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From Kismet to Hizmet

... excellent background and analysis about "the split." Efforts by Erdogan's regime to facilitate the extradition of Gulen from his "self imposed" exile in the United States to Turkey, so far, have been unsuccessful. Thanks to social media, Erdogan's "crackdown" against alleged "coup plotters" and those who fit those profiles and other "anti-government" profiles developed by loyal elements of the sercurity services (and some casual collateral ...

Опубликовано:
16.02.2017 16:51:00

Brexistentialism for useful innocents

The alleged “existential crisis” has been linked to the populist upheaval that drove a simple majority of Britons to vote to leave the EU. The Telegraph, The Guardian, CNN, Money, and social media say that's what we should believe, and that thet “existential crisis” exists among Brexiteers in Great Britain too. Just ask new Tory foreign secretary and super Toff, Boris Johnson, who just last year (born in the USA,...

Опубликовано:
28.07.2016 07:50:00

Ban Ki-Moon and the charade of transparency

UN propagandists claim that the selection process to name the next secretary general, who will take office before the inauguration of the next U.S. president, will be the most transparent in the history of the organization, which was founded in 1945. But on close examination, the security council recommends a new secretary general based on "a private meeting." This means that the politics and diplomacy that determine who becomes the next leader of the institution, and the roles of NGOs...

Опубликовано:
12.03.2016 00:51:00

The smog of war

President Barack Obama, seeking to shape his legacy, said that COP 21 makes the United States, which did not ratify the earlier Kyoto Protocol, “the world leader in fighting climate change.” But Obama will not be around to lead the COP 21 fight, which is not scheduled to start until 2020. By that time another U.S. president will be campaigning for reelection. Adding drama to the conversation, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry calls climate change “an existential threat...a...

Опубликовано:
23.01.2016 03:25:00

Brinkmanship for useful idiots

... the Bavarian G-7 Summit will likely be recalled for the entertainment value it created, offering a platform for the “leader of the free world” to deliver a personal attack on the character of the “leader of the evil empire.” Social media losing credibility as diplomatic tool According to the Guardian, U.S. president Barack Obama “lambasted” Putin. But it was make-believe. This was not a televised debate or an “on the sidelines” conversation. Effectively,...

Опубликовано:
10.06.2015 10:01:00

BRICS and food security

... decades, if at all, before the organization becomes a major player in the dynamics of the food security set-up. Food security and the BRICS may be realigned or rebranded or just fade away to accommodate changes brought on by younger leaders and online social media. The United States. A pittance for food and water infrastructure In the United States food security is “at risk.” There are debilitating droughts in the Sacramento Valley agricultural region and the strategic water network ...

Опубликовано:
08.05.2015 02:57:00

Sports Diplomacy. Can Sepp Blatter bring unity to a fractious FIFA?

After being told by Henry Kissinger that it was time to “modernize” FIFA president Sepp Blatter has turned football into a money machine that is expanding in Africa the Middle East and Asia, and maintaining a profitable scenario for marketing partners in a troubled global economy. Reflecting on how football has become a global force during his long tenure as FIFA president, Blatter tweeted on March 23rd that... “FIFA, with the positive emotions that football unleashes, is more...

Опубликовано:
04.04.2015 18:30:00

Facebook and “The Decline of Power”... A treatise for useful idiots.

... among intellectuals and policy wonks similar to what one saw in 1992 with the appearance of Francis Fukayama's “The End of Diplomacy.” Fukayama received a flurry of hype thanks to the internet as it existed at that time. Using social media marketing, Naim's PR team even got a promotional quote from William Jefferson Clinton for the 2013 launch. The former US president claimed that The End of Power” ...“will change the way you look at the world.” ...

Опубликовано:
26.01.2015 08:26:00

Sports and Politcs: Brazil's football Santa Plays Christmas Scrooge

Santa and his reindeer came from the North Pole and played Scrooge for futebol, the nation's most popular spectator sport. Poor attendance, lackluster play and massive debts find even the most famous clubs tightening their belts. Players are griping because teams delay paychecks. Managers balk at signing for less money. Third party syndicates continue to own shares of players like slices of churrasco, dribbling around FIFA rules. Government subsidized football hasn't improved...

