A recurring theme when studying international relations and diplomacy is the need for secret talks between parties in conflict. This allows concessions to be discussed without the leaders on either side losing face. So we do not hear about moves made toward peace-making, what the methods are, how many are involved, how much work gets done and how successful it may or may not be. This gives us the impression that there is no peace-making going on, merely a cessation of hostilities.
It also came up when I was researching The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The ‘politics of research’ means information on security matters is not researched, not talked about, not documented and not publicised. So we do not hear about the successes and achievements toward peace making.
I am now going through a list of case studies called ‘War Prevention Works’ published by the Oxford Research Group. They say in their book that finding out about interventions in conflict is hard because they are kept quiet.
It is no wonder the general public think peace is an impossibility, war is inevitable and that peace-making does now work. It receives no publicity for multiple reasons, whereas war is newsworthy every day. And if you don’t talk about something, it does not exist. There needs to be evidence for people to learn from and believe in. If you don’t study your history, you can’t learn from it. Keeping peace-making secret may be a short-term requirement, but it is a medium and long term hindrance.
We need to publicise methods and successes somehow, somewhere. Which takes me back to where I started in 2012: where is the manual on how to do peace as a practitioner? What are the methodologies? What is the learned journal for peace? What is the code of conduct? What is the professional body?
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Yes, I’ve changed the links (to undo their advert).
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Elon Musk was star guest this year at an annual conference organized by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.
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He arrived against the backdrop of an ice-skating rink and an ancient castle in Rome with one of his 11 children to tout the value of procreation.
Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and Musk urged the crowd to “make more Italians to save Italy’s culture,” a particular focus of the Meloni government.
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Meloni has been a strong opponent of surrogacy, which is criminalized in Italy, but there was no mention of Musk’s own recent children born of surrogacy.
The owner of X (formerly called Twitter) was slightly rumpled with what could easily be argued the least stylish shoes in the mostly Italian crowd since Donald Trump’s often unkempt former top adviser Steve Bannon appeared at the conference in 2018.
Meloni sat in the front row taking photos of Musk, who she personally invited. Meloni founded the Atreju conference in 1998, named after a character in the 1984 film “The NeverEnding Story.”
The above is a fairly new phenomenon: AI generated spam. I’ve left it in as an example and for future reference. The next comment was created the same way. It had the same links in it and has the same layout.
I have had loads of comment spam advertising AI generated spam. Some idiots have clearly taken this up.
Ukraine is developing a “drowning not waving” problem. It is struggling to say clearly how badly the war is going.
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Giving a candid public assessment of how poorly a conflict is going can be an unwise move as it can result in morale and support draining. After Obama boosted troops in Afghanistan, public support declined over the years, in part because of a lack of realism about how the war was going.
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Ukraine’s acutely bad presentation of its troubles is mostly due to the myopia of its allies.
The lack of understanding in parts of US Congress is breathtaking. A congressman this week suggested Ukraine should name a finite price tag and a specific, simple goal. It’s staggering after two American wars of choice in two decades, costing trillions of dollars, that congressional memories are so short, and comprehension so limited.
Instead, Kyiv consistently points to past successes and future goals. They have reclaimed about half the territory Russia took last year; they have damaged its Black Sea presence strategically. They have a plan for 2024, Zelensky said, but it is secret.
Yet in truth, the most useful headline for Kyiv should be how unutterably bleak the frontlines are for them now. In nearly every direction, the news is grim. Russian forces are hiving off parts of the eastern city of Avdiivka, yet another town Moscow seems content to throw thousands of lives at despite its minimal importance. Along the Zaporizhzhia frontline, where the counteroffensive was focused but ultimately slow and unrewarding, Russian units have come back with renewed vigor and the defense is costly for Ukraine. Ukraine has made a plucky (or foolhardy) dash across the Dnipro River, with some small progress into Russian lines. The casualties have been immense, their supply lines are problematic, and their prospects dim.
Yes, the comment above this is AI generated spam. I have edited the URLs to disable them.