Chinese foreign policy has not escaped the dramatic transformations in that key country in our region. The foreign policy of China has become more sophisticated and less dogmatic, characterized by its increasing reliance on soft power.

In CPD Advisory Board member Barry Sanders' article, "Sports and Public Diplomacy" he writes that America's greatest foreign policy challenge is combating violent extremism. Sports and public diplomacy can offer the growing population of youth around the world, whether or not connected to an extremist organizations or philosophies, an alternative to violent activity.

The Middle East's most populous country is gripped by a struggle to oust its ruler, creating a demonstration effect not just for the Muslim world, but the whole world. Efforts by President Hosni Mubarak to bottle up dissent have failed miserably.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says the appointment of special envoys by the president helps advance the Foreign Ministry's objectives.“The Foreign Ministry is completely aware about the dispatch of special presidential envoys… and there is no problem regarding this matter,” Salehi said on Saturday.

When I traveled the world representing the United States during the George W. Bush administration, I was often confronted by people who wanted to blame the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on American foreign policy.

When a nation is busy devouring itself, in a manner that threatens the larger global peace, other nations' policies and public diplomacy will be complicated indeed. In the case of a disintegrating Pakistan, American policy has tended to make effective public diplomacy virtually impossible and irrelevant.