On June 19, U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul welcomed new Russian exchange students and alumni of U.S. State Department programs to his Moscow residence, Spaso House.

US Consul General in Karachi Michael Dodman welcomed on Wednesday Sindh’s 45 students who have returned to the country after completing one year of study in the United States through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study programme.

But when Western diplomats avoid making public statements in support of human rights and democracy in Azerbaijan, Azeri society loses confidence in Europe. Moreover, private diplomacy is failing to yield results; and year by year the restrictions on freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association increase.

Sharing culture is hard when you can't entertain another point of view, tough when you have to stick to your line, and impossible when what you say can immediately be turned into a headline and used as a stick to beat you. This is the lot of modern governments.

The lack of public debate, shifting attitudes towards civil liberties, insufficient disclosure, and a decreasing terrorist threat demands that collecting Americans' phone and Internet records must meet the absolute highest bar of public consent. It's a test the Obama administration is failing.

Strip away the ostensibly benign surface of public diplomacy, cultural exchanges and language instruction, and it becomes clear that the U.S. and China are engaged in a soft power conflagration – a protracted cultural cold war.

This huge increase in cultural interaction has big political implications, because what happens in the cultural arena increasingly affects what politicians can do: cultural misunderstandings create political problems, while an attractive culture gives countries a licence to operate in international affairs, and a chance of being heard.

The students are members of the volunteers in the program to promote the use of English among Thais, and students from the Thai - New Zealand cultural exchange program. The premier expressed her admiration in the students' enthusiasm in learning the Thai language and cultures, while thanking all the Thai foster families for welcoming and taking care of their Caucasian guests.