MD
What can The Netherlands learn from Cuba?
ZMD
We can learn a lot from each other. We can learn a lot about agriculture and water management and about the wind-power industry, but you can learn a lot of our system of primary healthcare. A lot of Dutch doctors who visited Cuba and were really surprised by our primary health services. We now have a special agreement between Leiden University and our University of Medical science of Havana to exchange Dutch students and professors. We also have success in biotechnology and new medicines and vaccines, especially for diabetes, meningitis, hepatitis and cancer. This can also be useful to The Netherlands, so we have a lot of things to do together.
MD
At the end of your tour here, what achievement are you most proud of?
ZMD
I think the main achievement was to improve the image of Cuba. I was lucky in that the bilateral relation with Cuba changed for the good and that we have been able to bring our relationship with the Dutch government to another level. Personally I like the Dutch. It is easy to deal with the Dutch. They are flexible enough for negotiation and direct and transparent enough to say what they want. It is easy to deal with such people, because they’ll never promise something they are not going to do. Here, unlike other places, you know what you can do or not do.
MD
There have been major changes in Cuba recently. How has that changed the Cuban society?
ZMD
From the beginning our Revolution meant change. You don’t change, you die and we have survived for 50+ years. We have been updating our social and economic model. We want to keep the achievements of our socialist project while becoming more efficient in other areas like some parts of our economy. This we discussed deeply with our population. Many lines of possible changes were discussed all over Cuba. People added, modified, deleted and we ended with more than 300 possible changes that were discussed in parliament. These have started to be applied. They gave the people more opportunities in areas like services, which can now be offered by private persons. We even export services, especially medical services. We carefully allow foreign investment, and have a new labor law to protect the workers in the new private sector. This helps us survive and be more integrated with the international community and to improve the lives of our people. We are so integrated in the world that we have more embassies than The Netherlands.
MD
Your revolution happened during the cold war. At that time the US was paranoid about anything socialist or communist (ZMD, chuckling, “still, still!”). Now the cold war is over, Cuba doesn’t pose a threat any more, but the US remains adamant in its attitude. Why?
ZMD
Cuba is not a matter of foreign policy for the US, it is domestic policy. This is because of the Cuban lobbies, in particular in Florida. They are powerful in Congress and in the Senate. They want to solve the so called Cuba problem with a hard hand. There is another tendency that says that the hard hand hasn’t worked for 50 years, to use soft power, eliminate the blockade, penetrate the economy, have US presence there. Then things will change. For 50 years these two trends have been alternating, without solution.
MD
Anything else you’d like to say to the readers of Diplomatic Magazine?
ZMD
I want to thank Diplomatic Magazine and its volunteers for the great job of helping to integrate the diplomatic community to The Netherlands. It gives us an opportunity to explain about our countries, which is not always possible through the Dutch press. A remarkable diplomat says goodbye to The Hague
H.E. Ms. Zelmys María Domínguez Cortina, by John Dunkelgrün, Diplomat Magazine editor.
After almost exactly four years, Ambassador Dominguez is about to return to Cuba. She will be missed by her colleagues and the many people from all circles in The Netherlands with whom she had frequent and fruitful meetings. While in the middle of packing and struggling with the transition of almost the entire Cuban staff of the Embassy, she found time for a closing interview. She received me in the hall of the embassy, which is adorned by the Cuban flag and portraits of Cuba’s two great heroes, José Marti and Antonio Maceo, symbolic of the fight for the independence of Cuba.
DM
Would you give us an impression of your background and career?
ZMD
I studied for five years at our Higher Institute for International Relations, then spent two years in the Ministry of Finance. In 1984 I went to the Center of African and Middle Eastern Studies, where I worked for 16 years. While there I had the opportunity to do a Masters in Asian and African studies at El Colegio de México and a Masters in Contemporary History at the University of Havana. In 1998 I was a visiting professor of Latin American and Spanish literature in Cairo. Then in 200 I joined the Ministry of foreign affairs at the division of Europe and in 2003 I was appointed as Counselor, Deputy Head of Mission in London until 2007 , and later as Ambassador in The Hague in 2010. Here I am Ambassador as well as Permanent Representative to the OPCW and I deal with other international organizations based in the Netherlands.
DM
Did you choose The Hague or did they just appoint you?
ZMD
No, our Foreign Office just appoints you. They take account of you personal situation, your experience and languages and then they just put you where they think best.
MD
You are deeply involved in the OPCW. Are there any other international organizations here that have your specific interest?
