This commitment is also crucial to our own long-term strategic interests in Britain. In the Department for International Development, we have a unique institution - with the right mandate and funding - which gives the UK world-leading soft power capacity

The United States is conducting a “soft power” campaign – an effort to deter potential IS recruits and supporters of the militant group. Projects are being aimed at the young, who have joined IS in alarming numbers from around the world.

A Pew Poll conducted last year found that that only 28% of Americans believe that their “country stands above all others.” This is down 10 percentage points from just three years earlier.

No efforts are more notable than the Kingdom of Morocco, which has erected a formidable “soft-power” strategy against Islamic radicalism over the past decade. That strategy is grounded in religious legitimacy.

For all the money thrown at Clarkson and his co-hosts, the enormous international success of the show had made it extremely profitable for the public-service broadcaster. And more importantly, Top Gear's global audience also provided something intangible: Soft power.

This is a means to unify military and humanitarian assistance to the rebels, in order to maximize the soft power of the United States on the Syrian opposition.