The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, The Council for International People's Friendship, Rashid Diab Arts Centre and Al-Faisal Cultural Centre launched recently a traditional Venezuelan and Sudanese songs dedicated to friendship between peoples on October 22nd, 2014.

...Deng Xiaoping met Henry Kissinger... and asked him: "Doctor, are you familiar with Confucius?" In uncharacteristic modesty, Kissinger said: "Not in detail". Although the Chinese are nowadays trying to return to their traditional culture and values to boost their soft power and political influence, I am afraid most of them have to echo Kissinger's answer, "not in detail", when prompted with the same question.

President Ma Ying-jeou has successfully added a new dimension to his state visit to African allies with “sport diplomacy” that will further cement bilateral relationships..While in The Gambia, President Ma faced down another sports challenge...leading Taiwan past The Gambia 4-3 in a soccer penalty kick shootout at a local junior high school built with financial aid from Taiwan.

In an era of declining military spending, when the Western world moves away from expensive boots on the ground and surgical strikes, and towards working with domestic political movements and UN-led peace-keeping missions, the less-costly “soft power” first championed by Mackay, which measures success not in body bags but in friends won and peaces kept, is the new military zeitgeist.

Mr. Marles, who was accompanied by the Australian High Commissioner to Seychelles, Ms. Sandra Vegting, also announced a donation of 20,000 Australian dollars to develop a multi-purpose indoor sports facility as part of the Australian Sports Diplomacy initiative.

Just as in relationships between people, states generally treat different categories of other states differently: With friends they appeal to loyalty and shared values; with allies they appeal mainly to shared interests; with clients or subordinates, they also appeal mainly to shared interests, but with a twist given the power equation.

Hosting a concert by the shores of Rawal Lake, the US embassy brought together America's "Ari Roland Jazz Quartet" and Pakistani rock band "Fuzon", capping the night with the "world premiere" of a special friendship song.