Pamela K. Starr, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The admired US ambassador to Mexico is resigning, even as the two countries spat over trade, immigration and Trump’s tweets. Can this critical diplomatic relationship survive yet another problem?
The International Olympic Committee has banished dopers from the Winter Games. Shame it hasn’t treated North Korea, a noted human rights violator, with the same resolve.
The government should take advantage of digital technology as they will be able to extend their public diplomacy agenda in an even more interactive way.
In mid-2015 the German Foreign Office after decades of denial seemingly acceded, in a very informal way, to labelling what had happened in South West Africa as genocide, is now backtracking.
China is stepping into a soft power vacuum created by the new US administration. Since Donald Trump was elected president, the country has eschewed soft power.
South Africa will be well advised to start preparing itself for an International Monetary Fund programme as the country faces a deepening economic crisis.
Australia is among nations calling for a 1 million square km marine park off East Antarctica. But Russia and China remain opposed, and a recent summit yet again failed to seal the deal.