Although Turkey’s economic and political culture is deeply integrated into Europe, it has aggressively carved a diplomatic niche in the Iranian nuclear-enrichment crisis, Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and recently the Arab Spring.

Grassroots Chinese students' associations are taking it upon themselves to bridge the gap between the United States and China at Harvard University. "Representing China today shouldn't be only dumplings and Chinese-style dresses because people from outside China know it already,"

These are all of value in America’s war against poverty, hunger and premature death in the developing world. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that America should extend its influence by the use of “soft power” – hospitals, education, agricultural development, all things Israel can be helpful in.

Tunisians woke up this week to a new reality: for the first time in their country's history, an Islamist party had emerged as an electoral winner...Gannouchi has even reassured Western countries that under an Islamic government, Tunisia will continue to welcome foreign investment and foreign tourists.

He said ... after years of underinvestment in the Royal Navy which saw the number of fighting ships drop by 60%. He also said there were several other parallels, including a troubled coalition government which believed more in soft power than a powerful military

“What we have seen in our exotic travels so far is that the Peace Corps is about the best use of soft power the US has ever made,” says Orth. The entire budget of the Peace Corps costs 5 hours in Iraq. Plus these Americans speak the language and are accepted and loved.”

The Chinese communist regime’s United Front soft-power propaganda war aimed at shaping world opinion through culture, film, and media, has just fired an embarrassing dud, with not a single audience member showing up at the 2011 China Movie Culture Week opening night at New York’s Lincoln Center.

At the end of its four-day annual policy meeting, China’s ruling Communist Party approved a programme to make its ideology more popular at home and boost China’s soft power abroad.