1. Feb 2022
    1. decency in the work of journalists

      Is this what it boils down to? Decency? It's too weak a value, no? I think there is/should be more to ethical and more codes ||DylanF||

    2. ethical behavior is the main one in the history of the media. Hundreds of self-regulation rules have been developed for the media around the world (more than 400 codes of ethics for journalists alone have been adopted in the world) - most contain universal rules for checking, verifying information and working with sources. One of the main ones is the Code of Ethics adopted in 2014 by the American Association of Professional Journalists: its preamble contains rules governing both formal journalism (the work of TV channels, Internet resources, print media) and "new media" - bloggers, operating on the platforms Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Telegram, etc. The very first principle contained in the preamble of the code is "seek the truth and report it."

      The 'normative' side of journalism boils down to Codes of Ethics. So the rules are there. If they are there, what is happening, then? ||DylanF||

    3. US National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horn emphasized the untruthfulness of the message: " Anonymous sources are leaking lies ."

      Some decency, at last

    4. I am the president of Ukraine, I am here, and I think I know the details better than any president " (a reference to Joseph Biden, who at that moment stated that "an attack is likely in any moment").

      It's mortifying that the UAian president has to say something like this. When has the quest for truth started being reduced to secondary sources?! And yet, I wonder if this was on purpose. Journalists know better than this, surely.

    5. The media field is a new battlefield, news is a new weapon, and any messages, especially those based on anonymous sources, have a real and great impact on our people, on their psyche, on our state, especially on our economy

      This merits study. To what extent is digital media amplifying this 'panic virus'? It close to (but does not pass the threshold of) disinformation in terms of effects and implications. We need to keep an eye out. Wdyt? ||DylanF||

    6. And, of course, this did not add confidence to either Ukrainian citizens or the national economy.

      Do US/UK journalists stop to think about the effects of sensationalism?

    7. On the one hand, the narratives circulated by the media in the US and Britain (as well as their German, French, even Ukrainian counterparts) were supposedly dictated by good intentions: to show the cards at some stage could mean "stop and prevent". On the other hand, this clearly did not meet Ukrainian interests: Ukraine began to lose money from panic.

      The effect of the media frenzy in the US/UK was detrimental for Ukraine. Vesti asks whether this was on purpose

    8. but in such a volume (dozens of publications for each media) and such a tone (“Kyiv will be plundered”),

      From your experience, has the volume of citing unnamed sources increased? ||DylanF||

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    1. [Pro] Automatically populate map from tags or categories

      ||minam||||Jovan|| da li preko ove opcije mozemo da uvlacimo podatke o kategorijama?

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    1. Lines connecting markers

      ||minam||||Jovan|| Mina i Miso, ovo je zanimljiv feature u map softveru.

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    1. if you can’t throw rules at a problem, then try throwing money at it!
    2. where significant parts of its internal digital infrastructure and being operated by foreign-owned and controlled enterprises.
    3. The reason why ISPs run DNS resolvers is perhaps because this is what ISPs have always done.
    4. with the .CZ registry, CZ.NIC, who has funded the development of the KNOT resolver (and server)
    5. Perhaps the EU folk have been looking at CIRA’s Canadian Shield DNS resolver (https://www.cira.ca/cybersecurity-services/canadian-shield) where the .CA registry has launched an open DNS resolver service.
    6. the reference to potential cybersecurity benefits
    7. to provide a DNS resolution service that is able to comply with the various content regulations in the EU by blocking the resolution of certain DNS names.
    8. to address the consolidation of DNS resolution in the hands of a few companies,
    9. DNS4EU is the name of a European Union initiative intended to exert more control over the DNS within Europe, aimed specifically at the current level of use of open resolvers in the EU
    10. OpenDNS is used extensively in Cyprus and Malta.
    11. There is a strong preference to use the ISP’s provided DNS resolution service in Belgium, Estonia, Italy, and Slovenia, where more than 90% of the samples show that the local resolver is being used.
    12. The use of open DNS resolvers in the EU is slightly less than the internet-wide average.
    13. It is also worth noting that the open resolver metrics have a visible weekday/weekend variance.
    14. Some 20% of the Internet’s user population use an open resolver to resolve names, which is an unexpectedly high number.
    15. If the DNS lookup could be transformed into a search engine, then this would represent a direct threat to their business, and in performing NXDOMAIN substitution, this was exactly what some ISPs were doing.
    16. it also should be observed that Google had a strong commercial motive to enter this space.
    17. he idea is that the open resolver may not be operating in the same regulatory or legal framework as the client and the client’s ISP and may be able to resolve DNS names that would otherwise be proscribed.
    18. Perhaps the Swiss domicile of Quad9 made Quad9 a more appealing target for German legal action.
    19. IPR interests associated with Sony Music Germany bought a suit against the open DNS resolver provider Quad9 in a German court. The court ruled that Quad9 must block the resolution of a domain name of a website in Ukraine that itself does not hold copyright infringing material, but instead contains pointers to another website that is reported to hold alleged copyright infringements.

