iplomatic Courier’s staff has “gone fishing!” This year has been as hectic for us as it probably has for you, and everybody needs a break. Before we embark on an exciting and extremely busy autumn and winter, we’re taking a week to recharge and reconnect with family and friends. We hope you’ve had the chance to do the same!
Just because we’re taking a step back, though, doesn’t mean we want to leave you without anything to read. There’s some new content still coming through, but we also wanted to take this opportunity to bring your attention to what we think are some particularly important or cool reads from earlier in the year that you may have missed. Each day we’ll be highlighting two pieces with a quick intro and link for your reading pleasure.
See you soon!
Ukraine
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to dominate headlines, and likely will until the conflict reaches some sort of resolution. Here are four of Diplomatic Courier's key articles examining the conflict.
Russia Invaded Ukraine - Here's How the World Responded
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Diplomatic Courier’s staff worked to put together a broad-spectrum review of how the world responded. This coverage ranged from institutions, to governments, to the Russian people themselves. Looking back and comparing the state of affairs six months ago to how they stand today is in many ways revealing.
Combatting War-Fueling Disinformation on Ukraine’s Digital Battlefield
Amid Russia's physical invasion, Ukraine has effectively won the information war, preempting and debunking the same Russian disinformation that disrupted democracies in Europe and the U.S. At a time when governments the world over are struggling to deal with targeted disinformation, there is a lot that we can learn from Ukraine's successes, write CollaborateUp's Richard Crespin and Caroline Logan.
Europe's Fate and Ukraine's Survival
While Putin escalated his efforts to eliminate Ukraine in February, the EU has now doubled down on supporting the country and helping it build a brighter future. The EU has made the right move in making clear that it intends to stand firm in defense of existing states, recognizing that the inviolability of borders is the foundation of European security and global order. The question is whether Putin can agree to back down or if regime change/state collapse will be required, writes Carl Bildt.
Strategic Clarity Carries a Mixed Bag
In some ways, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has clarified the strategic picture in Europe. The most striking example of this is the applications of both Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Yet the global strategic picture may be murkier than ever as a significant number of large and/or strategically important countries have not taken a clear stand for or against Russia’s actions, write James E. Goodby and Ken Weisbrode.
Afghanistan
The U.S. and its NATO allies left Afghanistan a little over a year ago, and in many ways Afghanistan has left the headlines. Yet the strategic and humanitarian implications of Taliban rule are still very relevant today.
Did the Afghan Failure Lead to the Ukraine War
Writing on the anniversary of Kabul’s fall to the Taliban, former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt examined the wide ranging repercussions of that fall, contending that many are yet to be fully appreciated. According to Bildt, one repercussion is that the U.S. demonstrated that it lacks staying power, strategic patience, and the potential to abandon relatively marginal countries. This, in turn, could have emboldened Russia to invade Ukraine.
Afghan Women and Men See Women Treated Worse After Taliban
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last year changed a great deal for the country. Research from Gallup conducted during the takeover showed major shifts in how both men and women viewed the treatment of women in the country. The most striking shift has been in how Afghan men perceive the treatment of women, with the number of men who perceive women in Afghanistan as being treated with dignity and respect dropping by 22 percentage points - from 59% to 37% - from 2019 to 2021.
Geopolitics
The realm of geopolitics is...big, and it's easy to get lost in the pure volume of what's being written about pressing strategic concerns. Here are two key reads about some of the most interesting and pivotal geopolitical competitions going on now.
America's China Challenge
There remains considerable debate among experts about China’s geopolitical objectives, but there is a sense that China may be seeking to displace the U.S. as the world’s leading power by the centenary of communist rule in 2049? What happens over the next three decades will depend on many unknowns and how America rises to the challenge, writes Harvard’s Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
China and Russia Fill a U.S.-Shaped Void in Latin America
With the United States preoccupied with wars in the Middle East and Central Asia and its inward “America First” turn, the old adage proves true: nature hates a vacuum. As a result, Russia and China have increased their presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. If the United States wants to counter this advance, it needs to have a more proactive policy towards the region, write Jeffery Tobin and Adam Ratzlaff.
Exponential Technologies
Innovation is proceeding at a pace far ahead of our ability to process as a society, which means great gains and great dangers. How we mobilize today's technological innovations will be one of the most decisive factors in what our world looks like tomorrow.
A Financial Services Trusted Traveler Program
Basic financial services are a public good, yet the industry is fraught with identity theft risk, lack of portability, inequitable financial redlining, and a yawning inclusion gap. To do better, financial services must escape the ills that have long plagued traditional banking and payments spaces. We can use open technology to reboot and improve these systems, writes Circle's Dante Disparte.
ESG Plus T: Tech as ESG Issue, Risk, and Value Influencer
The Economic, Social, and Governance framework has gained traction as a way for organizations to act more sustainably and responsibly. Tech is an inextricable part of ESG and should, overtly or subtly, be subsumed in an organization’s consideration of ESG governance, strategy, opportunity, value protection, and creation, writes Andrea Bonime-Blanc.
World in 2050
Our in-house think/do tank World in 2050 (W2050) relaunched this January. It was a productive first half of the year - here are a few reads to catch you up on what W2050 has been up to.