ZMD
Besides the extensive bilateral work, we have to promote the image of Cuba and to work with the people and organizations that promote solidarity with Cuba. Because of the American blockade to Cuba, there are people all over the world who help us, politically and materially, sending humanitarian aid for example. Also the bilateral situation with The Netherlands has greatly improved, since Mr. Timmermans became foreign minister. He went to Cuba in January this year and we agreed on several avenues of cooperation. He also awakened interest in Latin America in the Parliament.
Apart from that we are mainly interested in the OPCW, because we are against all weapons of mass destruction. One reason is that the US blockade is in violation of article 11 of the OPCW, about the free exchange of information and equipment for purposes not prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention. We are very active in the Non Aligned Movement at OPCW. We are also active in the CFC (The Common Fund for Commodities), that helps countries that produce basic products. We are members of several other organizations like the ICJ and the ICA, where we are not so active. We are not members of the ICC.
MD
What can The Netherlands learn from Cuba?
ZMD
We can learn a lot from each other. We can learn a lot about agriculture and water management and about the wind-power industry, but you can learn a lot of our system of primary healthcare. A lot of Dutch doctors who visited Cuba and were really surprised by our primary health services. We now have a special agreement between Leiden University and our University of Medical science of Havana to exchange Dutch students and professors. We also have success in biotechnology and new medicines and vaccines, especially for diabetes, meningitis, hepatitis and cancer. This can also be useful to The Netherlands, so we have a lot of things to do together.
MD
At the end of your tour here, what achievement are you most proud of?
ZMD
I think the main achievement was to improve the image of Cuba. I was lucky in that the bilateral relation with Cuba changed for the good and that we have been able to bring our relationship with the Dutch government to another level. Personally I like the Dutch. It is easy to deal with the Dutch. They are flexible enough for negotiation and direct and transparent enough to say what they want. It is easy to deal with such people, because they’ll never promise something they are not going to do. Here, unlike other places, you know what you can do or not do.
MD
There have been major changes in Cuba recently. How has that changed the Cuban society?
ZMD
From the beginning our Revolution meant change. You don’t change, you die and we have survived for 50+ years. We have been updating our social and economic model. We want to keep the achievements of our socialist project while becoming more efficient in other areas like some parts of our economy. This we discussed deeply with our population. Many lines of possible changes were discussed all over Cuba. People added, modified, deleted and we ended with more than 300 possible changes that were discussed in parliament. These have started to be applied. They gave the people more opportunities in areas like services, which can now be offered by private persons. We even export services, especially medical services. We carefully allow foreign investment, and have a new labor law to protect the workers in the new private sector. This helps us survive and be more integrated with the international community and to improve the lives of our people. We are so integrated in the world that we have more embassies than The Netherlands.
MD
Your revolution happened during the cold war. At that time the US was paranoid about anything socialist or communist (ZMD, chuckling, “still, still!”). Now the cold war is over, Cuba doesn’t pose a threat any more, but the US remains adamant in its attitude. Why?
ZMD
Cuba is not a matter of foreign policy for the US, it is domestic policy. This is because of the Cuban lobbies, in particular in Florida. They are powerful in Congress and in the Senate. They want to solve the so called Cuba problem with a hard hand. There is another tendency that says that the hard hand hasn’t worked for 50 years, to use soft power, eliminate the blockade, penetrate the economy, have US presence there. Then things will change. For 50 years these two trends have been alternating, without solution.
MD
Anything else you’d like to say to the readers of Diplomatic Magazine?
ZMD
I want to thank Diplomatic Magazine and its volunteers for the great job of helping to integrate the diplomatic community to The Netherlands. It gives us an opportunity to explain about our countries, which is not always possible through the Dutch press.
MD
What can The Netherlands learn from Cuba?
ZMD
We can learn a lot from each other. We can learn a lot about agriculture and water management and about the wind-power industry, but you can learn a lot of our system of primary healthcare. A lot of Dutch doctors who visited Cuba and were really surprised by our primary health services. We now have a special agreement between Leiden University and our University of Medical science of Havana to exchange Dutch students and professors. We also have success in biotechnology and new medicines and vaccines, especially for diabetes, meningitis, hepatitis and cancer. This can also be useful to The Netherlands, so we have a lot of things to do together.
MD
At the end of your tour here, what achievement are you most proud of?
ZMD
I think the main achievement was to improve the image of Cuba. I was lucky in that the bilateral relation with Cuba changed for the good and that we have been able to bring our relationship with the Dutch government to another level. Personally I like the Dutch. It is easy to deal with the Dutch. They are flexible enough for negotiation and direct and transparent enough to say what they want. It is easy to deal with such people, because they’ll never promise something they are not going to do. Here, unlike other places, you know what you can do or not do.
