Almost 400,000 learners across 96 countries in 322 Confucius Institutes and 369 Confucius Classrooms are currently being taught the language and culture of China—the Asian nation all eyes are on as it continues its 21st century rise to great power status.

For all the talk about America's declining global influence, it's worth mentioning that the Oscar awards were front-page news in just about every English-language foreign daily that I scan each morning, as well as in both French-language dailies I read.

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps to fulfill its promise. He set forth the radical notion that a nation should have as its primary foreign policy objective, not to conquer, not to colonize, but to serve. Peace through service.

British citizens facing great danger in Libya have a right to expect more than David Cameron's shambolic, incompetent government gave them last week.

While the U.S. seems to be supporting the series of revolutions surfacing in the Middle East and Northern Africa, the big winner in the end may be Iran. Host Guy Raz speaks with Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett about the chance that these revolutions will shift influential balance in Iran's favor.

Is India a soft power? This question has been asked so many times that it almost sounds like a cliché. But it comes back to haunt India every time a group of armed men makes the aspiring global power go down on its knees. It happened in Kandahar.

Maximum India, a 20-day cultural extravaganza of Indian soft power, kicks off here on March 1 with scores of artistes set to enthrall a capital where India is now looked on more favourably than ever before.

When the democratic revolt in Tunisia successfully ousted the old regime, the world reacted with amazement. Democracy from below in the Arab world? After the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s 30 year-old regime in Egypt, the heartland of the Middle East, amazement has turned into certainty.