middle east
Now that Qatar is embroiled in controversy with nearly the entire Sunni Islamic world, led by Saudi Arabia, the 2022 FIFA World Cup is suddenly at risk. The Qatar World Cup has been dogged by controversy since the day it was announced in 2012. But even years of international and humanitarian moral outrage could not do to Qatar what Saudi Arabia proved able to do almost instantly: isolate Qatar’s ruling emir and take away his biggest soft-power achievement.
Turkey has started to use public diplomacy in its modern sense and as a state policy for the first time during the AK party era. [...] In addition, TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency) the first soft power institution of Turkey (opened in the 1990s), has been restructured in order to adapt to public diplomacy. [...] The Yunus Emre Institute, which was opened in 2009, has started to carry out the cultural diplomacy activities of public diplomacy. In this respect, Turkish foreign policy has also opened up to the cultural and social fields.
Donald J. Trump’s first foreign trip as U.S. President is now history, but the repercussions are likely to be felt for years to come. [...] Trump disrespected the entire NATO alliance system, broke with the rest of the G-7 on the Paris climate change agreement and, in general, behaved boorishly. Given the chance to welcome NATO’s newest member, Montenegro, Trump pushed its prime minister aside to claim his own front row spot for the traditional “family photo” of NATO summit leaders.
![Photo courtesy of The White House via Flickr President Trump's Trip Abroad](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/rsz_34031496153_174b1d4e1d_b.jpg?itok=XQ278_4Y)
Mark Dillen on the negative image of President Trump's first trip overseas.
Protecting cultural diversity is vital for peacebuilding in the Middle East, the head of the UNESCO Irina Bokova said at Madrid Conference today. [...] “Violent extremists target both heritage and human lives – they target victims and minorities from all backgrounds, Shebak, Turkmen, Yezidis, Muslims, Christians..." [...] “Violent extremists target schools, because they know the power of knowledge to counter their rhetoric drawing on false visions of faith and history," Irina added.
![picture courtesy from pixabay](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/24%20may%20edit%201_0.jpg?itok=ID1vA-Ce)
This week’s PD News focused on President Trump’s trip overseas, from the importance of Saudi Arabia to Melania Trump’s international debut as First Lady.
The Sesame synchrotron opened its doors in Jordan this week, allowing scientists who would normally find it difficult to meet because of the troubled relations between their countries, to carry out collaborative research at a local facility.The Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East, situated 35 kilometres north of the Jordanian capital Amman, unites Cyprus, Iran, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey – countries usually hostile to each other. The other founding members include Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan.