The United Kingdom has been given the world’s top rating by the international magazine Monocle for its use of Soft Power... The magazine singles out everything from Harry Potter to the new James Bond movie to give Britain its top ranking. By contrast it says the United States has slipped from number one because of an introspective year caused by internal politics and the US elections.

Earlier this month we took a look at what Hu Jintao’s political report to the 18th National Congress had to say about cultural policy in China — specifically, the focus on building China as a “socialist cultural power” (社会主义文化强国) to offset perceived Western cultural dominance. A report in today’s People’s Daily summarizes the discussion...

A recently unearthed video shows that President Obama has greatly shifted his views on how to address terrorism, advocating for a “soft power” approach in 2004, to employing drone strikes and targeted killing of terror suspect during his Presidency.

What is the American counter-move? The Obama administration devised a scheme for a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership that would exclude China. This magical sleight of hand is grounded in the imaginations of American policy-makers but not in reality.

Indian Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao visited Bluegrass Community & Technical College (BCTC) last week and spoke with college administration about the role of BCTC and ways community colleges might be adapted for India.

Israel held a four-day conference aimed at giving young Russian-speaking Jewish communal leaders in Europe a training in social media that should enable them to promote the country’s image and to reverse anti-Israeli attitudes. The conference, held on November 21-25 in Maastricht, Holland, was organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Ministry for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs.

One Beijing international primary school hosted an event on Saturday in order to enhance the cultural understanding and exchange between Uzbek and Chinese youngsters. This friendly exchange meeting, as the school called it, was held in Fangcaodi International School's affiliate Shiji Primary School in Beijing, under the theme of "Paint a flower of friendship, sing a song of peace."

If you give us nature, we travelers will come. We will come to take pictures, to be close to wildlife, to learn about different cultures or, in growing numbers, to help. When I went to Namibia in the summer of 2009, I spent two weeks in a volunteer program that is helping to bring back the country's big cat population.