In a vast parking lot outside Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temples complex stands a new museum built by North Korea, part of a lucrative charm offensive by a hermit state exporting its monumental art to a handful of foreign allies.

Facebook's co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg met China's propaganda tsar Liu Yunshan in Beijing on Saturday (March 19) as part of a charm offensive in one of the few markets where the social network cannot be accessed. The rare meeting [...] suggests warming relations between Facebook and the Chinese government, even as Beijing steps up censorship of and control over the Internet.

U.S. Senators Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, and Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, have introduced a bill aimed at countering propaganda from Russia, China and other countries. According to its sponsors, the legislation — called the "Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act” — is aimed at improving the ability of the United States to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation, and help local communities in other countries protect themselves from manipulation from abroad.

Finally, the United States is coming to terms with a central reality about terrorism: much of it happens on smart phones, laptops and other screens around the world where those who seek to perpetuate violence prey on would-be terrorists.

China has a new ally in its campaign to turn itself into a global cultural superpower: Matt Damon. And, behind him, a good chunk of Hollywood as well. Chinese leaders have long sought international cultural influence, aka "soft power," commensurate with the nation's economic might. 

“Enough is enough. America desperately needs a modern, dynamic international broadcasting agency to take on ISIS and Russia’s propaganda in real time, over the internet and on the airwaves with the accurate news and information.”

The fun and joy that Xinhua is searching for reflects a quandary facing China’s leadership: As Xi navigates a difficult phase of his administration, his messaging machine — for decades one of the Communist Party’s most crucial levers of power — has been struggling to make itself heard.