How do We Proceed Now that 21st Century #Diplomacy has Devolved into Trolling on a National Scale
Does anyone else miss when the Russians were the cold, humorless
bad guys in 1980s movies? I mean I'm trying to whip up to a patriotic fervor of
righteous indignation about this tweet... but it's objectively hilarious.
#WellPlayed Russia, well played...
As Americans of
course we must set the standard, and oh how we do with the original Tweeter-in-Chief
himself Presidentent-Elect Donald Trump. Trolling entire governments has become
standard fare as we enter 2017.
Use of hashtag diplomacy has not been confined to the
President-elect though nor is it new. In fact the initial overtures to restoring diplomatic
relations with Cuba were
carried out via Twitter by the outgoing Obama administration. Twitter has even
been weaponized by the U.S. Government against the
Castro regime according to AP.
The days of plenipotentiary Ambassadors in austere Embassy buildings and cryptic negotiations seem behind us now in a world where social media trends dominate International conversations, establish talking points for leaders and set legislative priorities.
The practical end of this is that the Diplomatic machine moves much faster now. The terrifying aspect of that is that this machine works in both directions: toward peace and toward War.
Will we be carried Aloft by the social media vehicle of International dialogue? Or crushed beneath the treads? With the increasing irrelevancy of the United Nations: who is behind the wheel? Only time will tell.
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