Digital aggression of the United States. About the use of the State Department of the Internet
In the spring of 2014, the Ural Center of RISS in Yekaterinburg conducted a study on the topic “US Digital Diplomacy in Central Asia”. The study covers various aspects of the use of the Internet and modern communications as a tool of foreign policy of the United States of America on the example of the Central Asian region.18 November 2014, the research theses were announced by the head of the center, Ph.D. Popov D.S. at the second meeting of the expert club "Ural-Eurasia" in the Ural Federal University. November 26, 2014, Popov DS spoke with them in Dushanbe at the Faculty of International Relations of the Russian-Tajik Slavic University as part of the work of the CSTO Analytical Association.
The RISS website presents the first part of the report to the readers' attention on the concept and general issues of US digital diplomacy.
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In recent years, the importance of digital diplomacy in the international practice of the United States has been growing steadily. Along with the well-established methods of the US Foreign Office and the traditional channels of communicating information through radio, television and the press, the Internet is increasingly being used by the State Department to promote, gather information, exert pressure on foreign governments, train activists and stimulate protest movements. Digital diplomacy is used by the State Department in conjunction with the network operations of the NSA, the CIA and the Pentagon.
In addition, digital solutions are intensively introduced into the daily activities of ordinary State Department employees in order to increase their efficiency, mobility and coordination.
Digital diplomacy reflects the desire of the US government to use its technological advantage and is a response to the explosive growth in the number of World Wide Web subscribers (especially in developing countries), which, by the end of 2014, will reach 3 billion, according to forecasts by the International Telecommunication Union.
New methods of diplomatic work are being tested by the United States around the world, incl. actively used in Central Asia and other former Soviet republics.
Digital Diplomacy in State Department Activities
Concept, institutions and goals
Digital Diplomacy (Digital Diplomacy) is the use of the Internet and modern information and communication technologies (ICT) for the implementation of diplomatic and related foreign policy tasks. Also referred to by the terms “Net Diplomacy” (Net Diplomacy) and “Public Diplomacy Web 2.0” (Public Diplomacy Web 2.0.).
For the first time in international practice, digital diplomacy as an independent area of work began to be actively used by the United States, where it was viewed as an important element of “soft”, and then so-called. "Smart power". During the 2006-2007. The State Department, the CIA, the Department of Defense, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have created more than fifteen departments to work with foreign Internet audiences, specifically to analyze international and national social networks, blogs, chat rooms, and disseminate relevant information. Since that time, the capabilities of these units have steadily increased.
The first working group (composed of 6 people) on Internet diplomacy was formed at 2002 in the Department of State. In 2003, the Office of eDiplomacy was created on its basis, which oversees the specified direction today, including preparation of software (software). Since September, 2013 has been led by Eric Nelson. The office is part of the Office of Information Resources Management, which is responsible for the security of computer networks and the introduction of ICT into the work of 260 US overseas agencies. In addition to the Office of eDiplomacy, separate functions within digital diplomacy are also assigned to the internal departments of the State Department's 24. Among them, we should highlight the Office of Digital Engagement in the structure of the Office of Public Relations, which maintains the official blog of the State Department DipNote and maintains the official pages of the department in social media, as well as the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which, together with USAID, organizes the training of foreign online activists.
In total, by March, 2012 had about 150 people in the central office of the US Department of State, directly responsible for the direction, and even more 935 people (according to 2010 spring estimates) conducted it in missions abroad. To a large extent, the relevant units are staffed by young professionals, and the workflow is organized according to the type of IT corporations in Silicon Valley.
The first projects of digital diplomacy were launched in the mid-2000s under Secretary of State K. Rice, but they received special development only later under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The latter began reforming the Department of State on the basis of the 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), providing for the strengthening of the units responsible for the network. By the beginning of 2010, H. Clinton managed to attract the heads of the largest private Internet companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Howcast, AT&T) to cooperation with the department. It is believed that soon this allowed the United States to directly influence the development of events of the so-called. The Arab Spring of 2011, when protest activity in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East was stimulated from the outside using modern means of communication. Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State for Innovation Alec Ross and Political Adviser for Innovation Ben Scott became the ideologists of the new approach in the Clinton team. Despite the subsequent personnel changes, John Kerry, who headed the Department of State in February 2013, generally remains on a course towards the widespread use of digital methods in US diplomatic practice.
