The image of the Russian diplomats and its reflection on social media allows us to see the wide critique towards the diplomats from the general public. It is an interesting issue to discuss: why do the Russians actually care about the image of their diplomats? The perceptions about diplomatic culture and stereotypes about diplomacy in general have deep roots.

Montreal is temporarily opening its Olympic Stadium as a shelter to host a sudden increase in asylum seekers arriving from the US. [...] Many of them have been denied asylum in the US and are hoping for a second chance on the other side of the border.

The Soft Power 30 Report suggests that national leaders influence their nations' brands. Nation branding scholars have also examined this relationship, noting that the two brands can begin to merge as the qualities of a leader become associated with that of the nation. At its extreme, the leader’s brand can eclipse the national brand causing a “halo effect”.

In recent years, the discipline of nation branding has become a new frontier in how nations position themselves to compete for global share of, amongst others, attention, tourism, investment and skills. Cities have become an integral pillar in building strong competitive nation brands because a nation is, after all, a collection of cities - or city brands.

Expo 2017, held this summer in Astana, opens up a lot of opportunities for Kazakhstan: from modernization of the energy sector to a breakthrough in tourism and from the optimization of transport infrastructure to the strengthening of international cooperation. One of the expo’s most important achievements, undoubtedly, will be the promotion of Kazakhstan’s national brand.