Americans have a complicated relationship with authenticity. We celebrate our national ability to reinvent our lives, to leave the past behind or get a makeover , but we simultaneously bemoan the absence of an authentic American culture.

Manchester is the city that tried to turn itself around by turning itself into a brand. The result has been an undeniable improvement. Here is the most astonishing fact about Manchester's regeneration: where residents were once desperate to leave the city, now, for the first time in 50 years, people are flocking back.

Changing American hearts and minds about Russia has been Voice of Russia's mission since it first went on the air in 1929, broadcasting from Moscow via short-wave radio. It still does use short wave but with the Internet, Facebook and Twitter, that seems like a blast from the past. VOR is turning to...a new studio in downtown Washington.

Powell said he remains convinced that the United States should use its political and economic influence, so-called soft power, instead of military might to achieve its goals. "We should use soft power as much as possible. But when hard power is necessary, we have to use it in the right way," he said.

Kane concluded that the Turkish “blend of Islam, democracy, and soft power is a far more attractive regional template than the Iranian narrative of Islamic theocracy and hard power resistance.”

...what triggered this is that I’ve just noticed that the House of Lords actually had a debate on the coordination of UK soft power at the beginning of May. It’s all quite sensible. There’s a link to the transcript and a briefing note...

In the last hundred days, the world has seen not only how weak and divided are the European members of NATO, but also how the once-celebrated European notion of "soft power" means very little in the world of perpetually savage nations. What stops China from carving out a new co-prosperity sphere in Asian waters...