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Softball has been a passion for Michael Eizenberg since he was a child, but the 63-year-old has never been as excited about a game as the one played Monday on a children's ball field at a faded sports complex under Havana's warm Caribbean sun.
"Pingpong diplomacy" thawed relations between the United States and China in 1971. Can "baseball diplomacy" help do the same for the U.S. and Cuba?
In a small room at the University of South Florida, Maya Ueda and two classmates prepare for a Mandarin exam. A pot of green tea idles nearby and Chinese folk instruments, games and movies fill the cabinets and bookcases.
Suddenly the door has opened for President Barack Obama to put his long-shot diplomatic strategy to the test and fulfill a campaign pledge to negotiate directly with North Korea and Iran.
President Nicolas Sarkozy criticized Iranian leaders for their handling of contested elections and their nuclear program, and pleaded for a new push for peace in the Middle East in a sweeping diplomatic strategy speech Wednesday.
Russia is using its energy wealth to shore up influence abroad, pouring billions of dollars in loans and grants into former Soviet states and long-standing allies — even as it faces its own severe economic downturn.
Facing a world of diplomatic woes from Iran to North Korea, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had the opportunity to get some heavyweight advice at a dinner held by eight of her living predecessors.
Young people climbed up the old marble columns of the hall for a better look at the band. The audience — including girls in headscarves — danced around the gilded balconies to oriental, hip-hop and jazz moves.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will soon announce that gay American diplomats will be given benefits similar to those that their heterosexual counterparts enjoy, U.S. officials said Saturday.
Her videos aren't quite viral yet and she's not tweeting, but Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is embracing new media, using the Web to promote the agency and her role as the nation's top envoy.
Sheik Sabah Mutasher appreciated the U.S. Army's efforts to build a school for his tribe. But he didn't embrace the American mission until Col. Walt Piatt showed up in a dusty pickup truck for a spur-of-the-moment courtesy call.
The deputy leader of Hamas said Thursday night that the Islamic militant group agreed to an 18-month truce with Israel for the Gaza Strip, the official Egyptian news agency reported.
In a sign of progress on a deal to end the Gaza crisis, Egypt has invited rival Palestinian factions to a reconciliation conference in Cairo this month, a Palestinian official said Monday.
Egypt's official news agency says officials from the militant Hamas group are talking with an Egyptian mediator about a long-term truce deal with Israel over the Gaza Strip.
It won't thrill health advocates, but U.S.-based foreign diplomats with a taste for tobacco can rejoice: their smokes are now tax-free.
Hamas officials said Tuesday they are ready to commit to a cease-fire with Israel for at least a year in exchange for a full opening of Gaza's borders, as the group began a new round of truce talks with Egyptian mediators.
Diplomacy now trumps defense as the main instrument of American foreign policy.
French troops, Turkish monitors, British ships, German tunnel detectors, European radar equipment — officials say all these options are being weighed as they try to cement the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Arab leaders trying to come up with a plan to rebuild Gaza ended their meeting Tuesday in discord, unable to agree on whether to back Egyptian peace efforts or even set up a joint reconstruction fund for the devastated Palestinian territory.
European nations accustomed to taking a back seat to the United States have taken a lead role in the bid to permanently quell the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
A top aide to President-elect Barack Obama says the new administration plans to act quickly and engage in diplomacy around the world.
A day after fighting stopped in the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia's king warned Israel on Monday that an Arab peace initiative won't remain on the table forever.
The deeply divided Arab League failed on Tuesday to come up with a plan to reconstruct the devastated Gaza Strip and could not agree on whether to back Egyptian peace efforts to end the crisis.
The nation's top military officer says it's too easy to hand off foreign policy problems to the well-organized, well-funded Pentagon, but that diplomacy is sometimes best left to diplomats.
Egypt's U.N. ambassador said Wednesday that representatives of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas agreed to meet separately with Egyptian officials Thursday for talks on the Gaza crisis.
In China, Obama's hosts show no signs of budgingPresident Obama is leaving China without any definable concessions on things such as support for tougher sanctions on Iran or currency exchange rates.
