soft power

February 15, 2011

A fully funded foreign aid budget is essential to prevent the political instability and violent conflict that harms American security.

Egypt's revolution is momentous. In 18 days, a broad-based, nonviolent social movement overcame an entrenched, autocratic government. However, we are still in the first act of a long play.

Is the United States in decline? Many Americans think so, and they are not alone. A recent Pew poll showed that pluralities in 13 of 25 countries believe that China will replace the U.S. as the world's leading superpower.

With the release of the National Military Strategy on Tuesday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, laid out the military's "joint" view of the future geostrategic environment. The NMS paints a picture that suggests the U.S. military is unprepared for a post-Afghanistan and Iraq world.

‘I am confident that the multi-continental breadth of the Geneva Consensus of May 27-28th 2009, the ‘soft power’ and ‘smart power’ it represented, the international legitimacy it confirmed, and the politico-diplomatic and strategic space for post-war Sri Lanka that it symbolised, remains safely intact and indeed ably enhanced in the hands of the professionals.’

February 12, 2011

The time to evaluate the impact of this issue on the vital strategic relationship between the two countries will come later. But at least in one significant respect, Pakistan-US ties are already badly damaged. And this relates to the nature and direction of public discourse in Pakistan about the United States.

The U.S. Department of Defense released its first-ever National Security Space Strategy (NSSS), on Feb. 4. The document "seeks to maintain and enhance the national security benefits" the United States derives from its activities and capabilities in space.

The Kingdom of Swaziland is currently being let down by non- existence of an effective communication strategy and information dissemination machinery.

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