An emerging trend in public diplomacy and development?

A nation's soft power has in a recent blog posting in The Guardian (hat tip to USC's CPD) been suggested as a governmental tool and process to alleviate poverty while increasing governmental credibility http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/aug/02/britain-aid-soft-power?CMP=twt_fd&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WhatsNewInPd+%28What%27s+New+in+Public+Diplomacy%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher#When:19:33:09Z

Is this a "blip on the screen" of trends in PD and international development, or an emerging trend? It's noteworthy that the blog is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, too, another major "influencer" and partner in governmental efforts to reduce poverty and disease.

Arab Diaspora Event

I have been following the progress of a fairly recent organization,  https://www.facebook.com/arabempowerment . They are DC-based but have strong links through the U.S. and the MENA region. On August 18th they are convening a conference to get even more mobilized on socioeconomic development projects for the region. See
http://www.plussocialgood.org/Post/Harnessing-Global-Arab-Talents-Enabling-Arab-Diaspora-Knowledge-Transfer-Online-SocialGood/d2ba02bc-9570-4beb-b53f-29fb151b061f

Article on peacebuilding in Syria

The article at http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/lebanon/130801/syria-peace-lebanon-taif-accords?page=0,1 is by Reese Ehrlich, entitled "Do Lebanon's Taif Accords offer lessons for Syrian peace?" It may be a bit biased toward the Taif Accords, but the comments by the Lebanese interviewed are worth a read, for overall context now, for the hopefully-not-too-distant future when all sides put down their weapons.