Diplomacy & Crisis News

The newly energized democracy is missing the chance to make its diplomatic mark in the region.

Rights group says app was widely used by businesses and even government offices.

Turkey has a history of coups. Whoever wins the election must prevent politicization of the military.

The Kremlin has prepared for the soccer tournament by cracking down on terror threats — the wrong kind.

L'Etat-providence américain a été amputé de son socle. Le progressisme, né au lendemain de la première guerre mondiale, avait instauré l'aide au revenu, au logement et à l'alimentation pour les familles démunies, et mis en place un système de protection sociale pour les retraités et les handicapés. Ces (...) / Logement, Pauvreté, Urbanisme - 2003/11 Décoloniser les esprits

Jamais les prisons françaises n'ont été aussi remplies depuis la Libération. Répression plus forte, allongement des peines et recours accru à la détention provisoire conduisent à une augmentation du nombre des détenus, qui, en juillet 2003, a atteint le chiffre record de 60 963... pour 48 600 places. Si (...) / France, Narcotrafic, Femmes, Justice, Prison - 2003/09 Impasses

Les dirigeants de la Poste, dont le rôle social et territorial rivalise presque avec celui de l'école, n'ont eu de cesse de discipliner leurs agents pour extirper leur culture de service public, jusqu'à les conditionner pour leur faire transformer l'usager en client. / France, Capitalisme, (...) / France, Capitalisme, Économie, Mondialisation, Syndicalisme, Travail - 2002/10 Tentant précipice

It has been a full year since a quartet of Arab countries – the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt – tried to silence Al Jazeera as part of their subsequent 13 arbitrary demands: demands that specifically included shutting down our news network, Al Jazeera.

This particular demand is absurd, given that Al Jazeera has endured as one of the only beacons for free press in the region, maintaining a level of award-winning journalism unattainable by the region’s state-controlled media outlets.

If you want to understand the eagerness these Arab leaders have for shutting down Al Jazeera, you need only to understand how most of media works in the Middle East. Truth drowns beneath the preservation of these crowns. While many Arab leaders parade a vision of modernization in the West, they brutally crack down on dissenters in their country and those they claim are in their “backyards.” They shut down news media outlets seeking to curtail any hint of criticism or opposition, seeking a return to the pre-Al Jazeera period of sycophantic parroting of the party line.

When Al Jazeera first came on the scene over two decades ago, our network broke the stranglehold on state propaganda and gave a platform for independent news, opposing views and untold stories in the region, following what true journalism teaches – to bring all points of view to a story and let audiences decide for themselves. Our uncompromising pursuit of the truth and raw reality on the ground has made Al Jazeera loved by its audiences, but hated by many governments.

Al Jazeera has refused to be silenced, not only continuing to deliver breaking news across the globe but also standing with our media brothers and sisters across the globe in demanding press freedom for all, using the #DemandPressFreedom to sustain global momentum on these efforts. In collaboration with press freedom organizations and initiatives, we continue to demand the release of Reuters journalists in Myanmar as well as those incarcerated in Egypt, Mexico, Afghanistan among others, including our very own Mahmoud Hussein, who has been held in solitary confinement in an Egyptian prison for 534 days. He has yet to be formally charged.

While Al Jazeera remains blocked in the quartet countries, with heavy fines and possible imprisonment for those accessing the channel through VPN, other governments and interest groups seek to impose regulations to curtail press freedom. However, this has been the case since we first broke the status quo back in 1996. Since then, our journalists have been threatened, imprisoned, tortured, and killed, our offices have been bombed, our signals have been blocked, our websites hacked, and our social media accounts taken down. But we have endured and will continue to endure.

In the midst of the call to close us down, a 2017 report by US News and World Report, in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School noted that Al Jazeera operates in one of the most media free environments in the region and “…has gone on to become one of the most popular channels in the Middle East.” This year alone, Al Jazeera journalists have won Peabody awards and accolades at the New York International Television and Film Festival and the United Nations, among other institutions. In the past the network has won several hundred journalism awards including an International Emmy.