How World in 2050 Aims to Help the Future Arrive Well
The world is at the precipice of rapid, dramatic change that will completely shift what life on Earth looks like, for better or worse. In January of this year, future-focused think tank World in 2050 (W2050) was (re)launched with a new look and mandate. W2050 Executive Director Shane Szarkowski explains the mandate - helping the future arrive well - and how W2050 intends to go about carrying it out.
OpenAI's Fix for GPT-3 Proves Problematic
In January 2022, the William & Mary Global Research Institute-backed DisinfoLab published its first report for World in 2050 examining bias in OpenAI’s GPT-3 system. Later that month OpenAI released an upgrade to its autocomplete language model GPT-3 intended to address bias. DisinfoLab accordingly looked into this upgrade, finding mixed results. Understanding why could help us better train AI in the future, according to DisinfoLab.
Book Reviews
Our "Best Reads" list wouldn't look quite right without some highlights from Joshua C. Huminski, our prolific and insightful book reviewer. Here is a selection of some of our favorites this year so far.
The Tragedy and Legacy of Afghanistan
The effects of the war in Afghanistan will last for generations to come. As we approached the one-year anniversary of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Joshua Huminski reviewed a pair of books - Elliot Ackerman’s “The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan” and Elizabeth Leake’s “Afghan Crucible."
The Dark Arts of Statecraft
Covert action is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of international relations, what Joshua Huminski calls the “dark arts” of statecraft. This review explores Rory Cormac’s “How to Stage a Coup,” which offers a delightfully incisive and much needed corrective to the opacity surrounding covert action. Cormac shows that reality is, in fact, far more interesting than fiction.
Zelensky: Servant of the Ukrainian People
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became one of the world’s most recognizable people overnight with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In this review of Serhii Rudenko’s “Zelensky,” Joshua Huminski examines how the Ukrainian president was the right person at the right, albeit tragic, time, and finds a more complex and nuanced person, which makes Zelensky’s wartime leadership all the more impressive.
FC Barcelona and the Beautiful Game
In a break from his staple diet of geopolitical readings, Joshua Huminski reveals his fandom for the "beautiful game" (soccer, or football, for our non-American friends.) Huminski reviews Simon Kuper's "The Barcelona Complex," which delves into the rise and fall of FC Barcelona, both driven by its reliance on the incomparable Lionel Andrés Messi.
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Diplomatic Courier is "Gone Fishing!" Best Reads of 2022 So Far
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August 28, 2022
Diplomatic Courier's staff are "gone fishing" for a week to recharge before a busy fourth quarter. In the meantime, here are some of what we think are the best reads from 2022 thus far, just in case you missed them. Enjoy!
D
iplomatic Courier’s staff has “gone fishing!” This year has been as hectic for us as it probably has for you, and everybody needs a break. Before we embark on an exciting and extremely busy autumn and winter, we’re taking a week to recharge and reconnect with family and friends. We hope you’ve had the chance to do the same!
Just because we’re taking a step back, though, doesn’t mean we want to leave you without anything to read. There’s some new content still coming through, but we also wanted to take this opportunity to bring your attention to what we think are some particularly important or cool reads from earlier in the year that you may have missed. Each day we’ll be highlighting two pieces with a quick intro and link for your reading pleasure.
See you soon!
Ukraine
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to dominate headlines, and likely will until the conflict reaches some sort of resolution. Here are four of Diplomatic Courier's key articles examining the conflict.
Russia Invaded Ukraine - Here's How the World Responded
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Diplomatic Courier’s staff worked to put together a broad-spectrum review of how the world responded. This coverage ranged from institutions, to governments, to the Russian people themselves. Looking back and comparing the state of affairs six months ago to how they stand today is in many ways revealing.
Combatting War-Fueling Disinformation on Ukraine’s Digital Battlefield
Amid Russia's physical invasion, Ukraine has effectively won the information war, preempting and debunking the same Russian disinformation that disrupted democracies in Europe and the U.S. At a time when governments the world over are struggling to deal with targeted disinformation, there is a lot that we can learn from Ukraine's successes, write CollaborateUp's Richard Crespin and Caroline Logan.
Europe's Fate and Ukraine's Survival
While Putin escalated his efforts to eliminate Ukraine in February, the EU has now doubled down on supporting the country and helping it build a brighter future. The EU has made the right move in making clear that it intends to stand firm in defense of existing states, recognizing that the inviolability of borders is the foundation of European security and global order. The question is whether Putin can agree to back down or if regime change/state collapse will be required, writes Carl Bildt.
Strategic Clarity Carries a Mixed Bag
In some ways, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has clarified the strategic picture in Europe. The most striking example of this is the applications of both Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Yet the global strategic picture may be murkier than ever as a significant number of large and/or strategically important countries have not taken a clear stand for or against Russia’s actions, write James E. Goodby and Ken Weisbrode.
Afghanistan
The U.S. and its NATO allies left Afghanistan a little over a year ago, and in many ways Afghanistan has left the headlines. Yet the strategic and humanitarian implications of Taliban rule are still very relevant today.
