diplomacy
As the well-traveled Olympic flame and outstanding athletes from around the world converged in Sochi for Friday’s opening ceremony of the XXII Winter Olympic Games, dozens of U.S. diplomats and other officials were working behind the scenes in the scenic Russian city.
When Noura al-Ameer exchanged looks with the Syrian government representatives in Switzerland, she felt as though she was looking into the eyes of her interrogators in prison. The 26-year-old anti-government activist was detained for six months in some of Syria's most notorious prisons in Damascus and Homs before her release in late 2012.
I had written a couple months ago about the seemingly uncoordinated and scattershot approach in which U.S. embassies engage in the name of public diplomacy. An interlocutor pointed me to a speech delivered by retired Foreign Service officer Donald Bishop to the Council of American Ambassadors earlier this fall. While so many practitioners of public diplomacy circle the wagons to protect budgets and the system they know and in which they thrive, Bishop speaks directly.
Nicholas Cull on the role of film in public diplomacy.
![Photo by Jonny L'kanthan](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/7721674716_2318bfebd4_z.jpg?itok=NSs42HgK)
A look at how public diplomacy plays a role in the 2012 London Olympics
![Photo by Pixabay](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/people-1284253_1280.jpg?itok=kLZnBkXW)
Explore the public diplomacy strategies of BRICS countries
![Flickr user: truthout](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/4326317464_01722ca4fa_o.jpg?itok=GmEuhsZF)
PDiN Monitor Editorial Staff
Sherine B. Walton, Editor-in-Chief
Naomi Leight, Managing Editor
PDiN Contributing Researchers
Taleen Ananian
Paul Rockower
Di Wu
Rob Ashgar on the potential of cultural diplomacy to ease the India-Pakistan conflict.