The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington has sent its small ensemble, Potomac Fever, on a State Department-sponsored diplomacy tour to promote LGBTQ rights in Ukraine. This tour came about due to the success of our Cuba concert tour last summer. Earlier this year, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine called us up and said they loved what we did in Cuba, and would like us to bring that kind of diplomacy to Ukraine — a country that is deeply in need of unity on LGBTQ and other issues.

President Obama had made it abundantly clear in advance of his trip that he would not be issuing an apology when he paid his respects at the cenotaph to the thousands who died when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 71 years ago. [...] "The mainstream in Japanese society accept Obama's visit as something that he wanted to do personally, but staying within the constraints of his own domestic policies," 

Some conventional public diplomacy measures are not suitable for countering violent extremism (CVE) because they are mismatched against extremists’ more aggressive tactics. But this week, the U.S. State Department has taken a significant step forward by announcing that it will place greater emphasis on development aid in its CVE efforts. A joint strategy that will better coordinate State Department CVE projects with USAID should bring new substance to public diplomacy that has CVE potential.

The Philippine Embassy highlighted its engagement with the Filipino and Filipino-American community and public school students through a series of cultural events at the Romulo Hall this month. On May 19, an evening reception was held for the opening of the annual Brown Strokes on a White Canvas exhibit that featured the works of 19 artists who showcased their various paintings and sculptures at the Romulo Hall from May 17 to 20, 2016. 

When the United States or any other Western country embraces a “pivot to Asia” as a central element of its foreign policy, it must be more than a “pivot to China.” Nations such as South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and others all keep a close eye on China, but they also know that they individually and especially collectively possess enough economic and political vitality to offset some of China’s regional dominance.

Today, Edward R. Murrow’s name is synonymous with integrity in journalism. He reported from the frontlines during World War II and took on Joe McCarthy’s communist witchhunt in the 1950s. But what’s less well known to Americans today is his role as the country’s leading propagandist in the early 1960s. A new book by Gregory M. Tomlin called "Murrow’s Cold War: Public Diplomacy for the Kennedy Administration" seeks to remedy that.

March 2015, an Australian researcher published a statistic that drew both laughs and gasps in the business community there: Fewer large Australian companies were run by women than by men named Peter. The damning statistic prompted some introspection in the Australian film industry in particular, where women represent 17% of directors, a number that hasn’t budged since 1970.

Colleges in the U.S. are opening their doors — and their financial aid — to Syrian refugees. Over the past year, at least a dozen schools have promised to cover full or partial tuition for Syrian refugees who are accepted for enrollment. They join a coalition of more than 60 colleges that have started providing scholarships to Syrian students since the country’s civil war began in 2011.