#global dialogue

[news4nose]

Jaishankar Holds Bilateral with Mexico's Foreign Minister at UNGA - News4Nose

India-Mexico relations have consistently thrived on friendship, warmth, and cordiality. This bond is marked by mutual understanding and an upward trajectory in bilateral trade and comprehensive cooperation. 

[a-kind-of-medicine]

Is Xi Posturing for a Trump Victory?

In international relations, every accusation is a confession, and every policy pivot is a hedged bet. From that perspective, Xi's recent visit to California seems as much about reopening crucial backchannels of military communication as it does a pragmatic bet on an uncertain future.

Between China's position for peace in Ukraine, a ceasefire in Gaza, and now advancing export control agreements with the United States, Beijing seems to have been hard at work at cultivating the image of a peacemaker.

On Taiwan, President Xi Jinping tried to walk an equally enlightened line. While with reporters, he was not shy to reaffirm China's desire for reunification with Taiwan. Notably however, he decided to omit any mention of the use of force.

One is given the impression that China is trying to legitimize its projection as a global power by aligning its stances to seem like the adult in the room. This is not to make any normative judgement on what Beijing, or any other power is doing.

Rather, I think it's interesting to observe that the recent series of developments in US-China relations can be viewed through a lens of President Xi gearing up for another seismic upheaval in US politics. The most recent Sienna College poll now having shown a slight Trump lead after a neck-to-neck race with Biden for most of the last year, Xi may be wisely hedging his bets.

If Biden is reelected, Xi knows that he can largely expect more of the same, and in that regard he is already well seasoned - the export restrictions on semiconductor technology against China are more than a year old at this point.

However, with Trump, we can safely say for certain that not even the man himself knows what he is going to say or do next. In that view, Xi seems to be wisely hedging his bets against the future world order. Between continuing to emphasize economic cooperation with the United States and developing infrastructure projects in the African region under the Belt and Road Initiative - it seems that President Xi Jinping is working hard to build up Beijing's diplomatic currency by pre-positioning China as the sober adult in the new world order and betting on the likelihood that Trump is reelected in the next cycle.

Let us see if his bet pays off.

[ibearwitness-blog]

"First Facebook and then a number of other sites were being blocked by Iran. It isn’t exactly an atypical action by a regime who has done so before on a number of instances. This time something was different though. Twitter became the unlikely hero of a large group of individuals who were calling for a vote recount and regardless of the outcome were furthering a movement. What’s becoming increasingly clear is the widespread impact that social technology is having on the world.

For the first time it feels as though we are part of something greater and that the people finally do have control. It’s an empowering feeling and as social technologists continue to iterate on their platforms, democracy is becoming a fact of life for regimes which previously ruled with an iron fist. Even within this country we are witnessing a transparency movement and we can thank the internet with the help of social technology for making this possible." [click on link for the rest of the article.]

Fascinating, wouldn't you say? It is amazing to think about how communication technologies are making it more possible than ever before for people to report what they are really experiencing around the world, especially for those who live within states that tend to tightly control information.  Who would have thought that platforms like Facebook and Twitter (aha! so there is some utility in you after all, twitter!) would facilitate the ability for one to exercise a universal human right -- that of freedom of expression for those who are reporting, and freedom to know for those who are receiving the information.  In spite of a state with a flair for the unjust use of force and authority, the Iranian people are expressing themselves and making their voices heard.

More exciting still are the possibilities these mechanisms provide for people with diverging cultures, beliefs and convictions to engage in a global dialogue and learn about each other.  We are on the brink of something BIG here!  We're not living in just any ordinary time in history -- I believe this cross cultural interaction among civil society is only going to continue to rise and intensify and that it will change the landscape of our world.  What do you think?  Do you think these platforms could be regarded as instruments to facilitate a global dialogue on world events and issues among members of civil society?  Could it give rise to new levels of global solidarity?