MD
There have been major changes in Cuba recently. How has that changed the Cuban society?
ZMD
From the beginning our Revolution meant change. You don’t change, you die and we have survived for 50+ years. We have been updating our social and economic model. We want to keep the achievements of our socialist project while becoming more efficient in other areas like some parts of our economy. This we discussed deeply with our population. Many lines of possible changes were discussed all over Cuba. People added, modified, deleted and we ended with more than 300 possible changes that were discussed in parliament. These have started to be applied. They gave the people more opportunities in areas like services, which can now be offered by private persons. We even export services, especially medical services. We carefully allow foreign investment, and have a new labor law to protect the workers in the new private sector. This helps us survive and be more integrated with the international community and to improve the lives of our people. We are so integrated in the world that we have more embassies than The Netherlands.
MD
Your revolution happened during the cold war. At that time the US was paranoid about anything socialist or communist (ZMD, chuckling, “still, still!”). Now the cold war is over, Cuba doesn’t pose a threat any more, but the US remains adamant in its attitude. Why?
ZMD
Cuba is not a matter of foreign policy for the US, it is domestic policy. This is because of the Cuban lobbies, in particular in Florida. They are powerful in Congress and in the Senate. They want to solve the so called Cuba problem with a hard hand. There is another tendency that says that the hard hand hasn’t worked for 50 years, to use soft power, eliminate the blockade, penetrate the economy, have US presence there. Then things will change. For 50 years these two trends have been alternating, without solution.
MD
Anything else you’d like to say to the readers of Diplomatic Magazine?
ZMD
I want to thank Diplomatic Magazine and its volunteers for the great job of helping to integrate the diplomatic community to The Netherlands. It gives us an opportunity to explain about our countries, which is not always possible through the Dutch press. ASEAN Ladies Circle (ALC) in The Hague
Membership in the ASEAN Ladies Circle (ALC) in The Hague is open to female diplomats, wives of diplomats and female staff members of the ASEAN embassies in The Hague. The ALC also has, as associate members, some ASEAN nationals in The Hague from the non -diplomatic circle. The circle meets around four times each year.
“Mrs. Gina Ledda is wearing a traditional Filipino mestiza dress made of hand-embroidered piña (pineapple fiber).”
ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic organization comprising ten countries located in Southeast Asia. Its member states are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Five of these nations have an embassy in The Hague (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand). The remaining five countries have a Benelux mission located in Brussels. Like member states of the EU, ASEAN missions fly two flags: their national flag and the ASEAN flag. ASEAN member states have made steady progress in building an ASEAN Community set upon the three pillars of political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural cooperation. The ASEAN is moving towards greater regional economic integration characterized by free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor and freer capital flow.Mrs. Gina Ledda is the current president of the ASEAN Ladies Circle in The Hague, having been elected to the role immediately after arriving in the Netherlands in March this year. Mrs. Ledda met Roy Lie A. Tjam of the Diplomat Magazine on a sunny afternoon in July to discuss the ALC’s future.
Mrs. Ledda is well-qualified for the role. She is an economist who has participated in ASEAN-wide projects. She also has a degree in Communications, having studied in Spain, and is a professional journalist. Her other role in the city is that of spouse to His Excellency Mr. Jamie Victor B. Ledda, Ambassador of the Philippines to the Netherlands.
As the new president, Mrs. Ledda intends to actively promote camaraderie and friendship among the ladies of the ASEAN embassies in The Hague. She also hopes that through a more active ALC, the richness of ASEAN culture and economic potential could be further promoted in the Netherlands. She believes the key will be to harness the collective efforts of the ladies of the ALC and reach out to the local and international circles in The Hague, thereby building lasting linkages and friendships.
The ASEAN Ladies Circle is a great asset to the diplomatic community in The Hague.
We have already enjoyed a glimpse of the prospective events at the first Colors and Flavors of ASEAN in The Hague, a well-received cultural show which was held last April 2014. We look forward to the future work of the ASEAN Ladies Circle with great excitement.
The World in your Classroom
From November 17 to November 28, project will once again take place in classrooms throughout The Hague.
Internationals living in The Hague will volunteer their time to give guest lectures about their home countries to Dutch high school students.
The World in your Classroom is an initiative of the Municipality of the Hague, ACCESS, PEP Participation Professionals and The Hague Bridge.
Last year more than 50 internationals participated in the program, giving students, aged 13 to 15, a unique opportunity to learn more about different countries, cultures and traditions and to practice their English in a fun way.
