The growing ranks of other Korean American performers recruited by management companies like SM Entertainment and JYPE in U.S.-based talent searches — aren’t just a random act of globalization. They’re the secret weapon in Korea’s next push for worldwide youth-culture domination.

"Europe was taking the United States for granted in providing defense and filling military capability gaps. It has become so enamored with soft power that it has stopped investing in hard power. In terms of hard security, it makes Europe a free rider. Europe should start investing in its military and building an effective military that can provide leverage on its soft power.”

President Obama has designated Ambassador D. Kathleen Stephens as the Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs pending the Senate’s confirmation of the President’s nominee, Tara Sonenshine. Ambassador Stephens will begin work on February 6, 2012, and will exercise all of the authorities of the office during this designation.

The U.S. government’s public diplomacy institutions are running on autopilot. Political leaders' attention is focused elsewhere: the budget deficit, the economy, the presidential election, etc. People who should be advocating for public diplomacy and think about its strategic role in U.S. foreign policy are simply not in place, so much-needed leadership in this area is lacking.

Here, the US, whose bilateral trade with the kingdom, had plunged in the aftermath of 9/11, has relied on cultural diplomacy to turn the tide in its favour. It has organised food festival, comedy night and arts exhibition featuring the works of both Saudi and American artistes

Miami collector Ella Fontanals-Cisneros...said she's planning to send around 85 pieces from her vast art collection to be exhibited in Havana's National Museum of Fine Arts in May. Collaborations between Cuban museums and collectors from the Miami diaspora are rare, but Ms. Fontanals-Cisneros said she wanted to "build bridges" with Cuba's art lovers and give them a chance to see "art they rarely have access to."

Beginning February 9 in Atlanta, Georgia, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) will host the first of nine 2012 Fulbright Foreign Student Enrichment Seminars. Students will learn about the U.S. political system and the electoral process.

During the past several years, Chinese audiences have flocked to see American movies such as Kung-Fu Panda, much to the alarm of China's political leadership, which has recently made clear that it is not inclined to surrender any terrain on the global cultural battleground.