in Libya and the activities of three Africa-based Islamist groups have raised questions about whether Africom may be shifting from its initial posture of projecting soft power to one of managing a hot theater. However...while Africom's public affairs posture may now be in flux, the command's core mission of growing African capabilities to meet African security challenges has not changed.

The exhibition "Post-Oil City: The History of the City's Future" presents a host of innovative city planning projects in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Looking both to the past and to the future, the exhibition assembles eleven contemporary projects...

...Several new programs were created to advance the transformational public diplomacy agenda in today's communications environment. In this connection, there is a Rapid Response Unit that monitors foreign broadcasts and blogs and produces a daily one-to-two page report..

Working to strengthen economic partnerships between the United States and Africa, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced today that 43 African women business leaders will travel to the United States September 19 through October 7 as part of the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program.