      To see more about this case.

    20. The motives for these blocking lists are varied and include attempting to curtail the propagation of malware, disrupt the command-and-control channels of co-opted zombie attack bot armies, censor offensive content and protect rights holders from efforts to infringe their intellectual property rights.

      Reason for censorship via DNS

    21. The DNS has become fodder for various national regimes to both observe their citizens and to impose controls on their online activities.
    22. the DNS resolvers’ query logs had considerable value, despite the somewhat disturbing privacy issues.
    23. operators of these recursive resolvers were privy to large volumes of useful and timely information about user behavior, and in an Internet economy that is increasingly defined by surveillance capitalism, this is extremely valuable information.
    24. the role of operating these recursive resolvers to the local Internet Service Provider (ISP).
    25. We distinguished between the DNS servers that handled queries for applications running in end hosts, so called stub resolvers at the edge of the network, and recursive resolvers, which are DNS servers that assist a collection of stub resolvers by acting as their agent and performing the distributed database queries for them.

      Important tech distinction in DNS system

    26. the DNS as an essential facilitator in every network transaction, the DNS really is the most critical component of the Internet’s infrastructure these days.
    27. Few services currently operate independently of the Internet, and perhaps more significantly, most services are critically reliant on the Internet.
    28. as if Europe is over on the exploited side of the techno-colonial landscape, rather than being one of the exploiters.
    29. many nations may have already adopted the position that they are too small to take on today’s digital behemoths and declare independence and self-sufficiency (in the sense of eliminating their dependence on them).

      It is message that I have been sending for some time. EU may clannege them, but it is more-or-less all (maybe India?).

    30. It appears that the DNS is the only remaining part left of the “glue” that holds the Internet together and is now the defining medium of what is “the Internet.”

      ||VladaR|| It is important for getting web 3 right in the context of (de)centralisaton narratives which are often very manipulative. Currently the only tech-centralisaton element is DNS. But, does it make the Internet distributive. No, you have de facto centraliation on the usability level (concentration of data).

    31. Some Thoughts on DNS4EU – the European Commission’s Intention to Support the Development of a New European DNS Resolver

      ||VladaR||||StephanieBP||||AndrijanaG||||sorina|| Geoff is one of the best pen/mind in IG community. I started annotating this interesting article that provides explanation about the recent 'screaming' of ISOC and tech communities agains new EU attempt to have EU DNS Resolver. It is very interesting story.

      ||StephanieBP|| Once we sort out our thinking, we may involve EPFL people in discussion or event one event.

      I am also considering running 'just-in-time' course on this and other trend issue. More will follow.

    32. The internet was not constructed as an amalgam of various national networks but was conceived and constructed as a single artifact that had never integrated such geopolitical concepts into its internal architecture.
    33. to mitigate this level of foreign dependence in our digital infrastructure to some very small extent.
    34. This topic raises a whole set of uncomfortable questions about the level of interdependence within the digital landscape and the vulnerabilities presented by this.
    35. The last time European-domiciled enterprises were included in this top ten list was in late 2015, when the Swiss Pharmaceutical corporation, Novartis, and the Swiss food and drink enterprise Nestlé were both listed in this top 10.
    36. The European industrial giants of the old telephone world, such as the former stalwarts Alcatel, Siemens, Philips, Ericsson and Nokia, have found it extraordinarily difficult to translate their former dominant positions in the telco world into the Internet world.
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    1. Measuring the impact

      I’m particularly interested on this subject, since sometimes is difficult to use accurate tools to measure the results of public diplomacy.

    2. chat room or via Zoom

      Are we going to meet in Zoom or chat room on Fridays?

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    1. 21 guidelines for the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

      What are 21 guidelines for COPUOS.

      ||sorina||||nikolabATdiplomacy.edu|| We need to include this into our page.

    2. LEO, the area of outer space around Earth that includes all orbits below 2,000km, andis the home of the International Space Station and of thousands of other satellites,is rapidly becoming a hazardous area due tospace debris and inoperable spacecraft orbiting at very high speeds.

