Philip Seib
5.0 out of 5 stars Major Contribution Leaving a Great Deal More to Be Discussed, March 4, 2014
Diplomacy is a third-rate practice at this time, largely because the governments representated by diplomats lack intelligence with integrity and are also not held accountable for making grand mistakes with consequencies measured in trillions over time. The diplomats are messengers, nothing more. Indeed, I question the author's assumption that diplomacy has ever been carried out with methodical deliberation — rather I believe that great power “diplomacy” has been imperial in nature, and is best represented today by Henry Kissinger and his immortal quotes:
Henry Kissinger: Military men are `dumb, stupid animals to be used' as pawns for foreign policy.
Henry Kissinger: “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.”
What is most interesting about this book is its recognition that social media makes possible real-time intelligence (thinking, understanding, decision-support) and that social media now also makes possible real-time counterintelligence — the rapid detection of lies by the mandarins and their media submissives.
Alvin Toffler started this conversation with Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century. An entire literature has been created in the past decade centered on collective intelligence, with low-brow titles focusing on wisdom of the crowds and armies of davids.
Continue reading “Review: Real-Time Diplomacy – Politics and Power in the Social Media Era”
