There's a strange sense of deja vu in Jamaica at the moment. Bunting adorns buildings. Roadside vendors sell the national flag. Patriotic songs are on everyone's lips, and breasts swell with pride. Politicians are enjoying a holiday from scrutiny as citizens tune in to Usain Bolt and the gang chasing Olympic glory in London. It's 6 August 1962 all over again.

The durability of national governments in the Middle East and North Africa is now determined by the extent to which leaders can expeditiously and effectively address the primary cause of the Arab Spring: shameful levels of underdevelopment of the people in the context of abundant socio-economic potential.

The British Foreign Office was left in a spin when forced to explain how a relatively junior diplomat had enjoyed an amusement park ride with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. Proving that international relations with a pariah state have their ups and downs, the British charge d'affaires, Barnaby Jones, was firmly strapped into the seat in front of the dictator and his wife, Ri Sol-ju.

In an effort to harness the “soft power” of diaspora groups, the U.S. Department of State and USAID recently convened more than 500 United States residents with heritage from 124 countries for the second annual Global Diaspora Forum.

Yingluck, elegantly dressed in a black suit and surrounded by her entourage of cabinet ministers...Yingluck’s charm, patience, tolerance, politeness and flexibility have helped restore political stability to the country since she took office in August 2011. “She represents the soft power of Thailand."

Almost half of the European guests, who visited Ukraine during EURO 2012 football championship, stated that Ukraine deserved to enter the EU in the near future. EU citizens were surveyed by GfK Company as a part of the Soft Power of Ukraine in the EU and Beyond project, commissioned by the Institute of World Policy, USA.

CRI, one of Beijing’s four main state-run media outlets along with the Xinhua news agency, China Central Television (CCTV) and the English-language China Daily newspaper, is now at the centre of an $8 billion expansion, part of China’s plans to boost its “soft power” overseas.