Just months after President Vladimir Putin erased $32 billion in Cuban debt, Russia's ties with the Caribbean island are coming under increasing strain as the ruble collapses and President Barack Obama re-establishes diplomatic ties and eases a five-decade embargo.

Most North Koreans (except those who defected) with whom this correspondent had conversed in Pyongyang and elsewhere appeared to sincerely believe what they read in their country’s media: The United States and its allies are looking for any opportunity to undermine their country’s socialistic system and thwart its attempts to advance, militarily and materialistically.

The revelations about the United States' brutal torture program have damaged the country's best asset abroad.

To those pulling out their tin foil hats and claiming that Sony managed to pull one over on the planet by manufacturing this whole scandal – just remember that the thing about soft power is that you can’t always control how it goes down.

The unfolding episode over the film The Interview underlines the potential for business decisions, whatever their motivation, to become intertwined with foreign relations among states and companies.

As the U.S. and Cuba begin to normalize relations for the first time in half a century, some Americans are already roaming the streets of Old Havana, attending dance exhibitions and talks on architecture as they take part in scripted cultural tours that can cost more than a decent used car back home.

"Access China" provides opportunities and expands the channels through which the younger generation in the U.S. and China can strengthen exchanges and consolidate friendships, by way of interactions and a better understanding of each other, according to reports.

So what if we envision a world of 2015 in which information technologies become agents of peace instead of sources of conflict? In many ways, we are already on that path, but the efforts are episodic.