Mr. Corwin will be joined by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine and Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Kerri-Ann Jones. Mr. Corwin will also lead two international webchats on Monday, December 3 and Tuesday, December 4.

I am delighted to spend some time this afternoon outlining how and why we gauge the effectiveness of our PD programs, talk about evaluation strategies, and lay out statistics. But first, I want to share an experience I had in Bosnia Herzegovina last week. I tell you this because few things are more compelling than looking our program alumni in the eye, and talking to them face to face about their very personal experiences in the U.S.

On July 7, in the wake of the destruction of the sacred shrines in Timbuktu — a Unesco World Heritage site — the spokesman of Ansar Dine, one of the Islamist groups controlling northern Mali, declared to the press that “there is no world heritage. It does not exist. Infidels must not get involved in our business.”

The song starts with guitar and then Rabab, coupled with a melodious voice. It is a Pashto song but the accent is American.

Susan Rice was miffed, all right. Her frequent foil, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin – an outsize personality whom she might be screaming at one moment, then laughing with the next – was at it again.

The President should announce his intention to nominate Susan Rice as the next Secretary of State, or move on.

The year 2012 has seen leadership change in several nations--including the United States, China, Russia and France, with Japan set to hold a general election on Dec. 16--and these transitions could have a major bearing on international relations and the global economy in 2013 and beyond.

The U.S. Department of State awarded the University of Kentucky a $1.7 million grant to partner with universities in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, through the University Partnership in Business Administration program.