The Prime Minister said the international community needed to use a combination of military action or "hard power" and "soft power" like diplomacy and financial aid. He argued that the people of the Arab world had made clear their aspirations for greater freedom...

There has been a flurry of activity on the public diplomacy front in India recently...From international conferences to social media campaigns, the Public Diplomacy Division of the Government of India is in overdrive to shape a desired perception of India across the world.

There has been a flurry of activity on the public diplomacy front in India recently. With bigger economic clout in the international stage, India now feels the need to be seen, heard and engaged. From international conferences to social media campaigns, the Public Diplomacy Division of the Government of India is in overdrive to shape a desired perception of India across the world.

The cynical take believes that the U.S. has in fact changed its foreign policy as Obama claims and as his responses to the Arab Spring this year suggest, but has made an exception for Bahrain... The Bahraini opposition is largely Shia, but most Arabs (and most Muslims, for that matter) are Sunni. The "soft power" dividends of pushing Bahrain to reform, the U.S. may have decided, just aren't there.

While Beijing’s mission to the E.U. in Brussels rarely used to engage with the diplomatic community and issue statements on China’s core interests, she said, its soft-power strategy in the region is winning over some of Europe's political elites.

What's sad here: AFRICOM was supposed to be different - the whole "3D" approach of diplomacy, development and defense, and in first few years it was. Now, word from everyone familiar with the command is this: AFRICOM's focus is all kinetics and kills, with the soft stuff going by the wayside....All hard and no soft makes AFRICOM a nasty boy.

Counterterrorism efforts should, Marty said, address the local circumstances and conditions that give rise to terrorism such as political grievances, communal conflicts, economic and social marginalization, human rights issues and poverty

The phrase “gets bandied about in various ways,” said Mr. Goldkorn. “It should mean that you have the power of attraction, and China’s been very bad at that,” he said, citing its lack of transparency, harsh treatment of dissidents, hard-line stance over claims in the South China Sea and food safety scandals.