A week of critical diplomacy is set to begin in Washington, Beijing and Pyongyang. But the sides are so far apart, at least in public declarations, it is impossible to predict where any diplomatic efforts will lead.

Since the Australian Government’s last White Paper on defense in 2009, there have been rapid changes within the Asia-Pacific region. As a consequence, the forthcoming Australian defense white paper will be perhaps the most important that has ever been prepared. With a rising assertive China, the US adopting an "Asia Pivot" doctrine, and a host of rising Asian powers, the Australian Government cannot defer the strategic complexities of the region to the ’never never’ of 2030 like the 2009 paper did.

The U.S. government has even run ads in various newspapers in Myanmar showing crashed World War II aircraft and posting a phone number (09-541-9569) where locals can call and share information, stories and coordinates. The World War II-MIA card will be played close to the vest by the ruling junta in the ensuing years, just has it has in the past.

All of U.S. international broadcasting could soon report to a new czar at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, under a plan contained in BBG’s budget request for FY 2014. “Included in the budget request is a legislative proposal to establish a Chief Executive Officer for all civilian U.S. international media,” is the way the sixth paragraph of the budget request begins. “The proposal will improve the management and efficiency of BBG operations, helping to mitigate the challenges of a part-time board.”

WASHINGTON –
All of U.S. international broadcasting could soon report to a new czar at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, under a plan contained in BBG’s budget request for FY 2014.

New York State is now the yogurt capital of the nation. The state’s chief yogurt promoter, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, claimed victory on Thursday in the battle for national yogurt supremacy, citing state data that showed New York topping California in production for 2012. Hoping to milk the announcement for all it’s worth, Mr. Cuomo’s office issued a nearly 2,100-word statement celebrating New York’s triumph.

The type of bomb used in at least one of the Boston attacks is one that many recent veterans are all too familiar with. It was fashioned out of a pressure cooker. The devices are common in kitchens around the world. Instructions for turning them into bombs are distressingly easy to find. But I hope that their misuse as devices to wound and kill won’t obscure their value for bringing people together.

The mentor’s tone of the United States is standing in the way of the further development of Russian-U.S. relations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “The present difficulties in relations stem from a number of unfriendly steps taken by the American side that provoked a furious response in Russian society,” he said at a session of the Russian Public Council for International Cooperation and Popular Diplomacy on Thursday.