The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has a new chairman in Walter Isaacson, and the former CNN and Time magazine chief is calling for even more money for the BBG to combat the public diplomacy efforts of America's "enemies," which he identifies as Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and China.

College students in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' International Youth Ambassador project shared their cultural exchange experiences Sept. 29 at Taipei County’s Fu Jen Catholic University. The MOFA sent 21 student teams from 13 universities to visit the nation’s allies, where they participated in summer camps with local youth for two to three weeks.

One day after I posted Fidel Castro's condemnation of anti-Semitism on this blog, the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, announced that he too, felt great "love and respect" for Jews, and he invited the leaders of his country's put-upon Jewish community to meet with him. The meeting took place a short while later.

Juan Ignacio Vidarte, the director-general of the Guggenheim Bilbao, noted that cultural development can "improve the self esteem of a community" and that when developed in conjunction with local culture, "a new social asset is created." For many government planners over the past decade, that has been a compelling narrative...But Francesco Bandarin, assistant-director general for culture at UNESCO urged caution, noting that culture can also become a factor in conflict.

Like a marriage, a business relationship is nurtured by good communication. Yet one of the biggest difficulties global companies face these days is the failure to communicate effectively with overseas workers, partners and contractors.

Insight on aid diplomacy as a soft power enhancing tool of public diplomacy.