It's not surprising that the White House worked with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa to end the crackdown on protesters and to hold talks with the country's mainly Shiite-led opposition, after reading classified State Department cables released last week by WikiLeaks.

Former minister Shashi Tharoor’s breezy visit to London last week was symbolic in the extreme: as he told British academics of India’s need to project soft power, a desert storm for democracy swirled in the Middle East.

On numerous levels, the United States continues to fall farther behind China in public diplomacy. This is yet another indication that for all its protestations about its commitment to reach out to foreign publics, the U.S. government is unwilling to commit the resources needed to do so effectively.

Preparations Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU by in July this year are in full swing at the Foreign Ministry with the Eastern Partnership to take centre stage.

By now, it’s clear that social media has played a critical role in fomenting and sustaining public protests across the Middle East...In that vein, the State Department has just launched a new Farsi Twitter account, USAdarFarsi. Its first tweet: “US State Dept recognizes historic role of social media among Iranians. We want to join in your conversations.”

I am delighted to be here with such a distinguished group of citizen diplomats from communities across the United States to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Council for International Visitors. You are important partners of the Department of State, and the work you do is critical to supporting U.S. public diplomacy and foreign policy.

The White House announced last night that they sent four nominations for the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy to the Senate. This includes the two the White House announced an intent to nominate in November, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Mr. Sim Farar.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Bahrain to show restraint when responding to peaceful protests by its citizens. Speaking to reporters Thursday on Capitol Hill, she urged Bahrain to keep its commitment to hold accountable those who have used excessive force against peaceful demonstrators.