The United States and Europe used sanctions and public diplomacy to try to effect change in Burma. We cut off non-humanitarian funds, targeted the regime with stiff sanctions, and publicly challenged the junta on its human rights abuses.

U.S. airstrikes remain the most reliable means of targeting AQAP members in the near term, but overreliance on them is unsustainable if the U.S. wants to maintain a positive relationship with Yemen for years to come. The negative impact of collateral civilian damage and hitting misidentified targets can quickly undermine U.S. foreign assistance and public diplomacy efforts.

The important factor about U.S. engagement via web 2.0 is not that that the government is using it, but rather that it doesn’t address the core problems of engagement overseas: fortress embassies, a lack of understanding, and failures to follow through on commitments.

ECA is pleased to announce the 2012 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF), which aims to harness the leadership capacity of exchange program alumni worldwide. AEIF awards up to $25,000 to winning teams of alumni to fund projects tackling issues from human rights to women’s entrepreneurship to interfaith understanding.

Most everyone involved in U.S. public diplomacy policy seems ready for the Smith-Mundt Act's overhaul -- especially the Broadcasting Board of Governors, who oversee U.S. international broadcasting efforts. They included the repeal of the domestic distribution ban as a goal in their recently-released strategic plan for 2012-16.

"I tell all our ambassadors, remember, you only have one mouth but you have two ears, so use this as a way not just of communicating with the citizens of the country where you are serving, but also understanding the point of view of people who may not be sitting at a mahogany table inside the embassy," says Alec Ross, the State Department's senior adviser on innovation.

A breakthrough in the final hours of Xi Jinping's US tour has eased restrictions on imports of US films into China, and could lead to more 3D and Imax films being made in Hollywood...For Chinese, "more US movies may force domestic producers to take a correct attitude toward their works and learn from others."

China has agreed to open its market to more US films and provide better terms to US studios. "This agreement with China will make it easier than ever before for US studios and independent filmmakers to reach the fast-growing Chinese audience, supporting thousands of American jobs in and around the film industry," US Vice-President Joe Biden said in a statement.