Being something of an op-ed writer myself, I consider the nomination of Caroline Kennedy for ambassador to Japan to be a breakthrough. While America's diplomatic envoys have been chosen on the basis of a variety of criteria before -- key posts during the Obama years have, for example, been awarded for reasons ranging from the bundling of donations to the actual giving of their own personal cash -- the Kennedy nomination is perhaps the first time in history that an individual has been nominated for a top ambassadorial post primarily for having written an opinion column.

During the first years of the implementation of the North American free-trade agreement, commentators argued that it in fact stood for two bilateral agreements: the first between Canada and the United States, and the second between the United States and Mexico. This has now become an outdated point of view. Today, almost twenty years after its implementation, NAFTA is no longer considered a two-part deal between three countries. NAFTA is both a mirror and a motor of a far more integrated North American region.

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang's trip to Washington this week to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House is being closely watched by observers of the bilateral relationship, both in Vietnam and abroad. There is a general sense among some observers that there is a historic opportunity to upgrade the current relationship to a strategic partnership.

The recent announcement of a European boycott of Israeli companies with activities in Judea and Samaria has once again highlighted the state of Israel’s public diplomacy: failures keep on coming and the situation never seems to improve. Much to the contrary, the BDS movement keeps getting stronger, Europe intensifies its pressure on Israel, events such as the flotilla or the Goldstone Report portray Israeli soldiers as war criminals.

Pacific Partnership partner-nation military, U.S. service members and nongovernmental organization volunteers delivered more than 200 textbooks to Stephen Whitmee High School in Abaiang, Republic of Kiribati, July 18. The textbooks were donated by the nonprofit organization Project Handclasp. “The students need books to learn,” said Abitaroma Taribo, principal of the school. “Right now we have to photocopy pages of books to give to the students. The books that were brought will help students better prepare for national exams.”

The Voice of America has its very own "mockumentary"-style comedy series – “English Off the Mic.” The program, by the VOA Mandarin Service, aims to teach American English and culture to viewers in China. The show's hosts/actors Lin Yang and Michael Bond and director Chenxing Zhang invite On Assignment's Alex Villarreal to a taping and tell her all about their fun approach to an important need.

For more than a decade, American public diplomacy has centered around Joseph Nye’s soft power approach. This approach is based on the assumption that nations can win global hearts and minds of foreign citizens by highlighting the attractiveness of its culture, political values, and foreign policy. To this end, public diplomacy officials have allocated billions of dollars into a variety of soft power programs such as cultural and educational exchanges, foreign aid and development, and English language instruction.

The end of the Cold War changed the nature and mission of international broadcasting. But Congress correctly saw a continued role for such broadcasting to serve U.S. foreign policy by delivering targeted news and information to places where local media still provide an incomplete picture at best and leave citizens unable to make informed decisions. After adding broadcasts from Radio Marti to Cuba in 1985, and TV Marti in 1990, Congress created the International Broadcasting Bureau in 1994. Then came Radio Free Asia in 1996 and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks in 2004.