The End of Modern Diplomacy

September 11, 2019, Strategic Culture Foundation (Russia) https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/09/11/end-modern-diplomacy/

Wayne Madsen*

Modern diplomacy can generally be traced back to the late 19^th century and the intercession of professional diplomats in the foreign relations between major and minor powers of the era. International negotiations to resolve problems were primarily handled by diplomats prior to politicians giving their assent to peace treaties and compacts. The Congress of Berlin of 1878 and 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth (New Hampshire) helped resolve the Russo-Turkish War and Russo-Japanese War, respectively. These early diplomatic efforts would eventually lead to treaties establishing the League of Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the United Nations, in addition to a variety of regional and specialized international agencies. Each of these international agencies brought into being a corps of international diplomats who, for the most part, were committed to hammering out disputes between nations through negotiations and not armed conflict. The lessons of World Wars I and II provided an impetus for nations to commit to dialogue rather than war.

In recent years, the world has seen the rise of anti-diplomacy occasioned by the appearance on the world stage of political brutes, all operating

Urgent Action Required Against Environmental Pirates

August 26, 2019, Strategic Culture Foundation (Russia) https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/08/26/urgent-action-required-against-environmental-pirates/

There is a new type of pirate on the international scene. These are not the swashbuckling brigands of yore but national leaders who are intent on plundering and pillaging the world’s most-environmentally sensitive resources. From the Amazon rainforest, described as the “lungs of the Earth” because it provides 20 percent of our planet’s oxygen, to Greenland and the Antarctic, unscrupulous and ignorant leaders are placing the entire planet in jeopardy. These leaders include Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, who fancies himself as the “Tropical Trump.” In rejecting scientific methods of measuring and tracking the adverse effects of climate change, political leaders like Trump, Bolsonaro, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, and others are practicing a form of epistemological nihilism, which posits that environmental and climatic science proving the effects of cascading man-made climate change are untrue.

It is a close race to determine whether Trump or Bolsonaro are having the greatest negative impact on Earth’s climate. Although both reject sound scientific methodology, Bolsonaro slightly edges out Trump due to the fact that the “intellectual” guru for Bolsonaro, a far-right Brazilian “end-times” evangelical “Christian,” is a Virginia-based conspiracy monger named Olavo de Carvalho. Among his other fanciful notions, Carvalho entertains the idea that the Earth is not a sphere but flat.

As wildfires of biblical proportions plague Alaska, Siberia, and the Amazon Basin, unprecedented heat waves hit Europe, and the Greenland Ice Sheet and Western Antarctica melt as Trump figures out how to annex Greenland from

Brasil/Deforestation in Brazil has rocketed since Bolsonaro became president

22 July 2019, New Scientist Environment https://www.newscientist.com/article/2210621-deforestation-in-brazil-has-rocketed-since-bolsonaro-became-president/

Recently exposed soil (orange) and cattle ranches (light green) around the Juruena River in Brazil

Oton Barros/DSR/OBT/INPE

By Adam Vaughan

Satellite images suggest that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has shot up since Jair Bolsonaro became president in January, despite his claim on Friday that the data “lies”.

More than 3700 square kilometres of forest has been deforested this year, an area about a fifth the size of Wales, preliminary satellite data indicates. Even before figures for the whole of July are in, the losses for the first seven months of the year are up 16 per cent on the recent high of 3183 square kilometres in 2016.

The world’s greatest rainforest is not only home to a rich diversity of species and around 400 indigenous groups, but is also a vast store of carbon that is vital for tackling climate