WASHINGTON --- Voice of America rolled out a series of new programs at a briefing here this morning, highlighting “OMG!”, a new youth-oriented program aimed at China, where, according to its host, it is sometimes called “OMG: Oh My Lady Gaga.”

Why would the U.S. State Department even take the trouble to organize a “virtual embassy,” which as the website states is not actually an embassy but public diplomacy? Since the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, the United States has had no embassy in Tehran...

The Obama Administration should abandon any further attempts to curry favor with the regime in Tehran and instead engage directly with the Iranian people. Specifically, the U.S. should loudly and unceasingly condemn the regime’s human rights abuses, support free and fair elections...

The Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications ...is tightly focused on undermining the terrorist propaganda and dissuading potential recruits... It uses public diplomacy’s communication tools, and its messages and videos are attributed to the Department of State.

Aid diplomacy is an important part of the overall U.S. public diplomacy strategy. As a global power, the U.S. is part of international efforts...to alleviate poverty, provide humanitarian relief, support economic and social policies, and address global problems.

APDS Blogger: Hend Alhinnawi

Philip Seib says the network helped Qataris "put their country on the map". Members of the audience nod ­furiously. Seib then points out how Al Jazeera was a "public diplomacy creation . . . probably one of the most successful in history". The Al Jazeera representative on the panel suddenly looks distinctly uncomfortable.