The report, by a five-strong Accountability Review Board (ARB), also called for $2.3 billion in extra funding over the next 10 years to fortify and improve some of America’s 275 diplomatic outposts around the world. “It’s no understatement that our diplomats are on the front lines of the world’s most dangerous places,” Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee said.

News reports say Sen. John Kerry (D) will be tapped for State while former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a moderate Republican, may be headed for the Pentagon. If so, this would suggest a return to Mr. Obama’s attempts early in his first presidency to engage America’s adversaries abroad rather than isolate or harm them.

Our position in the world and how we are perceived from abroad matters economically and politically. A positive image abroad can support export-led growth and inward investment, but also facilitates "soft power" and British influence on the world stage. Has 2012 changed global perceptions and improved brand Britain?

Brazil enjoyed one of the biggest jumps in this year’s soft power survey, marking the end of an impressive year for the country. While Brazil is now well-established as one of the world’s leading economies, a main player on the global stage and one of the all-powerful BRIC nations, it’s impressive spike on the soft power survey indicated that it is also having a very real effect on the culture of the world.

The national religious faction within the ruling party Likud is set to launch a new elections campaign this weekend, targeting the country's religious population. The campaign will begin several days before the Likud-Beytenu list launches its main campaign, geared toward the general public.

An investigation into the State Department's preparations for and management of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, has concluded that "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies" within the department played a major role in the devastation that took place there last September.

With public diplomacy emerging as a crucial tool of statecraft, Park will have to shake off her out-of-touch image and engage peoples at home and abroad. Her vision for an “era of diplomacy by the people” includes broader opportunities for the Korean youth to take part in development programs, more overseas Korean language schools and support for cultural exports. She has also pledged to scale up official development assistance and house at least five more international organizations here.

‘The higher the budget often the lower the impact of e-diplomacy projects,’ was the first counter-intuitive insight by Ambassador Alexandre Fasel, Swiss Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. Combining his rich experience from corporate and government sectors, he outlined a few e-diplomacy law/principles.