Actor Gabriel Byrne was appointed to the new position of Cultural Ambassador for Ireland, with the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, making the announcement in Washington on Tuesday. Based in the US since 1987, it’s a role the award-winning actor has been informally carrying out for some years now, promoting Irish culture abroad.

For millions of Chinese, the U.S. pavilion’s show at the Shanghai World Expo will be the closest they’ll ever come to an experience of America. What they’ll get — apart from long waits — is a warm welcome, a dose of Hollywood-style entertainment and, in May, an impression of San Antonio.

The US state department has unveiled an exciting new initiative: using the internet to solicit opinions from people through a website. Extraordinary. The site, called Opinion Space, is a joint project between the state department and the University of California's Berkeley centre for new media.

Last week, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened a hearing entitled “The Future of U.S. Public Diplomacy”. The stated objective of the hearing was to assess how U.S. public diplomacy initiatives of the past could be used to inform U.S. public diplomacy activities of the future.

APDS Blogger: Alexis Haftvani

Keep Calm and Carry On. Keep Calm and Carry On. Keep CALM and CARRY On.

Maybe if I say it enough the phrase will sink deep into my subconscious thereby creating a vast reservoir of perseverance and tranquility. Maybe if I stare deeply into the large lettering and bold red hue my brain will find that elusive unwavering resolve and composure that typifies British culture.

The undefined strategy and uncoordinated implementation of public diplomacy renders our attempts to communicate this message unintelligible, though. Regrettably, those selling a different message suffer no such handicap.

The contretemps between President Obama and Israel needs to be seen in a broader global context. The president who ran against "unilateralism" in the 2008 campaign has worse relations overall with American allies than George W. Bush did in his second term.