As Washington broadens its military footprint in the Sahel region of Africa, US analysts are urging the administration of President Barack Obama to devote more effort to diplomacy, especially in Mali.

The allocation of a piece of land to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) in Kuwait is part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) launched in 2004, a senior Kuwaiti official has said. “The move consolidates Kuwait’s interest in international missions, especially that Kuwait was the first Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country to join the ICI,”

Speaking to FNA, Lieutenant Commander of Basji Force Colonel Nasrallah Seif said that rapid reaction forces of Basij will stage the 'Towards Beitol-Moqaddas (Jerusalem)' drills throughout the province on Thursday and Friday (December 20-21). He announced that 20 similar exercises have so far been held throughout Iran to promote Basij forces' hard, semi-hard and soft power in confrontation against potential threats.

North Korea’s successful missile launch now presents Pyongyang as on the cusp of joining the elite club of nations with nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). That is quite a turn around for the young Kim Jong Un, suddenly thrust into power a year ago, whose first attempt at launching a three-stage missile...was a show that flopped before a global audience.

The Department of Defense has not institutionalized public diplomacy-like activities throughout its components, belying both hopes that it would internalize these broader concerns into its everyday activities, and fears that the Department's great scale would overwhelm all other US public diplomacy. But the evolving, post Goldwater-Nichols role of the combatant commands and SOCOM did encourage those particular organizations to develop and consolidate a program that looks very much like public diplomacy.

Marines with Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji invited Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members with Fuji Schools to participate in a fall social Sept. 29. Activities throughout the day included a three-legged race, tug-of-war, soccer and softball, and finished with a barbecued meal that provided an opportunity for everyone to interact.

Even as Defence Minister Liang Guanglie is in India on a five-day visit this week to boost ties, the departure of another top People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General to Southeast Asia has been seen by analysts here as reflecting a new diplomatic push by the Chinese military to address regional concerns.

Japanese naval and air force commanders suspended trips to South Korea which had been scheduled to start on Monday as part of a military exchange program, the South's defense ministry said.