Waitresses walk past in Swiss lederhosen. ‘Carbivores’ chow down on traditional Swiss potato cakes. And images on the walls depict trains climbing the Alps in the Bernese Oberland. But this isn’t a scene from a Swiss tourism pamphlet. It’s a typical afternoon in a converted English pub—normally known as the Mudlark—a few meters from the London Bridge Tube Station.

The first week of the Olympics may have provided us with enough drama and sensation to last a lifetime but, for many, the real theatre of the Games is only just beginning. Today the classic track and field events begin, including several sports that the Ancient Greeks would have recognised.

According to him, the Council will offer it to the government for adoption and then to the Serbian parliament. Nikolić told daily Danas that he would appoint Defense Minister Aleksandar Vučić as secretary of the National Security Council when this becomes possible and in line with the law. The secretary will have an office in the Serbian Presidency building.

The durability of national governments in the Middle East and North Africa is now determined by the extent to which leaders can expeditiously and effectively address the primary cause of the Arab Spring: shameful levels of underdevelopment of the people in the context of abundant socio-economic potential.

The British Foreign Office was left in a spin when forced to explain how a relatively junior diplomat had enjoyed an amusement park ride with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. Proving that international relations with a pariah state have their ups and downs, the British charge d'affaires, Barnaby Jones, was firmly strapped into the seat in front of the dictator and his wife, Ri Sol-ju.

Is it really possible to explain in 140 characters or less the policies of an institution with 19,000 employees, a $27-billion budget, and 250 locations worldwide? Sure, says Victoria Esser ’94, the first-ever deputy assistant secretary of public affairs for digital strategy for the U.S. Department of State.

“I always begin with, well, what is this nation about?” she said. Most people hesitate to go there, presumably for fear of offending this group or that, or because in a nation as diverse as America definition is not easy. However, reaching for a definition based on ideas and national principles, Sonenshine gave U.S. public diplomacy a basis for a strong mission statement: