When Qatar announced the closure of Al Jazeera America this month, the decision by its new ruler marked a more cautious approach to public diplomacy by the tiny Gulf state after years of cultivating a high-profile international role.

This dearth of policy stands in stark contrast to the role played by an influential State Department policy maker turned Google executive, Jared Cohen, in formulating and facilitating a form of "soft" regime change policy in Egypt during the "January 25 Revolution" known as "digital democracy." 

Pope Francis will receive in private audience Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tomorrow, the latest meeting in a flurry of Holy See diplomatic activity concerning the Middle East and China. […] The Pope and Holy See diplomats will probably try to use the occasion of Rouhani’s visit to help defuse tensions between the two Muslim-majority countries.

In recent days, India has reached out to its Middle Eastern partners in a major way. Last week, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj went to Bahrain to attend the first ministerial meeting of the India-Arab League Cooperation Forum. 

Farzad Amoozegar straddled two cultures, North American and Iranian, throughout much of his childhood. Before he was 9, the Persian language, culture and food had begun to shape his identity as an Iranian; after moving to Canada and then to America, he discovered music to bridge the gap between Iran and the West.

Closer economic ties will top the agenda during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visits to Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia this week. However, Chinese mediation in the feud between Tehran and Riyadh is unlikely, say experts.

Resources need to be part of a broad strategy, interagency coordination and solid metrics for evaluating impact. But funding can improve a key tool in the U.S. foreign policy toolbox: public diplomacy. The present level of funding is simply not enough to match the challenge that terrorism poses.