Daw Aung graciously told the audience that it was one of the greatest days of her life, and from the tears in the eyes of the Burmese human rights advocates, expatriates and international visitors who were with us, many of the women dressed in lavender, the signature color of "the Lady," it was quite clear that it was one of the greatest days in their lives, as well.

MINUTES after last week’s violent attacks on America’s missions in the Middle East, the country’s embassy in Cairo was already on Twitter. It tweeted an emergency number for American citizens. It criticised Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood for supporting the protests on their Arabic feed. And it thanked fellow tweeters for their condolences on the murder of the American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.

This weekend, I talked to Rick Steves, the travel guru, about the unrest in the Middle East and he underscored the importance of travel as a means of bridging cultural divides. It might sound like a cliché, but it's true: Americans needs to travel because our diplomats can't do all the heavy lifting for us, security restrictions or not.

Elizabeth Dibble, his colleague at the State Department, spoke about Stevens’ unique diplomatic style. “It takes a lot of tea,” she said. “You don’t rush into talking points, you develop a relationship and a personal connection, and a series of connections becomes a network.”

Netanyahu has been publicly pressuring the Obama administration to set so-called “red lines” that would trigger an American military response to Iran’s growing nuclear program. And the prime minister kicked his campaign into overdrive after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s publicly rebuked his request.

APDS Blogger: Marissa Cruz-Enriquez

Two bills aiming to increase the coordination and support for US science diplomacy in developing countries are unlikely to be passed by the US House of Representatives this summer, according to insiders. A "financial cliff" is looming at the start of 2013, "and there will be massive cuts of all government programmes", said Daly.

Fostering that kind of eye-opening cultural exchange was the point of the State Department's initial push of artists, academics and business leaders into nations undergoing transformations after the Arab Spring uprisings. And it's also what's at stake as the Obama administration issues travel warnings and yanks personnel from its besieged diplomatic missions across the Muslim world.