Britain is being left increasingly open to attack as a result of successive government’s failure’s to invest in the military. In the meantime foreign aid is perversely being doled out to countries that stand accused of funding terrorism.

The United States which has increasingly taken Latin America for granted is now challenged by China’s soft power diplomacy through hard cash loans.

By some yardsticks, spending on security now accounts for 30 to 40 percent of the department’s operational budget. Next year, it plans to spend four times more on “worldwide security protection” than on public diplomacy.

Seoul plans to spare no effort to promote public diplomacy in the U.S. to prevent American citizens from having negative sentiments toward South Korea following the attack on Lippert, according to officials.

H E George Hisaeda, Ambassador of Japan to Oman, believes diplomacy is not exclusive to diplomats. “Grassroots or people-to-people diplomacy is increasingly important in the interconnected ‘global village’ of modernity,” he says.

Seoul and Washington are striving to minimize the fallout from a knife attack against the U.S. ambassador here which triggered concerns that it may dampen public sentiment and set hurdles for the allies’ future cooperation.

The chemistry between Netanyahu and Obama has never been good. It’s not a matter of personalities. It’s a clash of realities—the two men see the world differently. Obama believes the best way to protect Israel—and broader American interests—is to get a deal that will curtail Iran’s uranium enrichment, cut its stockpile of fuel, convert its facilities, and require intrusive daily inspections.  

In his unprecedented agreement to address Congress against the will of the White House, Netanyahu is placing Israel’s national security above his relationship with the U.S. president, who has shown him little respect in the past.