More political ambassadors fired their DCMs during the Trump administration than during any other administration in recent memory, he noted.

The DCM has to take care of the entire embassy community.

On one hand, they are in the host-country under the authority of the chief of mission, but on the other, those from agencies such as the Departments of Defense and Justice still report to their bosses in Washington.

kind of like a chief operating officer, but without the authority that most COOs have.

I was Mr. Inside,” and the ambassador was “Mr. Outside,” which didn’t mean that “I was cut off from the outside world.”

He noted that, since at least a third of U.S. ambassadorships — or chief of mission positions — go to political appointees, DCM is as high as many senior career diplomats aim to rise in the hierarchy.

From securing semi-conductor supply chains to regulating data flows, techno-nationalism is on the political agenda of western democracies and eastern nations alike. Over the next two years as the government seeks to put in place a comprehensive digital regulatory framework governing data, privacy, apps and algorithms, engaging the first digital generation of new voters on techno-nationalism will be crucial at every step.

While China requires licences for online games by a dedicated gaming regulator, Indonesia requires formal registration to be compliant with local laws governing what are called “private electronic systems”.

We are already witnessing a wave of regulatory moves from Indonesia on not just controlling online gaming apps and services but also actively promoting indigenously developed gaming apps.

Creative engagement of this digital-first generation would perhaps require interactive live streaming on platforms like Twitch apart from volunteer engagement efforts through “servers” on Discord.

While YouTube and WhatsApp are most likely their primary sources of news to them, Facebook and Twitter are already legacy social media platforms belonging to an earlier era.

as this cohort barely reads newspapers or watches conventional television.

that online gaming has nearly five times the number of users relative to those using the internet for online education.

this generation came of age with the touchscreen revolution. Their teen years witnessed an explosive growth in smartphone usage. This is also the generation that had the highest exposure to online education due to Covid-19 vastly increasing their screen time and use of internet tools and services.

As India’s largest cohort that has been “Digital First” from the cradle, this generation of first-time voters has experienced all the significant digital shifts in their formative years.

withdrawing the earlier proposed Personal Data Protection Bill,

the world’s most unique digital polity of first-time, non-English internet users who think, act and transact “mobile first”.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC), by contrast, sees the region as an important arena to challenge the rules-based international order, advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests, undermine transparency and openness, and weaken U.S. relations with African peoples and governments.

it represents one of the largest regional voting groups (28 percent) at the UN and other multilateral bodies

30percent of the critical minerals that power our modern world

to facilitate the provision of online undergraduate and certificate-level courses in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.

a broader range of skills and knowledge

digital democracy programming, defend against digital authoritarianism, fight back against disinformation, combat gender-based online harassment and abuse, and establish standards for responsible conduct in cyberspace

while advocating for open technology platforms like Open RAN t

ndersea cables, expanding the number of data centers, and investing in dynamic African businesse

a digital ecosystem built on open, reliable, interoperable, and secure interne

an initiative on digital transformation

o support sustainable development “accelerators”: digital transformation, particularly in financial services and records

combating digital authoritarianism,

ocus on digital ecosystems

Ideja o globalnom sukobu između dobra i zla manipulativna je i besmislena. Nemoguće je prihvatiti tvrdnju da je svet crno-beo, kada je svuda natopljen ljudskom krvlju.

Masakr, koji je zgrozio Afričku uniju, prošao je gotovo nezapaženo u Evropi, kao i mnogi drugi slični događaji koji se ne uklapaju u kontekst zapadnog koncepta dobra i zla.

Ovo više nije geopolitika, već odgovara klasičnoj definiciji haosa u nastanku. Cela stvar liči na bure baruta iz koga viri mnoštvo fitilja. Biće dovoljno da se samo jedan zapali.

Tektonske promene menjaju svetski odnos snaga, ali su i zapadni lideri ti koji neprincipijelnošću i hroničnom dvoličnošću potkopavaju tlo pod svojim nogama. Svet kao da klizi u ludilo. Ništa više ne izgleda stvarno, ništa nije opipljivo i smisleno.

Erdogan im je pre nekoliko nedelja blokirao put ka NATO-u, a sada ratifikaciju sporazuma u turskom parlamentu uslovljava zahtevom finskim i švedskim vlastima da deportuju u Tursku desetine ljudi koje je njegov režim optužio za terorizam. To su kurdski aktivisti i članovi progonjenog muslimanskog pokreta gulenista u Turskoj, nazvanog po najvećem političkom protivniku Erdogana, Fetulahu Gulenu, koji živi u egzilu u Sjedinjenim Državama.

