Having recognized the widespread damage dealt by a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable that labeled Russia a "mafia state" run by an "alpha dog," the Kremlin has ordered a boost to soft power initiatives to help give the country's image a more positive spin abroad.

The United States on Monday denounced what it called a spike in anti-Islamic sentiment in Europe and Asia, pointing to restrictions and violence against Muslims including the faith’s minority sects...Secretary of State John Kerry also voiced alarm at what he called rising anti-Jewish sentiment, and filled a position of special envoy to combat anti-Semitism.

Burma’s ethnic leaders have accused the United States of providing inadequate support for the Southeast Asian country’s peace process and are urging US President Barack Obama to stress the issue during his meeting with Burmese counterpart Thein Sein on Monday at the White House.

The newspaper acknowledged that China needed to do more to boost ties with India, including in terms of public diplomacy to improve perceptions. “Chinese people lack understanding and respect toward India. They tend to judge it according to ill-conceived preconceptions,” the editorial said.

Translations of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s remarks on Japan’s wartime sex slaves posted on Facebook by a women’s group have provoked heated reactions from all over the world. All Japan Obachan Party, a group set up by Osaka-based middle-aged women in November, translated Hashimoto’s recent remarks into seven languages…and posted them on the online social-networking service.

“The styles of public diplomacy are now constrained by our fear,” says Richard Arndt, a veteran U.S. diplomat and the author of The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century. ”Which after all is what terrorists try to produce, and which they've amply succeeded in.” Arndt says as the United States reestablished diplomatic relations with European countries after World War II, the goal was to build the most beautiful embassies possible.

These are the images of the Syrian conflict, the first war in which the prevalence of camera phones and Internet access has allowed hundreds of gruesome war crimes to be broadcast, spreading hatred and fear. They are defining the war that is spilling across Syria’s borders and making reconciliation an ever more distant prospect.