Part I of this series examined the relationships – or lack thereof – between diplomacy, science and international policy, and noted the serious image problems which plague all three enterprises. These difficulties have hobbled the practice of science diplomacy...

But quietly, India has been embedding itself as a soft power through its prophet of non-violence. In the last decade, statues and busts of Mahatma Gandhi have been installed by scores of cities -- from Trujillo in Peru to Osnabrueck in Germany -- to honour what could arguably be India's greatest export: Gandhian philosophy.

Public diplomacy -- defined by the State Department as "engaging, informing, and influencing key international audiences" -- has become increasingly passé among American officials, scholars, and NGOS as a term and activity used to define how America should communicate with the outside world.

The first Experimental Media Art Festival in Taiwan (EXIT) will open in Taipei on Thursday featuring a wide range of avant-garde films from Asia and Canada that are rarely exhibited in museum galleries or screened in local film festivals.

Just after artillery fire at the divided Korean Peninsula border struck a hard blow to international relations, filmmakers from Beijing presented a gift celebrating soft power to North Korean leader and cinephile Kim Jong-Il.

Perhaps a missing link in all these conversations is science—an underutilized means of diplomacy worldwide, and particularly in South Asia. This is especially ironic since the subcontinent is perhaps the most "geek-friendly" place on Earth!

In 1941, celebrated animator Walt Disney went on a diplomatic mission to Latin America. The creator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck became a good will ambassador. The U.S. had not yet joined its allies in war, but feared growing Nazi and Fascist influence in the Americas.

Pope Benedict XVI lamented that the Vatican acted "slowly and late" in a scandal surrounding the Legionaries of Christ, and a Vatican official called Tuesday for an investigation into who covered up for the conservative order's disgraced founder.