When a program can increase U.S. security and counterterrorism efforts and benefit the American economy at a time of a struggling recovery, you have hit a double jackpot. And when the program—in this case the United States Visa Waiver Program (VWP)—is also an effective public diplomacy tool for improving the image of the U.S. abroad, it is a triple jackpot.

Most Taiwanese, who do not travel to or work in China, can only learn about Chinese by reading newspapers, watching television or listening to the radio. However, when Chinese come to Taiwan, locals can learn about their cousins from across the Strait first-hand, both the good and the bad. It’s a type of low-level diplomacy that cuts through misunderstandings and prejudices better than any ­government-sponsored effort.

The generosity of the British public in helping Pakistan's flood victims is "shaming politicians around the world", the head of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has said. Brendan Gormley, chief executive of the DEC, said the UK public was leading the way in donations, but that further funds were urgently needed.

After spending billions of dollars to successfully host the World Cup — and reveling in how the monthlong global coverage burnished the country’s reputation as a democratic beacon — the government is finding that it has created a major public relations problem.

On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama was asked about foreign-language education. He responded emphatically, calling it "embarrassing" that most Americans are monolingual. Being able to speak a foreign language makes you "so much more employable," he said. "We should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age."

Recently in the international media there has been an interesting story of a courageous initiative by 150 Irish artists who have pledged to boycott Israel. These artists were not only stating their opposition to Israeli policies, they were also pledging not to participate in any kind of artistic event related to Israel.

When news broke earlier this week that North Korea had started a Twitter account (under the name uriminzok or “Our People” in Korean), it seemed inevitable a parody version would emerge.

James K. Glassman is a rarity: a Republican who believes, and is willing to say, that President Obama "is the greatest public diplomat we've had in decades." Glassman, who served as undersecretary for public diplomacy under George W. Bush, also believes that the controversy over the planned Islamic community center will hurt the U.S. image among Muslims abroad. And he believes that Obama's task, like his predecessor's, is to replace the conspiratorial narrative about a United States as an enemy of Islam with one in which a tolerant, freedom-loving country does right by Muslims