While Iran's weapons and financial aid to the Taliban often make headlines, Tehran's soft power efforts in Afghanistan at the expense of U.S. interests are largely overlooked. According to Davood Moradian, former senior policy advisor at Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry, Iran spends $100 million a year in Afghanistan on funding media, religious and cultural organizations.

Courtesy of Bruce Gregory, here is the latest update on resources that may be of general interest for teachers, students, and practitioners of public diplomacy and related courses and activities. Suggestions for future updates are welcome.

The University Student Arts and Cultural Exchange Performance will include vocal, instrumental and dance performances from a number of different minority cultural traditions in China...A tap dance will highlight the American dance tradition.

And now that she’s plugging a new program co-sponsored by our nation’s travel and tourism industry and the U.S. government, I’ll just go ahead and say it right out: “I love the way Rosanne Carter sings “Land of Dreams,” both for the pure joy she conveys in her music and the power of the message contained in the song.

Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai arrived in Washington, D.C. Saturday from New York where she will deliver two speeches to promote Taiwan's soft power. On Sunday, Lung will discuss cultural diplomacy and cross-Taiwan Strait cultural issues in two interviews organized by the Voice of America and the international news agency Reuters.

The U.S. presidential nomination conventions largely will focus on domestic issues, but a number of high-profile foreign policy issues -- including immigration, U.S.-Russia relations, and the role the United States plays as a major world power --could also be highlighted in convention speeches and the parties' platforms. Three experts from international policy institutions weigh in on possible foreign policy themes in the 2012 conventions.

Americans’ attention rarely strays beyond domestic discontents these days, and when it does extend overseas it is most likely to settle on the endless war in Afghanistan or the challenging puzzle that is China.

As Iran gets set to host the Non-Aligned Movement triennial summit, Israel, the United States and a number of Jewish groups are worried that what happens in Tehran won’t stay there. The decision Wednesday by Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, to attend the 16th triennial event from August 29-31, has set off alarm bells in Washington and Jerusalem.