"The Ambassadors' Club" is probably the first in a series of anthologies of reflections and reminiscences by Indian diplomats as they juggle diverse domains ranging from climate change negotiations to labyrinths of WTO talks and fills in on the drama and atmospherics that are missing from more scholarly tomes on international relations.

Joining the two for lunch will be two Likud members: Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, and Coalition Chairman Zeev Elkin...The event will feature an artistic tribute to Russia, in which performers from the bilingual Gesher troupe will sing Russian songs that have Israeli adaptations.

Using the hashtag #AskState, participants from around the world can simultaneously submit questions and share ideas directly with Under Secretary Sonenshine about U.S. public diplomacy.

As a nation, we invest in and deploy SEAL teams to do very specialized, very difficult counterterrorism work. We need to adopt the same approach to the people we ask to carry out very specialized and very difficult PD functions.

It is important for us to borrow from the rich cultural content of Africa, for us to reposition Africa and ensure that culture is not only a tool of diplomacy, but that we also can deploy it to achieve economic as well as the Millennium Development goals for the continent.

Today, the U.S. Department of State announced it will raise the curtain today, June 19 on its groundbreaking cultural diplomacy initiative, Center Stage, which brings performing artists from Haiti, Indonesia, and Pakistan to the United States to engage American audiences in 60 medium- and small-sized towns and cities.

Global events such as the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo have provided an opportunity for China to show to the world a new face, and big investments in the developing world have seen China's image improve among the Africans and South Americans.

Confucius Institutes (CIs) and Confucius Classrooms (CCs) have mushroomed in the US since the establishment of the first CI at the University of Maryland in 2004. Currently there are 81 CIs and more than 300 CCs in the US. Since its establishment, the CI-UHM has contributed greatly to the US, both educationally and economically, via academic activities and cultural exchanges.