It’s official, at least as far as a Japanese government survey is concerned: Americans see China, rather than Japan, as their most important partner in Asia. The opinion leaders’ view offers even more emphatic confirmation that trade relations are increasingly carrying more weight than political or general ties with the U.S., usually cited as a reason for choosing Japan.

Major events in the Middle East –including tensions between the U.S. and Israel, growing political unrest in many Arab countries, and the death of Osama bin Laden – have had little effect on public attitudes toward the region.

Your plan must include approaching the most senior politicians, mobilizing the relevant force multipliers... using the media, influencing local public opinion, and public diplomacy aimed at all the relevant communities.

A transnational world is emerging through social media. Corporations are global. Supply chains are global. The conversation is global. The world is integrated as never before. Yet states guard their sovereignty with a strange ferocity.

During the Cold War, the Eurovision Song Contest, like NATO and drum machines, was a strictly Western affair. The made-for-television fiesta featured international competition and a fireworks-laden final round. It drew tens of millions of viewers in Britain, France, West Germany, and Scandinavia...

The government says the country, which serves as the base for the United States Fifth Fleet, and was to have held a Formula One motor race which had to be postponed in March when the protests were at their peak, is back to business as usual.Shi'ite residents say that if this is the new normal, tense days lie ahead.

Statues of Heydar Aliyev -- the leader of Soviet Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982 and president of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003 -- have already been erected in Bucharest and Kyiv at the behest of Azerbaijani authorities, who often make large financial donations to the accepting cities or countries.

Right now many people in the west are quite anxious about the rise of China. Many people in China are very skeptical about the US 's intention towards rising China...we cannot discount the huge importance the US and China's relationship implies to the world. We cannot afford letting confrontation prevail and cooperation wither between our nations.