The French and the Germans have a duty to shape a new European vision. Precisely because we are different, precisely because our histories and our cultures are sometimes so antagonistic, only we have the size and credibility to outline a new European compromise.

As the most prodigious in the world, the Indian film industry produces some 1,200 feature films annually, more than double the number produced by Hollywood. "We make such a number of films that it's impossible to keep all," says India's most respected archivist P. K. Nair.

Petraeus’ appointment includes affiliations with the USC School of Social Work, including the program in military social work; the USC Price School of Public Policy; the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, including the program in public diplomacy

US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine said Thursday that while the US will continue to campaign for internet freedom as important channel for public discourse, the same shouldn’t be used as a tool to attack others.

China is a big country with a variety of well-developed regional cuisines that are generally considered delicious. And while we know there are many things China doesn't do well, soft power-wise, the one area where it could be said to have some soft power at its disposal is food. Chinese restaurants can more or less be found anywhere Chinese people can be found, which is many, many places.

A White House plan to modernize the major U.S. food aid program, by donating cash rather than American-grown food, is in trouble after fierce lobbying by farm groups, food processors, shippers and others who set out to sink the idea months before it was unveiled in President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget...It would be the biggest change since the Food for Peace program was created in a mixture of Cold War "soft" diplomacy.

Accusing the US of trying to impose "cultural colonialism" by unleashing its soft power to undermine China's political system, a top Chinese General today sought to counter western "cultural infiltration". "Western cultural infiltration techniques are very clever in their deception and hidden nature. This 'cultural colonialism' is like 'slowly boiling a frog': the young generation can easily lose its will to resist without knowing."

China and Russia, two of the world's pre-eminent authoritarian states, just don't get soft power. That, at least, is what Joseph Nye claims in a new commentary in Foreign Policy... China also has successes. What other state, I ask, has turned Asian authoritarianism and state-run capitalism into political brands that appeal to non-democratic states and rulers the world over? You can argue it undermines democratic governance, but you can't say they have not been effective - and kind of soft.