The historic meeting between Pope Francis and Russian Patriarch Kirill, which took place in Havana on Friday, could act as a soft force contributing to the resolution of the Syrian crisis, experts told Sputnik.

In the course of the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Egypt on January 20-22, 2016, Egypt and China announced a five-year, multi-sector cooperation agreement. [...] On a symbolic level, Egypt and China also declared 2016 as “the Egyptian-Chinese cultural year.”

Europe and Iran have common interests in several areas. In light of their historical and traditional bilateral relations as well as other positive sources, such as the existence of complementary economies, mutually-beneficial cooperation in the fields of energy and technology [...] through both collective and bilateral mechanisms, it is possible to actively pursue the struggle against the important threats such as terrorism, violence, extremism, drug trafficking.

The broadcast of video footage prepared by extremist groups is on the increase. Every gruesome act is accompanied by a video tape or posting online describing those who carried it out and explaining why. What most social scientists and media analysts are asking is, to whom is the message directed?

The Obama Administration has announced a new communications effort to counteract the “messaging” of ISIS. The new “Center for Global Engagement,” to be located at the State Department, will be charged with “counter-messaging” ISIS (ISIL) communications. The task of the center can be simply stated: to persuade those who might follow ISIS or other terrorist groups that following them is a very wrong idea. 

When Rami Haki fled to Germany in early 2015, becoming an entrepreneur was the furthest thing from his mind […] he was also missing those foods that reminded him of home […] He decided to become Germany's first Syrian cheese-maker. […] When he told a Facebook group for Syrians in Germany about the cheese [...] "Many people wanted to order cheese," he says. "I didn't have enough for everyone."

Seeking “soft power,” in the Arab world, China is setting up some educational collaborations to invest in the Arab world’s scientific and technical workforce. These aims were outlined in what is being called the Chinese government’s first Arab policy paper, published earlier this month.  

Local Muslims must actively participate, as well and reach out to, neighbors and friends not as missionaries, but as members of the community to help educate about their beliefs and the Quran for instance [...] The only way these kinds of things will stop is to help the community be educated on what is real and by way of caution, build bridges of trust within the local community.