Overseas, U.S. prestige appeared to be a thing of the past. Policymakers and diplomats, hoping to “fix” this problem, used several ways to do so, including turning to public diplomacy (PD), a little-known, among the American public, foreign policy instrument, implemented by the United States Information Agency, established by President Eisenhower (in 1953), at the height of the Cold War, in order to counteract Soviet propaganda.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described “soft power” in 2012 as “a matrix of tools and methods to reach foreign policy goals without the use of arms but by exerting information and other levers of influence.” His government has used state-owned media outlets like RT, formerly known as Russia Today, and other pro-Kremlin organizations to bend public opinion in other countries toward Russia.

A Taiwanese is among 25 musicians from 17 countries and territories selected to participate in an international exchange program organized by the U.S. State Department to promote musical collaboration and people-to-people exchanges, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said Thursday.

Small towns and rural areas across the U.S. have been losing population since 2010, though the losses have shrunk to 4,000 a year in 2015 from an average of 33,000 a year earlier in the decade, according to a May report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But in many areas, refugees have helped to offset or reverse the losses.

Fourteen talented students and teachers from the United States will travel to Tokyo, Japan for the third annual TOMODACHI Toshiba Science & Technology Leadership Academy, where they will team up with Japanese students and teachers. The week-long program is designed to foster closer ties between American and Japanese participants...

Twelve American high schools students, have traveled to China to participate in the U.S. China Student Leaders Exchange before they leave for college in the fall. [...] The program's goal is to foster understanding between the US and China by providing nationally recognized American teenagers with an opportunity to immerse themselves in Chinese education and culture.

Fear not the threat of any walls going up between the U.S and Mexico. Jorge Marin’s bronze wings offer a way to soar above the things that would divide the two countries. It’s a metaphorical rise, of course. Though standing in front of his identical Wings of the City sculptures in Mexico City and Denver, you get the feeling that optimism and fantasy — and a love of selfies — are unstoppable forces uniting the two countries.

The lopsided reality of Britain’s relationship with the United States was underlined at the White House this week when it was asked to react to findings from the official UK report into the Iraq war. [...] “The United States and the United Kingdom have a special relationship,” he said. “I would expect that that relationship will remain special and strong.” For British diplomats – worried more than ever about their access to power after Barack Obama’s dire warnings over Brexit – such platitudes might sound reassuring.