I recently returned from the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in Chicago where suddenly everyone’s talking about public diplomacy. Or at least, using the term. It calls to mind a favorite movie quote: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means…”.

We should employ the term purposefully, conscious of its connotations and respecting the real-world limits of its application -- not by staking out our own isolated outposts for the term’s usage, but rather by building bridges between our understanding of the communicative dynamics at play and already-existing insights into the subject of public diplomacy.

I’m going to try. America is a nation with strong principles and purpose. We’re a country whose strengths lie in individual resourcefulness and national resilience. We tend to proceed from the notion that each individual has the potential to achieve his or her individual dreams or desires, while also contributing to the common good.

The Chinese teachers are part of the Chinese Guest Teacher Program, which is administered through the College Board and China’s Hanban. The program arranges for visiting teachers from China to teach in U.S. elementary, middle and high schools for one to three years, in order to jump-start or expand school Chinese language and culture programs.

This article comes out of an invitation from WOMEX 2011, the World Music Expo meeting last October in Copenhagen, to address the question: “What are the practicalities, challenges and ethics of world music as cultural diplomacy today? And is it becoming more or less relevant to the sector?”

"The use of this public diplomacy on the part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister aims to obtain a clearer commitment by the United States to attack if Iran continues its nuclear programme, or at least to give Israel the green light to do so," he told AFP.

Religious liberty may not be a recognized Olympic event but in the game of life it is neither a trivial pursuit. The recent release of the U.S. Department of State annual report on international religious freedom underscores the importance this issue.

The State Department is involved in a massive "educational" endeavor aimed at guiding Muslim imams to start teaching the compatibility of "women’s rights": As part of its effort to combat “gender-based violence,” the State Department has trained 450 Muslim leaders (imams), using a curriculum focusing on the “compatibility of women’s rights and Islam."