Njegova glavna agenda u Teheranu bila je da dobije podršku Rusije i Putina za upad na kurdske teritorije u severnoj Siriji. On tamo želi da napravi tampon zonu koja bi se protezala 480 kilometara duž turske granice i dopirala duboko u unutrašnjost Sirije. Na ovom prostoru on planira da naseli do tri miliona arapskih sunitskih izbeglica koje sada žive u Turskoj, što podrazumeva etničko čišćenje lokalnog kurdskog stanovništva.

Putin je pokazao Ukrajini i međunarodnoj zajednici da u svakom trenutku može da parališe izvoz žitarica u svet, što po svoj prilici znači da će bombama ucenjivati zapadne sile da ublaže sankcije prema Rusiji.

da su Rusija i Iran sada „ujedinjena tvrđava“.

potpisali su sporazum o saradnji, po kome će Gazprom pomoći Iranu da razvija gasna i naftna polja, a očekuje se da će Iran uskoro Rusiji prodati još stotinu vojnih dronova za nastavak rata u Ukrajini.

Saudijski ministar inostranih poslova Adel al Džubeir, koji je prisustvovao sastanku, negirao je ovu izjavu, rekavši da to nije čuo.

u vezi sa ubistvom palestinsko-američke novinarke Širin Abu Akle, koju su izraelski vojnici ubili 11. maja. I u pravu je. Bajden i drugi zapadni lideri su postepeno izgubili svaki moralni kredibilitet pred licem sveta.

Centar svetske moći pomera se sa zapada na istok, iz Vašingtona u Peking, a bin Salman je sve skloniji povezivanju sa Kinom.

Ukratko, Bajden je došao da zamoli bin Salmana da pumpa više nafte, jer bi to ublažilo inflaciju u Americi i ubrzalo njen ekonomski rast. Bin Salmanov odgovor bio je kratak: ne.

Fotografija koja simbolizuje ovaj proces prikazuje ostarelog američkog predsednika Džoa Bajdena i mladog saudijskog princa Mohameda bin Salmana kako se nestašno pozdravljaju pesnicama tokom Bajdenove posete Saudijskoj Arabiji 15. jula.

odnos snaga u svetu se menja na štetu zapadnih sila.

Od početka pandemije u proleće 2020. broj ljudi koji pate od gladi ili hronične neuhranjenosti porastao je za 150 miliona, tako da ih je prošle godine bilo 828 miliona.

sam po sebi je svetski rat, jer njegove negativne posledice oseća ceo svet.

sam po sebi je svetski rat, jer njegove negativne posledice oseća ceo svet.

when states cooperatewith the hegemon not because they feel threatened but to achieve mutual gains,we describe this as institutional binding

Bandwagoning should occur when secondary statespartner with the hegemon in response to a perceived threat

tobuildingthenewBureauofCyberspaceandDigitalPolicyintoastronginstitution,

apositivevisionfordigitalfreedomanddigitalinclusionwhileworkingtocombatdigitalauthoritarianism

multistakeholdermodelofInternetgovernance

open,transparentstandards

thefreeflowofdataacrossinternationalborders

promoteaglobaldigitaleconomythatletsU.S.companiesandtheirworkerscompeteonanequalplayingfieldaroundtheworld

First,wemuststrengthenadherencetotheframeworkofresponsiblestatebehaviorthatallUNmemberstateshaveendorsed.

Weareinaglobalcontestforademocraticfutureinwhichwecanallusetechnologytoreachourfullpotentialandagainstanauthoritarianfutureinwhichtechnologyisharnessedtorepressfreeexpressionanddestabilizeopen,democraticsocieties

Why your meetings are a waste of time

Breadth of the territorial sea

The island's air defense identification zone was actually the brainchild of the United States,

they are unilaterally declared buffer areas that extend beyond territorial airspace

China disregard international law norms left and right for decades

the five permanent members of the Security Council, including both China and the United States, have veto power, so they can block any UN attempt to enforce international law.

"It would run against international law, but international law is flimsy and open to the interpretation of every country that decides whether or not they want to follow it or enforce it,"

convention

"The reality is Taiwan exists. Taiwan is autonomous. It is effectively independent of any other country. It elects its own government, collects its own taxes, defends its own borders. So for all intents and purposes, Taiwan is a country,"

most of the world treated Taiwan as if it were an independent country

China is a signatory to UNCLOS, signing on December 10, 1982, and ratifying it in 1996. Taiwan is not.

the Versailles Declaration

Roadmap for Digital Cooperation

he UN Secretary-General’s “Our Common Agenda” report,

hybrid

cyber

the EU Cybersecurity Strategy

he Strategic Compass

the “2030 Digital Compass: the European Way for the Digital Decade”

