This summer the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship will be jointly hosted by Ukraine and Poland: An excellent opportunity for the European community to bond over its favorite sport, and for Ukraine, which for a long time has been aspiring EU membership, to promote its image.

APDS Blogger: Molly Krasnodebska

Throughout the last decade, no message was promoted stronger in the European Union than the idea of a new Europe, which has overcome its past of war and totalitarianism, and has emerged as a normative power standing for international cooperation, democracy, and human rights.

And yet when it comes to the recent events in Ukraine, discussed below, European soft power appears rather meager.

Although aid and charitable organizations that “criticize the current authorities” are perfectly permissible, “the activities of ‘pseudo-NGOs’ and other agencies that try to destabilize other countries with outside support are unacceptable,” according to Putin.

The man responsible for Ukraine's Euro 2012 football championship has said Uefa is doing more than the EU institutions to modernise the country..."I think the image of the Ukrainian police will change during this tournament ... I think Europe will discover Ukraine."

The selection of Indonesia as the main theme for the youth organization Center of Children’s Diplomacy Peace Gong was a clear indication of world’s increasing interest in Indonesia...the Indonesian Embassy will always keep on maintaining and supporting activities involving Indonesian-related topics as an effort to promote Indonesian culture amongst Ukrainian youths.

Prolog Vice President Anatol Kaminsky and President Roman Kupchinsky had a close connection to another US-funded operation, Radio Liberty, where they were heads of the Ukrainian service (Radio Svoboda)

Director of National Library and Archives of Iran said that that 20th century is the century in which cultural diplomacy is prevailing politics. In order to fulfill the goal during the past century, Iran established its National Library and today the organization is proud to hold a fair for Ukraine's National Day."