Watching the wife of the US vice-president touring the world's biggest refugee camp for famine-hit Somalis was a scrum of television cameramen, international reporters and Washington staffers thumbing their BlackBerrys. US officials privately agreed that the main thrust of the visit was to get the story onto American television channels, which have been slower to report on the crisis than in other countries.

It's the economy that will increasingly set the limits on commitments Western powers are willing to make abroad, whether in the form of military intervention or even of aid. And, on the flip side, it will be economic pain that will increasingly serve as the main driver of rebellion and political instability across the global spectrum.

We could overhaul our approach to national security, creating a more strategic, collaborative, less-is-more, and system that features engagement and soft power while we still have most of the decision power to do so, or simply wait for events to overtake us and be handed our fate.

Oman is to host the internationally-acclaimed American Ballet Troupe, one of its kind and for the first time in the national history...The troupe will travel to the Sultanate in October for as many as three stunning performances by its much sought-after artistes on the sidelines of the grand opening of the Royal Opera House,

The US is making a mistake in demonising Iran, says Patrick Seale. Obama should have seized the chance to engage. It’s now widely accepted – and lamented – that US President Barack Obama failed dismally in attempting to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Last week I had the opportunity to lead a session on Corporate Diplomacy for the USC Center on Public Diplomacy’s Summer Institute. It is always a pleasure and humbling experience to engage with global public diplomacy practitioners and this summer’s group was no different.

We think to date, the government is responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people of all ages, and the United States has worked very hard to corral and focus international opinion to take steps toward a unified response to the atrocities that are occurring...

Water, Women, Entrepreneurs, Emerging Markets - Four Key Global Corporate Diplomacy Trends for 2011-2012