U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech in Jerusalem this week was without question the strongest ever made by a senior American politician on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was plainly designed to speak directly to the Israeli and Palestinian peoples over the heads of their political leaderships. It was an exercise in public diplomacy par excellence, intended to change the tone and atmosphere, and public perceptions of Obama himself

For all the drama of President Obama's stirring speech Thursday in Jerusalem, the most encouraging thing about it may have been the applause from the audience. "Remarks of President Obama to the People of Israel," the White House called the speech -- and, like President Reagan, Obama went soaring over the heads of officials, elites, and pundits, directly to Israel's citizenry. In that may lie the nub of a second-term approach to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking that could prove more fruitful than the frustrations of the first.

This past January, as part of an economic diplomacy initiative, our embassy organized a campaign designed to deepen U.S.-Lao business ties and promote the newly-established Lao chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). The economy of Laos has emerged as an attractive investment opportunity for American businesses.

Officials say before he left Israel, he helped facilitate a phone call between prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish leader Rayjep Erdogan. Turkey and Israel cut ties after Israeli forces launched a deadly raid on a Turkish ship trying to reach Gaza in 2010.

Jakarta was the final stop of the deputy defense secretary's weeklong trip to Asia, which included visits to defense and government officials in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. Speaking as part of an international panel at the third Jakarta International Defense Dialogue, or JIDD, Carter said the United States is serious about its commitment to the region and detailed elements now in motion of a rebalance called for in the department's 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance.

President Barack Obama arrived in refugee-flooded Jordan on Friday after scoring a diplomatic coup just before leaving Israel when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey for a 2010 commando raid that killed nine activists on a Turkish vessel in a Gaza-bound flotilla

You’ve got to feel sorry for Australia’s public international television service, Australia Network. Launched by the Keating government in 1994 under the name Australia Television, its short life has been blighted with funding cuts, death threats, name changes and a failed outsourcing effort. Its most recent adventure was the messy tender tempest to determine who should be awarded the new contract to manage the network.

In his first 48 hours in the Bronx, Omar al-Mashhadani caught a few echoes of the life that he and his family had left behind in Baghdad. Thousands of people were swarming along 161st Street, toward the hulking stadium on the other side of the El on River Avenue.