Witnessing the ninth-largest country in the world (Kazakhstan) do battle with a satirical character (Borat), I decided it was important enough to start writing about from an academic perspective. [...] Kazakhstan continues to reap the benefits of the free press it received as part of Baron Cohen’s innovative marketing campaign for the [2006 Borat] film, though the Borat connections still stings a bit. 

Forestry Minister Veysel Eroglu told Hurriyet newspaper that "the plane tree was the symbol of the Ottomans, and we are launching a planting campaign on the orders of our president in the town of Sogut, where the Ottoman state was founded." He says President Erdogan will plant the first sapling there next year, with another 100,000 to follow in Istanbul - which as Constantinople was the last Ottoman capital.

For half a century after Cuba’s revolution in 1959, the island’s sports fans knew little of professional leagues beyond their shores. But today, thanks to the internet’s belated arrival and a wave of Cuban players defecting and starring in MLB, in-depth knowledge of American baseball is a badge of honor for baseball-loving Cubans—that is, nearly all the men and plenty of the women, too.

A Palestinian pianist whose image playing the piano among the ruins of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria captivated the world was awarded the 2016 International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights, Peace, Inclusion and the Fight Against Poverty last week.  Ayham Ahmad [...] became famous when a video of him singing and playing the piano surrounded by the rubble of the city went viral earlier in the year.

For many Muslim women, the decision to don the hijab […] is born of private self-reflection [...] But [Yusof's] choice soon became something else, as well: a lucrative source of attention for herself and her multimillion-dollar online-retail startup, FashionValet […] In Malaysia women are free—even encouraged—to inject glamor and prestige into the hijab, and to make money from it.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said a global deal to limit climate change could not have been won without China's help "to build a working partnership". But that soft power win was of short duration. With the thugs outside Pu Zhiqiang's trial, Beijing was back to form, squandering soft power as if it had no use for it.

The time is ripe for governments to start monitoring their digital reputation just as they monitor it in the real world.  [...] But the mistake is to equate nation branding with advertising, which doesn’t work for places. A place with a bad reputation won’t be able to fix it this way. Instead, the place must take strategic action to align its reality with its desired reputation. 

Actor Joel Edgerton and director George Miller will receive honorary awards in Los Angeles for their contribution to Australia's reputation in film. [...] Miller will receive a lifetime achievement award for his commitment to creative industries in Australia and his reputation as a filmmaker, especially the Mad Max series.