Culture as an underlying force that shapes global public diplomacy remains curiously unexplored. Yet, every aspect of an entity’s public diplomacy...is touched by culture. Intercultural scholars have cautioned that to overlook culture’s influence is to remain vulnerable to its power. Conversely, with the benefit of cultural knowledge, one can more effectively harness that power.

A version of Spain’s famous La Tomatina festival has arrived in the Indian capital city of New Delhi. The festival, which is celebrated every year at the end of August in Buñol, Spain, involves people throwing squashed tomatoes at each other. The tomato festival has however, led to a war of words on Facebook and Twitter between Tomatina enthusiasts and others who question the tastefulness of the event.

Blair's further message is that the growing aggressive secularism in the West is the wrong response. It misreads and misconceives the nature of the 21st century and the best path to social harmony in a more globalised world... Blair is a champion of both hard and soft power.... Because the struggle is against an extremist ideology it must be met by a soft power strategy in terms of the battle of ideas.

Iranian leaders have tried to portray democracy movements in the Arab world as inspired by their 1979 Islamic revolution.. However, a new poll by the Arab American Institute shows approval of Iran's role in the region plummeting since 2006...

Shimkus, who also served as commanding officer of the U.S. medical ship Comfort, said the United States must not only focus on its military might, but also on its humanitarian power, by providing health care, infrastructure and other aid to people who need it.

Yep, it seems that Pakistan's new 34-year-old foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, has accomplished what years of tense diplomacy haven't been able to -- create some genuine goodwill between the two constantly sparring nations.

It’s quite difficult, to be honest, for the government to do that [control] because many of these soft power tools are not things that we have direct control over. Even if we did try to influence them, that would be — to use the English phrase — the kiss of death, because the fact that the government was doing it would actually detract from the effectiveness of those soft power tools.