      What is Low Earth Orbit? Low Earth Orbit (LEO) includes all orbits below 2.000 km, where most satellites are located including the International Space Station. In LEO there is high risk of collisions due to space debris.

    3. to agree on and implement norms of responsible behaviour in outer space by state and non-state actors.
    4. “new space”4

      What is definition of new space? New space is about private companies, SMEs and start-ups that develop novel space technologies and applications.

    5. STM

      Here are elements of STM

    6. STM as themeansand rules to access, conduct activities in, and return from outer space safely, sustainably and securely.

      Definition of Space Traffic Management (STM)

    7. The EU already promotes a multilateral approach to ensure the preservation of the long-term safety and sustainability of activities in outer space, with the objective of reducing threats and risks for all space systems
    8. a globally shared resource
    9. Space Traffic Management (STM)

      this is new term to be used.

      Terminology.

    10. Should for instance the provision of EU global Positioning, Navigation, Timing(PNT)and Earth Observation data and services be interrupted or severely compromised, this would have a direct impact upon the security, safety, economy, and well-being of European citizens, therefore limiting our freedom of action

      Relevance for economy and society.

    11. more common in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as the number of satellites increases due to the proliferation of mega-constellations.
    12. : if we do not find ways to manage space traffic, our past and present space activities will jeopardise the safety, security and sustainability of outer space and, as a result, our future ability to rely on space as enabler of key services in benefit of humankind.
    13. An EU Approach for Space Traffic Management An EU contribution addressing a global challenge

      Steph alerted me about this initiative. In EU style they will try to fill the regulatory gap. Sorina and Nikola, let us follow-up on it.

      ||StephanieBP|| ||nikolabATdiplomacy.edu|| ||sorina||

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    1. h tested its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017, when it twice flew intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and, separately, three interconti
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    1. Very interesting text which talks about the limits of further scaling of transistors on a chip. Will we soon have to live with the same iPhone for 10 years or more?

      In a nutshell, as we approach 2nm technology (TSMC is working on 3nm), we will face limitations of physics, where we won't be able to scale further with the current technology. The semiconductor technology that we developed since 50s reaches its ends.

      We will need a tectonic innovation (quantum perhaps? but it also relies on current semiconductors' technology in some proposals). Otherwise, we won't be able to get faster chips any more.

      How will this impact the development of chips and geopolitics around this? How will this impact innovations?

      ||JovanK||

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    1. Greater access to data and improved data flows can also warrant greater supply chain transparency, traceability, and ultimately, a more resilient trade of goods and services.

      I am not sure this is correct. My experience is that there is no so direct link between two concepts

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    1. without clearly defined rules of the road for such interactions.

      Second generation of SpaceX constellations increases risk for satellite collision. In the letter to the US Federal Communication Commission NASA and NSF outline risks and call for 'defined rules of the road' for space traffic.

      ||sorina||||nikolabATdiplomacy.edu||

    2. without clearly defined rules of the road for such interactions.
    3. the safety of the International Space Station (ISS)
    4. ~25,000 total objects

      Total number of objects in orbit.

      ||Jovan||

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    1. Flexible Funding

      ||TerezaHorejsova||||PatrickB|| In our discussion with EDA and Malta, we should focus more on (un)earmarked funding and flexibility for development.

      Do we have any unearmarked funding (including SDC)?

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    1. Keyword Difficulty

      how to integrate keyword cifficult via Semrush API

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    1. The analysis is triggered by the EU's new Chips Act that we shoudl analyse. In brief the article autliens strenghts of EU in microchips supply chain such as Dutch company ASML.

      Europe will invest heavily in mega fabs (spaces for production of microchips). It will also try to bring to Europe TSMC, Intel and other manufacturers. It remains to be seen how it will work.

      ||VladaR||

    2. of “mega fabs”
    3. the European Commission wants to relax state-aid rules to let member states subsidise such fabs “up to 100% of a proven funding gap” if they are “first-of-a-kind” or would “otherwise not exist in Europe”.
    4. Europe’s firms also make many of the machines that make fabs tick. ASML, a Dutch firm with a market value of €230bn, is the sole global supplier of the lithographic equipment without which fabs cannot etch the most advanced processors. Only Nvidia, an American chip-designer, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of chips, are worth more. An array of smaller European outfits enjoy dominant positions in the complex chipmaking supply chain. Carl Zeiss SMT makes lenses for ASML’s lithography machines (and is co-owned by it). Siltronic manufactures silicon wafers onto which chips are etched. Aixtron manufactures specialised gear to deposit layers of chemicals onto those wafers to make circuits.

