Because being "pro-Europe" is a faith cult rather than a policy, its adherents dare not raise a peep of protest at its outrages. Not for the first time in Europe's history, a centralised superstate stalks the continent with a retinue of uncritical appeasers unable to see the wood for the tax-free salaries.

Turkey’s response to the Palmer Report is an attempt to clarify...its initial reluctance to side with protesters in Libya and Syria...Turkey views its conduct of foreign policy as a balance between diplomacy and hard power to pursue its interests, both moral and geopolitical.

The CSCC contains the germ of government-wide coordination in public diplomacy...If properly developed and meshed with the “hard power” tools of U.S. counterterrorism strategy, it could represent a clear advance in the battle for the hearts and minds of Muslims.

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign-policy chief, issues almost daily scoldings to nasty regimes. But tyrants hardly tremble...The stalling of EU expansion has dented its soft power to its east. The show trial of Ukraine’s opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has drawn no serious sanction from the EU.

In addition to using its hard power to slow down Tehran’s pursuit of an indigenous nuclear program, the Israelis will find it worthwhile to exploit soft power as well. Putting a good face on the African continent is one aspect of that soft power approach.

Yet, it is this role that allowed her [Michelle Obama] to come to South Africa as the president’s proxy on the ‘soft power’ pilgrimage that was surely intended to bring her country closer to South Africa.

China also began to actively practice soft power around the world, making investments in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Those investments not only made economic sense but also benefitted the local economy and made friends with a vast number of people.

A petite blond Midwesterner, who is not Chinese and only began studying the language five years ago, became an iconic translator of American slang for pop-culture-hungry Chinese fans. The popularity of the show, called “OMG! Meiyu” and produced by Voice of America, has not escaped the notice of the agency’s executives, who recognize that hip and eccentric programming is vital to connecting with youths.