WION World Pulse: Decoding shifting contours of global diplomacy

WION World Pulse: decoding shifting contours of global diplomacy

As America's global empire of influence crumbles, a new alliance is looking to replace it. It consists of Russia, Iran & China. Will this alliance create a new World Order? Priyanka Sharma explains on #GravitasPlus.

Gravitas Plus: China, Iran & Russia to create a new World Order?

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday G7 leaders rallied around the need to "counter and compete" with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding democracy to the technology race. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-says-autocrat-putins-russia-might-be-weaker-than-it-seems-391216">Also read: Biden says 'autocrat' Putin's Russia might be weaker than it seems</a>

On China, the G7 meeting was "a significant move forward from where the G7 has ever been before and reflects a growing convergence that wasn't there a few years ago," Sullivan said aboard Air Force One on its way to Brussels. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/g7-adopts-global-infrastructure-plan-an-answer-to-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-391026">Also read: G7 adopts global infrastructure plan, an answer to China's Belt and Road Initiative</a> 
 
"There is a broad view that China represents a significant challenge to the world's democracies," Sullivan said, adding that leaders agreed on the need for a common agenda in addressing China, including elements where they would "stand up and counter and compete." 
 
Watch:

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"Words like counter and compete were words coming out of the mouths of every leader in the room, not just Joe Biden," he said.

The Group of Seven rich nations pledged on Sunday to tackle China's growing influence, singling out China in their communique over human rights in Xinjiang and demanding freedoms and a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong.

Asked to comment on China's remarks about the G7 summit that days were over when "a small group of countries" decided the fate of the world, Sullivan said:

"That is sad. If their claim is that all of the other world's largest economies count as small countries, then they have a massive problem of perspective."

G7 leaders also sought to counter China's growing influence by offering developing countries an infrastructure plan that could rival Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative by supporting projects such as railways in Africa and wind farms in Asia.

Beijing has repeatedly hit back against what it perceives as attempts by Western powers to contain China. It says many major powers are still gripped by an outdated imperial mindset after years of humiliating China.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday G7 leaders rallied around the need to "counter and compete" with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding democracy to the technology race.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday G7 leaders rallied around the need to "counter and compete" with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding democracy to the technology race. Also read: Biden says 'autocrat' Putin's Russia might be weaker than it seems On China, the G7 meeting was "a significant move forward from where the G7 has ever been before and reflects a growing convergence that wasn't there a few years ago," Sullivan said aboard Air Force One on its way to Brussels. Also read: G7 adopts global infrastructure plan, an answer to China's Belt and Road Initiative "There is a broad view that China represents a significant challenge to the world's democracies," Sullivan said, adding that leaders agreed on the need for a common agenda in addressing China, including elements where they would "stand up and counter and compete." Watch: "Words like counter and compete were words coming out of the mouths of every leader in the room, not just Joe Biden," he said. The Group of Seven rich nations pledged on Sunday to tackle China's growing influence, singling out China in their communique over human rights in Xinjiang and demanding freedoms and a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong. Asked to comment on China's remarks about the G7 summit that days were over when "a small group of countries" decided the fate of the world, Sullivan said: "That is sad. If their claim is that all of the other world's largest economies count as small countries, then they have a massive problem of perspective." G7 leaders also sought to counter China's growing influence by offering developing countries an infrastructure plan that could rival Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative by supporting projects such as railways in Africa and wind farms in Asia. Beijing has repeatedly hit back against what it perceives as attempts by Western powers to contain China. It says many major powers are still gripped by an outdated imperial mindset after years of humiliating China.

G7 rally around the need to 'counter and compete' with China: White House

US&nbsp;Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that cooperation between allies was more important than at any time in recent history and that relations with NATO and the European Union would be crucial to overcoming challenges. 
 
Speaking on the last day of his three-day visit to Brussels, Blinken continued what many European officials said was a charm offensive to win back the support of allies sidelined during four abrasive years under US&nbsp;President Joe Biden`s Republican predecessor, Donald Trump. 
 
"I came here very much with one particular focus in mind, and that was to make clear the United States` determination to revitalise our alliances and partnerships," Blinken said alongside Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes. 
 
Biden later addressed EU leaders via videoconference, the first such gesture since President Barack Obama did so in 2009. The White House said in a statement that Biden told EU leaders that Washington and the EU must ensure that "democracies rather than autocracies set the rules of the road." 
 
