China is emerging as the key deal-maker or deal-breaker as the UN climate talks head into ministerial discussions. If the EU and China can find a way forward, some observers here believe a package can be constructed that will satisfy the majority of participants.

Britain is spending £10m to tackle deforestation in Brazil in an effort to protect wildlife and reduce carbon emission. For years, the UK has pledged £2.9bn for projects to tackle climate change, especially to reduce emissions associated with deforestation, which comprise almost a fifth of annual global emissions.

Kashram agreed with Salih in saying that Turkey established only government-to-government relations within MENA; it does not use public diplomacy channels -- which function to influence public opinion in other countries via visual and print media -- but recent movements in the Arab world have required Turkey to create these ties with Arab society in the end.

That India has woken up to the geopolitical and soft-power benefits of boosting its profile in the Buddhist world—in particular, the Buddhist countries in the India-China neighbourhood—is evident from the energies it expended on the conference [of Buddhist leaders].

As far as dramatic timing goes, the text message from the powers that be announcing the sudden cancellation of a post-performance discussion of “Top Secret: Battle for the Pentagon Papers” was, well, perfectly timed.

Clinton - with security and journalists in tow - went barefoot at the famous Shwedagon Pagoda and rang a bell with a giant wooden mallet as onlookers cheered. It was the type of public diplomacy that is Clinton's forte as a former politician, although many of those snapping her photo were tourists and she had little direct contact with local Burmese.

Some U.S. democracy activists and government officials claim that the advent of new information technology and social networks can bring democracy to places like Russia, Central Asia or the Middle East. They talk in terms of the “TV Party”...

Others rightly resent Pakistan’s unwillingness to undertake tough economic reforms as a step toward helping itself. Still others wonder why we should assist a country where virulent anti-Americanism is pervasive.