One of the most memorable shows singer/songwriter Mary McBride performed on her worldwide tour as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State was at a senior center in Iraq.

The State Dept.’s public diplomacy corps will be glued to the TV on Oscar Night, rooting for the success of “The Bushkazi Boys” a 29-minute film that is nominated in the short film live action category.

Newly confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry is now the face of America to the world -- a pervasively religious world. With more than 80 percent of the global population affiliated with a religion, Kerry's ability to engage religious issues and actors will be vital to the success of his diplomacy.

American director Sam French helped make history this year when his film "Buzkashi Boys" became the first movie shot in Afghanistan to receive an Oscar nomination. But the 29-minute film holds another unusual distinction: It was funded almost entirely out of a $150 million State Department campaign to combat extremism, support Afghan media and burnish the U.S. image in Afghanistan.

Nordic Ministers of Culture and representatives of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Åland met with Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine on February 20 at the U.S. Department of State to mark the opening of the Nordic Cool 2013 festival.

Nicholas Cull’s second book on the history of the United States Information Agency (USIA) concludes his years of thorough research into what happened to America’s former foreign public diplomacy entity...Indeed, from today’s vantage point it may seem that, once deprived of its Cold War sense of purpose, USIA was destined to be shuttered.

Here's what's worth reading: Richard Neu, "U.S. 'Soft Power' Abroad is Losing Its Punch." RAND. My take: When he writes "The most potent instrument of U.S. soft power is probably the simple size of the U.S. economy," I get the sense that Neu doesn't entirely get what "soft power" means. And the whole "U.S. debt is sapping perceptions of U.S. power" shtick sounds very 2009. Still, as a read of the conventional wisdom of American thought on this issue, it's a good precis.

Two US athletes, Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Barry Larkin and Olympian Natasha Watley, are headed to India as sports envoys to encourage youth participation in sports. During their Feb 12-18 trip to India, Larkin and Whatley will lead baseball and softball clinics in New Delhi and Imphal for underserved youth and their coaches, as well as engage in dialogue on sports and diversity, the State Department announced Tuesday.