Honduras is under siege. Its judicial system is almost completely dysfunctional, and more than 10,000 complaints of human rights abuses by state security forces have been filed in the last three years, according to the Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras. At least 23 journalists have been killed since 2009. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have all raised grave concerns about the country's dire situation.

As reported by The Heritage Foundation’s Jim Roberts, the State Department three months ago changed the format of one of its better products, the country-by-country Background Notes to a format allegedly more in tune with the times. The Background Notes have been used for decades by diplomats, researchers, educators, and students. They provide in-depth information in easily digestible form, covering history, economics, demographics, culture, politics, and much besides.

Earlier this week, more than 20 Zimbabwean police officers raided the office of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), claiming they were looking for undisclosed “data.” This was the latest in a series of police crackdowns on the LGBT organization, which have included unwarranted arrests and beatings.

As part of growing business relations and exchanges between Zimbabwe and the United States, eight Zimbabwean local government officials today in Chicago concluded a ten-day visit to three U.S. cities.

Yesterday, Al Jazeera English aired a segment discussing the use of “smart power” in the Middle East. Smart power is the combined application of hard and soft power resources to accomplish an objective. It recognizes that neither hard nor soft power strategies are effective on their own in certain situations, and that these elements must complement each other in an effort to achieve a goal.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is ready to sit down at the drums next month when she will be honored for her "jazz diplomacy" at the Kennedy Center...Tom Carter, the Monk Institute's president, felt it was appropriate to "highlight the role of jazz as a diplomatic tool" in the same year that the institute worked with UNESCO to establish the first International Jazz Day.

I recently returned from the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in Chicago where suddenly everyone’s talking about public diplomacy. Or at least, using the term. It calls to mind a favorite movie quote: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means…”.

I’m going to try. America is a nation with strong principles and purpose. We’re a country whose strengths lie in individual resourcefulness and national resilience. We tend to proceed from the notion that each individual has the potential to achieve his or her individual dreams or desires, while also contributing to the common good.