The Paris terror attacks are seen by many as testament to the need for hard power when dealing with the Islamic State – this while the new Canadian Prime Minister has been preaching, and was elected on, a soft power Liberal line.

Brazil should build a lot of soft power and strengthen cooperation and partnership with other countries in undergoing socioeconomic development, a Brazilian expert has said. [...] However, even during the Lula administration, in which Brazil expanded its soft power, it did not manage to go beyond its stereotyped image of a country of soccer, Carnival, coffee and samba.

The “new Silk Road” is the brainchild of Chinese State President Xi Jinping, who announced it as a major project - the Silk Road Economic Belt – during a state visit to Kazakhstan in mid-2013.

“A World in Crisis—How Can Smart Power Make a Difference?” will focus on the diplomacy tools countries can use to improve international stability, [...] “It’s the cluster of things which make up soft power,” he said, “whether that’s public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, cultural relations, nation branding—whateever you want to call it—and how it can be used effectively.”

This latest report, alas, sticks to the idea of the UK as a global power with a unique contribution to make, if only in “soft power”. Well, our soft power benefited no end from the successful London Olympics, but the fallout from Abu Ghraib and the compensation paid to former inmates of Guantánamo have to be set against that.

Last week it came to light that Beijing’s state-run China Radio International secretly owns 60% of a U.S. company, G&E Studio, which leases stations and airtime in Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco, among other cities. Beijing uses similar subterfuges in Europe and Australia.