Should one be surprised to hear the Ambassador of the United States telling an audience of students and influential Abu Dhabi elite that his country needed to raise its game and change their narrative in the region?...he remarked that people in the Gulf thought of the USA in military terms.

Since 9/11, the U.S. Government has invested heavily in technology-based solutions to understanding, informing, and influencing people around the world and across a variety of mediums. Many of these efforts were sponsored by the Defense Department for reasons that include major appropriations by the Congress, a capability (and culture) of contracting, and so on.

One hundred years ago, Japan gifted some 3,000 cherry trees to the United States in a gesture of friendship. They now flower each spring around the tidal basin in Washington, D.C. On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. will return the favor.

India’s image has transformed drastically in the last decade from an aid recipient nation to a global power, experts say. The shift in this image is not merely a result of economic growth figures alone — it has resulted from a carefully managed “image campaign” that the Indian government has invested in.

“Americans must not view Pakistan as a stereotype and just through the prism of their fight against terrorism. Pakistanis need to be told the American point of view without use of force and with respect for the country’s sovereignty。“