Watch live a video chat on US-India Higher Education Dialogue between US Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs & Public Diplomacy Tara Sonenshine and the Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao. The chat is moderated by Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

Chinese president Hu Jintao on Thursday pledged African governments 20 billion in credit over the next three years and called for more China-Africa coordination international affairs to defend against the "bullying" of richer powers.

Zalman first points out that the dichotomy “hard” vs. “soft” was an exercise in spurious academic categorization. The two are not categorical opposites: “the Obama Administration has dedicated itself to pursuing and promulgating the idea of “smart power”, which is meant to fuse both “hard” and “soft” power.

What is the point of Kiev's international biennial? When this latest addition ... was announced earlier this year, it felt like an extreme example of "soft power", with the Ukrainian government exploiting its more appealing assets, such as its cultural heritage, to improve its standing in the international community. After all, if you're going to reinvent a place, why not throw in a biennial for good measure?

There are yet others who consider "soft power" a transparent effort to mask U.S. efforts to run the affairs of the world, whether in "hard" or "soft" style. The key value of "soft power" however, was not in its ideological call to anything, nor was it intended to cover up hard intentions or distract with soft-heartedness.

American business has enormous influence all over the world. It is a pace setter. Yet even so in almost every case, apart from aeroplane manufacturing, local companies are usually the mainstay of their economies...American Soft Power certainly exists and I think much of it is welcome whilst much of it is dross. Let us keep it in proportion.

Having myself fired a few arrows at Dr Singh and the ruling Congress Party last month, I thought I would turn to an area where India is enjoying success: the projection of its soft power abroad. Here, arguably, it is outstripping China, its Asian Century rival.

India must remain the “land of the better story”. As a society with a free press and a thriving mass media, with a people whose creative energies are daily encouraged to express themselves in a variety of appealing ways, India has an extraordinary ability to tell stories that are more persuasive and attractive than those of its rivals.