Even while rustling up investments worth billions for India, PM Narendra Modi constantly looks like he's having fun. Instead of the formal press meetings and handshaking that typified our previous PMs, this one is ensuring he's having a good time, and casually changing the rule book of how diplomacy is conducted.

On May 26th, Gallup announced that the Russian people’s approval of U.S. leadership dropped to arecord 1%, which is the worst rating in the world and the lowest approval Gallup has ever recorded. According to an article written by Gallup analyst Julie Ray, the abysmal view of the United States in Russia is a reflection of the country’s “…increasingly tense relations with the U.S. since the crisis in Ukraine and the threat that many Russians, as well as residents of several former Soviet states, feel the U.S. now poses to their countries.”

U.S. President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima last Friday was the result of careful diplomatic staging by U.S. and Japanese government officials, who had it in mind since Obama’s last visit to the city in 2009. [...] The biggest obstacle was U.S. public opinion. [...] The shift in opinion provided a context for Obama’s Hiroshima visit, the first-ever such trip by a sitting U.S. president.

Seeing U.S. soldiers cooperate with the PKK's Syrian wing, the PYD, while the PKK was killing Turkish soldiers, will have serious long-term challenges for U.S. public diplomacy in Turkey

President Obama had made it abundantly clear in advance of his trip that he would not be issuing an apology when he paid his respects at the cenotaph to the thousands who died when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 71 years ago. [...] "The mainstream in Japanese society accept Obama's visit as something that he wanted to do personally, but staying within the constraints of his own domestic policies," 

Iran used both top-down and bottom-up approach to utilize its soft power and exert influence before sanctions were lifted. The emphasis at this time was more on the bottom- up approach. But Iran’s priorities in soft power strategies have tactically shifted due to the sanctions reliefs and its application of hard power.