public diplomacy

Rarely has the Indian government discussed matters of foreign relations with its citizens. Foreign policy, for a long time in India, has remained a preserve of the elites. The only foreign policy issue that might have sparked an interest in the average Indian, is its nation’s relations with Pakistan. Furthermore, this interest might only be true for an Indian living in the North. An Indian living nearly 3,000 kilometers away from Pakistan in India’s northeast, with no historical experience, would have little interest in its country’s relationship with Pakistan.

UNAM hopes to upload everything it has — from 18th century newspapers and vintage films to hundreds of thousands of student theses and a still-to-be-gauged sea of classroom teaching items — and let the world have it free of charge. The project, called Toda la UNAM en Línea (All of UNAM Online), made its debut last month.

The liberal spirit of the reform and opening era in the 1980s reinvigorated western culture in China, and the quickly marketized economy in the 1990s seized onto the holiday's profitable potential. Now, Christmas is both a commercial and fashion statement...

These would mainly entail concrete and transparent democratic improvements, as well as economic measures aimed at improving quality of life and opportunities for the general public. The United States could complement assistance by augmenting its public diplomacy, cultural outreach and educational exchanges.

In addition, and in his “lame duck” year, Lee Myung-bak isn’t well positioned to pursue multilateral diplomacy beneficial to Japanese-Russian relations, especially given the hardening of South Korean opinion against Japan over historical themes.

Now Iran is demonstrating "sympathy" with the Arab Spring and mistakenly calls it as an Arab version of the Iranian "Islamic revival." While Iran calls on all Arabs to support the Islamic brotherly relations, it supported a coup in Bahrain and a web of espionage in Kuwait.

In yet another display of democracy and "People Power," the unarmed protestors in Syria have set off two bombs in Damascus...The US media -- even some alternative and antiwar sources -- do not bother to exercise even a touch of skepticism when the rebels who seek regime change in Syria...

December 23, 2011

The war... diminished America’s soft power and credibility globally...One of the ways in which the US has left Iraq a better place is that it has nudged the country towards democracy...The major adverse effect of the US withdrawal could be renewed fighting among warring ethnic groups.

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