digital diplomacy

For the past decade the Molotov song “Gimme the Power” has served as an anthem of youth rebellion decrying corrupt police and politicians in Mexico. This week, its lyrics became the banner under which thousands of young people protested online and in the streets against Mexico’s new telecommunications law, which they believe infringes on their civil rights.

For nearly six decades, South Korea's (ROK) approach to security has focused on sustaining the status quo: Maintaining deterrence and a robust defence posture in order to prevent another major conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

Americans like to associate their spam with other countries. They joke about Chinese spammers or Nigerians or Russians. It's a time-honored nativist tradition. But, according to the new quarterly report from the security and spam monitoring company, Sophos, computers inside these United States relay—by far—the most spam. And we have in every quarter of the past year.

Turkey's government has said it still hopes Twitter will open an office in the country, a day after the social networking site ruled out any such move. In a statement on Thursday following several days of talks with Twitter executives, Communication Minister Lutfi Elvan said Turkey had suggested that the company open a "liaison office" to improve coordination with the government.

In May 2012, the law school at George Mason University hosted a forum billed as a “vibrant discussion” about Internet search competition. Many of the major players in the field were there — regulators from the Federal Trade Commission, federal and state prosecutors, top congressional staffers.

For over a decade, the United States has promoted a free and open Internet as a central tenet of its foreign policy. To date, this has most visibly involved shaming governments that limit access to online content and developing tools that help individuals circumvent censorship and surveillance.

You probably can’t get the new Twitter profile just yet. But if you want to peak into the future, check out First Lady Michelle Obama’s profile @flotus; or super-star actor @channingtatum; or Iran’s Supreme Leader@Khamenei_ir.

April 9, 2014

The year 2013 was a dynamic and diverse one for public diplomacy. Caitlin Byrne, an Australian public diplomacy scholar and practitioner, said “The scope and versatility of public diplomacy in 2013 is striking. The most significant stories of 2013 reflect public diplomacy’s core challenges: to enable dialogue, align national and global interests and deliver positive change.” 

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