Romania exerts soft power in Moldova.  Moldovan government keen to get closer to European Union.  Russia warns against move westwards.  Some Moldovans wary of Moscow, others of Bucharest

The first Armenian-Russian youth forum kicked off in Yerevan on Thursday, Novosti-Armenia reports. The forum’s mission is to develop international youth cooperation and to get the Russian and the Armenian youth involved in socioeconomic development of their countries Russian ambassador Ivan Volinkin said in his welcoming message, as cited by director of the Russian science and culture center in Yerevan Mark Kalinin.  

On January 21, Andrew Lack, the media titan who at different times has headed Bloomberg, Sony, and NBC News, was sworn in as CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency that oversees the five official US government-supported broadcasters, including the Voice of America. (...) In recent years, the BBG has devolved into a widely acknowledged mess: bloated, demoralized, and inefficient. Reviving this tool of public diplomacy will be a major challenge for Lack. 

President Barack Obama said he wouldn’t decide whether to supply weapons to Ukraine until European leaders exhaust one last diplomatic effort to resolve the conflict there, setting aside for now trans-Atlantic differences on the best way to get Russia to relent.  Mr. Obama announced his decision after a White House meeting Monday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that followed days of sometimes testy exchanges between U.S. and German officials.

The United States will send more economic help and "other kinds" of assistance to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russian-backed rebels, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday. Kerry said he could not provide any details of possible military equipment that the United States might send to help Ukraine fight the rebels.

It was -3 degrees in Munich over the weekend and, inside the 51st Security Conference, there was an unmistakable cold war chill.  For three days the Bayerischer Hof hotel was a security and diplomatic lockdown as western leaders clashed with Russian counterparts over the way into – and out of – the Ukraine crisis. Delegates arrived in glum agreement over the risks posed by the conflict, and departed after heated disagreements over whether military might or diplomatic skill could save the day.