In his last recorded interview from 1986, astronomer Carl Sagan stated “We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustive mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces”. The ignorance, and power, which Sagan was... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- The relationship between AI and humans (The Economist) Saudi Arabia says tech giants to invest more than $9 billion in kingdom (Reuters) The People Onscreen Are Fake. The Disinformation Is Real... Continue Reading →
Challenger 2: Transparency and Military Aid in the Digital Age
On Monday, the British Ministry of Defence tweeted that the United Kingdom (UK) had decided to send a squadron of Challenger 2 Tanks to Ukraine thus accelerating “Ukrainian successes”. This new ‘arms package’ comes in the wake of heated debates on social media. In recent days, Twitter has been abuzz with rumors that European nations... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- Researchers warn of rise in extremism online after Covid (BBC News) The Illusion of Controls (Foreign Affairs) UK spy agency had to ‘pre-bunk’ Russian propaganda over Ukraine war, GCHQ boss says... Continue Reading →
Ukraine’s Unique Approach to Celebrity Diplomacy
Celebrity diplomacy is not a new phenomenon. For many decades, multilateral institutions such as UNICEF (United Nations International Emergency Children’s Fund) have relied on celebrities to increase awareness to important causes and raise funds. Other times celebrities join NGOs to promote specific causes ranging from alleviating poverty in Africa to helping child soldiers rejoin society.... Continue Reading →
What Role Does OSINT Play in Ukraine Crisis?
One of the defining characteristics of the Russia-Ukraine War has been the emergence of OSINT, or open-source intelligence. The term itself is not new. Several years ago, the British Foreign Office created an ‘open-source intelligence unit’ tasked with gathering information from online sources. This information would then be used by British diplomats to obtain foreign... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- The Supply of Disinformation Will Soon Be Infinite (The Atlantic) Preparing for a Russian cyber offensive against Ukraine this winter (Microsoft Blog) The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (GCHQ) Why is Elon... Continue Reading →
Real Time Diplomacy During the Russia Ukraine War
In 2012, Philip Seib published the book “Real-Time Diplomacy”. Seib argued that digital technologies in general, and social media in particular, had expedited the practice of diplomacy. The reason for this was the acceleration in news coverage made possible thanks to the emergence of citizen journalism. Seib viewed social media as a competitive arena in... Continue Reading →
The Decline and Fall of Twitter? Social Media and the Future of Digital Diplomacy
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. These are the five stages of grief according to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and the five emotions expressed by Twitter users since the social network was acquired by Elon Musk. It began with denial, specifically promises by Twitter executives and Musk himself that the social network would remain a vibrant town... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- Israel Election: Authorities Brace for Interference – From Foreign and Domestic Actors (Haaretz Newspaper) Amazon introduces a $7.3 annual Prime Video subscription tier in India (Tech Crunch) Google Billionaire Warns US... Continue Reading →