As an arm of Turkish soft power and growing regional influence, civil society organisations and doctors are leading the way to make a measurable impact on the ground in Africa.

The Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) lined up a host of cultural activities to celebrate the 100th Year of the Emergence of Delhi as the capital city. In its 5th year, India’s ‘Signature Festival’ maintained its strong position on the international cultural map... The festival served as a significant platform for cultural diplomacy, cutting across geographical barriers and looking beyond cultural stereotypes.

America still has much soft power from the sales of weapons to Iraq, the need of Iraqi counterterrorism forces to work with U.S. Special Forces. Then there's the issue of America helping Iraq with investment, getting foreign companies in, and the issue of ending Iraq's Chapter Seven status at the UN...

The clash between the two has led to a nationwide debate over the merits and flaws of the "Chongqing model" and the "Guangdong model". Liu said the debate had focused on defining socialist "core values", "cultural soft power" and universal values, which was raised and soon muffled by the top ideological machinery - the Central Party School.

With the world’s largest economy as well as its reserve currency, the most capable military, considerable cultural, scientific, and moral soft power, and many other strengths, America also has substantial opportunities. The United States has produced much of the technological innovation that is currently transforming the world...

From US soldiers introducing chewing gum to France in 1917 to a toothbrush from a trench and newfangled machine guns and shells, the first world war has been given a revolutionary treatment in a new French war museum near Disneyland Paris. It was the first move in France's new campaign to develop itself as the world capital of war tourism.

Therefore, Turkey should not underestimate France's capacity of generating soft power. Instead of unrealistic agendas like “making known French atrocities everywhere,” Turkey should devise more sophisticated long-term strategies that increase its soft power in many countries.

In addition, and in his “lame duck” year, Lee Myung-bak isn’t well positioned to pursue multilateral diplomacy beneficial to Japanese-Russian relations, especially given the hardening of South Korean opinion against Japan over historical themes.