Ambiguity in diplomacy came in useful again last week. On Friday, Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement for Kosovo representation at regional fora. Till now, Serbia, who opposes Kosovo’s independence, was blocking Kosovo’s participation in regional meetings. According to this agreement, Kosovo’s representatives will sit behind the plate ‘Kosovo’ with an asteriks pointing to the… [Read more…]
February 13, 2012
Last weekend, thousands of people took to the streets of freezing European cities to protest against ACTA. Typically, especially in sub-zero temperatures, only critical issues such as wars and social injustice could bring so many out of doors. Why did this issue, with its rather bureaucratic acronym (ACTA: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) have such a public… [Read more…]
February 8, 2012
One year ago, the global visual space was dominated by the image of a clenched fist, used as the main symbol of the Arab Spring. The clenched fist has long been used as a symbol of resistance. In the 1990s, it was used as a visual symbol of the anti-Milosevic movement in Serbia and subsequent… [Read more…]
February 2, 2012
Twitter has introduced a new policy allowing the possibility of filtering tweets at the request of local governments. This major departure in policy has triggered an avalanche of tweet-style protests. ‘It is a supercomplex issue’, complained Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo in a recent interview. He continued: ‘When the news came out, people tried to distil… [Read more…]
January 31, 2012
If I did not know Aldo, I would completely skip his text “The Medium is Twitter” as another – justified – warning about techno-hype. The more media pushes techno-hype, the more it triggers techno-pessimism (or realism?). The dialogue between techno-optimists and techno-pessimists dates back, at least in written history, to a dialogue between Theuth, the… [Read more…]
January 15, 2012
If a new law is adopted, South African independent weather forecasters who get it wrong could face imprisonment. Although, according to the Daily Telegraph article, the law has specific local context of reinforcing the state’s monopoly in weather forecasting, it opens many questions….. What about the responsibility of government weather forecasters for their mistakes, especially… [Read more…]
December 29, 2011
Before you vote, you can consult the explanation of the TEN main developments in Internet Governance in 2011. We also invite you to make suggestions for the main developments you expect in 2012 (the 2012 list will be compiled in early January).
December 24, 2011
In the span of a few days, there are two important funerals, as different as one can imagine. In Prague, many statesmen will came to pay their last tribute to one of the icons of democracy, Vaclav Havel. In Pyongyang, there won’t be any foreign dignitaries arriving for the funeral of Kim Jong-il – one… [Read more…]
Aldo Matteucci
Jovan Kurbalija
February 27, 2012
1