The United States looks short of Iran options. Even President Barack Obama acknowledges that new sanctions might fail, but has not laid out another plan.

Yet again, a senior military official has argued that "U.S. foreign policy is still too dominated by the military." Yet again, the defense community has cried out for more robust diplomacy and development and the greater use of "soft power" - the ability to attract and persuade rather than force.

Today's cultural diplomacy efforts look dramatically different than they did twenty or thirty years ago. In the post-Cold War, Internet, Twitter and Facebook era, government-sponsored cultural initiatives focus on fostering the types of cross-cultural encounters that can ultimately engender mutual understanding.

By all appearances, the United States faces a serious public diplomacy challenge in Kyrgyzstan. Washington’s sluggish initial response has enabled Russia to take the early lead in what is shaping up as a race to cultivate the goodwill of the Kyrgyz provisional government.

Everyone is an architecture critic. Why not? So many of the national pavilions at the Shanghai Expo are peacocks waiting to be admired — or not — and it would probably drive their creators nuts if everyone didn't have an opinion.

Under the previous U.S. Administration there was a failed attempt to reach out to democracy forces in the Arab and Muslim world, while under the current Administration there are efforts to partner with the Islamists and engage the Jihadists at the expense of the Muslim Democrats.

U.S. lawmakers and religious leader on Friday expressed their best wishes to the forthcoming Shanghai Expo at a grand reception at Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in New York.