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.

The Islamic State's media and propaganda division, famous for its internet presence, launched a groundbreaking new endeavor on Sunday in the form of a satellite television station broadcasting to Mosul, Iraq.

The cultural dimension of Turkish-Iranian relations and the scope of Turkey's soft power were discussed at a seminar jointly organized by the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) and the Tehran branch of the Yunus Emre Institute over the weekend in the Iranian capital of Tehran. 

While drinking tea by the Bosphorus a few days ago, I looked up and there sailing past me was the Moskva, a formidable-looking Russian missile cruiser returning home from its mission in support of Russia's Syrian pal, Bashar Assad. [...]Turkey possesses the political stability, economic vitality and military strength to play an ever greater role in its tumultuous region and beyond.

Italy has called on China to contribute more to the fight against terrorism and help stabilise the Middle East and Northern Africa, as the world’s number two economy shows an increasing interest and exposure in the region, its ambassador to Beijing says.

Idea: We need to develop vaccines for neglected tropical diseases in the Middle East and North Africa. [...] Hotez, who was appointed U.S. Science Envoy for the Middle East in 2015, brought his knowledge of these neglected tropical diseases to the turmoil in the Middle East and discovered the makings of a new global epidemic.