The Al Khalifa family...hoped the race would reverse its public diplomacy fortunes and once again depict the Kingdom as a progressive (in relative terms of course) financial, cultural and sports center. It tried to put to replace the images of political repression from a year ago. Instead, it only updated them.

Our most important shortcoming in foreign policy is the lack of an integrated, up-to-date, and above all, an initiative and creative program in image-building and confronting the organized efforts of the West in destroying the system’s reputation.

Branding a nation is “putting a human face on a product.” According to Aharoni, this is a process and not something that will occur overnight. “It will take time.” Explaining Brand Israel strategy, Aharoni said that the key to any nation branding is to “find out what the nation in whole is good at and communicate that to relevant audiences.”

I am often told that Syria is not Libya and that any intervention would lead to a disproportionate death of civilians, making such an intervention unacceptable and unjustifiable. I would argue that the morality justifying the need for intervention in Syria is indisputable. First and foremost, innocent life is in danger and in need of protection. The Syrian Government has initiated an operation of large scale and systematic violation of human rights, with the UN stating that what the Syrian Government is doing amounts to crimes against humanity.