Humans are typically averse to foreign spy agencies killing their countrymen. Could public diplomacy really rally Pakistanis in favor of drone strikes on their own soil? Could it really disabuse them of the notion that drones bring carnage, given that they do? The authors are absolutely right: the drone program is unpopular only among the people who know about it. Pakistanis who don't know about it don't think about it in unfavorable terms... or at all!

Just over two decades after Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power”, Russia is set to officially introduce the phrase into its foreign policy vocabulary at the highest echelon.

Just over two decades after Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power”, Russia is set to officially introduce the phrase into its foreign policy vocabulary at the highest echelon. It was recently announced that, starting in 2013, Russia will jump on to the soft power bandwagon by making the highly demanded concept the focal instrument of its new foreign policy strategy. The development, in keeping with the rich traditions of Russian theater, unfolded in three key acts.

Act I

An increasing number of policymakers and think-tank residents are championing the power of social media and big data to pressure governments, empower civil society, deter human rights abuses, and semi-accurately forecast political instability and conflict. In a column today, Thomas Friedman endorsed utilizing existing social networks “to our advantage to gain leverage in diplomacy” by speaking directly to Iranians, Israelis, and Palestinians.

Taiwan and its 23 million people will eventually be absorbed by China, which claims it as a breakaway province, by a process of economic osmosis. So runs the conventional wisdom among many businessmen, and some diplomats. Or will it? Instead of China changing Taiwan, might Taiwan change China? Taiwan has a powerful weapon at its disposal: an inclusive national identity that absorbs and celebrates difference...

North Korea has reacted defiantly to a new round of United Nations sanctions, saying it will boost its military power and nuclear program. Korean specialist Dr. Leonid Petrov from the Australian National University says the UN Security Council's touch approach on North Korea is a mistake. He told Radio Australia's Connect Asia that instead of making threats, the international community should use soft power on Pyongyang.

A US academic has said it was imperative for youth exchanges to take place between the US and Pakistan so that unfounded stereotypes could be erased. Dr Michael Hannahan, director of the University of Massachusetts Civic Initiative, said 25 young people from Pakistan were visiting the US every summer. “These travels change people’s lives.”

Mystery of missing tycoon shows how how Latvia – a small Baltic nation of 2 million people on the doorstep of Russia – has become a playground for Russian interests: business, political and, above all, criminal. But many see evidence of Russian soft power at work.