American exceptionalism, when it runs rampant, is a tsunami to be avoided. The oil company BP is discovering that right now. The environmental disaster destroying seaside communities around the Gulf of Mexico and killing off marine life is a globally important tragedy. BP has to take its sizeable share of the blame. So, presumably, should the American companies like Transocean and Halliburton, which were part of this doomed enterprise. But their nationality seems to have let them off the hook.

President Barack Obama's administration is taking a multi-faceted approach toward women’s rights worldwide. The U.S. Department of State is charged with much of the coordination of this effort, through the Secretary’s Office of Global Women's Issues.

When Barack Obama was running for President in 2008, he wanted, first and foremost, to be different from George W. Bush who was despised by a large majority of people everywhere on this planet.

Do we care what the world thinks of us? Should we? A new survey of global opinion is getting the usual respectful attention. The Pew Global Attitudes Project surveyed people in 57 countries and found that President Obama's approval ratings have slipped a bit among Europeans, Latin Americans, and Asians -- though he remains quite a bit more popular than George W. Bush was in his final year in office.

The stream of signals coming from Washington to Damascus has been steady for weeks. This month, three US Congressmen visited Syria, the last of whom, Brian Baird, carried the slogan of ‘science diplomacy'. Baird...is currently leading the Science Diplomacy initiative in Congress, arguing that science transcends political differences and should be used to improve Syrian-US relations.

Findings in a new U.S. Senate report that questions the effectiveness and costs of continuing Alhurra are leading to renewed calls for congressional hearings on the government-run satellite channel and the broadcasting agency that oversees its work.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Silicon Valley this week to meet with technology leaders is part of a larger strategy for the US and Russia to improve business ties as the two countries try to “reset” relations with the incoming Obama administration.

The stream of signals coming from Washington to Damascus has been steady for weeks. This month, three US Congressmen visited Syria, the last of whom, Brian Baird, carried the slogan of 'science diplomacy'.