Over the past few years, Sabir Nazar has emerged as Pakistan's best known cartoonist for drawing a series of cartoons that take a sharply critical look at religious orthodoxy, conspiracy theories, and misinterpretations of current affairs that feed into the Pakistani mass consciousness. Through cartoons and comments posted on the social networking site Facebook, he offers biting insights that turn commonly-held viewpoints and beliefs about Pakistan on their heads.

This year’s Super Bowl commercials viewed collectively paint a picture that the vast majority of Americans are progressives on hot button items from immigration to gay rights. Gone were the sexist spots of Super Bowl pasts. Even domain site seller GoDaddy and mens grooming line Axe dropped the Playboy ethos for “Kumbaya” humor. With 30-second commercials going for for $3 million a piece, Madison Avenue minds decided their money is best spent on positive images of men, women, boys and girls that celebrate diversity and equality. From Cheerios to Toyota that is the message that sells.

“There were no YouTube videos, online sites, or DVDs. The culture wasn’t there yet. I could hardly find any video cassettes to learn the dances from,” explains Sargis Andreasyan, better known as Godfather Flash among fellow break-dancers in Yerevan, Armenia.

Recent developments in Africa related to the contentious topic of homosexuality have reminded me of a discussion that took place during one of the interactive sessions at CPD’s 2013 Summer Institute in Public Diplomacy. During this discussion, I argued that the West needs to fully recognize and show respect to the cultural, religious, and sociological demagogy of countries (especially in Africa) opposed to the practice. This is especially true when promoting the acceptance of homosexuality as a human right.

French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala has been banned from entering the UK after he was reportedly planning a visit to support the footballer Nicolas Anelka over his use of the "quenelle" gesture. The UK Home Office said it had imposed an exclusion order on Dieudonne, who has a series of convictions for anti-Semitic speech in his homeland, on the grounds of public security.

He can still dunk like a butterfly, but in the personally tragic case of former basketball pro Dennis Rodman in North Korea, the embrace of Kim Jong Un and his policies sting like a bee. Rodman is the most recent example of sports diplomacy gone awry. With the Sochi Olympics starting, a new cadre of unpredictable athlete diplomats will likely take the stage.

Known as football (or fútbol) around the world, soccer has been considered a legendary sport for years and years, lauded for its style, grace, speed, and extremely dedicated fans. "Fútbol: The Beautiful Game," presented by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, explores the significance and impact of soccer around the world, presenting a visual history of the game through paintings, photography, sculpture, and video works from 30 international artists.

In its first issue of 2014, Monocle dedicated a slice of the magazine to its Soft Power Survey, a run-down of countries and their ability to create and sustain influence in positive ways. For the first time in its four year history, Monocle accorded sport its own category in the metrics of the survey. Football took centre stage as perhaps the most pervasive and global of all sports.