      These are strenghts of Eurpean Chips industry

    5. One of the industry’s main brain trusts, the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (better known as IMEC), is based in Belgium.
    6. but as a global ecosystem of thousands of companies.

      ||VladaR|| It is important to stress and explore always.

    7. the EU’s new Chips Act, unveiled on February 8th,

      to follow it.

    8. The aim was to double the share of microchips made in Europe to 20% of the global total by 2020. Nearly a decade later it remains stubbornly stuck at 10%.

      Always good to check numbers and predictions.

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    1. A state-linked newspaper called him the party’s “number one adviser”.
    2. that China practises true democracy, that America’s is a sham and that American power is fading.
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    1. There are about 41,000 nuns in America, down from 160,000 half a century ago.

      Huge drop in the number of nuns.

    2. They have more than 155,000 followers on TikTok, a social-media app.
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    1. the chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, or CDAO, is charged with making sure DOD supports such an enterprise. John Sherman, DOD chief information officer,

      change of langauge from Chief information officer (CIO) to Chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.

      ||VladaR||||aleksandarsATdiplomacy.edu||||ljupcogATdiplomacy.edu||||JovanNj||

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    1. ||VladaR|| This is interesting for encryption.

      They are preparing encryption for post-quantum era. Thus, we may use this advance encryption algorithms even before quantum computing emerges. There is some intersting langauge to be followed such as

      Q-day (moment of arrival of quantum computing) Quantum Internet

    2. If all goes to plan, the Internet will be well into its post-quantum era by the time computing enters its quantum era. This post-quantum Internet could some day be followed, confusingly, by a quantum Internet — meaning a network that uses the principles of quantum physics to make information exchange hacker-proof.
    3. will be hybrid, using post-quantum technology for added security on top of existing systems. Vadim Lyubashevsky, a computer scientist at IBM in Zurich, Switzerland,
    4. “Everybody is pretty confident that once NIST and IETF specify new standards, we’ll be able to roll them out pretty quickly.”
    5. Both Cloudflare and Google — often in cooperation — have started running real-life tests of some post-quantum algorithms by including them in some beta versions of the Chrome browser and in server software. Testing is crucial because, for Internet communications to go smoothly, it is not enough to have perfectly compatible servers and browsers. To connect them, data must also run through network devices that might block traffic that they flag as unusual because of its unfamiliar encryption protocols. (These systems can be used to prevent hacking or stop users accessing prohibited content.) Antivirus software could cause similar problems. The issues also exist “on a broader, Internet-wide scale, in some countries that keep track of what users are doing”, says Sullivan. Network-security workers refer to these issues as ‘protocol ossification’, he says; it has already complicated the transition from RSA, and might disrupt the roll-out of quantum-secure algorithms, too.
    6. Shor, then at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, laid the groundwork for those algorithms’ demise
    7. In 2018, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a consensus-based virtual organization that steers the adoption of security standards on a global scale, endorsed another public-key system to replace it. That system is called elliptic-curve cryptography, because its mathematics grew out of a branch of nineteenth-century geometry that studies objects called elliptic curves.

      ||VladaR|| Nisam znao da su odustali od RSA. Zanimljivo

    8. RSA,
    9. Someone who wants to receive confidential messages can announce their public key to the world, say, by printing it in a newspaper. Anyone can use the public key to scramble their message and share it openly. Only the receiver knows the private key, enabling them to unscramble the information and read it.
    10. quantum-resistant crypto,
    11. then publish official versions of those algorithms.

      Again 'open source'

    12. Q-day

      Q-day is new lingo

    13. If they reach their full scale, quantum computers would crack current encryption algorithms exponentially faster than even the best non-quantum machines can. “A real quantum computer would be extremely dangerous,” s
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    1. Web3—the latest Silicon Valley buzzword

      ||VladaR|| Odslusaj ovaj podcast, mada sam provalio sta oni rade. Napisu prethodne nedelje tekst koji objave u novinama i onda naprave podcast sledece nedelje. Tako da je uglavnom ponavljanje iz prethodnog clanka

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    1. Geomagnetic storm can affect sattelites and create space-waste. Here is an example about the SpaceX satellites.

      ||nikolabATdiplomacy.edu|| possible box to be used on the website or info for course.

    2. It is the same kind of mechanism that creates aurorae like the Northern Lights, but it can have dangerous effects too.
    3. but can be used in places where wired connections cannot.
    4. a geomagnetic storm

      What is a geomagnetic storm?

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    1. Early inter

      These line breaks are very ugly and only appear in this section. With apologies, I am going to try to remove them.

