“It is a big step for the future and building people-to-people relationships between Myanmar and the United States,” said Min San, another player of the 12-member junior Burmese basketball team that is visiting the US on the invitation of the State Department.

Art may not provide all the answers for cultural understanding, but it can provide a platform for dialogue. Jeff Badger, in his studio on the SMCC campus in South Portland, has put together an exchange of work by American and Spanish artists that he hopes will foster “meaningful, real-life connections toward a more peaceful world.” Badger, who lives in South Portland and teaches art at Southern Maine Community College, wanted to send art from Portland over to Spain. McCreight, who lives in Madrid, envisioned enlisting Spanish artists to make work and shipping it to Maine.

This year the Hans Joohs Sister Cities Cultural Exchange program is celebrating its 25th year. Sister Cities is an international, person-to-person diplomacy program that creates friendships and bonds between the US and other nations. New Ulm is a proud participant in the program, which began in the Eisenhower Administration.

Last week, Heritage and The Wall Street Journal released the latest edition of the Index of Economic Freedom. Among its top performers is Poland, up seven spots in the global rankings. Poland’s economy is the only one in Europe that has expanded every year over the past two decades.

With exit polls showing that the country trusted him more to conduct U.S. foreign policy than his rival, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama set off a round of commentary about how the GOP could regain its advantage. His nominee for defense secretary, moderate Republican Chuck Hagel, has re-energized that debate [disclosure: Hagel is chairman of the Atlantic Council, the author's employer].

What will the world look like about two decades from now? In December, the United States National Intelligence Council published its guess: Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds...US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has referred to the Obama administration's foreign policy as being based on "smart power", and argued that we should not talk about "multipolarity", but about "multi-partnerships". Likewise, the NIC report suggests that Americans must learn better how to exercise power with as well as over other states.

Charles Rivkin will be remembered for his attention to neighborhoods traditionally ignored by high-level public officials...The 21st century has seen a shift, with stepped up outreach into minority — especially Muslim — communities. In France, where the policy is carried out by the cinematic Ambassador Rivkin, it has been very well-received in the immigrant suburbs.

I’ll be meeting 12 Burmese basketball players in their teens – six girls, six boys. They’re here because we invited them to visit Washington to see a Washington Wizards game. After that, they’ll go down to Charlotte where they’ll meet with Bobcats General Manager Richard Cho, who happens to be a Burmese American. He’ll invite them to his home and take them to a Bobcats game.