Shutting down independent free media because it does not tow the government line is uncivilized, backwards, and oppressive. At a time when more dialogue is so desperately needed across the world, to be voiceless is to be powerless. But that is what some of the most powerful leaders in the world are attempting to do right now; silence the media, silence the people.

If we’ve learned anything in all our triumphs and tribulations, it is that you cannot silence the people for long. You cannot take away their experiences, dreams, stories and opinions. They will be heard and we will continue to be a messenger for them.

As we mark a year since the Arab quartet demanded we be shut down and silenced, we celebrate another year of courageous journalism and a steadfast commitment to press freedom in the region and across the globe.

Abdulla Al Najjar is the Executive Director of Global Brand and Communications at Al Jazeera Media Network.

The post You Cannot Silence Al Jazeera appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

>> Retrouvez l’article dont est extraite cette citation : « Géopolitique de la cyber-conflictualité », écrit par Julien Nocetti, chercheur au Centre Russie/NEI et spécialiste des questions liées au numérique et au cyber, dans le numéro d’été 2018 de Politique étrangère (n° 2/2018). < <

In recent months, troubling details have emerged about a sprawling network of secretive political reeducation camps in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang. Both official and leaked evidence indicates that up to one million Muslims, chiefly from the Uighur minority, have been interned without legal proceedings. Ex-internees describe vast facilities that can hold nearly 6,000 persons and are heavily secured with barbed wire, surveillance systems, and armed police. Government tenders confirm these reports and provide detailed insights into the sizes and features of reeducation facilities throughout the region. Those interned are subject to intense indoctrination procedures that force them to proclaim “faith” in the Chinese Communist Party while denigrating large parts of their own religion and culture.

Read More

Durant son exil forcé en Angleterre, Emile Zola s'est plongé dans la lecture de Fourier, Saint-Simon, Auguste Comte… Résolument du côté du peuple, républicain stigmatisant la dégradation morale du Second Empire, infatigable, l'auteur des « Rougon-Macquart » était impliqué dans les tourmentes de son (...) / France, Histoire, Intellectuels, Littérature, Mouvement de contestation, Travail - 2002/10 Tentant précipice

Bien qu'invoquant le « partenariat » et la « société civile », le patronat français n'a cessé d'accroître sa pression sur des partis politiques de plus en plus ouverts à ses exigences. Après avoir obtenu d'un gouvernement de gauche que la réduction du temps de travail ait pour contrepartie une flexibilité (...) / France, Capitalisme, Inégalités, Médias, Travail - 2002/10 Tentant précipice

Les nouvelles technologies de l'information sont férocement convoitées par les entreprises commerciales, qui y voient des gisements formidables de profits. Le réseau Internet, en particulier, est de plus en plus infiltré par les publicités commerciales et détourné de ses objectifs culturels ou (...) / Publicité, Technologies de l'information, Technologie, Informatique, Télécommunications, Information, Internet, Médias - 1997/11

Microsoft est la plus importante entreprise de services d'information. Ce n'est ni la conséquence de sa taille - de nombreuses firmes ont un chiffre d'affaires supérieur - ni celle de ses produits - beaucoup de sociétés se montrent plus innovatrices. Mais Microsoft domine le marché des systèmes (...) / Informatique, Technologies de l'information, Multinationales, Entreprise - 1997/11

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take a stroll during their June 12th Singapore summit. Photo courtesy of Kevin Lim/The Strait Times/Handout/Getty Images

As Washington is currently full of armchair quarterbacking in the wake of the historic Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, perhaps a more unorthodox and pragmatic, less idealogical quarterback was what was needed to finally move the ball (back) up the field of U.S.-DPRK relations.

“Save your energy Rex.”

Despite the warm smiles and gestures proffered during the recent, historic Singapore summit between the U.S. and the DPRK, there remains an air of continuing mistrust between the two states. This is because both states have been at this very same juncture before, only to have progress stymied because of mistrust and deception on both sides. A key component of previous difficulties had been the hesitancy of previous U.S. presidents in granting a diplomatic audience to the DPRK in the first place in the belief that solely being able to meet with the U.S. president is a concession in and of itself and that the DPRK should be grateful that its stature would be raised accordingly.

