Ali Güreli, the founder and chairman of the Contemporary Istanbul art fair, emphasizes the importance of contemporary art and speaks about new projects and how to better circulate Turkish contemporary art internationally.

A new museum celebrating the history of American diplomacy is being built at the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Diplomacy Center (USDC) will feature 238 years of American diplomatic history, as well as an education area for students interested in diplomatic careers.

But soft power loses its gauzy delicacy when human-rights lawyers are jailed and their supporters harassed. The world has one Nobel Peace Prize laureate in jail, and he languishes in a Chinese prison. For all the positive developments in China — and there are so many, from poverty alleviation and upward mobility, not to mention digital innovation and expanding consumer choice — official repression of free thinkers only serves to outline the steely fist of authoritarianism.

A spread in Vogue magazine. A photo-op at the airport as the first of 25,000 Syrian refugees touched down on Canadian soil. A glittering dinner at the White House. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may not have had the easiest start to his mandate as Canada’s economy struggles back to life, but he seems to understand the power of imagery, agreed the West Block’s panel of experts this weekend.

The book covers topics such as attempts to woo Polish writers and intellectuals to the communist cause; efforts to place articles about the Soviet Union in Polish newspapers; the drive to import Soviet cultural products, including film, literature, and music, into Poland; exchanges between Soviet and Polish scientists, and Soviet reactions to Polish film, literature, and poetry. 

Moranbong Band is the latest (and maybe the only) soft-power export from North Korea. It is the favorite group of Kim Jong-un, the nation’s young authoritarian leader — and some reports say he handpicked each member. 

The track is meant to "ignite people's hearts with the soft power of music", according to the non-profit Friendship Ambassadors Foundation, which produced the CD. It's being released to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the UN. Appropriately, the musical diplomats have also recorded a cover of Rockin' All Over the World.

Besides exchange programs, the media is a vital element of soft power as it forms the perceptions that shape our worldview. [...] There could not be a more appropriate time for the US Pakistan Professional Partnership Program in Journalism to dispel grossly misrepresented images about the peoples of the two countries.