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    1. Figure 3. IG paradigm

      priority change of image

    2. it has been argued

      link doesn't work. check.

    3. hypertext

      changing to textus, and testing annotations. Question for Andrej: What exactly does 'public' mean here? do we need to (maybe Nadja and Dragana do in the orientation docs, I cannot remember) is it 'public to the internet' or 'public to the classroom'? It's wonderful to have both options, because it means I can make private 'notes to self'. But we have to make sure this is clear (if it is not already). Also checking/confirming that I can delete an annotation.

      I have confirmed that I can edit or delete the annotation, and that it is clear to the user how to do it. I just never looked before. I absolutely LOVE the Preview option and the formatting assist, which I always wished we had on our LMS.

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    1. The term cyber is mostly used at an international level when discussing issues related to security and confidence-building, while digital has a broader social, economic and political dimension

      Useful clarification on the use of prefixes in diplomatic context. https://www.diplomacy.edu/blog/different-prefixes-same-meaning-cyber-digital-net-online-virtual-e/

    2. Promoting digital governance will play a key role. This represents an important area of digital foreign policy and will allow for the creation of common rules in the digital space and strengthen both institutions and cooperation mecha-nisms.

      Useful clarity: Digital governance is about creating common rules for governing digital space (privacy, security).

      Digital foreign policy is a way to develop digital governance.

    3. more a continuation of Switzerland’s proven approach to protecting its interests and promoting its values in a new ‘space’.

      adding digital layer to existing foreign policy

    4. The global COVID-19 crisis has highlighted that while new digital technologies can help us better understand and contain the spread of a pandemic, for example through the use of digital contact tracing, and while they underscore the importance of issues relating to technical standardisation and cross-border cooperation, these technologies also raise a number of questions, for example about application security and data protection.

      Balancing formulation: possibilities/chances vs risks/dangerous

      It is more on side of possibilities

      !check-balances

    5. GESDA is currently in its 36-month pilot phase and is focusing on the development of an academic and a diplomatic forum that should ensure mutual exchanges between the different subject areas

      This is important issue

    6. the UNDP is a partner within the framework of the Core Government Functions programme (promotion of e-governance as a means of achieving better governance) as well as the fintech dialogue programme.
    7. Fintech dialogue platform (Geneva)
    8. Fintech dialogue platform (Geneva)
    9. A gender gap is emerging particularly in the least developed countries but also in middle-income nations: compared to men, 43% fewer women in the least developed countries have access to the internet.
    10. promoting the use of technology in the economy (in order to bridge the gender-specific digital divide, it primarily supports female entrepreneurs)
    11. There are two aspects to the role of digitalisation in government. At one level it is a work tool and a means of simplifying processes, for example in consular services or IT applications. But digitalisation is now also a foreign policy matter, raising a number of important questions.
    12. Digital data and applications are driving development-related and humanitarian innovation across the globe. This focuses on the benefits for people and their needs in order to achieve the goals set out in the IC Strategy 2021–24 and the 2030 Agenda. The FDFA’s commitment to exploiting the full potential of new technologies in combating poverty is brought together in its Tech4Good approach.
    13. digitalisation described the technical process for converting analogue information into digital formats. This is now referred to as digitisation. Continual technological devel-opments have resulted in structural changes, new applications and systems, for example the creation of networks or the use of AI. Nowadays, the term digitalisation spans all of these developments, including opportunities for use as well as their social, economic and political impact, for example.

      This framework definition requires more specific elements.

    14. Switzerland intends to further raise its profile by facilitating the creation of secure, reliable data storage and through the Humani-tarian Data and Trust Initiative aimed at data responsibility in humanitarian action.

      Protection of data raised in relevance with the latest breach of ICRC data. Next step is to protect data from technical and legal perspectives.

    15. Cross-border data flows and digital trade

      Data is central for negotiations of e-commerce rules at WTO. One can expect tensions between various uses and regulations of data from public to commercial and personal data.

