Does anybody remember soft power? Apparently Canada has it in abundance. It just doesn’t work. Soft power is, like so many trendy ideas in this country, an American invention.

It's natural that all countries have different aims in foreign policy and different ways to attain them. However, one aim has been common for all cultures – spreading influence. Turkey is the only Muslim majority NATO member country with a decade long stability record in its economy, offering low corporate income taxes for entrepreneurs and a large domestic market. Spending 2.7 percent of GDP for its military, we can say Turkey is a diplomacy player but it is neither rich enough nor is it active enough in terms of using its military might to be an effective actor in the region.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Brazil in July, the two leading emerging economies consolidated their booming partnership and signed more than 50 cooperation agreements in economic, cultural and political sectors.

Weeks before the summit, environment unfriendly industries within Beijing and the adjacent regions were suspended as required to reproduce the long lost blue sky and as short as the APEC meeting, the blueness was gone with the closure of the summit.

Last month China’s president Xi Jinping presented his pragmatic vision for China’s arts and creative industries. (...)Whereas his predecessor Hu Jintao saw culture as a means to boost China’s global prestige and soft power, Xi is as concerned with shaping China’s hearts and minds.

 It's India-Pakistan diplomacy with a difference: two groups of students - one in Bangalore, one in Islamabad - talking fashion, film and politics over homemade curry and steaks.