Conceptually, ideas on digital diplomacy are set out in a number of State Department acts, including in the four-year review called 2010, and so-called. 21 Century Statecraft Initiative (21st Century Statecraft). According to the latest document, the qualitative improvement of technology and the rapid growth of Internet users in developing countries require the US to change its foreign policy methods and reorient it to the possibilities of modern ICT. In general, in its meaning, digital diplomacy should solve two big tasks - to contribute to the improvement of the work of the State Department and to strengthen American influence on the social and political processes in other countries. In accordance with these objectives, all US digital diplomacy projects can be divided into two categories.
Internet as a tool to increase efficiency
The first includes projects aimed at improving the efficiency of the State Department, staff awareness and mobility, and improving interaction between departments. To this end, the department introduced a whole range of modern digital solutions.
In 2004, a new electronic search service has been launched on SearchState's internal databases (formerly Enterprise Search). In 2005, the Communities @ State corporate blogging platform. (70 virtual forums and 46,5 thousand posts to 2012), where employees discuss issues of administration, country policy, language and have the opportunity to create individual blogs.
In September, 2006 began to use the Diplopedia resource, an internal electronic encyclopedia that accumulates “sensitive but not secret” background information about American diplomatic activity. Access to it is open to employees of the US State Department and the intelligence community. The system uses the principle of the well-known Internet portal Wikipedia, when the database is formed by the users themselves. In 2012, the Diplopedia numbered 5 thousands of authors and 16,3 thousands of articles.
In February, 2009 opened the The Sounding Board Internet Forum, where State Department employees put forward and discussed projects for introducing innovations into diplomatic practice and have the opportunity to receive targeted funding from the IT Innovation Fund established in 2011.
The corporate social network Corridor was launched in 2011 in which more than 6,8 thousand users and 440 groups were registered in the first year. The resource repeats the Facebook interface and provides for the opportunity to search for the employee of interest and exchange professional information with him.
In addition, special services have been established in the system of central departments of the State Department, which provide training and support for diplomats working with ICT. Corresponding trainings are conducted by the Foreign Service Institute. The Social Media Hub consults employees of the department on work in social networks and solves problems arising from them, for example, related to hacking accounts. The Office of Audience Research prepares analytics and statistics on the behavior of social media users (as indicators, the Strategic Plan for using State Department information technologies for 2011-2013 includes, for example, the number of users of social networks and the time they spent at the computer) . A special group (Rapid Response Unit) in the Bureau of Public Relations is monitoring the reaction of the international Internet community to the American foreign policy moves.
In order to work out new promising Internet projects, the Department of State holds quarterly scientific conferences in the United States at which ways to improve diplomacy through innovation (Tech @ State program) are discussed in an informal setting. Diplomats, technical specialists, public figures, scientists and entrepreneurs, as well as foreign guests take part in them. Permanent forum topics are Internet freedom, new electoral technologies, 2.0 Civil Society, social media, mobile money, etc.
In 2009, a virtual internship program was announced at the Department of State for American Students (Virtual Student Foreign Service). In accordance with it, students of universities and colleges of the United States are involved in the implementation of applications of the department, including embassies abroad, without discontinuing study and without the need to bear the cost of overseas travel. As a rule, in the summer months on 5-10 hours a week they are engaged in the execution of such assignments as text translation, posting and editing posts on social networks, processing SMS messages, collecting and analyzing media information about foreign countries, in particular Russia, and etc. In 2014, this remote practice, which lightens the workload of State Department staff, USAID and another 6 of US departments, will pass 511 students on 276 applications.
