George Clooney is the most persuasive voice for the independence of South Sudan. Last month he visited southern Sudan to draw attention to the dangers that the area could return to war over the issue of the independence of southern Sudan from the north.

Clinton took her personal diplomacy to Australia’s airwaves, braving a popular radio comedy team who grilled her on potato chips, reality tv and the diplomacy of barbecues. Clinton’s appearance on the Hamish and Andy show was part of her effort to get in front of as many foreign audiences as possible, and the official transcript released by the State Department makes for some bizarre reading.

Looking at the seemingly inscrutable actions of the men who rule Beijing, Washington often assumes many in the Chinese government to be anti-American, whereas the Chinese public is pro-American. The reality is almost exactly the opposite.

Aided by an unpopular war in Iraq, America was said to be losing its appeal or soft power. The creation of the term "BRIC" to indicate the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China offered a multi-polar vision of a post-American world. And the European Union prospects seemed to offer an alternative to American power.

Kevin McKenzie, artistic director of American Ballet Theater, stood by a fluted pillar in a lofty studio at the National Ballet School here on Friday, keeping time with his hands as a group of male students practiced jetés in a circle.

While foreign policy issues played almost no role in Tuesday's election results, the historic Republican landslide will almost certainly make Barack Obama's vision of a more positive U.S. role in international affairs more difficult to pursue.

As an effort to attract Chinese tourists to the US or improve America's image in China, the pavilion was an epic failure; but as a symbol of Obama's America, it wasn't bad. It's not very surprising that Shanghai Expo 2010, which just ended (coincidentally) on Halloween night, never attracted much interest in the US.

The town hall event, featuring Obama as a professorial host, was a moment of unscripted public diplomacy as he sought to bridge the divide between two bitter rivals.