The anti-American protests raging across the Middle East and beyond are testing much more than the security at America's diplomatic missions, or even the ability of Arab leaders—many of them in nascent democracies—to address extremism.

The tragic deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens along with three other U.S. diplomats last week in Benghazi, Libya, highlight a major disconnect between the perception of most Americans and reality — a U.S. diplomat’s life and work overseas is dramatically different from popular fiction.

More communication, exchange and interaction activities are expected between US students and disabled children in Shanghai in the future. The US-based NGO People To People International said it plans to have more than 1,000 US students visit China next year.

The notorious tweet reaffirming a statement that condemned “the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims” has been deleted by the US Embassy in Cairo, but the incident raises a question that lingers: Is blasting out 140-character messages on Twitter a good way to conduct diplomacy, given the political, and even mortal, risks?

The US Administration has turned to social media and television ads to try to stem global protest by showing news clips of US President Barack Obama condemning an anti- Islam film made in the US. "...That's something that we'll have to look at is what means did we use to make sure that publics around the world understood where the U.S. Government stands, and were those effective..."

The new Diplomatic Culinary Partnership initiative was unveiled on September 7th at the penthouse of the State Department, and this gastrodiplomat was on hand for the lovely soiree.

The issue of striking a balance between security and accessibility is one that has been a constant struggle for United States’ diplomatic missions worldwide. How do diplomats meet the competing demands of interacting with foreign populations and keeping safe in a world filled with anti-American extremism?