Refaeli is the new face of an ad by the Israeli Foreign Ministry that kicks off a public relations campaign trumpeting Israel's cutting-edge technologies. But the Israel Defense Forces is not happy about it. A spokesperson for the Defense Forces says in a statement, "The choice of a representative who did not serve in the military as an official presenter on behalf of Israel, conveys the message that we ignore and forgive evasion of enlistment, and encourages identification, among youths of both sexes, with the success of those who did not enlist."

For all the drama of President Obama's stirring speech Thursday in Jerusalem, the most encouraging thing about it may have been the applause from the audience. "Remarks of President Obama to the People of Israel," the White House called the speech -- and, like President Reagan, Obama went soaring over the heads of officials, elites, and pundits, directly to Israel's citizenry. In that may lie the nub of a second-term approach to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking that could prove more fruitful than the frustrations of the first.

Obama was accompanied on a leisurely tour through Petra's steep red-rock formations by a University of Jordan tourism professor, with all other visitors kept well away -- except for a few stray cats. Soon after his stroll through arid the landscape, renowned for its colorful interplay of light and shadow, the president is due to return to Washington, DC.

This past January, as part of an economic diplomacy initiative, our embassy organized a campaign designed to deepen U.S.-Lao business ties and promote the newly-established Lao chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). The economy of Laos has emerged as an attractive investment opportunity for American businesses.

President Barack Obama’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never been warm. So while visiting Israel, Obama did not limit himself to the standard rhetorical niceties. He went over the heads of politicians and appealed directly to the Israeli public, especially the young, to make his case for a more flexible approach to negotiating with Palestinians.

Officials say before he left Israel, he helped facilitate a phone call between prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish leader Rayjep Erdogan. Turkey and Israel cut ties after Israeli forces launched a deadly raid on a Turkish ship trying to reach Gaza in 2010.

“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now.” “Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.” The statements made by Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods, respectively, were attempts to mitigate the damage caused by scandal.

APDS Blogger: Michael Duffin

“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now.”

“Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.”