Another key component of previous difficulties has been the notion of reciprocity, or more accurately, the perceived lack thereof. Previous U.S. administrations have held firm to the belief that the DPRK must agree to a complete, verifiable, irreversable denuclearization (CVID) of the Korean Peninsula first before any true negotiations with the U.S. could start. Or, to re-phrase it, “Surrender first, then we’ll talk.”

Help a Sista Out

Because of domestic backlash, even this stance has been walked back post-summit to that of the U.S. demanding that CVID of only the DPRK (as opposed to the entire Korean Peninsula, which would include U.S. nuclear weaponry) must be done before sanctions are totally lifted and U.S.-ROK military exercises are totally halted. Despite the previous U.S. insistence that withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula is not a negotiating point and would be a matter of joint discussion with the ROK, some media pundits and politicians are trying to use the fear of even this remote possibility, in the wake of President Trump’s surprise statement regarding U.S.-ROK military exercises, as further ammunition in their quest to discredit the president, and thereby sabotage negotiations.

What’s still not clear is the extent to which the president is proposing halting U.S.-ROK joint military exercises. What is clear, however, is that previous negotiating tactics with the DPRK clearly were not working and a drastic change in approach was necessary. The extent to which the president’s method was influenced by China’s “double freeze” proposal or his own instincts will be a subject of further debate. What’s also clear is that serious diplomacy is much more preferable than simply walking up to the DMZ in a cute bomber jacket and looking through binoculars at the very adversary you should be talking to. Also, ignoring your adversary’s sister at the Winter Olympics doesn’t win you any points with anyone…anywhere.

A Tale of Two Books

To cut to the chase, no one actually knows Trump’s strategy, or if he even has one or not. This is not only confined to the DPRK issue, but also encompasses U.S.-China trade, U.S.-EU relations, Syria, and much, much more! Anyone in Washington (or elsewhere) claiming they have a bead on the president because they’ve read Trump: The Art of the Deal is disengenous. As many times as Trump has shifted his thinking over the course of a week (or day), surely perhaps his thinking has shifted slightly over the course of the last generation, as the book was originally published over 30 years ago. The year 1987 can not even hold a candle to today’s increasingly frenetic multipolar world. This is one of the reasons why the DPRK held talks with China, the ROK, and Russia, before deciding to “raise its stature” by then holding direct talks with the U.S..

In Ronan Farrow’s War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence, the author decries the steady atrophying of the U.S.’ diplomatic game over the course of several U.S. administrations. The reasons are multiple, ranging from still-unfilled vacancies of the upper management echelons at the State Department, to the gradual assumption by the military and intelligence community of roles formerly performed by State. The book posits that this is by presidential design, but if so, still lacks concrete answers as to exactly why. 

Whether it’s an attempt by Trump to further marginalize professional expertise in favor of asserting a more dominant role for himself in U.S. foreign policy formulation is anybody’s guess. Perhaps it’s an attempt to clean out schlerotic, Cold War thinking (“The Blob”) in favor of a new approach. If so, then this new dynamic, out-of-the-box thinking is desperately needed on other issues as well. The possible upcoming summit with Russian President Putin comes to mind, especially in the wake of Trump’s recent comments regarding Crimea. Let’s hope that “The Blob” heeds the advice of one analyst who recently stated, “A summit is not a wrestling match”. Very wise. Very wise indeed.

The post More Bold, Risk-Assuming, Presidential Pragmatism on DPRK Needed appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Cette recension a été publiée dans le numéro d’été de Politique étrangère (n° 2/2018). Laurent Marchand, journaliste chez Ouest France, propose une analyse de l’ouvrage de Jérémy Dousson, Un populisme à l’italienne ? Comprendre le Mouvement 5 étoiles (Les Petits Matins, 2018, 208 pages).

C’est le grand vainqueur des élections du 4 mars 2018. Un Italien sur trois a voté pour le logo aux cinq étoiles. Et pourtant, ce mouvement, né en 2009, est largement méconnu hors d’Italie.

