Soft Power. Hard Power. America is master of both. America’s soft power flows from Hollywood, Brands, Corporations, Universities, etc. Hard power comes from the Pentagon. Till recently soft power ascendant. However, President Donald Trump disagrees. He “and his followers” believe only financial and military power matters.

Earlier on in history Count Bismarck stated “the current problems facing Europe cannot be resolved by democracy. Only by blood and iron”. Hence the sobriquet way: The Iron Chancellor. As of now the whole world is obsessed with soft power and branding. We have 8.2 billion people, each an individual brand. We have brand ambassadors, influencers, IG followers, TikTokers, etc.

The great success story in our part of the world is the UAE, and especially Dubai. How a desert backwater, within 70 years, rose to be a great financial, tourist and vacation destination. Great strategic thinking has gone into “Project UAE”. Soft power projection has played a major role. In the 1960s/70s, Sheikh Zayed al-Nahayan and Sheikh Rashid........

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