We could overhaul our approach to national security, creating a more strategic, collaborative, less-is-more, and system that features engagement and soft power while we still have most of the decision power to do so, or simply wait for events to overtake us and be handed our fate.

It remains to be seen how Europe will solve the many questions posed by continuing migratory flows...But if it wants to keep its “soft power” and “transformational value” as part of efforts to effect change in its neighbourhood, any policy will have to be in line with the EU’s much trumpeted core values and principles.

Movies can reflect a nation’s culture and showcase its soft power. For the past few years, Taiwanese movies have been making a splash at international film festivals and have helped introduce Taiwan’s many movie talents to the world.

Song said Taiwan has done an excellent job in demonstrating its "soft power" on Dongsha, also known as the Pratas Islands, pointing to the massive funding the government has invested in the South China Sea, as well as the various camps organized by the government to help ordinary citizens learn more about the issue and to drum up public support for the

July is typically the time of year when North Korea makes peace overtures toward the United States...Last week, Pyongyang's chief nuclear negotiator arrived in New York...As if on cue, one day later, the Korean Central News Agency... called for a "peace agreement" with the U.S.

The new Middle East is very much a work in progress, but... the latest developments...are making the stirring picture of freedom, democracy and secularism that so many had envisioned in the early days of the Arab Spring look more like a glassy mirage masking anti-liberal, anti-Western sentiment.

According to Israeli security assessments, the Palestinians are not planning any violent demonstrations to coincide with the statehood quest in New York at the UN General Assembly. The Palestinians themselves also say that they prefer the “soft power” approach.

Since the East West Nation Brand Perception Index was first published in 2008, Burma has steadfastly remained in the bottom fifth, and in the second quarter of this year dropped to 176, two places below that of North Korea.