Once again, an element of U.S. international broadcasting has been criticized by politicians with a narrow view of its mission... And, once again, came a firm and timely restatement of why those operations do what they do.

India has offered to train Afghan police to help them prevent future terrorist attacks in a move likely to be seen as highly provocative by long-time rival Pakistan. India has long maintained that its support for Afghanistan is civilian in nature and driven by what its officials call “civilisational links”.

Erdogan was received enthusiastically by every world leader he met with including President Obama...The cache of soft power Turkey brought to New York came not just from its recent surge in regional popularity because of its increasingly tough stance on Israel or burgeoning economy, but because of the personal credibility that its Prime Minister brings as a leader.

Increasing tourism is a great goal, but the idea of kick-starting an economic recovery by attracting Asian shoppers to the United States to buy goods that are, for the most part, made in Asia doesn't sound all that sustainable.

Throughout the Middle East, protestors have employed Facebook, Twitter...and other technologies to organize and spread news at home and to the outside world. Democratic governments aren’t the only ones reacting to the Arab Spring. Autocracies, including China, which hosts the world’s most sophisticated online control regime, are drawing their own lessons.

Critics may wonder how willing...Turkish leaders are to actually admit to the empire's "not so beautiful parts"... Still, it's noteworthy that the Turkish P.M. sees in the Ottoman past a...soft-power cachet, based presumably on the empire's extraordinary diversity and tolerance of many faiths...

Citizens also appreciate the principles on which his foreign policy agenda is founded - openness to all, excluding so called diplomatic tourism, turning deeds into actions, public diplomacy, economic segment of his foreign policy and most importantly, credibility of his diplomatic engagement.

There is something fundamentally wrong with US public diplomacy when it comes to Pakistan. Our most distinguished frequent diplomatic interlocutors from Washington are not State Department officials but hardcore senior officials and military commanders...