Powered by the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the 'India Is' Global Video Challenge, invites the world to both share their perspectives, and vote for contestant 2-minute video shorts. 'India Is' contestants, are eligible to win and receive up to US $7500 in prizes.

U.S. airstrikes remain the most reliable means of targeting AQAP members in the near term, but overreliance on them is unsustainable if the U.S. wants to maintain a positive relationship with Yemen for years to come. The negative impact of collateral civilian damage and hitting misidentified targets can quickly undermine U.S. foreign assistance and public diplomacy efforts.

APDS Blogger: Karen Calderon

On February 3rd, 2012, the USC School of Cinematic Arts held a screening for “Education Under Fire,” a film that provides a provocative insight into the lives of Bahá'ís in Iran who lack access to the country’s education system.

What does Asia’s increasing prominence mean for ASEAN – a ten-member political community whose regional presence has received growing attention from the global community of late? Already Washington has embarked on its “forward-deployed diplomacy” strategy in the region as evinced by Clinton’s attendance at last year’s ASEAN Regional Forum and her landmark visit to Burma in December.

ECA is pleased to announce the 2012 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF), which aims to harness the leadership capacity of exchange program alumni worldwide. AEIF awards up to $25,000 to winning teams of alumni to fund projects tackling issues from human rights to women’s entrepreneurship to interfaith understanding.

Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein talked about the best way to combat Israel-bashing, which he said had become a very popular subject. His advice was to tell the truth. “The more accurate the picture of Israel, the easier it will be for us to deal with those on the Israel-bashing campaign."