“The styles of public diplomacy are now constrained by our fear,” says Richard Arndt, a veteran U.S. diplomat and the author of The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century. ”Which after all is what terrorists try to produce, and which they've amply succeeded in.” Arndt says as the United States reestablished diplomatic relations with European countries after World War II, the goal was to build the most beautiful embassies possible.

A collection of valuable books was donated to the Qatar National Library’s Heritage Collection Building, by Carmen De La Peٌa, Spain’s Ambassador, recently. It was presented in collaboration with the Islamic Library of the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and Development (AECID) and Casa Arabe, a Spanish public diplomacy institution focused on relations with the Arab world.

The US State Department has awarded PT Ganesha Aggies Jaya a contract for just under $3 million for communications support for the @america public outreach center in Jakarta. The firm will provide public affairs and PR support as well as diplomacy programming for the outreach center, according to a representative from the federal agency. The representative did not provide further details on the contract's length.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum announced that it will join the US Embassy in Buenos Aires to create an educational program highlighting the works of Georgia O’Keeffe. The program is part of the Embassy’s public policy initiative called ¡Exprésate! designed to teach English to Argentinean students with a concentration on American culture and history.

Russian prosecutors have opened a legal case against a nongovernmental organization in a city outside Moscow for failing to register as a “foreign agent,” after the group participated in a round table with representatives of the United States Embassy.

Mark McDowell, counselor and head of the public diplomacy department at its embassy in Beijing will soon be Canada's first ever full time ambassador to Burma, Canada's foreign affairs ministry has said. Given the fact that Burma enjoys favorable relationship with Beijing, Canada has apparently chosen its Beijing officer to lead its embassy in Burma as he is not just familiar with the Chinese politics but is also said to be familiar with the ongoing contemporary issues in Burma.

This week it emerged that the Department of International Relations and Co-operation has budgeted more than R1.5 billion to repair and build properties for foreign diplomatic missions over the next five years.