"I entered this competition because I wanted to represent the generation that witnessed the revolution, and let people know what's happening,' explained 14-year-old Zain Abed before she launched into a robust rendition of James Morrison's "Up," her entry into the "Sing Egyptian Women" contest. The U.S. Embassy in...

Political scientist Milton Cummings's classic definition of cultural diplomacy -- "the exchange of ideas, information, values, systems, traditions, beliefs, and other aspects of culture, with the intention of fostering mutual understanding" -- needs an update that reflects new "best practices" in today's world of 24/7 communication and social media. While...

"But as the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt made clear, the enduring cooperation we seek will be difficult to sustain without democratic legitimacy and public consent. We cannot have one set of policies to advance security in the here-and-now and another to promote democracy in a long run that...

"I want to help build a bridge to the Middle East that won't break." -- Kevin Patrick, CEO, Share the Mic

"You do not love America! If you loved America, you would send me singers!" Entesar Abd El Fatth, director of El-Ghouri Center for Musical Heritage and Cairo's International Sufi...

Co-written with Nadia Oweidat

Young Arab women and men of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen have proven that they are willing to die to build a better future. They yearn for freedom, opportunity and democracy. It is doubtful they will accept anything less. It may take time and...

"Is The Polish Rider by Rembrandt?" The first words Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, then U.S. envoy to the UN, spoke to me had nothing to do with the business at hand - the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY). At the time, in fall of 2000, I was serving...

Measuring success in cultural diplomacy -- the use of education, creative expression in any form, or people to people exchange to increase understanding across regions, cultures, or peoples -- is challenging. How does one quantify changes in attitude, abandoning stereotypes, or feeling empathy as a result of a performance, a...

"We will meet our deadline for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq." The fixation with meeting our own deadline, necessitated by domestic politics, reveals a particularly -- even for America --- myopic view of the world.

Here is the bad news. No one cares about our deadline. The world --...

"This is the most extraordinary place I have ever seen," exclaimed Sid Ganis, film producer and past President of the Academy of Motion Pictures, about the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern day reincarnation of the famous Library of Alexandria. Ganis was in Alexandria to participate in a conference organized by the...

How is it possible that the same man who swept the country -- and the world -- off their feet now appears to be stumbling? In one year, how could President Obama go from providing the magic touch for every campaign, including his own, to being unable even to salvage...

On the same day President Obama unveiled his strategy for Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson published his second book, Stones into Schools, which continues the extraordinary tale begun in his best seller Three Cups of Tea of his mission to "promote peace with books, not bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan". The response...

The understandable outrage at the release of convicted terrorist Abdel Baset al-Megrahi , found guilty of the bombing of Pan Am 103, should not overshadow the memory of the trial that brought Megrahi to justice. It was an extraordinary example of international cooperation, justice, and diplomacy.

Early in...