It's a time-honored tradition: When a U.S. president gives his State of the Union address, interest groups pore over the carefully crafted remarks line by line, word by word, to assess the administration's priorities and blind spots. The exercise plays out, if to a lesser degree, overseas as well: The day after President Obama's sixth address, news outlets in Kiev, Beijing, and Tehran are picking apart references to their countries.

In 2013, Indonesia hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leadership meeting. Established in 1989, APEC has 21 member states that are committed to promoting trade and economic cooperation in the region. The summit was overshadowed by the absence of President Obama, who canceled his trip to manage the partial U.S. government shutdown.

President Barack Obama brimmed with optimism after he met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in the White House last December. Obama lauded Colombia’s “tremendous progress” over the past decade and praised Santos for his peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). He commended Santos’ efforts on human and labor rights, and hailed the “success” of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

A State of the Union address is always a major public diplomacy moment. Rarely do you have the full attention of the entire world to tell every listener, watcher and tweeter, what exactly your current policy priorities are. For 2014, it is likely that President Obama will focus on domestic and international topics that are high up on America’s agenda and he is likely to stress that if Congress remains intransigent, he, the President, will have to use his Executive powers to make things happen in 2014 on the following issues.

On Super Bowl Sunday, the US might as well be on a different planet. American football’s annual crescendo is typically the country’s most watched TV show of the year, usually by a considerable margin. Last year’s edition was, by some measures, the third most viewed show in American broadcast history. But on the global stage, it’s a very different story.

Cuban President Raul Castro called on Latin American and Caribbean leaders Tuesday to work together on pressing regional problems at a gathering of all Western Hemisphere nations except the U.S. and Canada.

Last year’s debate on immigration reform centered on discussions on improving border security for the nearly 2,000-mile border between the United States and Mexico by adding new fencing, more electronic detection technology including drones, and beefed-up numbers of security patrol.

On Sunday, January 19, the small city of Nago in northern Okinawa re-elected their mayor. Americans especially will wonder why a local election in a far-off place should matter. Because by voting for Mayor Susumu Inamine people voted against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the United States military. Local fishermen and farmers voted yes to their traditional way of life, no to American helicopters polluting the pristine waters of Oura Bay.