Lisbon Declaration on Digital Democracy with a Purpose

Berlin Declaration on Digital Society and Value-based Digital Government

the Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment

he European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade,

EU-LAC Digital Alliance

the Republic of Korea

Singapore

the Digital Partnership with Japan

the Digital Agenda for Western Balkans,

trategic Partnership with the Gulf

the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council,

the Joint Declaration by the EU and Indo-Pacific countries on privacy and the protection of digital data

he New Agenda for the Mediterranean

the EU-India Trade and Technology Council,

hejoint commitment to digital transformation in the EU-Africa Joint Vision for 2030,

Global Digital Compac

he Global Gateway strategy,

A digital compass for 2030: Europe marking the digital decade

Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment

The European Union and the Republic of Korea advance their strategic partnership at annual Joint Committee meeting

Joint Statement:

Strengthening trust in the digital environment

Section 2.  Pittsburgh outcomes

Digital Economy and Society Index 2022: overall progress but digital skills, SMEs and 5G networks lag behind

to what extent regional actors have retained their passion for showdown, revenge or expansion.

As a result, there is no reason to expect Moscow's assistance in resolving the situation (be it Kosovo or Bosnia). Right now, the West's favorite practice of "selective interaction" (we work together with Russia where we need it, we refuse to engage on other issues) can no longer be applied. There will be no cooperation: Russia and the West will be on opposite sides of the barricades everywhere, no matter the issue at hand. We are in a systemic cold war. And this reality can greatly influence what will happen in the Balkans.

It cannot promise membership, and more precisely – even if such a pledge were made, it doesn’t guarantee anything.

the only future roadmap for the various states was eventual membership of the EU

Above all, the current expansion of large cloud and colocation data centers improves efficiency, since this is accompanied by the dismantling of significantly less efficient, company-owned data centers."

Frankfurt is a major European hub, with more than 60 data centers,

in response to concerns that data centers had taken up 64 hectares (640,000 sqm/6.9 million sq ft) in Frankfurt, and were pushing up property prices, as well as using available energy.

Indonesia, a country with a long history of hostility toward China, has embraced China’s vision of economic development driven by digital infrastructure and managed by Chinese providers.

Huawei had a published plan for the digital transformation of every country in the world.

Let us build you a broadband network and the eco-system of e-commerce, e-finance and digital technologies that go with it, and you can become rich like China, the Huawei officials said.

Huawei, Carnegie reports, is training 10,000 Indonesian officials in cybersecurity.

But Chinese players also extend their influence by working through local actors and institutions while adapting and assimilating local and traditional forms, norms, and practices.”

China also divides the external [export] cycle into two sub-cycles: Europe and the United States on one hand, and the Belt and Road/Asia, Africa and Latin America on the other.”

Half a billion people in neighboring countries now depend on Chinese technology for communications, data processing and logistics, providing China with a nearly limitless source of young workers for its industries and an ever-expanding export market.

China’s exports to the largest economies of the Global South have nearly doubled from pre-Covid levels to a seasonally-adjusted US$70 billion in June 2022 from $38 billion in June 2019.

TINA should still hold. Japan has no choice but to strengthen its economy, enhance its defence capacities and nurture its alliances and partnerships.

There is no alternative, or TINA.

Google, whose search ads rely less on the sort of tracking Apple has curbed, may have benefited from Meta’s misery, helping offset some of the slowdown.

Ad-sellers are feeling the delayed effect of Apple’s change last year to the privacy settings on iPhones, which stops advertisers from tracking people’s behaviour on its devices, and thus from measuring the effectiveness of digital ads.

When marketing budgets get trimmed, advertisers tend to stick to what they know, says Mark Shmulik of Bernstein, a broker. And they know Google search much better than they do Snap’s experiments with augmented reality.

That work did not intend to portray nudges as a silver bullet, he says, and did include caveats about heterogeneity and publication bias.

should break down nudges into smaller distinct groups by type.

from flies to golf flags placed in urinals have been shown to improve men’s aim and reduce cleaning costs

academic journals tend to favour publishing studies that report the largest effect sizes

three separate academic groups, from Britain, Hungary and America, published critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which also published the Swiss team’s initial analysis.

Psychologists at the University of Geneva analysed some 200 nudge studies and concluded that not only did nudges work overall, but that they did so impressively.

choice architecture interventions

it should marry pressure with persuasion and plain-speaking with patience

Mr Biden’s simplistic attempt to divide the world into democracies and autocracies makes wise trade-offs harder.

the West came to think that it could have it all.

to acknowledge that foreign policy, like all government, involves trade-offs

There are ways to help keep talks honest.

they should assess the likely results rather than the appearances of virtue.

In 1991 the g7 produced 66% of global output; today, just 44%.

to refrain from staking out moral positions they cannot sustain.

The Economist has not lost its faith in the institutions that emerged from the Enlightenment. Liberal values are universal. Yet the West’s strategy for promoting its world-view is sputtering and America and its allies need to be clearer-eyed.

