This June 2, 2016, Italy will celebrate its Republic Day, also known as Festa della Reppublica (Festival of the Republic) in Italian. It was on this day when the Italians voted to abolish the monarchy in 1946 so their country could become a republic. In the Philippines, Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno will lead the celebration. [...] This year’s celebration marks a milestone for Roscigno who implemented programs to boost the strength of the diplomatic and bilateral relations of Italy and the Philippines.

Right now, legislation is pending in the House of Representatives that would do the unthinkable – restrict our government’s ability to broadcast news and information in Arabic to the Arabic-speaking world. As a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon, I know that whether discrediting ISIS’s murderous ideology, providing a clear explanation of American policy, or better explaining the hallmarks of American culture in places where it is not well understood, there is no substitute for the ability to talk people across the Middle East in their own language.