It is also worth mentioning the introduction of specific ICTs in certain areas of the US foreign affairs agency. The consular service supports Internet services (travel.state.gov) and programs for mobile devices that increase the awareness of US citizens abroad, simplifying their registration, as well as searching and warning in emergency situations like the earthquake in Haiti at 2010. and transparency (Office of Verification and Transparency Technologies) The Bureau of Arms Control is exploring the possibility of creating applications for smartphones and tablets, including public figures to monitor the situation with the spread weapons mass destruction.
Internet as a channel of foreign policy impact
The second main task of digital diplomacy of the United States, as can be concluded from the analysis of programs and concepts of the State Department, is to influence the socio-political processes in foreign countries in the key Washington needs. It highlights the following directions.
1. Digital Propaganda.
First of all, the Internet allows the Department of State, at minimum cost, to directly bring its position to a multimillion audience abroad, mainly young people. To this end, the department has created an extensive network of websites designed for external consumption (informational, language, discussion) and official accounts in popular social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+). In total, by May 2014, there were 713 resources in various world languages associated with the agency, most of which are posted on Facebook (298), Twitter (205) and YouTube (116). A separate category includes about 40 "virtual missions" including. in countries where Washington physically does not have overseas agencies (Iran, Somalia), which are web pages with relevant diplomatic information.
Social media accounts are mainly supported by the digital interaction office, but special working groups are also created to work with the target audience in various departments of the State Department. For example, the Digital Outreach Team was formed in 2006 in order to counter the ideology of terrorism in the Arab segment of the Internet. 2012 included 12 bogers, who posted materials, commentaries, and videos online in Arabic, Urdu, and Somali. Also posts of regular bloggers are approved in some country departments, in particular, Iranian.
As part of its competence, the Department of State took part in the transfer of external television and radio broadcast media of the United States to an interactive environment. The American administration began transferring its international radio stations and television channels to the Internet in 2002-2004. in response to the use of the World Wide Web by terrorist organizations to recruit supporters and campaign. In parallel, the United States created about ten new stations and channels for working with foreign public through a network, mainly in the Near and Middle East (Alhurra in Arabic, Persian Network News, Free Iraq, Free Afghanistan, Voice of America in Kurdish, etc.).
2. Diplomatic pressure.
Realizing that the main condition for conducting effective digital diplomacy is the constant access of citizens to information technologies in foreign countries, the White House has focused a significant part of its efforts on promoting the so-called worldwide. "Internet freedom". The pressure exerted by the Chinese authorities on Google in the winter of 2010 gave rise to the launch of a global American program to protect free access to the network. In her landmark 21 speech in January, 2010 Secretary of State H. Clinton compared the introduction of restrictions on the Internet by individual countries to the construction of the Berlin Wall of our time, mentioning China, Iran, North Korea, and Uzbekistan in the group of states abusing pressure on the “free Internet”.
At the same time, in practice, the State Department focused on upholding the immunity of access of foreign citizens not as a whole to the “free Internet”, but to its own American network propaganda channels, as well as on selective criticism of the governments of disloyal countries.
Overseas agencies of the United States began to actively respond to attempts by other states to establish control over the national segment of the network. The annual reports on the human rights situation in various countries of the world included critical points about the observance of “Internet freedom”.
The United States is promoting its position at international platforms: among them there are forums of generally recognized organizations, in particular the International Telecommunication Union, and specially created structures. In December, the 2011 of Washington became one of the initiators of the establishment of the Freedom Online Coalition Online (FOC) and is making ongoing efforts to expand it. At the conclusion of the fourth FOC conference held in Tallinn in April 2014, the organization included 22 states, incl. Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and France, as well as the former Soviet republics - Estonia, Latvia, Georgia and Moloda. Coalition members pledge to coordinate diplomatic steps and cooperate with Western telecommunications companies and NGOs. The organization also created a special donor mechanism - the Digital Defenders Partnership, through which, under the pretext of protecting freedoms on the Internet, grants are provided to support loyal bloggers and Internet activists in the target countries in Central Asia, the Middle East, and South-East Asia and Central America. From 2013, the Partnership is managed by the Dutch non-governmental organization Hivos, which the United States and several other FOC member states initially allocated about 2,5 million dollars.
