🤝🌐 The language spoken by the political elites of the leading countries of the world is not the language of money, institutions or laws, but the language of history.

History allows you to put yourself in a broad context of events and make strategic decisions based on the national experience of foreign policy. Far from all countries have preserved the principle of historicism in long-term planning. It was preserved only by the leading countries, which have retained the experience of great power politics, when the use of force is perceived as another tool to achieve a political goal along with others.

It is this parameter that leadership is determined today. It can be assumed that for this reason Russia’s negotiations with the United States will take place much earlier than with the EU, since there are no countries in Europe that could make their own big bet in the unfolding geopolitical game. It’s like playing in a casino not with your own money, but with candy wrappers from Monopoly: you lose the sense of responsibility for your decisions, there is no understanding that you will have to answer by yourself.

There are few countries in the world today that “play for their own”: Russia, the United States, China, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Perhaps that is all.

The European foreign policy tradition has been severely devalued by the inflation of the “liberal dream”. Europeans have ceased to soberly understand the cause-and-effect relationships in the world’s power system of coordinates. 

Diplomats must make sure from personal experience that the international system still exists, it is solid and based on military-political, not ideological realities, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Andrey Sushentsov.

#ModernDiplomacy #diplomacy

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🤝🌐 In the context of the global crisis, diplomacy is experiencing a rebirth.

The modern age makes the job of a diplomat more difficult in two respects.

1️⃣ The first difficulty is the digital information space that we consume through smartphones. It makes the amount of information consumed a hundred times greater than it was a few years ago, in the pre-digital era, and makes special demands on realism, pragmatism, the ability to soberly assess incoming data, and the ability to communicate in this digital environment.

2️⃣ Second, the modern communication environment is very different, depending on the generation that diplomats are addressing. The generation born in the 60s, 80s and 2000s are different groups in terms of their worldview.

The changing modern world requires adaptation: it is important not only to preserve the traditions of teaching historical disciplines for future diplomats capable of managing crises, but also to prepare them for the perception of large flows of information that their predecessors did not encounter.

At the same time, however, the fundamental foundations that underpin systemic thinking should not be neglected — the representation of any situation as a system that works according to its own laws. A point of balance must be found in a system where the reached agreement is respected by all parties, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Andrey Sushentsov.

#ModernDiplomacy #diplomacy

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🌐 Probably only Russia among the classical European powers retained its diplomatic tradition.

Thanks to a strong school of diplomacy and a developed institutional environment for cultivating professional experience, Russian diplomats develop the ability to see the world pragmatically, and without ideological lenses, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Andrey Sushentsov.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/what-do-the-political-elites-of-ukraine/

#ModernDiplomacy #Diplomacy #UnitedStates #Ukraine

@valdaiclub

🔒🤝 Secret diplomacy is a unique form of diplomatic activity since it frequently involves concealing not only the diplomatic initiative from the public and media, but also from one's own government.

Diplomatic secrecy is typically categorized into three types.

1️⃣ First, strategic secrecy refers to agreements between sovereign states that are concealed from other states and the general public, including those of the parties to the agreement. The concept of strategic secrecy encompasses secrecy regarding the contents of negotiations, the contents of agreements, and the fact that agreements have been reached. The principle of strategic secrecy is one of the most fundamental aspects of security alliances, in which information is shared between limited countries with shared interests and mutual trust.

2️⃣ Second, operational secrecy pertains to the everyday relations of diplomats and the intentional concealment of information during other types of diplomatic relations, other than negotiations. The concept of operational secrecy is explained and defended as an integral part of diplomatic practice. In reality, however, it is difficult to define exactly what is being protected or who is being protected when confidentiality is maintained.

3️⃣ Lastly, there is official secrecy, when something is known but not acknowledged as such. It is critical to note that official secrecy is not limited to embarrassment and scandal that must be kept secret. Moreover, it refers to circumstances in which openly acknowledging a situation sets in motion an unintended consequence. Diplomatic relations are subject to the same level of secrecy as other forms of human interaction.

It is not appropriate to abuse diplomatic secrecy in international relations, as this would lead to a negative effect on diplomacy, which is the principal method of reducing tension in international relations, writes Valdai Club expert Ti Lan-An Nguyen.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/diplomatic-secrecy-in-the-21st-century-why-is-it/

#ModernDiplomacy #Diplomacy #WorldOrder

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🎥 According to Ana Maria Cetto, President of the Global Committee in Open Science from the UNESCO, is difficult to follow both sides in science diplomacy, the side of politicians and the side of scientists. They have different ways of thinking and reaction. And the science diplomacy looks a more rational way of thinking.

#valdai_podcast #diplomacy #science #UNESCO

@valdai_club

🌏 The fundamental basis of the Russian approach to the training of future analysts and diplomats is to instil in students a knowledge of the history, language and culture of the country of specialisation. 

As the international developments of the past year show, there are at least two reasons why high-quality training of diplomatic personnel in Russia has not lost its relevance.

1️⃣ First, our interlocutors in the West are becoming skilled in toying with human emotions.

The era of globalisation has given mankind such an open information society that all people perceive themselves as participants in the international process: foreign policy developments affect people’s thoughts and feelings, turning them into the protagonists of international events. European politicians successfully press the “sympathy” and “solidarity” buttons on the dashboard in connection with various international events. The United States, Britain and some other Western countries, skilled in the information war, are now very good at directing the flows of emotional reactions of English-speaking citizens in the West, and in other regions of the world, to shape the way they perceive what is happening, for example, in Ukraine.

2️⃣ Second, the countries where the centre of gravity of world resources is gradually shifting, namely China and India, do not perceive the confrontation between Russia and the West as a redistribution of the world order, but only as the latest struggle within the West. That is, what is happening is perceived as a conflict within “white civilization”, as a dispute between economic entities.

It is necessary to strengthen the ability of young professionals to interact in a new information environment, where you need to take the initiative, to defend convincingly and firmly your own position; to conduct a discussion in such a way that your point of view looks like the closest approximation to the median of common sense: to be able to press the buttons of the interlocutor’s emotions, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Andrey Sushentsov.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/is-strategic-empathy-necessary/

#ModernDiplomacy #diplomacy

@valdai_club