EU summit chair Charles Michel vowed to work with Washington to uphold democracy around the world. 
 
Blinken told US&nbsp;diplomats in Brussels he wanted to mend and "modernise" relationships to focus on new challenges, which he has listed as China`s rise, COVID-19, climate change, a newly assertive Russia and keeping a technological edge on rivals. 
 
"There`s a greater premium than any time since I`ve been involved in these issues, on finding ways to work together, again," said Blinken, a longtime Biden confidant involved in US&nbsp;foreign policy for decades. 
 
Blinken won European Union support on Wednesday for a US&nbsp;plan to confront Chinese power together through a formal dialogue that Beijing had hoped to avoid, praising EU officials whom Trump sought to undermine. 
 
"A basic tenet of the Biden-Harris administration is consulting with our friends, early and often," Blinken said. 
 
Issues remain, including Turkey`s purchase of Russian missiles and discussions with Moscow to buy more, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction between Russia and Germany, which Blinken reiterated Washington opposes. 
 
"Some of our allies are moving in the wrong direction," he said on Wednesday, referring to backsliding on democracy in Hungary, Poland and Turkey, although he did not name countries. 
 
He stressed that alliances needed to serve US&nbsp;interests and that NATO allies must help pay for their own security, saying: "We can`t sustain effective alliances without showing how they deliver for the American people." 
 
But China`s decision on Monday to retaliate strongly against Western sanctions over human rights abuses has appeared to bring Europe and the United States closer together. European governments have summoned Chinese envoys asking to explain measures against EU nationals that were seen as going far beyond what Brussels imposed. 
 
"We`re convinced that it is (through) enduring relationships, like the one between our countries, and like the ones that exist through the European Union and through NATO ... that we can overcome any of these challenges," Blinken said. 
 
Citing the "devastating" COVID-19 pandemic, Blinken promised to work with the EU and NATO on the global distribution of vaccines, and to ensure they are prepared for future pandemics.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that cooperation between allies was more important than at any time in recent history and that relations with NATO and the European Union would be crucial to overcoming challenges.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that cooperation between allies was more important than at any time in recent history and that relations with NATO and the European Union would be crucial to overcoming challenges. Speaking on the last day of his three-day visit to Brussels, Blinken continued what many European officials said was a charm offensive to win back the support of allies sidelined during four abrasive years under US President Joe Biden`s Republican predecessor, Donald Trump. "I came here very much with one particular focus in mind, and that was to make clear the United States` determination to revitalise our alliances and partnerships," Blinken said alongside Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes. Biden later addressed EU leaders via videoconference, the first such gesture since President Barack Obama did so in 2009. The White House said in a statement that Biden told EU leaders that Washington and the EU must ensure that "democracies rather than autocracies set the rules of the road." EU summit chair Charles Michel vowed to work with Washington to uphold democracy around the world. Blinken told US diplomats in Brussels he wanted to mend and "modernise" relationships to focus on new challenges, which he has listed as China`s rise, COVID-19, climate change, a newly assertive Russia and keeping a technological edge on rivals. "There`s a greater premium than any time since I`ve been involved in these issues, on finding ways to work together, again," said Blinken, a longtime Biden confidant involved in US foreign policy for decades. Blinken won European Union support on Wednesday for a US plan to confront Chinese power together through a formal dialogue that Beijing had hoped to avoid, praising EU officials whom Trump sought to undermine. "A basic tenet of the Biden-Harris administration is consulting with our friends, early and often," Blinken said. Issues remain, including Turkey`s purchase of Russian missiles and discussions with Moscow to buy more, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction between Russia and Germany, which Blinken reiterated Washington opposes. "Some of our allies are moving in the wrong direction," he said on Wednesday, referring to backsliding on democracy in Hungary, Poland and Turkey, although he did not name countries. He stressed that alliances needed to serve US interests and that NATO allies must help pay for their own security, saying: "We can`t sustain effective alliances without showing how they deliver for the American people." But China`s decision on Monday to retaliate strongly against Western sanctions over human rights abuses has appeared to bring Europe and the United States closer together. European governments have summoned Chinese envoys asking to explain measures against EU nationals that were seen as going far beyond what Brussels imposed. "We`re convinced that it is (through) enduring relationships, like the one between our countries, and like the ones that exist through the European Union and through NATO ... that we can overcome any of these challenges," Blinken said. Citing the "devastating" COVID-19 pandemic, Blinken promised to work with the EU and NATO on the global distribution of vaccines, and to ensure they are prepared for future pandemics.

