history & theory
There is one reaction that so exemplifies the current state of the networked world that it warrants closer analysis. That is the filmed declaration of Anonymous to take down ISIS. It is the epitome of the theory of Netpolitik, which Leshuo Dong and I wrote about earlier this year.
When it comes to public diplomacy, China might be better off loosening up and developing a sense of humor about itself. Gone are the days of Hu Jintao’s “smile diplomacy,” which aimed to convince the world that it had nothing to fear from a rising China.
The main assertion of Deep K. Datta-Ray is that Indian diplomacy is rooted in the Mahabharata , which predates modern Western diplomacy by several centuries. The author presents his case ably and at great length. He illuminates Indian diplomacy’s lifeline to our ancient heritage and brings the analysis all the way to the present.
The notes of the sarabande of Bach’s Suite No 2 rise in the cold air, praising God for the “miracle” of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as Mstislav Rostropovich later put it. The photograph is seen around the world. The date is 11 November 1989, and the Russian virtuoso is marching to the beat of history.
In the midst of what some scholars have called a “global communications arms race” the U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation to overhaul the structure of U.S. international broadcasting (USIB).
One of the big questions in both politics and economics is whether government development aid actually produces economic growth in the recipient countries. [...] And, as the finding above shows, it doesn’t work. Not only doesn’t it work, the aid we give for political reasons works less well than that. We should, therefore, simply stop doing this. Which is as some of us have thought for a long time. The last 40 years of globalisation have shown that the finest poverty reduction technique we have is trade
Dr. Eusebio Leal, Cuba’s leading preservationist who is lauded for saving the country’s Habana Vieja district, will give a talk on his lifelong endeavors at Flagler College on Sunday, Oct. 11.
America’s political, national security, and foreign policy elites continue to ignore the basics of geopolitics that have shaped the fate of world empires for the past 500 years. Consequently, they have missed the significance of the rapid global changes in Eurasia that are in the process of undermining the grand strategy for world dominion that Washington has pursued these past seven decades.