The Syrian crisis is well nigh the biggest blow to the current Iranian regime's prestige since it was established in 1979. It is now safe to argue that Iran is squandering the soft power it has been exercising among the various Muslim groups around the globe.

What this brief overview argues is that Turkey has consistently tried to avert recourse to intervention and war in the Middle East and to promote diplomatic approaches that rely exclusively on soft power.

In a bid to boost its international image, the country's Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs has established a cadre of diverse volunteers who speak about Israel around the world. In a recent post on its website, the ministry encouraged minorities and members of the gay community to step forward.

Several weeks before, in Algiers in December 2010, the U.S. State Department had launched the North African Partnership for Economic Opportunity (Napeo), bringing together over 300 entrepreneurs from Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.

One year after the Arab Spring, American public diplomacy is still facing the now-established conundrum of linking words and actions. The rise of Islamist political parties as the new leaders in the Arab world is the latest challenge for U.S. public diplomacy, but it is also an opportunity.

It is time for Ankara to recognize that there are serious differences between it and Tehran's regional visions. All in all, Iran's lack of democracy limits the scope of this country's foreign policy. Iran cannot generate the soft power that would show it to be a natural supporter of all pro-democratic movements in the Islamic world.

Events in Egypt and countries across the Middle East and North Africa have shown in the 'Arab Spring' that internet platforms and technologies should be seen for what they are: effective tools for the conduct of political campaigns in authoritarian contexts.

Water reveals a new apartheid in the Middle East...My most recent columns have been devoted to analyzing Israel’s public diplomacy, the reasons for its manifest ineptitude, and the mechanisms that produce this abysmal performance.