Опубликовано:
28.12.2014 17:44:00

BRICS and Washington's social pivot to India

... implementing free market policies. But critics of Modi say that the much heralded economic performance of his Gurajat state, based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is merely at parity with half a dozen other key industrialized states in India and the rest is social media hype. Gurajat is a state of 62.5 million in a nation of 1.8 billion located on India’s border with Pakistan, around 800 km south of Karachi. When Modi started out his first term as chief minister of Gujarat in 2002 he was accused of ...

Опубликовано:
02.10.2014 20:25:00

Obama's "Scare Force" Targets BRICS

Calling the BRICS development bank “an insurance policy against the risk of U.S. sanctions,” experts at the prestigious Brookings Institution have joined Washington’s effort to disrupt the Russian economy and punish nations who do business with it. Branded as the world’s most influential think tank with an endowment upwards of $262 million, Brookings has been on Uncle Sam’s payroll since 1916, providing guidance on domestic and international policy issues. In 2010 when...

Опубликовано:
11.08.2014 07:12:00

Yes we can. Brazil confident about World Cup security

It was calm along the Esplanade on the afternoon of Friday, May 23rd. Most demonstrators who protest in front of the futuristic buildings along Brasilia’s divided highway of government were gone for the weekend. After former president Jose Inacio Lula da Silva (known as “Lula”) made headlines by saying that anybody who uses the Metro (in Rio and Sao Paulo) to travel to FIFA World Cup games is an “idiot” (babaça) it was the perfect time for president Dilma Rousseff’s...

Опубликовано:
05.06.2014 18:23:00

Predicting critical events, an institutional challenge.

“Close your eyes and you’re not sure if it’s an Israeli or a Saudi speaking.” That’s what Daniel Levy, Middle East director at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told The New York Times in an article dated March 31st. The ECFR, which has called for a greater role for Al Qaeda in Algeria to “promote democracy,” is funded mainly by George Soros. The New York Times sourced Levy about the latest attempt by Israel and Saudi Arabia to cooperate...

Опубликовано:
22.05.2014 01:04:00

Containment's Last Hurrah

... A replay of Kennan’s Cold War tactics of economic and political isolation and his psychological assessment of Russians as being inherently neurotic and inward looking are convenient for American “retail politics” and conversational social media but branded public diplomacy initiatives are proving themselves out of step with the fast changing realpolitik of our times. Credit: Corbisimages From battleground Berlin to battleground Kiev Had Wolf lived and accepted the big money ...

Опубликовано:
27.04.2014 18:46:00

FIFA, sports diplomacy and the Bout connection

... geopolitics The impact of the FIFA private investigation. The future of Edward Snowden and Victor Bout. Conflict resolution in Syria and Ukraine. All of these events will intersect in the next few months in the real world and in the virtual world of social media and digital diplomacy that thrives on the internet. For those who posit that geopolitics and hegemony are dead concepts, the convergence of these forces has the potential to change the geopolitical landscape in the same way tectonic plates ...

Опубликовано:
31.03.2014 22:05:00

Banking on Bolshevism. Brazil’s “caviar left” spending billions to revive Cuba’s broken communist economy

Although the government of Russian president Vladimir Putin has authorized writing off 90% of Cuba’s $32 billion debt Kremlin policy toward the Castro regime is characterized by caution. Foreign direct investment by the Russian Federation in Cuba remains insignificant. But Cuba’s economic future is up for grabs and Brazil’s socialist elite is playing the non-aligned card, taking big risks in a gambit to control part of the action. Moving forward with a strategy driven by members...

Опубликовано:
07.03.2014 20:01:00

Sports Diplomacy And Social Media Clash In Brazil

In the minds of many the sports diplomacy and sports marketing that support competitive athletic tournaments like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games deserve a Nobel peace prize. But recent events in Brazil indicate that the model could use a “reset” to remain relevant to future generations. RT, Pravda, and Facebook (which is backed by important Russian investors), have provided social platforms that have emboldened Brazil’s young and restless in their opposition to the sports...

Опубликовано:
11.07.2013 09:42:00

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Poll conducted

  1. In your opinion, what are the US long-term goals for Russia?
    U.S. wants to establish partnership relations with Russia on condition that it meets the U.S. requirements  
     33 (31%)
    U.S. wants to deter Russia’s military and political activity  
     30 (28%)
    U.S. wants to dissolve Russia  
     24 (22%)
    U.S. wants to establish alliance relations with Russia under the US conditions to rival China  
     21 (19%)
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