    16. Harmonised international rules, for example on cross-border data flows, play a key role in ensuring that these supply chains operate smoothly and that goods and services are traded with as little discrimination as possible.
    1. Cross-sectoral approaches
    2. Technological innovation, digitalisation and automation bring unprecedented opportunities. However, if the right framework conditions are not in place, they also present significant risks: surveillance that violates civil and political rights, manipulation of public opinion, cyberattacks, dependence on foreign tech monopolies, deindustrialisation, unemployment and growing inequality.
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    1. inability to ensure the security of the population and provide basic public services, alongside its failure to establish mutually constructive relations with the country’s citizens.
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    1. Cyber hygiene
    2. Affordability measures the cost of connectivity relative to local income.
    3. uch as open radio access networks (open RAN)
    4. internet bandwidth, network coverage, and telecom market dynamics
    5. The term “emerging technology’’ encompasses artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, 5G and other new technologies.
    6. s gender, race, ethnicity, disability, economic status, geography, sexual orientation, language, refugee status, and age
    1. detailed data and metadata on past and on-going projects, initiatives, stakeholders, outcomes, standards, lessons learnt, and knowledge in digital health are only captured in a fragmented manner.

      it is cross-cutting problem in many fields. There are three practical steps that should increase interoperability and use of data:

      • taxonomies which will create knowledge cohesion across different systems and databases by using shared terminology (keywords and concepts).
      • technical standards for sharing data across different platforms and datasets (to focus on the work of international standardisation organisations in Geneva - ISO, ITU, IEC).
      • privacy enhancing technology for using sensitive data for public good research (pilot project with the UN Statistics).
    2. an open-source software that seeks to provide a comprehensive sys-tem linking patient, provider and payer data.

      Open source is gaining renewed relevance due to digital geopolitics: https://circleid.com/posts/20220126-why-aopena-may-become-the-keyword-of-the-digital-world-in-2022

      SDC can renew efforts for strengthening 'open' approach in their development activities.

    3. into actionable insights to enhance effective governance and coordination.

      It is one platform that provides actionable insights from data https://datasandbox.diplomacy.edu/

    4. the SDC commissioned a study, with a view to mapping and assessing Swiss and in-ternational initiatives on technologies for health and health system strengthening.

      Is this study available?

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    1. I'm somewhat puzzled about the author's use of the term "Maori" as a catch-all term for a highly complex community with different identities and interests.

      The Maoris in the towns are not the same as those in the rural iwis. The Maoris in the Southern island differ from those in the North. And during the Musket Wars in the XIXth century, a large sector of the Maori population remained neutral or favored n accommodating line.

      Interestingly, the article fails to mention to latest kerkuffle over Matauranga Maori. Traditional Maori knowledge is to be taught as "science," which of course is not. This goes beyond land and land use issues and to the core of what a society is.

      So, I'm rather at a loss as to what to make of the text.

    2. Māori might be the ‘luckiest’ Indigenous people – but that’s not down to New Zealand exceptionalism

      On Maori and New Zealand.

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    1. “That first airplane didn’t have any transportation advantages,” says Ahn, “but it eventually changed the world.”
    2. Quantum computers manage data in the form of qubits. Coupled together using the quantum physics phenomenon called entanglement, qubits can influence each other at a distance.
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    1. funds from European lenders would be extended on commercial terms
    2. a new approach based on ‘soft’ assets, very much stepping on the EU’s toes and their €300 billion worldwide connectivity strategy,”

      Digital will be in the gist of China-EU competition in Africa.

    3. “One can be cautiously optimistic,” Moore said, but pointed out that recently described the EU’s Global Gateway as largely “a mixture of existing commitments, loan guarantees and heroic assumptions about the ability of the club to ‘crowd in’ private investment rather than actual new spending”.
    4. Chinese lenders have become more cautious – especially over mega infrastructure projects.
    5. He said Spain wanted to see more projects in North Africa, the Germans doubted that all the projects were carefully thought through, while Hungary, Finland and Portugal pointed out that they first had to budget for the additional development projects.

      Divergent position on the support for Africa.

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    1. This is a solid and comprehensive analysis of German 'value-based foreign policy' and positioning towards China, USA, and EU.

      I also learned a lot about complexity of German government.

      ||kat_hone|| ||Pavlina||||TerezaHorejsova|| For our work with Germany and KAS it would be interesting to see how these priorities will be translated into

      • Geneva environment (focus on rule-based international order)
      • Digital diplomacy

      ||sorina||||VladaR||

    2. essential for the shared goal of maintaining the international rules-based order.
    3. Transatlantic coordination on China (another declared goal of the new German government) adds an additional layer of complexity
    4. Greece and Lithuania are both members of the EU and they follow a very different approach toward the PRC
    5. In the area of targeted sanctions over human rights violations, more transatlantic cooperation appears highly realistic
    6. In the United States, the rise of China seems to be perceived as an existential threat to the Western way of life. From a European perspective, China is rather discussed as a substantial challenge for the future structure of the international order.

