The president’s 2015 National Security Strategy, released Friday, promised Americans the administration will confront a myriad of security and social threats with a strong focus on diplomacy and an aversion to meddling too much in developing events.

Addressing ambassador and experts at the Digital Diplomacy Day, Foreign Affairs minister George Vella said that diplomacy is a mixture of innovation and tradition, with its basic aspects dating back to practically the dawn of civilisation, but its needs changing as technology has progressed and continues to progress so fast.

A new election campaign brings about new stereotypes. It is now very common to hear that Israel does everything to maintain a policy of status quo with its neighbors, including the Palestinians. Looking at Israeli public opinion in the last twenty years, however, tells us that the opposite is true. If one takes election results as reliable indicators, it is possible to identify three characteristic phases in the mood of the Israeli public. 

The United Nations is holding its first ever Social Media Day at its New York Headquarters today, in an event featuring social media professionals, digital diplomacy practitioners and academics who are sharing their experiences, discussing trends and proving insights into their work.

In the realm of influencing relations between nations, digital media has suddenly unpinned the power to communicate from the almost exclusive control of the state. Thanks to digital platforms such as social media, state actors must now compete with non-state actors for a voice in the international arena as well as for legitimacy in the eyes of the public—including their domestic one.