It is possible to sign up now. Find out more at www.theworldinyourclassroom.nl
‘The Public Deserves to know the Truth about the ICC’s Jurisdiction over Palestine’
By Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.Recent media reports and commentaries have erroneously suggested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has persistently avoided opening an investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza due to political pressure. As Prosecutor of the ICC, I reject this baseless allegation in the strongest terms. It is devoid of any merit.
When an objective observer navigates clear of the hype surrounding this issue, the simple truth is that the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC has never been in a position to open such an investigation for lack of jurisdiction. We have always, clearly and publicly, stated the reasons why this is so.
The Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, is open to participation by states. As Prosecutor, I can only investigate and prosecute crimes committed on the territory or by the nationals of states that have joined the ICC Statute or which have otherwise accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC through an ad hoc declaration to that effect pursuant to article 12-3 of the Statute.
This means that, at the present time, the alleged crimes committed in Palestine are beyond the legal reach of the ICC, despite the arguments of some legal scholars that fundamental jurisdictional rules can be made subject to a liberal and selective interpretation of the Rome Statute. As such, they appear to advocate that as the object and purpose of the ICC is to end impunity for mass crimes, the Court ought to intervene, even where clear jurisdictional parameters have not been met. This is neither good law nor makes for responsible judicial action.
The Palestinian Authority sought to accept the jurisdiction of the ICC in 2009.
The Office of the Prosecutor carefully considered all of the legal arguments put forth and concluded in April 2012, after three years of thorough analysis and public consultations that Palestine’s status at the United Nations (UN) as “observer entity” was determinant – since entry into the Rome Statute system is through the UN Secretary-General, who acts as treaty depositary. The Palestinian Authority’s “observer entity” status at the UN at that time meant that it could not sign up to the Rome Statute. As Palestine could not join the Rome Statute, the former Prosecutor concluded that it could not lodge an article 12-3 declaration bringing itself under the ambit of the treaty either, as it had sought to do.
On 29 November 2012, Palestine’s status was upgraded by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to “non-member observer State” through the adoption of resolution 67/19. The Office examined the legal implications of this development for its purposes and concluded that while this change did not retroactively validate the previously invalid 2009 declaration lodged without the necessary standing, Palestine could now join the Rome Statute.
That Palestine has signed various other international treaties since obtaining this “observer State” status confirms the correctness of this position. Nonetheless, to date, the Rome Statute is not one of the treaties that Palestine has decided to accede to, nor has it lodged a new declaration following the November 2012 UNGA resolution. It is a matter of public record that Palestinian leaders are in the process of consulting internally on whether to do so; the decision is theirs alone to make and the ICC Prosecutor cannot take this decision for them.
By the very nature of the Court’s mandate, every situation in which I act in my capacity as ICC Prosecutor will be politically fraught. My mandate as Prosecutor is nonetheless clear: to investigate and prosecute crimes based on the facts and exact application of the law in full independence and impartiality.
Whether States or the UN Security Council choose to confer jurisdiction on the ICC is a decision that is wholly independent of the Court. Once made, however, the legal rules that apply are clear and decidedly not political under any circumstances or situation. In both practice and words, I have made it clear in no uncertain terms that the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC will execute its mandate, without fear or favour, wherever jurisdiction is established and will vigorously pursue those – irrespective of status or affiliation – who commit mass crimes that shock the conscience of humanity. The Office’s approach to Palestine will be no different if the Court’s jurisdiction is ever triggered over the situation.
It is my firm belief that recourse to justice should never be compromised by political expediency. The failure to uphold this sacrosanct requirement will not only pervert the cause of justice and weaken public confidence in it, but also exacerbate the immense suffering of the victims of mass atrocities. This, we will never allow.
Picture by Caroline Sikkenk/Photoline
Diplomacy and its practice vs Digital Diplomacy
By Dr. Luis Ritto, former EU Ambassador to the Holy See and the Order of Malta and Former EU Permanent Representative to the United Nations Organisations. Emeritus Professor at the International School of Protocol & Diplomacy and expert on diplomacy, diplomatic protocol and world affairs.
“Change is the law of life. And those who look to the past or present are certain to miss the future” – John F. Kennedy (1963).
A new area in diplomacy that has seen a steady increase in its use in the past 20 years or so is the one of “digital diplomacy”. Also called “numerical diplomacy” by the French and “e-diplomacy” by the British, digital diplomacy describes a new method of conducting diplomacy and international relations with the help and support of the internet and other communication technologies (ICTs).
A new method that is more inclusive, open and transparent than the diplomacy that was used in the past, which was more secretive and exclusive, working discretely behind closed doors. In fact, and as I wrote in my previous articles, diplomacy has evolved greatly in the past 100 years to become more public and open. Besides, it is managed nowadays by a great number of actors, like for example non-governmental organisations, elected politicians, cultural and trade organisations, academic experts and civil society organisations. This trend is there to stay and the new technologies of today are playing an important part in not only making diplomacy more efficient and cost-effective, but also by pushing it in the direction of being more open and transparent.