Avec quelques rappels utiles aux non-initiés des arcanes de la politique italienne, Jérémy Dousson revient sur la genèse de ce mouvement qui avait déjà conquis huit millions d’électeurs en 2013, avec son cri primordial de 2007, le « Vaffanculo Day », ses parentés initiales avec la gauche, sa radicalité antisystème, son agenda « progressiste sur le plan social » et « hétérodoxe sur le plan économique ».

Mais aussi son fonctionnement en réseau et son « élasticité » qui lui permet de séduire aussi bien la gauche radicalement écologique que l’artisan en colère contre la paralysie d’un État perçu comme prédateur. Et également sa versatilité sur les questions européennes.

À juste titre, Jérémy Dousson s’attarde sur le padre padrone du Mouvement 5 étoiles (M5E), Beppe Grillo, le tonitruant comique génois, sorte de Coluche qui aurait métabolisé Jeremy Rifkin. Dès la fin des années 1990, les textes de ses spectacles, peu connus à l’étranger, montrent une aptitude brillante à dénoncer les impostures de la dérive ultra-libérale. Efficacement comiques, ces textes en disent long sur la trajectoire idéologique d’une colère qui se cherche déjà, et que le M5E va capter.

Pour étayer son propos, l’ouvrage fournit des données économiques et sociales qui montrent combien l’Italie a pâti de la crise et rendu le rejet du « système » encore plus pressant. À cet égard, on aurait apprécié de voir cité l’ouvrage de deux journalistes du Corriere della Sera, Sergio Rizzo et Gian Antonio Stella, La Casta, paru en 2007 également, dont l’impact sur le climat anti-élite a été considérable.

Une analyse plus fine des profils sociologiques des élus du M5E (venus souvent de nulle part, au début) et une plus grande précision sur la part d’ombre de « l’autre » fondateur Gianroberto Casaleggio auraient aussi été utiles. Car Grillo est à bien des égards le masque d’une comédie qui s’est aussi écrite en laboratoire. L’informaticien Casaleggio était fasciné dans les années 2000 par l’ingénierie sociale et la fabrique pilotée du consensus sur les réseaux intranet des entreprises. Le montage juridique du mouvement et la docilité des élus n’y sont pas étrangers.

Jérémy Dousson montre bien la place centrale du ressort « anti-caste » dans l’affirmation du M5E. Les élites italiennes, il est vrai, ont laissé si peu de perspectives aux jeunes générations que Grillo a beau jeu de dire qu’il a empêché une dérive fasciste. Mais l’a-t-il vraiment endiguée ? L’affirmation de la Ligue de Matteo Salvini, avec qui le M5E a désormais pris langue, permet d’en douter. À cet égard, les pages sur le populisme et le fascisme (dont on se serait épargné les références à Wikipédia), si elles manquent d’épaisseur conceptuelle, n’en posent pas moins une série de questions essentielles sur les impasses (pas seulement italiennes) de nos démocraties représentatives, et la crise de la social-démocratie.

Parce qu’il a été fluide dans son ascension vers les sommets électoraux, le M5E a capitalisé sur tous les tableaux. Depuis le 4 mars toutefois, l’OVNI vient d’entrer dans l’atmosphère de la responsabilité politique. Le livre de Jérémy Dousson aide à comprendre la galaxie dont il est issu.

Laurent Marchand

S’abonner à Politique étrangère

Alors que le Brésil importe des milliards de dollars de produits agricoles, des millions de travailleurs des campagnes se voient refuser l'accès à la terre, qui continue à n'être un droit que pour une minorité. / Brésil, Agriculture, Droits humains, Inégalités, Pauvreté, Réforme agraire - 2002/10 (...) / Brésil, Agriculture, Droits humains, Inégalités, Pauvreté, Réforme agraire - 2002/10 Tentant précipice

Tout en promettant de défendre, partout dans le monde, la liberté et la démocratie, le document stratégique publié le 20 septembre par l'administration Bush met fin au désarmement ; interdit à toute puissance de vouloir rivaliser avec les Etats-Unis sur le plan militaire ; théorise l'intervention à (...) / États-Unis, Géopolitique, Nationalisme, Relations internationales, Stratégie - 2002/10 Tentant précipice

