I have spent some time as of late picking through the now infamous train wreck that was the American pavilion at Shanghai. Cynthia Schneider offers her opinion on what went wrong here. Here’s my take:

Winners and losers in the "social equality" game depend on how public diplomacy is used to shape world opinion. Turning up the volume, Brasilia successfuly played the sanctions card against the United States to win a quarter-billion-dollar World Trade Organization (WTO) settlement over illegal Washington cotton subsidies.

While President George W. Bush openly declared his intention of confronting by force some several dozen nations who were considered hostile, President Barack Obama promised a different approach of using American soft power to re-write international relations and earn the goodwill of the World to the United States. However, he has used both soft power and hard power to attain the same objectives.

With Brazil's pride hurt by Washington's heavy handed public diplomacy there are new signs that Dilma could resist renewed White House pressure to buy Boeing during her other than state visit and opt for the Rafale or possibly save face and put the whole matter on hold.

The great anticipation surrounding President Barack Obama‘s long overdue visit to Indonesia on November 9-10 ensured that it would be one of the most watched stops on his recent Asian tour. After domestic political issues in the U.S.

Not much imagination is required to appreciate the impact in Indonesia of Barack Obama‘s recent visit.  There he was, using phrases of the Indonesian language not like some stumbling tourist but rather as one who has real roots in the nation.  His reminiscences of his boyhood exploits stirred the spirits of this rising Pacific power that can claim the President of the United States as one of its o

A new study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project poses the question: Does humanitarian relief improve America’s image. The answer is “not much,” or “not as much as one might hope.” While this may seem unfair, given that the United States spends some $4 billion annually on humanitarian relief, it is perhaps not surprising.

"We congratulate the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have mobilized to this unique crisis of conscience," Carney said at a news conference on Thursday, adding the video has helped raise awareness about the "horrific activities" of the child-recruiting Lord's Resistance Army.