The U.S. State Department has mostly abandoned the kind of cultural diplomacy it practiced during the Cold War, when it funded libraries and concerts around the world. In their place we got Al Hurra television and Radio Sawa, both mocked by their target audiences as propaganda. The New York Philharmonic's trip to Pyongyang -- approved but not funded by the State Department -- marks a return to the old-fashioned approach. Perhaps it can create a tiny trickle of a thaw where six-party talks have failed.