While most histories of the Civil War naturally focus on the drama in America, Don H. Doyle’s “The Cause of All Nations” explains how the conflict fits into broader world history and how events abroad affected the war.

This racism and mockery have certainly dented China’s image and drained its already meager soft power while the CCP tries to forge its soft power narrative of a “Community of Common Destiny for Humankind.” Such behavior will hurt its rise on the world stage.

Given the alarming trends in the Middle East, America should fashion agile media platforms that influence audiences in the region and—even more importantly—say something compelling.

Providence co-editor Robert Nicholson sat down with Ambassador Alberto Fernandez, president of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). Throughout an extensive conversation, Nicholson posed five questions to Fernandez on topics ranging from Syria to the prospect of democracy in the greater Middle East.

Much has been made of Obama’s foreign policy mistakes, but one criticism not often made, at least not fully, is that the Obama Administration was caught flat-footed by the changing information environment revolutionized by the rise of social media.