The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) brought together a diverse group of thinkers, policymakers and practitioners for an October 15 conference that examined the positive impact of online or “virtual” exchanges for students and others around the world and the need to expand their use in an era of tight constraints on spending.

Youth hockey players from across the US have arrived in Russia to take part in a trading program between the two nations and meet up with their idols, Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk. ­The Russian stars, who are playing in the KHL during the NHL lockout, are busy both on and off the ice.

The U.S. Department of State announced that Haitian performers Compagnie de Danse Jean-René Delsoin will travel to communities across America as part of a cultural diplomacy initiative, Center StageSM, October 16 - November 10, 2012.

The documents show that the United States conducted a broad-based multilateral diplomacy to address the crisis and that U.S. diplomats were active participants in the development of the International Energy Agency’s program of energy cooperation.

...If we want our people-to-people exchanges to remain central to our public diplomacy engagement, we have to open new channels. We have to communicate government to people, and people to people. And one of the best ways we can leverage those conversations is through social media and other connective technologies, such as video teleconferencing.

Mr. Schwartz is a career public diplomacy official who has served in Pakistan, India, Israel and South Africa... Some said Mr. Schwartz was among the first in the U.S. government to understand how the U.S.-made online clip would likely fuel unrest in the Mideast.

The U.S. Department of State and the Vital Voices Global Partnership will conduct follow-on training in Nairobi, Kenya for the 2012 African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumnae, October 15-19, 2012.

America’s broadcast voice in Russia will soon be silenced following Moscow’s ratification of a new law that will force a legendary broadcasting company to abandon the Russian airwaves. Radio Liberty (RL), a division of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE), recently fired a large portion of its staff after the passage of a Russian law prohibiting foreign-owned media outlets from broadcasting on AM frequencies.