China’s economic power over the US is now substantial, and will limit not only America’s influence in the financial markets, but also its capacity to use military power. If this forces America back towards what the international-relations scholar Joseph Nye calls “soft power and multilateral diplomacy,” it may well be a good thing. But such approaches are anathema to the US Republican Party...and they might unnerve the many Asians who are nervous at China’s growing military might.

A foundation established by former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush says it is providing an additional $1.4 million to efforts to rebuild Haiti following its devastating earthquake last year. The non-profit Clinton Bush Haiti Fund said Tuesday the money will go to a Haitian company that will train engineers and general contractors to manufacture steel-frame houses.

Following the work of American scholar Joseph Nye, it is common for analysts to limit the debate on national strength to hard and soft power, with a combination supposedly forming "smart power." However, the patterns of Beijing's transformation invite an enlargement on these reflections to consider a third dimension of power, "subtle power," which is, to a certain extent, the application of some of China's highest philosophical principles in the field of strategy.

Addressing a group of young leaders from Croatia and the Western Balkans, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Ambassador Kolinda Grabar highlighted the Alliance’s key themes in preparation for the Chicago Summit in May of next year.

For the most part, Muslim Americans disavow Islamic extremism, are happy with the way things are going in the country and in their lives, and are about as religious and educated as the general American public. Those are a few of the lessons from a new report from the Pew Research Center...sparked, in part, by a desire to know whether recent concerns about home-grown terrorism and other pressures had led to increased alienation and anger among Muslim Americans and support for extremism.

Using music and culture as diplomatic tools to bring people together and foster mutual understanding, The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad is the premier 21st Century showcase of traditional American musical forms. To date, 155 musicians from 40 ensembles have toured with The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program visiting more than 100 countries on five continents.

Culture Kitchen is a new Bay Area-based culinary school where women share their family recipes and insight into their cultural backgrounds. By exploring these access points in an intimate, hands-on setting, Sturges and Lopez think they can create valuable exchanges and interactions between different ethnic backgrounds.

DreamWorks Animation has become the second Hollywood studio to enter into a distribution agreement with China's top online video site, Youku.com. Youku said Monday that it had signed a deal with the Glendale-based animation studio to distribute the "Kung Fu Panda" movies in China, marking the first time that DreamWorks releases have been made available in that country through the Internet.