In total, according to official data, from 2008 to the beginning of 2014, the State Department sent about 100 million dollars to defend “Internet freedom”. (25 of which in 2013). These funds are distributed by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor together with USAID through a network of Western NGOs. Information on funded projects is often confidential, since many of them are aimed at creating special software, hardware, and conducting trainings that increase the security of foreign dissidents when they carry out subversive activities on the network.
3. Creation of special software and hardware.
Some details of this work were published by the New York Times in June 2011. According to publication sources among US and US military officials, the State Department paid for the development of computer programs that allow loyal activists to bypass restrictions and control from foreign governments on national communication channels (for example, send encrypted messages and bypass site blocking). At the same time, these utilities turned out to be useless in cases where a foreign government completely cut off access to the national segment of the Internet in order to combat riots (Iran, 2009, Egypt, 2011,). This prompted the State Department to begin a project to create a so-called. The “shadow internet” - i.e. a number of local wireless networks abroad, operating autonomously from government-controlled communications using portable devices that are in the possession of agents of US influence or stationed at their fixed facilities.
One of the first was the creation of a parallel cellular network in Afghanistan, the construction of which in 2009 was initiated by the State Department and the Pentagon. The system, dubbed "Palisade", is designed to reduce the risk of listening to US subscribers and disabling public cellular infrastructure by the Taliban. It operates through transmitting stations located at US military bases, the central one of which is located in Kandahar. The cost of the project in various sources is estimated from 50 to 250 million dollars.
For opponents of the current government in Iran, software was prepared that allows you to automatically send the necessary information to others through smartphones by Bluetooth, bypassing external communication channels.
In the future, by order of the State Department, the “Internet in a portfolio” hardware complex (Internet in a Suitcase) was developed. It is a device placed in a standard case that is secretly carried by an activist to a foreign country, where it quickly launches a local wireless network that is independent of local communications and has a direct (apparently satellite) access to the world wide web. Proxy computers and telephones are connected to the network to exchange information, coordinate actions, etc. At the same time, the United States recognizes that in countries with authoritarian regimes, the operator of the device is exposed to a real risk at the time of crossing the border with the portfolio, and can later be caught in the operation of the system. According to available data, the staff of the Open Technological Institute (as part of the New America Foundation in Washington) participated in the software development of the complex, and received a grant from the State Department in 2 million dollars. In March, 2013, the head of the institute, S.Meinrath (Sascha Meinrath), presented a publicly available counterpart to his program (Commotion Wireless) in the United States. In 2012, the “Internet in Portfolio” system was deployed, at least in 10 countries, among which are Austria, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Indonesia.
2012 developed the InTheClear application, which is a kind of alarm button that instantly removes contacts and messages from the dissident’s phone in the event of his arrest and sends a warning to other accomplices.
4. Stimulation of protest moods.
Even before the events of the “Arab Spring” 2011, social networks, as a tool for mobilizing the protest potential of young people, showed their effectiveness in Colombia and Mexico, where they organized demonstrations against the FARC terrorist movement and drug mafia, as well as in Iran and Moldova. street protests against election results.
In the spring of 2011 in Tunisia and Egypt, groups of young people were mobilized to mass demonstrations using the Internet and mobile communications, and the information circulating on the network served as a catalyst for the growth of protest sentiments. Social networks were primarily used by the internal opposition to coordinate activities and recruit supporters, however, it is known that 70% of Twitter messages (tweets) related, for example, to the “revolution” in Egypt, were posted from IP addresses, located outside of this country. The latter confirms the version of external information interference in the course of the "Arab spring", which only the United States is technically capable of. In June, 2011, speaking in London, H. Clinton's adviser on innovation, A. Ross, told the audience that the importance of the Internet in undermining authoritarian regimes in the Arab East was decisive.