Did the Afghan Failure Lead to the Ukraine War
Writing on the anniversary of Kabul’s fall to the Taliban, former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt examined the wide ranging repercussions of that fall, contending that many are yet to be fully appreciated. According to Bildt, one repercussion is that the U.S. demonstrated that it lacks staying power, strategic patience, and the potential to abandon relatively marginal countries. This, in turn, could have emboldened Russia to invade Ukraine.
Afghan Women and Men See Women Treated Worse After Taliban
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last year changed a great deal for the country. Research from Gallup conducted during the takeover showed major shifts in how both men and women viewed the treatment of women in the country. The most striking shift has been in how Afghan men perceive the treatment of women, with the number of men who perceive women in Afghanistan as being treated with dignity and respect dropping by 22 percentage points - from 59% to 37% - from 2019 to 2021.
Geopolitics
The realm of geopolitics is...big, and it's easy to get lost in the pure volume of what's being written about pressing strategic concerns. Here are two key reads about some of the most interesting and pivotal geopolitical competitions going on now.
America's China Challenge
There remains considerable debate among experts about China’s geopolitical objectives, but there is a sense that China may be seeking to displace the U.S. as the world’s leading power by the centenary of communist rule in 2049? What happens over the next three decades will depend on many unknowns and how America rises to the challenge, writes Harvard’s Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
China and Russia Fill a U.S.-Shaped Void in Latin America
With the United States preoccupied with wars in the Middle East and Central Asia and its inward “America First” turn, the old adage proves true: nature hates a vacuum. As a result, Russia and China have increased their presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. If the United States wants to counter this advance, it needs to have a more proactive policy towards the region, write Jeffery Tobin and Adam Ratzlaff.
Exponential Technologies
Innovation is proceeding at a pace far ahead of our ability to process as a society, which means great gains and great dangers. How we mobilize today's technological innovations will be one of the most decisive factors in what our world looks like tomorrow.
A Financial Services Trusted Traveler Program
Basic financial services are a public good, yet the industry is fraught with identity theft risk, lack of portability, inequitable financial redlining, and a yawning inclusion gap. To do better, financial services must escape the ills that have long plagued traditional banking and payments spaces. We can use open technology to reboot and improve these systems, writes Circle's Dante Disparte.
ESG Plus T: Tech as ESG Issue, Risk, and Value Influencer
The Economic, Social, and Governance framework has gained traction as a way for organizations to act more sustainably and responsibly. Tech is an inextricable part of ESG and should, overtly or subtly, be subsumed in an organization’s consideration of ESG governance, strategy, opportunity, value protection, and creation, writes Andrea Bonime-Blanc.
World in 2050
Our in-house think/do tank World in 2050 (W2050) relaunched this January. It was a productive first half of the year - here are a few reads to catch you up on what W2050 has been up to.
How World in 2050 Aims to Help the Future Arrive Well
The world is at the precipice of rapid, dramatic change that will completely shift what life on Earth looks like, for better or worse. In January of this year, future-focused think tank World in 2050 (W2050) was (re)launched with a new look and mandate. W2050 Executive Director Shane Szarkowski explains the mandate - helping the future arrive well - and how W2050 intends to go about carrying it out.
OpenAI's Fix for GPT-3 Proves Problematic
In January 2022, the William & Mary Global Research Institute-backed DisinfoLab published its first report for World in 2050 examining bias in OpenAI’s GPT-3 system. Later that month OpenAI released an upgrade to its autocomplete language model GPT-3 intended to address bias. DisinfoLab accordingly looked into this upgrade, finding mixed results. Understanding why could help us better train AI in the future, according to DisinfoLab.
Book Reviews
Our "Best Reads" list wouldn't look quite right without some highlights from Joshua C. Huminski, our prolific and insightful book reviewer. Here is a selection of some of our favorites this year so far.
The Tragedy and Legacy of Afghanistan
The effects of the war in Afghanistan will last for generations to come. As we approached the one-year anniversary of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Joshua Huminski reviewed a pair of books - Elliot Ackerman’s “The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan” and Elizabeth Leake’s “Afghan Crucible."
The Dark Arts of Statecraft
Covert action is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of international relations, what Joshua Huminski calls the “dark arts” of statecraft. This review explores Rory Cormac’s “How to Stage a Coup,” which offers a delightfully incisive and much needed corrective to the opacity surrounding covert action. Cormac shows that reality is, in fact, far more interesting than fiction.
Zelensky: Servant of the Ukrainian People
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became one of the world’s most recognizable people overnight with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In this review of Serhii Rudenko’s “Zelensky,” Joshua Huminski examines how the Ukrainian president was the right person at the right, albeit tragic, time, and finds a more complex and nuanced person, which makes Zelensky’s wartime leadership all the more impressive.
FC Barcelona and the Beautiful Game
In a break from his staple diet of geopolitical readings, Joshua Huminski reveals his fandom for the "beautiful game" (soccer, or football, for our non-American friends.) Huminski reviews Simon Kuper's "The Barcelona Complex," which delves into the rise and fall of FC Barcelona, both driven by its reliance on the incomparable Lionel Andrés Messi.
