Brazil may enjoy a cuddly image in Lima, thanks to its football and carnival, and its social-democratic economic model...Yet many Peruvians are asking whether they really want their country to be “Brazilianised”...It speaks to the might of Brazilian “soft power” – and the country’s huge gravitational pull on a continent where it accounts for half the landmass and its neighbours cannot help but spin into its orbit.

Soft power is more welcome in the world than hard power. In Afghanistan, Turkey is there with military power, but the Turkish military in Afghanistan acts more with soft power -- in the construction of mosques, schools, construction of roads, and that type of things.

With the globalization process deepening, the growth of public diplomacy not only meets the demand of opening up a new horizon of China’s foreign relations, but also meets the strategic needs of increasing China’s soft power and communications with other peoples in the world.

While U.S. military and economic hegemony may decline, it does not follow that American filmmakers -- or other agents of culture-making -- will lose global influence at the same time. America has... taken its advantages in money and power and linked them to the creation of cultural forms that have broad appeal to people worldwide.

The first Indian wines to be sold by a British supermarket could become a fixture on its shelves after coming close to selling out in record time. India has a long tradition of winemaking but its wines have only recently been able to compete with more established regions. The country is also being recognised in international competitions.

The 9/11 Commission charged by the U.S. Congress and president with investigating the “facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001” and making recommendations for “how [to] avoid such tragedy” in the future had little to say about failures related to the nation’s diplomatic preparedness to combat ideological threats. In fact, the Commission’s conclusions about pre-9/11 diplomacy were summed up in its final report in one sentence:“The diplomatic efforts of the Department of State were largely ineffective.”

Some analysts see the strings of visits as a battle for influence in the region, a rivalry between those countries to exert soft power in the post-war country. "Strategically speaking, France is competing with Turkey. Both countries consider this region as a natural influence zone," Dorothee Shmid, a researcher at the Paris-based think-tank IFRI told Xinhua.

China has talked a great deal about using its currency reserves to project “soft power,” but when it comes to pulling the trigger, it has been extremely cautious about putting its money anywhere besides the safest and most liquid instruments. ... but there’s little evidence that China has actually weighed into these markets in any sizable way.