Berlin Global is an online cultural diplomacy news platform, which reports on cultural diplomacy activity and the means in which it is practiced and implemented in the German speaking countries(Germany, Austria, Switzerland) by embassies, the public sector, the business sector and civil society.

Sources - The reporting of these news stories is sourced from an assortment of different areas, including the public and private sectors, the diplomatic community, NGOs and a number of different academic institutions.

Diplomatic Community - Berlin Global reports on the activities of foreign embassies, state sponsored cultural institutions and the numerous consulates, which are located in the capital cities of German-speaking countries. Events which are organised by the copious different embassies are often reported on, as are interviews with the various ambassadors who are positioned currently in the Embassies.

Art & Culture - The Art & Culture sections of the Berlin Global site frequently focuses on the cultural diplomacy aspects of various artistic and cultural events. Reports draw on various events, exhibitions, open-air concerts, festivals and featured films.

Business & Tourism - The business and tourism sections of the site focus on the private sector CSR activities, the economy and the economic relationships between countries, bilaterally and multilaterally. The Touristic section focuses on cultural touristic attractions and the numerous events, which are hosted throughout the year.

There is nowhere quite like Berlin. Few other cities have played such an instrumental role in global affairs over the past 100 years. It has been, in every sense of the word, a battleground. A battleground not just for armies, but for the ideas and philosophies that are the very foundations of politics and society. For almost four decades, capitalist West Berlin stood in juxtaposition with communist East Berlin.

Two contrasting visions for the world were separated by a concrete wall. Berlin was the pinprick on which the entire weight of the Cold War was focused. When the wall fell in 1989, the images of people breaking through the barrier and embracing each other sent shockwaves around the world. It was the beginning of the international system as we understand it today.

The process of rebuilding and reinvention undergone since 1989 is familiar to Berlin. The economic and social unrest resulting from the Great War (1914-1918) was followed by a period that came to be known as the roaring twenties: Sexual freedom, artistic expression, and cultural creativity flourished in the Weimar Republic. The liberalism captured by Christopher Isherwood’s book “Goodbye to Berlin”, however, quickly turned to tragedy: The horror and the misery of the Second World War was played out on the streets of Berlin, and left the city in a state of ruin once again.

The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 established West Berlin as an island of capitalism surrounded by communist East Germany. During the subsequent three decades West Berlin became a symbol for free, democratic societies across the world, a status that drew considerable attention: John F. Kennedy declared “Ich bin ein Berliner” from the steps of Schöneberg town hall, David Bowie reveled in what he described as “a cultural extravaganza”, and the dazzling lights of the West Berlin clubs and bars never went out.

Berlin remains a cultural extravaganza to this day, with young people from across Europe flocking to the former Eastern part of the city: good accommodation, a thriving cultural and artistic scene, and a vibrant nightlife await them. In the centre of the city, Berlin’s status as the capital city of Europe’s largest economy and the driving force of the EU is increasingly apparent: International NGOs and multi-national companies are establishing office and headquarters here.

It was little surprise that back then in 2008, US President Barack Obama choose Berlin as the location for his first public speech in Europe, addressing an audience of tens of thousands, he proclaimed “look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.”