One year ago, the newly elected US President Barack Obama took to the stage at Cairo University and delivered a highly anticipated foreign policy speech...He promised to create more opportunities for bright young Muslims to study or take internships in the US, create a volunteer programme for Americans to work in Muslim countries and host a presidential summit bringing the Islamic world’s best entrepreneurs to Washington.

First started in 1983, the Chevening programme is touted by the UK government as a prestigious international scholarship scheme that fully or partly funds some 1,000 individuals from over 130 countries to pursue postgraduate studies in British universities every year.

"When Armenian and Azerbaijani youth can hold an online forum avoiding mutual accusations, a real breakthrough will be registered in Karabakh process," [Deputy dean of history chair of Moscow State University, Dr. Alexei Vlasov] said.

While the World Cup has united people around TV sets across the world over the past weeks, another more radical act of global unity took place. This past weekend the world's leading governments came together and talked about women.

In an ideal world, sanctions would be a diplomatic step to increase pressure that could be reinforced with the future threat of military force. Ultimately, if a country doesn’t cooperate and respond to sanctions, the international community can compel them to fall into line.

Today, as America looks for ways to engage the world -- and not compromise its core values in the process -- promoting our culture of volunteerism and service stands out as a promising avenue.

The U.S., admired worldwide for its leadership in technology, should pursue science diplomacy with Muslim-majority countries. Such a policy could complement efforts to promote human rights.

As the foreign policies of regional powers are geared toward the formation of regional culture and values, which make up the template of Asian political architecture, the soft-power contest in Asia begins. What are we going to sell?