digital diplomacy

Unfortunately, there’s a long history of terrorism. Palestinians regarded it as a resistance to what they see as an illegitimate occupation. Of course, Israelis regarded it as terrorism. What I think is new here, which is very troubling, is that people are using the new tools of technology, social media, and you're beginning to see radical fringe elements that are able to organize, galvanize support.

As negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 nations meet behind closed doors in Vienna in a final push for a comprehensive nuclear deal, a separate round of negotiations is taking place online. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, traded accusations, praise, and hopeful words in advance of the final round of nuclear negotiations. The two sparred in a pair of op-eds published in the The Washington Post (Kerry) and Le Monde (Zarif), and in a video Zarif made available on YouTube. 

In the wired age, "Twitter bombs" that spam feeds with militant propaganda are as much a part of the modern jihadi’s arsenal as bullets. But with every burst of online messaging from extremists comes potential blowback.

If you’re a Russian citizen these days, it is easier than ever to support the insurgency in eastern Ukraine, now nearly three months old.  With the click of a mouse, you can transfer money through Sberbank – Russia’s largest bank, which is government controlled – to grassroots organizations supplying separatist rebels with weapons and personnel.

Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.” Can the company practice what it preaches – even in Cuba? A delegation of Google employees, headed by executive chairman Eric Schmidt, traveled to Cuba this past week in an effort to advocate for removing government restrictions on the Internet. The executives met with Yoani Sanchez, a prominent blogger and dissident who runs the independent 14ymedio news portal, a site blocked in Cuba.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has taken to Twitter to spread its message, trumpet bloody successes, and recruit potential jihadists, but its social-media campaign has come under attack from forces that range from the U.S. State Department to the mysterious group of hacker-activists who call themselves Anonymous.

Radio Sawa is giving fans access, anywhere and at any time, to the most popular radio network in the Middle East through the launch of the new Radio Sawa app. Owners of iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets will have instant access to Radio Sawa’s streams of breaking news, music, Radio Sawa programs and hourly news updates. 

A video on YouTube showing a young man preaching out to his “brothers and sisters” in Britain to unleash their jihad upon the United Kingdom has been reported on by The Sunday Times.  The video is just the latest in many more showing young Britons drawing on their western roots and Islamist inspiration to instigate, what might be termed, a YouTube jihad, according to the newspaper.

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