US Secretary of State Blinken says West needs to cooperate more than ever

Globalisation is not going to die. It will assume a new form and character&nbsp;if the lessons from the recent past have been learnt and absorbed. With renewed focus on multilateralism after&nbsp;the election of Joseph Biden to the highest office in the United States, a fairer globalisation might emerge.&nbsp; While a fairer globalisation is contingent on policy impetus, renewal and refocus of multilateral institutions which will axiomatically take some time, globalisation, as it exists in the now is undergoing sharp changes in form and even character.

Hastened and propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing movement to wider and broader digitisation of economies. Be it retailing and consumer demand, work from home, e-commerce and governance and so on a sharp and pronounced shift to digitisation can be discerned. To employ, re-use and &nbsp;paraphrase the assertion of the NY Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, who in this enthusiasm got most things wrong but some things right (even defined by prescience and insight), ‘ if the defining economic parameters of the previous century were weight and mass, in this century it will be speed and velocity through bits and bytes’ , holds a searing resonance as the 21st&nbsp;century advances and evolves.

This digitisation aided and abetted by other significant technological advances like Artificial Intelligence(AI), Robotics, Virtual Reality , Algorithms , or in other words , the technologies of the 4th&nbsp;Industrial Revolution will wrought far reaching , tremendous &nbsp;changes in all domains of life- political, social, cultural , educational and practical. What the world is at the cusp of is its ‘Amazon(isation) &nbsp;- a world where the real and the virtual will increasingly blur and meld into each other.

In this emerging world, what would it mean to be educated and skilled? Would the two be dichotomous and neatly compartmentalised? Or would there be a correlation- a neat one- between the two?

On the face of it , the world inaugurated by the 4th&nbsp;Industrial Revolution will put a premium on skill. This may be true as can be. It self- evidently takes skill to develop software, apps, make robots and run them, develop and construct algorithms of a sophisticated nature. But, yet again self-evidently, the world of Artificial intelligence(AI), Robotics, algorithms will require education and educated people who can not only manage technology but also empathise and relate to each other, lead, organise work albeit in different permutations and combinations and engage with each other in&nbsp; different international social contract and so on.

Consider a typical Multi-National Firm (MNF) operating in the milieu of the 4th&nbsp;Industrial Revolution. Its work will be broken down and disaggregated into bits and bytes all over the world. The pattern of this work will not be merely a pale echo of outsourced back end operations to the developing world but might, in all likelihood, be of a more disparate and disaggregated nature, mediated by skill and the skill premium. In this milieu, mere skills will not be enough. A skilled technician would need to be educated to high standards to both work with, relate to, understand, manage, and even lead colleagues, and co-workers from different parts of the world.&nbsp; This condition will also require empathy, cross cultural and intercultural understanding and accommodation – all themes and notions that can come together in an educated individual.

This example, given the extant and putative ubiquity of the nature of work, can be grafted and tacked onto any domain that will even only have a global ingress. Say, for example, examination and diagnosis of medical records of a patient in the West by doctors in India or Ghana. To be seamless and rather frictionless, the natural complement of skill will have to be education- two domains that are different despite being related.

Being skilled means proficiency and expertise in a technological area. It can range from skill in operating a lathe to developing a very sophisticated app or algorithm.&nbsp;But while skill requires some education, being skilled does not always add up to&nbsp; being educated. Education and being educated amount to a sophisticated and nuanced view of the world and its inhabitants, development or refinement of empathy for fellow human beings (howsoever different culturally), analytical capability, ability to solve complex problems- both of a technical and human nature, excellent communication skills that can straddle cultures and societies , and above all the appreciation of fellow human beings as just that: human beings with feelings, aspirations and dignity who, in a globalised world, work together in a shared global endeavour.

Admittedly, this is a reductive portrait of what education and an educated person mean and imply, but these are the main features. As the 4th&nbsp;Industrial Revolution advances and gets ensconced in the sinews of society, economics, culture, politics and education, it may be time to review our assumptions about skill and education. While both bear some relation to each other, but it (relationship) needs to be made more robust and more intense. This calls for a special role for the university systems of the world which must, as a matter of policy integrate the technocratic aspects of education with philosophic , non -utilitarian aspects.&nbsp;Or, in other words, integrate the techne&nbsp;with logos to develop more ethical, virtuous , empathetic and even productive human beings. The time for this is now!

