APDS Blogger: Rajesh Mirchandani

For anyone who is Indian-born, as I am, the chance to see Ravi Shankar perform is akin to an audience with the Pope for Catholics – and perhaps even harder to accomplish. This one-off show at the Disney Hall had been scheduled for October last year and postponed twice - due, the press release said, to “illness and visa complications” (a public diplomacy blunder for U.S. immigration?).

Due to failures of civilian institutions, many soldiers have become de facto nation-builders, anthropologists, and public diplomats. They were not, in many cases, trained for these missions. But they were the only option—albeit an expensive and inefficient one.

Australia should grasp the chance to play a critical role in fostering so-called soft power connections between India and China, thereby boosting its international standing as well as regional harmony. That is the rationale behind the new Soft Power Advocacy and Research Centre at Macquarie University, launched last week.

Laos and Myanmar...are grappling with decisions on whether to build massive hydropower dams on the two significant rivers. The projects could put fragile ecology and associated livelihoods at risk, but the dams could help the two countries reap billions of dollars by exporting the megawatts to China and Thailand, two neighbors with rapidly growing energy demand.

Scarcity of water in Asia could become a thorny issue for the region and trigger major conflicts, an expert says. To avert a water war...a cooperative Asian framework among river basin states is needed, with the aim of working toward a common ownership of shared resources. But China seems to have an aversion to such a multilateral approach to water.

Actor Jason Alexander of "Seinfeld" fame paid a call on Shimon Peres, the president of Israel. Alexander was visiting the Holy Land as part of a pro-peace delegation from a grassroots group called OneVoice, dedicated to finding a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Governments may better appreciate the potential of social media in coming years but it is up to citizens to engage today. Tweet once a day, participate in social media meetings, volunteer to teach and brainstorm ways to benefit your society. Never underestimate the knowledge you have; pass it on.

Almost every day, we see new examples of the power of connection technologies...The Arab spring brought home the power of the Internet to governments far beyond the Middle East, and the result has been more censorship, more surveillance and more restrictions...the Internet space – which has seemed so open and free – could become less so.