      An interesting difference in perceiving 'China threat' in USA and Europe

      ||kat_hone||

    7. will most likely apply value-based foreign policy by putting more emphasis on upholding international norms, multilateral cooperation, and defending the rule of law within those international institutions.
    8. a “value-based foreign policy”

      What does 'value-based foreign policy' means for Germany?

      It will be interesting to see what it will mean in digital realm.

      ||kat_hone||

    9. the Foreign Office would need to transform into a facilitating platform and assume the role of strategic mediator between the various ministries.

      This will be increasingly the role of many diplomatic services.

      ||kat_hone||

    10. the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action has a more cooperative approach toward the PRC than the Ministry of Interior, which views China increasingly through the lens of a hybrid threat.

      ||sorina||||TerezaHorejsova|| This provides an explanation why this ministry was initially 'worried' about our study as they thought that it was 'China bashing'

    11. If the minister of foreign affairs aspires to play a central role in German China policy, in-depth reform of the Federal Foreign Office would need to be implemented first. For instance, steps to make the Federal Foreign Office fit for dealing with China could include the following: First, generating and nurturing China specialists, including appointing external special advisers (in a long-term, not only ad-hoc, capacity). Currently, the Federal Foreign Office primarily relies on generalists and a lot of knowledge gets lost due to the rotation principle. Second, the ministry would need to expand financial and personal resources. The workload for German diplomats has increased significantly over the past years, while the necessary means to face those challenges remain limited. The ministry could also, third, introduce a more strategic outlook for the Federal Foreign Office altogether and, fourth, create a special representative for China who coordinates all China-related activities in the federal government and directly reports to the foreign minister.

      How can German diplomacy develop Chinese plicy?

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    1. A new report by The Scientific Technical Center of Roskomnadzor, Russian digital regulator, warns about misuses of emerging metaverse technologies.

      The balance of the report is more on 'threat' than opportunities provided by metaverse.

      ||AndrijanaG|| It would be interesting to get ore details about this report (e.g. summary or version in English). ||VladaR||

    2. an overview of its possibilities, including the growth of new marketplaces, such as an increased demand for video games and online forms of entertainment.
    3. “The transformation of perception on account of being located in the metaverse will have a meaningful cultural effect on society and will change social behavior, including reducing the importance of moral and ethical norms due to the use of a virtual avatar.” They warn that this could particularly affect children, “the most vulnerable group in the new metaverse.”
    4. could lend itself to illegal transactions conducted in cryptocurrency, including trade between people of different nationalities that could violate border regulations.
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    1. India is a veritable lighthouse of knowledge and ideas, which can and will make a difference.
    2. The upcoming collaboration between the Observer Research Foundation and India’s Foreign Service Institute to design and run a programme on new economic diplomacy signals the growing importance of this emerging discipline. Over the years, it is expected to build significant capacity amongst young Indian and foreign diplomats to engage effectively with these issues in the context of both bilateral and multilateral platforms.

      No CUTS involvement?

    3. If data is the new oil, clear and transparent domestic laws and institutions must be developed to inspire confidence in India as a safe destination for data processing.
    4. Protectionist trends are on the rise, and there is a preference for bilateral over multilateral trade arrangements.
    5. The original ITEC programme was expanded to provide 12,000 fully funded training slots in courses ranging from cybersecurity and climate change to entrepreneurship and education.
    6. India’s aid programmes did not translate into any distinct economic benefits for the country.
    7. the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC).
    8. promoting national trade, investment and technology interests
    9. Foreign assistance programmes were added as an afterthought to the principal objective of pursuing commercial goals.
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    1. “In the history of the Mongol diplomacy, Mongolia now has the highest number of female ambassadors, six out of 31 ambassadors.”

      Mongolia has been culturally and historically male-dominated society. It started changing in public sphere.

      Even in military field, Mongolia has more and more women including parts of U.N. peacekeeping missions.

      There are more and more women in diplomacy. With the latest appointments 6 or 31 Mongolian ambassadors are women.

      Mongolian government declared gender equality as high national priority.

    2. “In the history of the Mongol diplomacy, Mongolia now has the highest number of female ambassadors, six out of 31 ambassadors.”
    3. Gerelmaa Davaasuren was appointed as the ambassador to Switzerland.
    4. As a result, women began to take initiatives to boost their presence in government service, such as holding diplomatic positions, serving in U.N. peacekeeping missions, entering the military, being elected as parliamentary members – all with significant contributions to strengthening Mongolia’s diplomacy as a whole.
    5. Women have regained space and opportunities to participate in politics and foreign affairs once again, with gender equality efforts part of the policymaking.
    6. an abundance of literature on male Mongol leaders, dating back to the 13th century and Chinggis Khan.
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    1. Elon Mask's SpaceX network with 2000 Starlink satellites cause the following threats"

      1. Satellite collisions According to Space.com 50% close encounters between two satellites in 2021 involved Starlink satellites. Triggered by this risk, China initiated the process with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs.

