After a slew of negative opinion polls, China is working to improve its global image. A global opinion poll by WorldPublicOpion.org found that public views of China have declined. Another poll – conducted by the Pew Research Center - found that United States’ global image remains more positive than China’s.

Duquesne University professor Greg Barnhisel skillfully shows how modernist art and literature was used to influence the Cold War game.

China's new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a very big deal for Asia's economic future, but the way its establishment has played out makes it an even bigger deal for Asia's changing political and strategic order. And Canberra's announcement last weekend that Australia will join the AIIB despite the objections of the United States may come to be seen as marking a  historic shift in Australian foreign policy.

As the March 31st deadline to reach a political framework agreement between the P5+1 (United States, United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, and Germany) and Iran fast approaches, Congress is considering a number of initiatives dealing with Iran’s nuclear program. Whether or not there is an agreement with Iran, the issue is bound to be a significant focal point in U.S.-Iran relations for the foreseeable future.

Japan’s government is paying to have Japanese-language nonfiction books translated into English, with the first works to be produced under the program arriving in American libraries this month. The move is one of several nontraditional public-relations steps by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration, which is trying to enhance Japan’s profile among U.S. opinion leaders and the general public as it engages in a public relations battle with China and South Korea.

Just a few days shy of China’s end-of-March deadline for founding membership in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Australia confirmed that it will join the AIIB. Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government announced over the weekend that it had chosen to sign on to join the bank as a founding member, becoming the latest U.S.-allied state to join an institution that some in the United States see as a competitor to U.S.-led international financial institutions, like the World Bank.

Previously strained US-Israel relations have turned “toxic,” in the words of former US secretary of state James Baker. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election assertions are unlikely to be forgotten by Israel’s strongest ally, which has been committed for decades to the policy of two states for two peoples. While the US is currently reevaluating its options on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a pressing question remains: What can Netanyahu do in order to placate the White House and begin repairing this vital relationship?