libya

January 20, 2012

Hishaam Aidi, writing for Illume Magazine, emphasizes the central role played by hip-hop in the Arab Spring; indeed, as Aidi points out, Time Magazine not only rated Tunisian rapper Hamada Ben Amor ("el General") as being one of the 100 most influential people of 2011...

January 18, 2012

The formidable soft power of the UAE was on display this week in Libya when Etihad Airways' inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to Tripoli was accompanied by a large delegation of government officials and businessmen.

January 18, 2012

By May, A.U. diplomats had succeeded in convincing Qaddafi to sit out any new regime in liberated Libya — a fact little known in the West — but they failed to implement the roadmap fully. Their very decent proposal was lost to South Africa’s communication failures and poor public diplomacy.

The British Council's work in the region over the coming months will include offering citizenship and arts grants to build up civil society; teaching English, including educational radio broadcasts across the country; using UK higher education expertise to create universities that value cultural activity and free speech

A second batch of South Korean water engineers will leave for Libya later this month to help the war-torn nation restore its water supply services...."Rather than focusing on post-war reconstruction projects, it is time for us to do 'public diplomacy' to win the hearts of Libyan people."

Actress and U.N. goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie was in Libya on Tuesday for a visit to help agencies bringing aid to Libyans in Tripoli and Misrata..."I will be meeting with officials from all sides but above all, listening to the local people in the street. I am here to express solidarity with them."

Beijing invests a lot of diplomatic and public-relations effort in persuading the world that China's "peaceful rise" is nothing to fear. This is especially true in Africa...Libya's recent turmoil represents a missed opportunity for Beijing to have shown its readiness to shoulder the responsibilities of a great power.

David Cameron was branded a warmonger today for advising the United Nations to embrace Nato-style military interventions to rid the world of "oppressive" governments. Revelling in his "victory" in Libya, the Prime Minister said that the international community needed to use a combination of military action or "hard power" and "soft power" like diplomacy and financial aid.

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