The fellow appointed commissioner general, Jose Villareal, was a former fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. He helped raise the $61 million required for the creation of the American pavilion. We do not know what he did as commissioner general because the whole pavilion had been outsourced.

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:

At the close of the 100th anniversary celebration of Tokyo's gift of cherry blossoms to Washington, it's worth remembering the story of diplomacy behind the trees. Like most diplomatic initiatives, this one had to overcome indifference, opposition, and many setbacks before it could flower.

Olli and others have created something quite new, music that not only draws on Bollywood itself, but also the inspiration the industry has sparked within non-South Asians in parts of Europe. It’s good to find something that transcends stereotypes rather than simply playing with them.

An Iraqi adaption of Shakespeare's famous love story opens at the playwright's home town of Stratford-upon-Avon tonight, marking the European premiere of "Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad," according to the World Shakespeare Festival.

When I hear from people about the relative advantages of cultural diplomacy, they often point to the apparent “neutrality” or “apolitical” basis of, say, cultural exchange. Coming from an anthropological background, this often advanced claim has always puzzled me.

When I hear from people about the relative advantages of cultural diplomacy, they often point to the apparent “neutrality” or “apolitical” basis of, say, cultural exchange. Coming from an anthropological background, this often advanced claim has always puzzled me.

Liquid Comics and the Open Hands Initiative, a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to public diplomacy efforts, on Wednesday announced the launch of the Silver Scorpion animated Web series on MTV Voices.... the wheelchair-bound Silver Scorpion is the brainchild of a group of 26 American and Syrian youths with disabilities who convened for a Youth Ability Summit in Damascus over a year ago.