Despite the futuristic billboard, there’s something retro about Israel’s agricultural pitch to the family of nations. Israel has long swapped its communal agrarian identity for a capitalist society that is one of the most unequal among Western nations. The kibbutz movement is a shadow of what it once was, and nearly all of the farm labor in Israel is performed by foreign workers. But organizers say that Israeli agriculture heritage, as much as its identity as a “start up nation,” is a selling point.

Until the 20th century, they were Europe’s biggest imperial powers. Today, France, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Portugal are spending the bulk of their official development assistance (ODA) budgets on their former colonies.

China has grown rapidly in influence and ability to act in the international arena. That means it faces bigger, tougher and ever more urgent challenges. Therefore, there is a growing need for more high quality think tanks which can offer solutions to these challenges by mining the wisdom in the broader society.

This week, Gallup released "Rating World Leaders: What People Worldwide Think of the U.S., China, Russia, the EU and Germany," the first-ever Gallup report on global public opinion about these major world powers. 

In periods of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United Kingdom and United States maintained absolute dominance in a unipolar world, which was why they were called "British century" and "American century." Based on this, predictions of a so-called "Chinese century" must meet two preconditions -- a unipolar international configuration and absolute Chinese dominance.

On April 20, Xi and Sharif signed agreements to begin building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a network of roads, railway, and pipelines linking western China with Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast. The corridor is part of China's aim to forge "Silk Road" land and sea ties to markets in the Middle East and Europe.

One Belt, One Road calls for increased diplomatic coordination, standardized and linked trade facilities, free trade zones and other trade facilitation policies, financial integration promoting the renminbi, and people-to-people cultural education programs throughout nations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

When President Obama meets at the White House Monday with crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, he’ll be in conversation with a small, deep-pocketed Persian Gulf country that has mastered the art of public diplomacy to practically re-engineer Hollywood’s perception of Arab culture.