And yet, Mexico's economy is growing, tourism is rebounding... and the middle class is continuing to expand. So the key question going into 2012 is: Can anyone put back together Mexico's broken image, both on the world stage and at home?

Canadian-based Native American group Tribal Vision recently came to Turkey to present their distinguished songs and dances to people on the occasion of Canada Day (former Dominion Day), which is celebrated by Canadians around the world on July 1 to mark the establishment of Canada as a dominion, on July 1, 1867.

With a potentially contentious Russian presidential election looming in 2012, we at RealClearWorld thought it would be useful to examine just where Russia's leadership is most prized, and respected. Using Gallup data, we set out to find the Top 5 Most Pro-Russian Countries.

Washington’s close Kurdish allies cracked down hard. After 62 days of street protests, 10 people were dead. The carefully crafted image of Kurdistan as a democratic island in an ocean of regional dictatorship was in tatters.

Dan Diker, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, said that creating a common voice among Jewish parliamentarians was one of the most important public diplomacy objectives for Israel and the Jewish world.

Nations, too, come branded, sometimes willfully and sometimes by accident. A nation gets a brand identity based on its strength of delivering a quality product consistently over time (Eg: Switzerland for tourism and banking, USA for freedom, Italy for food and fashion, etc.)

In its quest for resources and business opportunities, China needs to have influence in many countries. Increasingly, Beijing uses a sophisticated charm offensive, presenting an image of a modern and dynamic China — a strategy often called "soft power."

With the pick of Sung Kim, a Korea-born career diplomat, as his new ambassador to Seoul, U.S. President Barack Obama aims to handle the North Korean nuclear issue in a more professional way and step up public diplomacy with South Koreans...