The rekindling of a row between Japan and South Korea over symbols of the “comfort women” could hinder efforts to strengthen security cooperation between Washington’s two key Asian allies, according to an American scholar versed in Tokyo-Seoul ties.

Protecting our nation is one of the most important roles of the federal government, and we do need to be thoughtful about how to establish effective immigration polices. However, the broad-based nature of the ban flies in the face of decades of support for the power of international exchange. Even a foreign policy hard line approach would typically be softened by an ongoing support of international exchange.

On Monday night, acting Attorney General Sally Yates did what so many (male) figures in the U.S. government have been unwilling to do: push back on a potentially unconstitutional executive order. She was quickly relieved of her duties, but her actions made a powerful statement, hopefully paving the way for more acts of resistance at the federal level. 

Leaders of several American companies have announced plans to hire, house or otherwise support people affected by President Trump's sweeping freeze on people seeking asylum in the U.S. or traveling from seven largely Muslim countries. [...] Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz says his company plans to hire 10,000 refugees in the next five years in the 75 countries where it does business.

Public diplomacy is one of the most powerful tools a president has to inform and influence the world by communicating American values and interests. By engaging with citizens overseas, we expand and extend our national security through the dissemination of news, information, culture, education, entrepreneurship and everything else that make a democracy strong.

By some measures, President Trump has altered the perception of American foreign policy more in the past seven days than his predecessors did in the past seven decades. A nation that built its brand around the world as open to the world’s needy and ambitious is now viewed, after Mr. Trump’s immigration executive order, as closing its doors in a way it never did even after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Six days after taking office, President Donald Trump is facing the first international crisis of his administration. And it’s unfolding on Twitter. Following through on campaign promises to crack down on immigration, Trump signed executive orders to both kick-start the construction of a border wall with Mexico and block federal grants for “sanctuary cities“ - jurisdictions that offer safe harbour for undocumented immigrants.

Most Americans probably don't think about it much, and some may even be unaware, but the United States has a government-funded international media outlet, Voice Of America. Now that Donald Trump is president, VOA, at least in a technical sense, is under his control. If you are thinking "This may not end well," you may be correct.