The General Staff Academy of Russia’s Armed Forces is set to work out a complex manual on countering so-called “color revolutions”, which will incorporate the expertise of Russian military experts who developed counterterrorist operations in the North Caucasus and of civilian experts from the country’s leading educational establishments. [...] The experts will also work on the “soft power” method (non-contact impact on potential enemy), asymmetric operations and measures to strengthen Russia’s political system and the political culture of the politicians, civil servants, businessmen and oth

UN's decision to commemorate the International Day of Yoga underlines the appreciation for India and its growing soft power, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said.

Swaraj, who addressed the first International Day of Yoga celebrations at the UN, also attended a function marking the day at the Hindu Temple Society of North America yesterday.

The way the day was commemorated around the globe, "the world had made the first International Day of Yoga its own," Swaraj said at the Hindu Temple Society of North America.

The impressive participation around the world on International Yoga Day is indeed a testimony to India’s immense reservoir of soft power. In his energetic engagement with world leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put a special emphasis on cultural diplomacy. Modi should, however, remember that India’s soft power has the greatest impact when official New Delhi keeps its heavy hand away from it. India is not new to cultural diplomacy. India’s self-discovery of its rich cultural heritage and its global reach played an important role in shaping its modern nationalism.

China is using its soft power in the form of foreign aid to change the world despite criticism from Western countries that its approach lacks transparency.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road) initiatives are the latest strategies in Beijing's foreign aid policy. Around 76 percent of the loans Beijing granted between January 2014 and March 2015 were to countries included in the trade and infrastructure projects aimed at linking China and Europe.

The more significant question to ask is whether it serves as an important tool for India’s aspirations as a global power. Many have written that yoga is one of the best “soft power” tools in India’s global tool kit. In the US alone, it claims to be a heavy-duty industry worth more than $30 billion. Most people who practice yoga know that it emerged in India almost 5,000 years ago, and recognise its holistic attributes. So, how will this grand-scale exercise enhance India’s global image?

India’s armed forces yesterday demonstrated the country’s ‘soft-power’, participating in the first International Yoga Day at the highest battlefield of Siachen to the South China Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
Soldiers practised yoga at the Siachen glacier, the world’s highest battlefield at 5,400m altitude, and also in Ladakh and Kargil, along with all major stations across the country.
The Indian Navy, observing “Yoga across the Oceans”, had ship crews stationed in international waters, from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea practising yoga.