Twitter Diplomacy

With two world leaders acting and using language that would be discouraged in a middle school, one must ask if this is a serious geo-political crisis or just two middle schoolers that will find their next distraction.    Regardless of the outcome, the question of using Twitter to conduct foreign policy has come under increased scrutiny.   The CNN Politics post below gives an overview of what has brought us to "comparing nuke buttons".      There is a growing trend on social media to pressure Twitter to stop President Trump's Twitter use as a violation of Twitter's policies.

The provocation caused Mr Cannon-Brookes to send a tweet to Twitter asking how "threatening to launch a nuclear weapon against millions of people isn't 'abusive behaviour'", according to its guidelines.

While she make think differently in light of current events, Mary Dejevsky made the argument early last year that there might be merit for communicating directly with the entire world.

Trump taunts North Korea: My nuclear button is 'much bigger,' 'more powerful' By Eli Watkins, CNN President Donald Trump on Tuesday taunted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warning Kim about US nuclear capabilities as tensions worsen between the two nations. "North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.' Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!" The evening message followed more than a dozen others Trump had sent throughout the day on issues ranging from The New York Times' coverage of his administration to conflict in the Middle East. <more>

In defence of Donald Trump’s Twitter diplomacy Mary Dejevsky There was a widespread belief that once Donald Trump was president, his mode of communication would change. He would think first, speak later. And if he could not bring himself to do that, his wiser aides (or his son-in-law) would ensure that whatever device he used for his quickfire utterances was safely locked up. Like most forecasts about Trump, this was wrong. Whereas George W Bush – probably the first US politician to reach the presidency in the mobile phone age – was told in no uncertain terms to give it up, and his email habit, too, Trump has either not been so advised, or has treated the warnings with the same disdain he treats so much else. He has carried on with his tweets and gaffes, and in doing so he has earned almost universal disapproval from the political and especially the diplomatic establishments, which regard such heedless commentary as, first, ill-advised in the extreme and, second, plain crass. <more>