Despite the futuristic billboard, there’s something retro about Israel’s agricultural pitch to the family of nations. Israel has long swapped its communal agrarian identity for a capitalist society that is one of the most unequal among Western nations. The kibbutz movement is a shadow of what it once was, and nearly all of the farm labor in Israel is performed by foreign workers. But organizers say that Israeli agriculture heritage, as much as its identity as a “start up nation,” is a selling point.

The run up to next year’s election promises to involve more than the usual amount of debate about how America should engage the world. These three candidates – Clinton, Paul and Rubio – represent a stark contrast on that question.

China is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations of all the permanent members of the UN Security Council. China’s rise in peacekeeping operations is indicative of China’s rise in global prominence by both expanding its role in foreign affairs and protecting its own economic interests.

The cuts will send Australia tumbling down the ladder of global big-heartedness. We'll drop from being the 13th most generous donor among wealthy industrial nations to 19th, at today's levels for other donors.

More than a century ago, Japanese authorities gifted Washington 3,000 cherry treesto brighten up the city's swampy Tidal Basin. It's still one of the most effective (and affecting) acts of public diplomacy to this day.

The Israeli government will host a gathering of young scientists later this year as part of efforts to improve the image of a state internationally associated with occupation and military brutality. An estimated 400 young scientists from around the world will meet in Jerusalem in August.

A conservative Russian nationalist, Putin has lamented the break-up of the old Soviet Union, not because he regretted the disappearance of communism, but because of the severing of the numerous and deep economic, linguistic, social, and cultural connections that linked most of the fifteen constituent republics of the old USSR.