Just as the second half of the 20th century was characterized by America's Atlantic partnership, the India-U.S. relationship will be the defining feature of the 21st century. Indians applaud President Obama's open appreciation and acknowledgement not only of Indian history and culture, but of the independent path India took toward prosperity. This path, which included a socialist economy and non-alignment, was one of the key causes for estrangement between these two democracies during the Cold War era.

Israel’s public image today is dismal. As Elie Wiesel once joked, “Jews excel in just about every profession except public relations, but this should not surprise us: when God wanted to free the Jews from Egypt he sent Moses, who stuttered.” However, today Israel’s problem is not that its leaders are stuttering, rather that they are stalling to show leadership toward ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. In doing so, they are sending a message to the international community that Israel does not care what the world thinks, and that it does not want peace after all.

Judith McHale, the U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, has been tasked with leading America’s engagement with the people of the world. It's a daunting job description with many obvious challenges. But the former CEO says she's making progress. McHale, during a visit to Prague, sat down with RFE/RL senior correspondent Jeremy Bransten to discuss her work.

The signatories below and I welcome the many initiatives that are underway among governments, in civil society, and within the religious community to expand areas of cooperation between the Muslim community and other actors. President Obama's trip to Indonesia this week is an important example of the high-level attention that must be given to these relationships.

President Obama arrives today in Indonesia, a country he knows well, where he lived for part of his childhood and is extremely popular. Indonesia is on the other side of the world, 12,000 miles from Washington, and most Americans know little about it. So they may not appreciate the importance of the president's visit as an opportunity to cement a closer relationship with an ally in the fight against Islamist extremism.

But invisible things such as oxygen, God and foreign affairs can still be consequential. And last week's election will have the scariest kind of influence on America's role in the world: massive and unclear.

Barack Obama, the US president, has arrived in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, for the second stop on his 10-day Asia trip. During his much-delayed homecoming of sorts to Indonesia on Tuesday, Obama will seek to engage Muslims and cement strategic relations.

Jakarta regards Mr. Obama as a local boy made good, and he remains extremely popular throughout Indonesia. But his last-minute postponements of three previously planned visits here have clearly sapped the enthusiasm surrounding his homecoming, even among his most ardent supporters.