Second, the rapid and frightening militarization of the conflict has seriously reduced the space for public diplomacy, as Embassy personnel (and Ford himself) have few opportunities to get out to engage.

The event in Tehran will be held during 25-29 January 2012 during which “Gun-en Artists group” shows around 50 pieces of its members' artistic works including paintings, pictures, dolls and textiles. The embassy is also going to hold exhibitions of photographs and children’s paintings of Japan’s disaster-stricken areas of March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

"Masauko is coming to Malawi with support from the US government's 'Arts Envoy' program me. "The programme shares the best of the American arts community with the world to foster people-to-people connections, cross-cultural understanding and collaboration, and to demonstrate shared values and aspirations," Canavan explained.

The Government of Spain's Ministry of Culture - Casa Asia, the Cervantes Institute and the Spanish embassy in New Delhi joined hands to promote the Spanish 'cultural industries' in India through the third edition of “New Urban Cultures” programme.

Why would the U.S. State Department even take the trouble to organize a “virtual embassy,” which as the website states is not actually an embassy but public diplomacy? Since the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, the United States has had no embassy in Tehran...

The selection of Indonesia as the main theme for the youth organization Center of Children’s Diplomacy Peace Gong was a clear indication of world’s increasing interest in Indonesia...the Indonesian Embassy will always keep on maintaining and supporting activities involving Indonesian-related topics as an effort to promote Indonesian culture amongst Ukrainian youths.

EU embassies all over the world, reflecting the soft power of the EU, which, despite the ongoing euro crisis, is still very much building up the EU brand as a global superpower. The idea of a separate foreign policy for any of the 27 member states has now been made almost completely irrelevant in the context of a common, tightly coordinated EU position.

As has been remarked, U.S. public diplomacy in the age of Obama often amounts to the same thing as publicity for the President himself, with American institutions serving as megaphones for his political message.