American social networks also played a key role in inciting opposition supporters to acts of civil disobedience in Turkey in June-July 2013. According to measurements by the Turkish company eBrandValue, which monitors the national segment of the Internet, the ratio of Twitter subscribers who called to join the demonstrators on Taksim Square in Istanbul , and those who supported the current government of R. Erdogan, amounted to 68 thousand to 800. To manipulate political sentiments and automatically replicate directional information, false accounts were used, imitating real users and controlled by special programs (bots). According to Turkish media, in response to the suppression of demonstrations in September of 2013, the ruling Justice and Development Party formed a team of thousands of people to direct public opinion and discredit the critics of the authorities in social networks. Also, the Turkish government tightened legislation to control the Internet, and in March 6, despite US objections, completely blocked Twitter in the country.
5. Training Internet Activists
Digital diplomacy as a way of influencing the population of other states via the Internet is mainly focused on two target groups - active youth and opposition groups of society (dissidents, journalists, human rights activists, etc.). Having caught the trend of growing social activity in the network first, the US administration has taken steps to unite under its authority Internet activists from different countries who are critical of foreign regimes. At the end of 2008, the US government held a conference in New York, which brought together young bloggers and users and set up a permanent organization, Alliance for Youth Movements, whose purpose is to use youth activity in the network to change social political situation in foreign countries. The Union Conference in Mexico City was held in 2009, and in London in 2010: 88 delegations from 25 countries took part in three events.
In the fall of 2010, the State Department put forward the so-called. Civil Society 2.0 initiative. (Civil Society 2.0) to increase the effectiveness of NGOs and opposition groups abroad using new digital technologies. Within its framework, several programs are being implemented, the most famous among which was the TechCamp project (Technology Camps). It is managed by the Diplomatic Innovation Division at the State Department’s Internet Diplomacy Office (2012 department staff is 12 people). Control and support is provided by the Office of the Secretary of State.
Under TechCamp, 2010 has conducted dozens of technology camps in more than 30 countries around the world, including Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Their participants were representatives of more than 1900 NGOs, media and government agencies from more than 100 countries. The camp is a one-day or two-day seminar to which foreign activists (mainly opposition ones) are invited from 40 to 200 to listen to a course of lectures by Western IT specialists and solve their current problems with them. The events are attended by American diplomats and potential sponsors from international foundations. Formally, the task of the congresses is to use innovations to: increase the influence of NGOs (popularize websites, promote blogs, interact with traditional media); ensuring the safety of activists; and communication and coordination with US representatives.
In reality, the program is most likely used in collaboration with the CIA including. in preparing agents of influence for waging information war and seizing power by loyal political forces in other countries. Thus, according to media reports, 6 technology camps were organized in Ukraine in various cities, the last of which was 14-15 in November 2013 in the US Embassy in Kiev. 21 November 2013 Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Tsarev sent a deputy request to the law-enforcement bodies of the republic, in which he stated the facts indicating that in the “technical camps” they teach methods and tactics of informational support of the coup in Ukraine, which was previously worked out during the “Arab spring” ". O. Tsarev referred to the published footage of the hidden video surveillance and the testimony of representatives of the movement "Will", infiltrated the American seminars under the guise of activists.
In addition to their own programs, the State Department and USAID provide financial and political patronage to Western non-governmental organizations that specialize in the protection and training of dissidents on the network: Internews, Meta-Activism Project, Mobile Accord Inc, MobileActive, New Tactics, Open Net Initiative, Tech Change, Activism Media Politics, Ashoka and others. Thus, together with the Soros Foundation and Internews, congresses of local BarCamp bloggers are held in many countries of the world. In the post-Soviet space, the two-day BarCamp was first held in October 2007 in Ukraine under the name BlogCamp CIS & Baltics and gathered more than 250 participants, incl. from Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Poland and the USA. Subsequently, the congresses were organized in Lithuania, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan.