Some claim US president Barack Obama's bow to the emperor of Japan was a sign of deference inappropriate to a president, that it is against US protocol, and that as leader of the free world he should bow to no one. One blog site said the president's bow was treasonous.
Missed lessons of 9/11Political experts say that despite Washington's recent foreign policy changes, the Arab World and the US have yet to learn the most critical lessons of 9/11.
Kevin Rudd's diplomatic skills will be tested during his current short visit to India.
U.S. officials hopeful for new nuclear treaty with RussiaAfter months of negotiations with Russia, Obama administration officials are hopeful about a breakthrough -- possibly this week -- that would enable the two sides to sign a successor to their most extensive nuclear weapons treaty before it expires Dec. 5.
America, stop sucking up to IsraelNow is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don't change the tone, nothing will change.
One Year Since Obama's Election, Nine Months in Office: a testing time for believers?ONE year ago, a jubilant Barack Obama stood in Grant Park, Chicago, to claim victory before his exuberant supporters.
Clinton regrets extending support to dictatorship I've waited a long time to hear an American official finally say something truthful like this.
A year on, has Barack Obama met the hopes of the world?A long and fascinating "debate" conducted by several expert authors looking from different perspectives at the Obama administration's record after nine months.
What Really Prompted Iran to Build the Qom Enrichment Facility? The Obama administration claims that construction of a second Iranian uranium enrichment facility at Qom began before Tehran's decision to withdraw from a previous agreement to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in advance of such construction.
How to Keep Iran in Check Without WarGary Sick served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan. He was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis and is the author of two books on U.S.-Iranian relations.
Clinton: China Human Rights Abuses Not Worth DiscussingAn old report worth re-reading:
Human Rights Under the BusBret Stephens ponders whether Obama believes in human rights. He goes down the list: silence on China, new "incentives" for Sudan, more silence on Iran and defunding of the Human Rights Documentation Center, and possible engagement with Burma.
US "mildly disappointed" with Iran for withholding reply on overseas enrichment"The Islamic Republic of Iran is waiting for a constructive and confidence building response to the clear proposal of buying fuel for the Tehran research reactor"
Iran accepts draft nuke deal 'in principle'Iran has accepted a draft agreement that calls for some uranium produced in Iran to be sent abroad for further enrichment, an Iranian diplomat said Wednesday.
Although many in Europe might applaud loss of American prestige and power, many Americans still believe in American "exceptionalism". According to Pew Research:
Iran supplying Taliban in Afghanistan (Video)U.S. military officials have told CBS News that Iran is sending money and weapons onto the Afghan battlefield. But U.S. commanders are not allowed to comment publicly and it's unclear to them what the U.S. strategy is for dealing with Iran's increasingly deadly involvement.
Public Supports Military Action Against Iran to Prevent Nuclear Weapons -The public approves of direct negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, although most Americans are not hopeful the talks will succeed.
Rebooting American Foreign Policy It has been a bad decade for America's foreign-policy and intelligence establishment. We've seen a devastating terrorist attack in America's largest city, followed by two protracted wars fraught with strategic missteps.
Chinese, DPRK leaders meet on bilateral tiesChina Daily is published in China and presented in English. It seems a little unsettling to read about Chinese diplomacy. Not because it is threatening but because it seems to be leading in the direction we should be going in the US.
What does French President Sarkozy see in Obama that liberals fail to see?Sarkozy sees Obama as "incredibly naive" and grossly "egotistical" - so much so that "no one can "dent his naivite, and is very worried about what this means for the West since the American president is the leader of the free world
[Nicholas Sarkozy criticizes the naivete of Obama as] UN leaders back nuclear resolution but grow impatient with Iran Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, came close to mocking his American counterpart for the good intentions, which Mr Obama had heralded as an "historic" step towards nuclear abolition, even though it set no specific targets or fresh mandates.
The top ten things you didn't know about Iran Thursday is a fateful day for the world, as the U.S., other members of the United Nations Security Council, and Germany meet in Geneva with Iran in a bid to resolve outstanding issues.
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