United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently pledged that the U.S. would provide long-term support to Pakistanis affected by historic, devastating floods...My own view, in a nutshell, is that this is not a public diplomacy issue. It’s a humanitarian issue. We in the West should find every way to relieve the immense suffering in that unstable but crucial nation, simply because it’s the right thing to do, not because we can expect to score points or to keep the Pakistani Taliban from scoring points.

On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama was asked about foreign-language education. He responded emphatically, calling it "embarrassing" that most Americans are monolingual. Being able to speak a foreign language makes you "so much more employable," he said. "We should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age."

Last December the Beijing-based China Heaven Creation International Performing Arts Company purchased the White House Theater in Branson, a small town in the US Midwest and a popular destination for American vacationers...It is a small example of Chinese culture going international but there could be many more to come. China Heaven Creation is one of the 211 companies listed by the Ministry of Culture as key export-oriented culture enterprises.

'I hope one day I come to see you because, every day here, it's worse and worse." The young man's guarded, disconsolate voice comes distantly from Iran on a bad Skype line. He's a well-known figure in that country's burgeoning but relentlessly suppressed underground rock music scene. Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei recently declared music to be "incompatible" with the values of the Islamic Republic...

A Muslim woman is suing Disneyland acusing the California theme park of refusing to allow her to work in front of customers while wearing a hijab or head scarf.

As the debate has grown more heated, Park51, as the proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is called, has become a litmus test for everything from private-property rights to religious tolerance. But it is plain that many of Park51's opponents are motivated by deep-seated Islamophobia.

American support for Israel is waning, a poll presented to senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem last week revealed. The survey was carried out by pollster and strategist Stanley Greenberg and sponsored by the American Jewish organization the Israel Project...

In principle, the United States is in a position to replicate the "Chinook diplomacy" that created immense goodwill toward America in 2005, when the U.S. conducted a massive helicopter airlift after an earthquake in Pakistani Kashmir.