Finally, US academic and analytical centers are involved in the creation of influence groups in cyberspace. In particular, US overseas agencies, in cooperation with NGOs, are helping to search and refer foreigners for internships at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society Studies at Harvard University. According to Russian analysts, this Center was specially created to study the political orientation of social network users and blogs in foreign countries. With 2007 in the interests of the US government, the Center conducted research on social networks and the blogosphere in Russia, Iran and the Arab world, which allowed Americans to make specific decisions on the financing of some foreign dissident organizations operating through the Internet. For the subsequent communication between bloggers all over the world, specialists from the Berkman Center created the popular site GlobalVoices. This resource allows you to receive posts (messages) from bloggers from foreign countries, translate them into various languages, and then replicate the selected material in the network, thereby disseminating the directional information under the guise of unbiased data from independent Internet users received from the event.
6. Collection of information.
In 2011, at the initiative of the United States and the United Kingdom, an Open Government Partnership (OGP) was established. Currently, it includes 64 states, incl. Baltic republics, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. Participants take on expanded obligations to disclose information on the activities of national governments, in particular budgets. Information disclosure is carried out using software and computer infrastructure offered by Western corporations, and control over compliance with the obligations lies with non-governmental organizations. These factors increase both the technical and political dependence of the member states on the initiators of the partnership. Managed by the OGP Steering Committee, consisting of representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom and several other countries, as well as international NGOs with the dominant role of the Soros Foundation and its affiliated structures. The organization has a small permanent secretariat located in the United States. In addition to deductions, states are also funded by contributions from American IT giants (Google, HP, eBay) and Funds (Soros, Ford). Many experts in Russia and abroad view OGP as an attempt to link the globalized process of informatization of national governments to the international structure under the control of the United States. Including for these reasons, major European powers (France, Germany) are still not participating in the organization, and Russia withdrew 2013 in May.
A similar scheme is used by the United States in another international structure called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative). The de facto EITI is an international organization headquartered in Norway, created in accordance with the idea of British Prime Minister T. Blair on the duty of resource-rich countries to disclose information about the extractive industries. At the beginning of 2014, 25 countries made corresponding commitments under the initiative, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The status of candidates for entry are Ukraine and Tajikistan.
The system of international associations such as the OGP and the EITI, formed by the United States with the involvement of TNCs and NGOs, makes it possible to collect expanded data on the state of the economy and government in foreign countries. It is significant that, at the current stage, information on commodity sectors and foreign public finances is of the greatest interest among its beneficiaries.
To this it is worth adding that the widespread use of ICT, in particular social networks, offers the prospect of using them, including to collect military and intelligence information. In February, 2014 was created a Facebook page on the Internet by activists of the large Syrian city of Hama, on which about 3 thousands of subscribers constantly updated information about the departures and movements of the government air force. The data are of particular value for militants fighting with the support of the United States against the government of B. Asad.
Digital Diplomacy Rating
In general, intensively applying innovative methods and technologies in practical work, the State Department has achieved world leadership in the field of digital diplomacy. In July, the French agency AFP 2012 began publishing the world's first rating (E-diplomacy Hub), partially reflecting the effectiveness of states in this area. It is posted online (at http://ediplomacy.afp.com/) and is updated daily. The ranking is based on 6 analysis of thousands of Twitter microblogging service accounts in 100 countries of the world, owned by government officials, diplomatic agencies, ministers, leading experts and bloggers, as well as some international organizations and even illegal armed groups. It takes into account the number of subscribers to the accounts, their quoting, activity on the Internet and other criteria.
In the first place of the 152 countries are by a large margin the United States, on which Twitter accounts as of May 2014 were signed 89,6 million people. (in 2012 g. - 44 million). This is followed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Kuwait, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Russia ranks 13 place with an indicator of about 7 million people. (in 2012 g. - 2,6 million and 14 place). Thus, with the rapid growth of Twitter’s audience in other countries, Russia’s place in the E-diplomacy Hub has not changed much in two years, despite an increase in the number of subscribers to Russian microblogs by almost 2,7.
