In the realm of influencing relations between nations, digital media has suddenly unpinned the power to communicate from the almost exclusive control of the state. Thanks to digital platforms such as social media, state actors must now compete with non-state actors for a voice in the international arena as well as for legitimacy in the eyes of the public—including their domestic one.

The parliamentary budget officer says Canadian foreign aid spending is set to plunge to record lows in the coming years, prompting pleas to the Harper government to halt the slide.  

The new Sri Lankan government will find that it has its work cut out just containing Chinese influence in the country, let alone fulfilling the Indian dream of eliminating it altogether. The growth of Chinese influence in Sri Lanka may slow, but Beijing is in the region for the long haul.

The most recent round of mini-détente on the Korean peninsula began with a surprise visit by a high-caliber North Korean delegation to the closing ceremony of the Asian Games last October. Though the two sides agreed to more meetings later in October or November, North Korea backed off, citing consternation over activists’ leaflet campaigns. On December 29, Seoul’s unification minister, Ryoo Kihl-jae, sent a letter to the North, seeking negotiations on bilateral issues such as family reunions for those separated by the Korean War (1950-53).

Barack Obama will do something in India on Monday that an American president almost never does in public: He’ll sit in one place, in a foreign country, for hours.(...) The unusual appearance, also making him the only two-time U.S. presidential visitor to India, caps a remarkable turnaround in bilateral ties since the December 2013 arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York.

As long as the PM plays the security-political card while ignoring the country's real problems, he’s only helping his campaign – especially if he succeeds in bickering with the Obama administration. Meanwhile, a Likud-Habayit Hayehudi merger looks increasingly possible.

While Spaso House is not neglecting digital diplomacy under Ambassador Tefft, the online buzz generated by Ambassador McFaul in Russia certainly seems to have dissipated in a big way.