As the United States embarks on a strategic “rebalance” toward Asia, Washington and its allies in the region must do a better job making the case for policies that require broad public support. This is especially true in fiscally constrained times, when the threat of sequestration may require the United States to rely more heavily on its friends and allies in the region.

The UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey was speaking to delegates from nearly 40 countries yesterday who had gathered in Edinburgh for the world’s first International Cultural Summit. Praising the work done at London 2012, he said the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies “told the world about the importance of creativity”.

In this day and age, when Britain sometimes struggles to justify its status as a permernant member of the United Nations Security Council or as a "major player on the world stage", the medal table may prove to be a more accurate measure of the international standing than the size, for example, of the GDP or the armed forces.

A newly published study by the American Security Project (ASP), “The New Public Diplomacy Imperative,” highlights public diplomacy (PD) as a crucial element of our national security strategy and details the many obstacles for U.S. public diplomacy to reach its potential.

Huang is one of the 24 Chinese students who were brought to Bibb county through the Confucius Institute to teach Madarine in primary grades. At Heritage, all students in pre-kindergarten through 3rd will learn Madarine this year.

Secretary of Defense Bob Gates was a tireless advocate for better cooperation between our development, diplomatic and defense operations. This recognition really began to take shape in the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9/11, where the President recognized that...we need all of our foreign policy tools working together in what is known as the smart power approach.

Brands from Brazil are capturing global attention and allegiance, while their Asian counterparts among the 'BRIC' countries, China and India lag behind, writes Jerry Clode, who leads cultural insight in Asia-Pacific for brand-development consultancy Added Value.

A significant factor helps these brands: Pakistanis love to emulate the west by buying and importing western brands. We do not wear products made in our own country, as they are widely – often unjustifiably – perceived to be inferior in quality. This is a mental state the Pakistani consumer finds difficult to shrug off: we think a global brand is far superior to one of our own.