      2. Environment damage Such concentration of satellites creates various types of pollutions: light pollution, space junk, chemicals in the atmosphere, etc.

      3. Changing night sky and interfering with astronomy One in 15 sources of lights are satellites. Such 'light pollution' will make much more difficult for astronomers to spot asteroids and do their research.

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    1. This article provides a solid analysis of an interplay in strategic triangle between USA - China - Russia.

      It is game of chess or go, where different 'geometries' are appearing:

      • China is interested to support Russia in confrontation with USA in Europe in order to reduce USA and NATO presence in Indo-Pacific.
      • Trump played more on 'Russian card' against China. Biden administration slightly engaged with Russia in Geneva in order to free 'hands' for Indo-Pacific. But, it is not certain if it will work due to Ukraina crisis.
    2. The onset of a multipolar world order means that the U.S. would need to prioritize a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific over its rivalry with Russia in Eastern Europe.
    3. As long as Russia can keep NATO’s capabilities invested in Europe, it will create a favorable strategic environment for China in the Indo-Pacific.
    4. the structural balance of power constraint posed by the U.S. keeps them together in their advance toward a multipolar world.
    5. According to the World Bank, in 1992, China’s nominal GDP was $427 billion, slightly less than Russia’s $460 billion; nonetheless, by 2021, China’s GDP of $16.8 trillion was more than 10 times that of Russia’s $1.6 trillion.

      fascinating growth!

    6. asymmetrical.
    7. evolved into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

      It is not clear how strong and functional is SCO.

    8. By 1996, Russia and China formed a strategic partnership, which led to the “Joint Declaration on Multipolarity and the Formation of a New Global Order” during the 1997 Moscow Summit.
    9. The American inability to accept the multipolarity of the 21st century leads it to conceptualize a bipolar framework of great power rivalry between the U.S. and China, as evident in the concept of the “G-2.” On the other hand, the success of Russian and Chinese foreign policy has been possible due to the groundwork they prepared to maneuver in a multipolar world of the future.

      This is worth further analysis. Article argues that US establishment is not ready for multilateral engagement. They are more set for G-2 while Russia and China have more diplomatic flexibility to navigate uncertainty of multilateral space. I am sceptical about this argument especially with Biden administration which is much more 'multilateral friendly' than Tramp's. The real question is if it is 'multilateral friendly' genuinly (support multilateralism even when it does not work in the favour of the USA) or tactically (use multilateralism to promote US foreign policy interests).

    10. This suggests that the Kremlin believes that it is only by highlighting its red lines that it can restore its prestige as a great power in world politics. In the Russian calculation, it is a great power whose red lines cannot be violated, as opposed to a middle power whose concerns matter but not that much. In the context of the emerging multipolar world order, these calculations are becoming accurate.

      it is interesting to follow dynamics of Russia's moves. Is it related to concerns of their security community over Ukraina or great-power positioning as this article argues. It is also possible that two dynamics are reinforcing each other.

    11. Russia’s latest A-SAT test, which generated thousands of pieces of dangerous debris threatening both U.S. and Chinese space assets, occurred on the same date as the meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. A plausible argument could be made that Russia’s A-SAT test was inspired by a need to demonstrate its status as a great power in the hierarchy of nations, as Moscow will not quietly accept its demotion to a lesser adversary to the United States. Interestingly, Russia upped the ante on the Ukrainian front following the Biden-Xi meeting. As the headlines became saturated with fears about a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia succeeded in dominating the global geostrategic discourse.

      It is an interesting timing of Russia's moves linked to the start of the USA-China dialogue

    12. Campbell and Sullivan contended that “coexistence means accepting competition as a condition to be managed rather than a problem to be solved” and added that both nations “will need to be prepared to live with the other as a major power.”
    13. guardrails

      ||Andrej|| 'guardrailes' are used more and more in global and diplomatic lingo.

    14. With the Biden-Putin summit in June 2021 and the resumption of the Strategic Stability Dialogue, talks of restoration of Russia’s great power status started.
    15. China had become the primary strategic adversary by the time Joe Biden came to power in January 2021.
    16. the rise of China as a peer competitor to the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific has relegated Russia to a middle power in the American strategic calculus.
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