In 2010, nearly 130,000 Chinese students studied in the U.S., a 30 percent increase from the year before. China is now America's top source of international students. For Chinese students in the U.S., there's a bigger challenge than the language barrier: defining and defending their homeland.

Voice of America (VOA), the jewel in America's public diplomacy effort abroad, is set to be streamlined. Some programs can be downsized. But VOA is in the national interest, especially as Russia, China, and Iran expand state-supported media. Cuts should be handled with care.

"It's been a tremendous experience to work in another country and be a part of the whole Bollywood process which is world famous. America and the rest of the world is fascinated with the whole Bollywood film industry and culture. I think it adds another layer of creative and cultural learning.



According to an interview with American scholar Joseph Nye in the British magazine Monocle, nations can adopt more “soft power” measures, which can be used as a type of subtle cultural (and ultimately political) pressure to obtain goals without violence or military-driven exertions.

The US has engaged in public diplomacy urging Israel to keep that threat off the table while a new round of sanctions takes hold. Mr. Panetta argued last Friday in Washington that such an attack now would deal a blow to the global economy, endanger US troops in the Middle East...

The value of breaking your government’s monopoly on foreign policy cannot be discounted. For instance, veterans of the United States can connect veterans of Russia’s armed forces much better than a bureaucrat from the State Department can engage...

Based on Hillary Clinton’s vision of “smart power” diplomacy, "OneBeat" will bring up to 50 international musicians between the ages of 19-35 to the United States for a month-long exchange. OneBeat musicians will connect with Americans musicians and audiences, especially underserved youth, through people-to-people diplomacy and social engagement projects.

"We can see how we can enhance military-to-military cooperation, interoperality and public diplomacy so that we can better explain Nato and what it does and we at Nato can better understand the region," he told Gulf News.