Among individual microblogging, the resource of US President Barack Obama (42,8 million) is also leading by a large margin. The most popular Russian account is located on 26 place and belongs to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev (2,3 million).
In general, the E-diplomacy Hub rating gives only a rough idea of the effectiveness of digital diplomacy of various states, more precisely, the part of it that has received the name of Tviter-diplomacy or Twiplomacy. The ranking does not take into account the activity of foreign ministries in social networks, attendance of their official websites and upholding of the international position in the Internet media. The picture is distorted by the fact that it includes the resources of opposition political figures (from Russia - K. Sobchak (842 thousand) and A. Navalny (640 thousand), which do not reflect the official foreign policy of Moscow). Choosing Twitter as a starting point, the compilers of the rating underestimated, for example, the real influence of China, placing it only on the 55 location (440 thousand people). Undoubtedly, Russia in the network also plays a de facto more significant role, especially in the post-Soviet space.
Conclusions
By systematizing the information presented, we can conclude: today the United States is the undisputed world leader in the use of digital diplomacy tools. With their help, Washington achieves the following effects.
- Increases the efficiency of the State Department;
- Increases the productivity of state propaganda: gets direct access to the audience of closed states; minimizes costs; uses the existing technological groundwork; embraces young people and the most passionate sections of society;
- Expands opportunities for interference in the internal affairs of foreign countries: it complements the NGO system with a network of activists in cyberspace, with the help of which public sentiments are radicalized, protests are coordinated, etc. (numerous signs of this work are traced during the events of the “Arab spring” in 2011, in Turkey in 2013, and in Ukraine in 2014);
- Creates conditions for collecting expanded information on the state of the economy and state management in foreign countries, ties the process of informatization of national governments to controlled international structures.
In July, at a meeting with ambassadors and permanent representatives of Russia, President Vladimir Putin set the task for the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation to master new diplomacy technologies. The US experience in this regard should be claimed in the interests of Russian foreign policy. It seems appropriate:
- Build up cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and large IT-companies in Russia, forming a link between the “state and Internet business”. Russian diplomacy should establish a mechanism of interaction, including with domestic social networks, which have proved their international competitiveness and still hold leading positions in many states of the post-Soviet space. With a balanced approach, cooperation between the state and the IT sector can be beneficial and productive for both parties: against the background of the predicted increase in competition with Western giants for the market, Russian firms are interested in support from the authorities and in the absence of unreasonable administrative barriers in the network, and the government - in using the Internet to strengthen, rather than undermine, security. In the meantime, there are cases when Russian companies sponsor Western forums;
- Introduce innovations into the current activities of MFA employees, increasing their efficiency (for example, such as SMS-alert services for Russian citizens abroad from MTS);
- Develop your own digital propaganda system. The number of official microblogs on Twitter owned by Russian diplomats and embassies increased from 40 in 2012 to more than 130 in May in 2014, and the number of pages on the social network Facebook has grown to 80. In the summer of 2012, the Russian Foreign Ministry updated the interface of the official website and launched the first video feed on YouTube. By 2014, the Russian embassy abroad opened another 15 channel on YouTube. However, this is objectively not enough. It is also recommended to translate more accounts into foreign languages and more actively use Russian social media in the neighboring countries, where they are often more popular than their American counterparts;
- Initiate the Russian grant program to support Internet activists, primarily in the republics of the former USSR;
- Refrain from making commitments in the FOC, OGP and other international structures lobbying US interests on the Internet;
- At the UN, the SCO, at other international platforms and in a bilateral format, uphold the principle of sovereignty in cyberspace and the states ’fair use of the network as opposed to the American concept of“ Internet freedom ”. In this regard, such steps of Russia as the preparation of a draft international convention on Ensuring International Information Security and the International Code of Conduct in Information Security, the intensification of cooperation in this area with China and the CSTO countries, the holding of information security forums in Moscow should be recognized as relevant. and etc.
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