Samedi 23 mars 2002, au Théâtre de Chelles, un débat sur le « sort des salariés face aux restructurations des entreprises » a lieu avant la présentation de la pièce 501 blues, jouée par cinq ouvrières de l'usine Levi's de la Bassée (dans le Nord) qui ont été licenciées, comme plus de cinq cents de leurs (...) / Éducation, Immigrés, Travail - 2002/06 Transmission

“Oh Charlie Brownnnnn…” Year after year, Lucy tricks Charlie Brown to kick a football she inevitably pulls away. Each time it’s a new creative argument. Lucy promises the world and the temptation is so great that Charlie Brown overlooks history and everything else except kicking that ball. Drawn in, surely this time Lucy will hold the ball as promised and Charlie Brown will kick it to the moon. Unlikely.

Allured by the objectively noble prospect of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, America is paying less attention to the real threat in the Western Pacific. While nuclear weapons are an existential threat, North Korea is neither going to denuclearize nor use their warheads. To do either would be disastrous for them. As talks with North Korea commenced this week, America must resist being distracted by the dream of a nuclear-free Korea and remember the preeminent security threat of the next century is Chinese supremacy in the South China Sea.

North Korea is what economists call a rational actor: they act in their own self-interest. Their foremost goal is to perpetuate the Kim regime and North Korea will always act based on that objective. If Mr. Kim launched a nuclear attack, the response would be cataclysmic and would surely end his rule. Conversely, if he denuclearized, he would give up all the international leverage he has to stay in power. Mr. Kim is therefore very unlikely to give up his nuclear deterrent, but by engaging in talks with America he earns legitimacy and propaganda without concession. We’ve been here before.

However, the far greater threat is China’s imminent dominance of the South China Sea (SCS). China is challenging the international system built by America and its allies. For the first time in decades, a new economically viable alternative to the liberal world order is spreading. From thieving American commercial and military secrets to recruiting scientists, China is rapidly closing the technological gap with America and energizing its military and economy. With its One-Belt-One-Road initiative, China is investing in dual-use foreign infrastructure across a third of the world’s GDP at a rate up to 2-3 trillion dollars per year – 12 times the size of America’s Marshall Plan. Using unprecedented cash that the United States simply can’t match, China is luring nations into their sphere of influence.

Furthermore, Chinese investment comes without rules and lectures on human rights or democratic ideals, attracting authoritarian-leaning governments. China’s goal is to surpass the United States economy and become the world’s dominant military power by 2050, starting in the SCS. Carrying 60 percent of the world’s seaborne trade and the link between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, the SCS is a global choke point and the economic lifeline for many of the world’s nations. By establishing control there, China is using economic and military force to intimidate and coerce regional nations into obedience. If America doesn’t address China’s growing power over the SCS, it risks sacrificing the current international order for one much less favorable to freedom and democracy.

The centerpiece of America’s strategy to counter China’s weight in the Western Pacific was the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP wasn’t just a free trade agreement, but an alliance, an evolution of NATO, designed for the region. Without it, Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) are an important stop-gap, but they will not roll-back Chinese fortification of the SCS. Similarly, military exercises and trade sanctions only have limited use. An effective strategy must draw the regional nations into American geopolitical orbit based on free and open political and economic governance. Being the global leader requires America to be a reliable partner and advocate for the democratic institutions its worked so hard to create. By living up to its principles, America can unite the regional and democratic nations through political and economic alliances, like the G7, to resist the spread of the illiberal order.

Each year that I flew missions in the SCS I saw the threat rings in my jet, drawn around Chinese claims and fortifications, expand and multiply. Soon, the US military won’t be able to operate there at all without being targeted by Chinese defenses. The allure of a historic political achievement—the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula—is powerful precisely because it makes the world safer. But sadly, it’s an illusion and a distraction that is taking our attention away from what China is doing right now.

LT Peter Devine is a Navy F/A-18 pilot, he recently returned from the Western Pacific and teaches economics at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He is a member of Truman National Security Project’s Defense Council. The views expressed are his own and not representative of the Navy, the Naval Academy, or Truman National Security Project.

The post Oh Charlie Brown… Insights on North Korea appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.