Sub-titled "a guide to a truly great nation," it's a branded content marketing move to continue the celebratory year that 2012 represents for the United Kingdom, from the Queen's Diamond Jubilee to a successful Olympics and Paralympics (despite Mitt Romney’s concerns). Could there be a better year to be a Brit?

As part of its quest for soft power, Beijing has been obsessed for years about winning Nobel prizes, which in its view too often go to dissidents and emigres. Chinese authorities were especially stung by the peace prize awards to the Dalai Lama and most recently in 2010 to the dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year prison term for subversion of state authority.

Each border control officer then reached under his desk and, with a practiced move, returned every passport with an unexpected object. It was a 200-milliliter bottle of red wine, packed in a crimson gift box and stamped: “Welcome to the Land of 8,000 Vintages.”

The presence of Russophobic sentiment in Armenia is already not a secret. The secret for the majority of Armenian society, including its Russophobic part, is the real causes of these trends in the country, which is considered an age-old partner and friend of the Russian people.

In a conference on ‘Pak-Brazil relations,’ participants highlighted development of soft power, sustained macro-economic stability and conflict-free environment as keys to progress scored by Brazil in the last two years from which Pakistan should learn lessons.

The plan to end the Nunn-Lugar program appears to be the latest step by the Russian government in an expanding effort to curtail American-led initiatives, and especially the influence of American money, in various spheres of Russian public policy.

When I first started out in cultural diplomacy, I was surprised to learn that a very girly manga Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You)--which is about a girl who doesn't realize she's fallen in love--was popular in Italy and Spain. But that's old news. Since then, I've learned that people's sensibilities and emotions are the same across all borders.

Following the recent declassification of 70,000 files, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is in the process of "finalizing a major project to declassify another set of 220000 files- records covering: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Iran and Sri Lanka, East Asia, Eurasia and the Americas.