Secretary of State Hillary Clinton surprised the Pakistani women by asking to see them, and squeezed in nearly 15 minutes for them last Friday. As the women lined up for a photo with Clinton, she sprung another surprise by suddenly stepping out of the line and talking to her “Amn-o-Nisa sisters.”

The Americans have 'Soft Power' in bucketloads and Coca Cola, for example, is a pre-eminent example of it. Its important that we bleep on the global radar because the world is as flat as it ever was and if you are not bleeping frankly you are not in the game.

For a Chinese government that seems bent on investing in soft power, these last few months have offered clear reminders that soft power cannot be bought. It must be earned.

Although democracy retains its allure, the Arab uprisings that began last year were about democracy primarily as simply a means to an end.

The real goal of those who took to the streets was to grasp a better future for themselves and their families. Having a job, getting enough to eat, being assured that children could receive decent education and medical care – these constitute the substance of everyday life that so many in the Arab world had long been denied and were determined to claim.