International designers and fashion icons have been keeping a close eye on Middle Eastern fashion for style inspiration, while many global celebrities have recently been spotted wearing Arab-designed outfits on the red carpet, on stage and as day wear.

The holiday on the third Sunday in June has always taken a back seat to its May counterpart—Father’s Day only became an official holiday in 1972—but it has in fact taken root, in one way or another, in countries around the world.

Nowadays, propagandists fight an unorthodox war: no bloodshed, no artillery and surely no soldiers. The media is the weapon, journalists are the soldiers, the target is the viewer’s mind and the bullets are news bulletins and entertainment programs. The mass media have becomethe platforms through which twenty-first century wars are fought. Countries no longer colonize by means of the gun. Now they colonize by means of the satellite disk.

While the interest is only increasing among nations in applying branding practices in promoting tourism, investment and overall country perception, the academic treatment of the subject has been narrow and cursory. In my new book Shaping China’s Global Imagination: Branding Nations at the World Expo, I delineate the concept and practice of nation branding by comparing the various ways nations sought to engage the Chinese populace through the medium of pavilion space at the Shanghai World Expo.

I am often asked, “Why doesn’t Israel do a better job in presenting its case?” In other words, “Why does Israel fail so miserably with hasbara?” 

If it is hard to measure power and harder to measure influence, how will observers be able to tell if and when China has eclipsed the U.S. as the world’s superpower?

Turkey’s exports of home-grown television dramas play a key role in wielding “soft power” across the region, a Turkish culture minister has said.  By creating a lasting influence on Turkey’s image in the region, popular dramas are among the country’s most well-known economic and cultural exports, said Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Ömer Çelik June 12.

It's not a good sign when the leader of a G7 nation feels the need to state his country still matters.  That is precisely what French President Francois Hollande did at a meeting of European Union leaders last month after his Socialist party's humiliating defeat by the hard right National Front in European Parliament elections.