Bob Dylan's political road – and Sesame Street's | Mark Lawson

Tyrannical regimes may be influenced by cultural 'soft power', but a boycott can be less compromisingBlowing in the wind at the moment is the question of cultural diplomacy. Bob Dylan plays a gig in Beijing, then heads with his guitar to another of his nation's traditional enemies, Vietnam. That's a commercial transaction – rather than the state-aided entertainment known in the contemporary buzz-phrase as "soft power" – but we simultaneously see an example of soft-toy power: the US governmen...

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