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do&nbsp;not represent the views of&nbsp;WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse&nbsp;the views of the writer)

Globalisation is not going to die. It will assume a new form and character if the lessons from the recent past have been learnt and absorbed. With renewed focus on multilateralism after the election of Joseph Biden to the highest office in the United States, a fairer globalisation might emerge.

Globalisation is not going to die. It will assume a new form and character if the lessons from the recent past have been learnt and absorbed. With renewed focus on multilateralism after the election of Joseph Biden to the highest office in the United States, a fairer globalisation might emerge. While a fairer globalisation is contingent on policy impetus, renewal and refocus of multilateral institutions which will axiomatically take some time, globalisation, as it exists in the now is undergoing sharp changes in form and even character. Hastened and propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing movement to wider and broader digitisation of economies. Be it retailing and consumer demand, work from home, e-commerce and governance and so on a sharp and pronounced shift to digitisation can be discerned. To employ, re-use and paraphrase the assertion of the NY Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, who in this enthusiasm got most things wrong but some things right (even defined by prescience and insight), ‘ if the defining economic parameters of the previous century were weight and mass, in this century it will be speed and velocity through bits and bytes’ , holds a searing resonance as the 21st century advances and evolves. This digitisation aided and abetted by other significant technological advances like Artificial Intelligence(AI), Robotics, Virtual Reality , Algorithms , or in other words , the technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution will wrought far reaching , tremendous changes in all domains of life- political, social, cultural , educational and practical. What the world is at the cusp of is its ‘Amazon(isation) - a world where the real and the virtual will increasingly blur and meld into each other. In this emerging world, what would it mean to be educated and skilled? Would the two be dichotomous and neatly compartmentalised? Or would there be a correlation- a neat one- between the two? On the face of it , the world inaugurated by the 4th Industrial Revolution will put a premium on skill. This may be true as can be. It self- evidently takes skill to develop software, apps, make robots and run them, develop and construct algorithms of a sophisticated nature. But, yet again self-evidently, the world of Artificial intelligence(AI), Robotics, algorithms will require education and educated people who can not only manage technology but also empathise and relate to each other, lead, organise work albeit in different permutations and combinations and engage with each other in different international social contract and so on. Consider a typical Multi-National Firm (MNF) operating in the milieu of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Its work will be broken down and disaggregated into bits and bytes all over the world. The pattern of this work will not be merely a pale echo of outsourced back end operations to the developing world but might, in all likelihood, be of a more disparate and disaggregated nature, mediated by skill and the skill premium. In this milieu, mere skills will not be enough. A skilled technician would need to be educated to high standards to both work with, relate to, understand, manage, and even lead colleagues, and co-workers from different parts of the world. This condition will also require empathy, cross cultural and intercultural understanding and accommodation – all themes and notions that can come together in an educated individual. This example, given the extant and putative ubiquity of the nature of work, can be grafted and tacked onto any domain that will even only have a global ingress. Say, for example, examination and diagnosis of medical records of a patient in the West by doctors in India or Ghana. To be seamless and rather frictionless, the natural complement of skill will have to be education- two domains that are different despite being related. Being skilled means proficiency and expertise in a technological area. It can range from skill in operating a lathe to developing a very sophisticated app or algorithm. But while skill requires some education, being skilled does not always add up to being educated. Education and being educated amount to a sophisticated and nuanced view of the world and its inhabitants, development or refinement of empathy for fellow human beings (howsoever different culturally), analytical capability, ability to solve complex problems- both of a technical and human nature, excellent communication skills that can straddle cultures and societies , and above all the appreciation of fellow human beings as just that: human beings with feelings, aspirations and dignity who, in a globalised world, work together in a shared global endeavour. Admittedly, this is a reductive portrait of what education and an educated person mean and imply, but these are the main features. As the 4th Industrial Revolution advances and gets ensconced in the sinews of society, economics, culture, politics and education, it may be time to review our assumptions about skill and education. While both bear some relation to each other, but it (relationship) needs to be made more robust and more intense. This calls for a special role for the university systems of the world which must, as a matter of policy integrate the technocratic aspects of education with philosophic , non -utilitarian aspects. Or, in other words, integrate the techne with logos to develop more ethical, virtuous , empathetic and even productive human beings. The time for this is now! (Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer)

In the emerging world, being skilled will be as important as being educated

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