"Cool Japan" hasn't succeeded in spreading Japanese pop music very far. AKB48 seems poised to change that. AKB48 isn't blazing a new path forward for Japanese culture; it's an extension of what has been selling but applied to music.

U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Bronx Museum of the Arts launched smARTpowerSM., a new initiative that sends 15 American artists and collaborative artist teams to 15 countries worldwide to engage in people-to-people diplomacy through the visual arts.

LONDON --- For much of the past decade, “soft power” has been touted as a means for making foreign policy more effective by emphasizing enticement rather than coercion, conversation rather than conflict. The concept has won applause, but putting it into practice has often been half-hearted, especially by nations that possess significant military muscle. They prefer macho diplomacy and remain wary of the public diplomacy that puts soft power into practice.

The Occupy movement, decentralized and leaderless, has mobilized thousands of people around the world almost exclusively via the Internet. To a large degree through Twitter, and also with platforms like Facebook and Meetup, crowds have connected and gathered.

As a burgeoning, boisterous democracy and a growing economic power with a tradition of nonalignment, India has tremendous assets that can be put to work in its public diplomacy; but it should re-orient its strategy to reach out to the world in a way that leverages its strengths and national values rather than simply inviting other nations to sample its rich culture and diversity.

President Obama’s conception of soft power has curiously lacked the very quality that has made it most efficacious in the past—the values dimension. His governance has virtually ignored the values dimension of soft power, which goes beyond the tradecraft of diplomacy and multilateral consultation to aggressively assert the ideals of freedom in practical initiatives.

India's different approach...stems to a large degree from the fact that it is politically, economically and even culturally more akin to Latin America than communist China is. Increasing frictions with China are a big reason for the region's increasing interest in dealing with India. Washington, of course, is also happy ...the U.S. considers New Delhi less a threat to its interests in the hemisphere than is Beijing.

Beginning with the Twitter Race to 1 million followers...the malaria fight has consistently broken new ground in the use of social media. The UN created a powerful group of social media advocates called the Social Media Envoys, each of whom take an action on Twitter each month. And we're seeing great promise using communications technologies in malaria endemic countries too.