In foreign affairs, Obama has publicly adopted “soft diplomacy” as his way of resolving crises. Key to this approach is “leading from behind,” that is, pressuring or convincing other countries or international organizations to take the lead in crisis response, with the US becoming just one of several partners. 

Timed to celebrate the brand’s 40th birthday, a conference and exhibition has brought fans of the self-consciously cute brand out in their thousands.

Real estate tycoon Pan Shiyi and his wife donated $10 million to Yale University on Wednesday, drawing harsh criticism from some commentators and netizens. Many have said: Why not donate to schools in China? (...) Pan's decision is a reflection of China's rising soft power thanks to the more than three decades of fast-paced economic growth.

APEC can take global leadership with a practical, comprehensive approach—call it a “Pacific Economic Partnership” for global growth, or PEP for short. This would consist of concrete, achievable components, many already in the works. It’s the closest thing APEC has to a shovel-ready growth strategy, but it requires both U.S. and Chinese leadership.

Implemented properly, a “new type of great power relations” could help the U.S. and China reframe their relationship.

The Internet has become so integral to economic and national life that government, business, and individual users are targets for ever-more frequent and threatening attacks.

To make things worse, Europe’s self-proclaimed soft-power leadership—which some observers praise as complementing U.S. hard power in a supposed informal division of labor—has reached its limits. Europeans failed to foresee and contain trouble in their own backyards, East and South alike.