China is asserting the merits of “people-centred” human rights that put peace and economic development above voting and free speech.

mbs also shows that American power is less imposing than it seemed 15 years ago

Is the ethical policy to shun mbs or sup with him?

values, power and that historic destiny.

For anyone who wants to understand the process and what is at stake, Mr Ball’s lucid and timely book offers a portal into a new realm.

The author wisely avoids spending too much time trying to imagine all the future uses of the metaverse, or analysing which of today’s tech giants are best-placed to exploit it. Nor does he dig very deeply into the inevitable regulatory and governance challenges. It is far too early in the game.

Economics, Mr Ball says, “will drive standardisation and interoperation over time”.

Ultimately an open standard prevailed, the Internet Protocol, because a common format created a bigger market.

that “economic gravity” will drive companies to co-operate in devising and adopting open standards, because the market that this will unlock will be much bigger than any of them could create alone.

it is not yet possible to take an item of virtual clothing from “Fortnite” into “Minecraft”.

He insists that, just as there is only one internet, made up of many different networks and services that have more value for being connected, there should be only one metaverse, made up of many virtual worlds.

an interoperable network of 3d virtual worlds that can be accessed simultaneously by millions of users, who can exert property rights over virtual items.

The word was coined in 1992 by Neal Stephenson in his novel “Snow Crash”. Mr Ball traces the concept of a parallel, synthetic reality back to “Pygmalion’s Spectacles”, a short story of 1935 by Stanley Weinbaum, and later tales by Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov and William Gibson. Strikingly, all their synthetic worlds are dystopias—a detail modern tech bosses have failed to notice, or chosen to ignore.

Metaverse is a relatively new name for an old idea, explains Matthew Ball, a technology analyst (and occasional contributor to The Economist), in his survey of the topic.

The vision was prescient, but the jargon died.

information superhighway

“The social and public opinion basis in Europe for co-operation and engaging with China is being gradually destroyed,”

many German firms have already accepted the need to reduce dependency on China. “They are more conscious of the risks and they are willing to pay a certain premium” to diversify,

As Germany’s chancellor, she had been at the forefront of eu efforts to keep relations with China from turning sour. In a phone call with her last September, Mr Xi noted a “high level of trust” between their countries.

China hit back wildly, placing sanctions on a wide range of prominent European politicians, scholars and think-tanks. The European Parliament responded by shelving ratification of an agreement on bilateral investment that had been reached between China and the eu in 2020 with much (overblown) fanfare.

Hungary remains strongly pro-China. But in February 2021 six other eu countries in the group failed to send their leaders to a virtual summit with Mr Xi (his first appearance at such an event). In May that year one of them, Lithuania, withdrew entirely: its foreign minister called the group “divisive”. Now the Czech Republic is mulling whether to leave, too. Like Lithuania, it says the group’s economic benefits have failed to match expectations.

Amazon’s $3.9bn purchase this month of One Medical, an American health-care provider, is only the latest maama effort to conquer one of the last remaining under-digitised markets big enough to move the needle for a trillion-dollar firm.

Amazon, for example, is investing heavily in its advertising business, Alphabet’s forte; Alphabet, meanwhile, is spending billions to get a foothold in the cloud, which is Amazon’s.

As they become commonplace, tech offerings are behaving like other staples.

The bigger the payroll the harder it is to replenish, let alone expand.

Barriers are being put up on the internet, too, as places from the European Union to India become more protective of their citizens’ data and of their own digital darlings. That is a worry for Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft, which, outside firewalled China at least, face few barriers to selling their digital services.

A day later Meta said its sales fell year on year, for the first time ever.

Covid-19 may have cramped physical lives, but it enriched digital ones—thereby enriching big tech as never before.

Since 2005 the digital share of American gdp has risen by a third, to 10%.

As the war drags on and casualties mount, the question is whether Mr Putin can mobilise the passive majority or whether they start to grow restive. The elites in the Kremlin, the army and the security services will watch closely.

Even when people have access to information, they “simply ignore it or rationalise it, just to avoid destroying the concept of self, country and power…created by propaganda,” notes Elena Koneva, a sociologist.

Among television viewers—mostly people over 60—more than 80% support the war. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, who get their news from the internet, it is less than half.

“These efforts are driven by the notion that it’s impossible to protect the internal legitimacy of the current leadership and keep citizens loyal if Russia remains relatively open and linked up to the global networked system.”

“disconnective society”

He blocked Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and any remaining independent media, isolated the country from poisonous Western influence and chased anyone who objected to the war out of the country.

As Greg Yudin, a Russian sociologist, argues, they are needed for the ritual of elections that demonstrate the legitimacy of the ruler, but the rest of the time they should be invisible. Mr Yudin calls this attitude “people on call”.

As long as Mr Putin is in power, Russia will build alliances with China, Iran and other anti-liberal countries. It will, as ever, be in the ideological vanguard.