Violent left and right: Which is more dangerous?
Diplo Wisdom Circle Politics and governance Blogs
We condemn the violent left and right. Are the threats equivalent? Is one more dangerous? Let’s reflect – in compact fashion.
1. Both share an ideology of a ‘desirable’ hierarchical social order
Both extremes share a…
The abuse of analogies: Upon reading the article ‘Reading the CCP Clearly’
Diplo Wisdom Circle Diplomatic theory and practice Blogs
The pivoting argument in the article ‘Reading the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] Clearly’ by Perry Link (The New York Review of Books, 11 February 2021 issue) on US policy toward China is the topos of appeasement vs disagreement or resistance.…
All there is to know in international relations
Diplo Wisdom Circle International relations, law and politics Blogs
Some see two black faces,
Some see a white vase.
A few see them both.
Both sides mock the relativists.
It is all a matter of the right imagination...
Browse through our Diplo Wisdom Circle (DWC) blog posts.
Establishing standards for IoT devices: Recent examples
Diplo Wisdom Circle Cybersecurity, Diplomatic theory and practice, Gender rights online, Internet of things Blogs
Precise agriculture, monitoring water use, remote medicine – these are just some of the developments enabled due to the expanding use of Internet of things (IoT) devices. There is no doubt that IoT devices can improve our lives. At the same…
Diplomats at US intelligence hub in UK lose immunities
Diplo Wisdom Circle Blogs
Recent official revelations about the ‘special arrangements’ governing the diplomatic status of the US intelligence hub at the Croughton airbase in the English Midlands, which were provoked by the Sacoolas affair, raise important questions.
Article…
Connected objects: Is there need for greater scrutiny?
Diplo Wisdom Circle Internet of things Blogs
What are connected objects? Consider home assistants, smart thermostats, fitness wearables and connected cars to name but a few which advocate the advantages of convenience, home efficiency, health monitoring, safety, and security. Collectively…
What gives? Revolution or civil engagement and resistance?
Diplo Wisdom Circle Politics and governance, Citizen engagement Blogs
Ever since people learned to fight autocracy and oppressive regimes, the battle has raged between ‘accommodationists’ and revolutionaries. The first ones pleaded for dialogue and used, if necessary, civil disobedience. The others discounted…
Compensating victims of terrorism – looking at it from the point of view of international law and national culture
Diplo Wisdom Circle International relations, law and politics Blogs
Today’s Guardian brings an interesting diplomatic issue into in the news: you can read it here. It raises a wealth of questions in international law but it also in national culture.
As an international diplomat, you may want to address…
Hostile takeover: Foreign Office swallows Development ministry
Diplo Wisdom Circle Foreign policy Blogs
First it was the Foreign Office (FO), then it evolved into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and today it becomes – as foreshadowed by Boris Johnson on 16 June – Britain’s ‘super-department for international affairs’,…
A tale of influencers
Diplo Wisdom Circle Politics and governance Blogs
Behold America: A history of America First and the American Dream (Sarah Churchwell, 2018, p. 356):
History is not ancestral memory or collective tradition. It is what people learned from priests, schoolmasters, the writers of history…
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the human condition
Diplo Wisdom Circle Artificial Intelligence Blogs
Dr Jovan Kurbalija, conductor of the orchestra called DiploFoundation, proposed a project called HumAInism: Visionary governance for humanity with artificial intelligence. The main aim of the vision would be to find a way towards an outline…
Where have all the health attachés gone?
Diplo Wisdom Circle COVID-19 and Diplomacy, Diplomatic theory and practice, Health diplomacy, Public diplomacy Blogs
An influential article of 2014 noted that health attachés were appointed shortly after the Second World War and were thereafter assigned by 'a growing number of countries [...] to work in embassies in countries of strategic importance'. Is…