Experts say that communication is the essence of diplomacy. Stearns, as quoted by Jönsson & Hall in their book called “Essence of Diplomacy”, goes as far as to say that “there has never been a good diplomat who was a bad communicator” (1). This being so, it is no surprise that the technologies of communication have always been used to improve the communication work of diplomats. And as technologies progress, so have progressed the communication tools of diplomacy. The use of ICTs has in particular improved the service delivery of Diplomatic Missions with limited staff and which have high demands for provision of information to the public, as we will discuss in more detail later on in this paper.
To make my point clear, I think that it is worth to recall here how diplomatic communication has evolved over time and how it played a vital role in diplomacy. History books tell us that diplomatic communication dates as far back as two millennia. At that time it was rudimentary and mainly based on messengers and merchant caravans, who were charged to deliver the messages to the monarchs of other countries. The Greek city sates further developed communications, mainly in the 4th and 5th centuries BC, by using clay tablets and a cipher system for the protection of their messages. Messages in clay tablets are said to have been imported from Mesopotamia and were used for several centuries. Then in the Middle Ages (5th to the 15th centuries AC) the Papal diplomacy introduced parchments for diplomatic communication. The system of using parchments went on well into the Renaissance period, when the first resident diplomatic missions were established in Europe (first in the Principalities of Northern Italy and afterwards in other European countries). However, with the invention of the Guttenberg printing press (1450) the parchment was gradually replaced by printed documents, a system that is still in use today. Mainly since the Renaissance, diplomatic messages have been sent in sealed diplomatic bags (pouches) from one country to another.
An important step in the modernisation of diplomatic communications came in the 19th century (mainly after 1835) with the invention of the electric telegraph. It was a communication system that transmitted electric signals from location to location which translated into a message. By the end of the century it was possible to send messages from one continent to another (from the USA to Great Britain in Europe, for example). In a matter of decades, electrical telegraph networks allowed people and traders to transmit messages across continents and oceans almost instantly, with widespread social and economic impacts.
The electric telegraph had also a major impact in the world of diplomacy. Foreign Ministries and Diplomatic Missions were connected to telegraph systems and could easily communicate between them (mainly via cryptic messages). Instructions could be sent rapidly and regularly by capitals to their Embassies around the world. Ambassadors could consult with their superiors and were not any more forced to take decisions on important matters on their own without having government approval. Key Embassies started to receive daily briefs from home, making it possible for diplomats there to swiftly convey messages to the officials in the countries in which they were posted. It was possible also for the first time for Ministries of Foreign Affairs to contact each other directly in cases of urgent need. The impact of the telegraph was therefore of major importance for diplomacy and it marked the beginning of what some historians call the system of modern diplomatic communication.
After the telegraph, the telephone, which was introduced in the later part of the 19th century, helped to further improve communications between countries and diplomatic envoys, thus adding to the speed and precision of communications.
Then followed the fax system, especially after 1980. Fax, which means in fact facsimile and can also be called telecopying or telefax, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed materials (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer. The receiving fax machine interprets the tones and reconstructs the original image by printing it on a paper copy.
The fax system was, before the internet arrived, a revolution in itself. The fact that it allowed for the transmission of documents and images from one part of the world to the other in a question of minutes, helped greatly to strengthen communication in the diplomatic world. For example, it become possible for a French Ambassador in Tokyo to sign a Treaty with the Japanese authorities and for the French Foreign Minister to receive a copy of it by telefax in Paris less than ten minutes later! Originals of important documents (briefs, minutes of meetings, legislation, speeches, official notes, treaties, protocols, verbal notes, press releases, cabinet memos, letters, reports of all sorts….) started to circulate by fax everywhere in diplomatic missions. Foreign Ministries in capitals made sure, using the fax, that Embassies in the five corners of the world received regularly (daily in many cases) updated information about the activities of the Ministries and the main decisions of the government. Indeed, the fax allowed Ambassadors to be informed promptly about any issue of importance for their work and to know the point of view of their governments on all issues of importance for their countries. Consular services also availed themselves of the fax system to receive copies of important documents from their capitals (birth and marriage certificates, passports and visas…), thus allowing those diplomatic missions to provide a faster and more reliable service to their citizens abroad.
However, the best was still to come. And the best was the internet, which was introduced more than 20 years ago, especially after 1990. As all people know, the internet is, simply put, a global network connecting billions of people through computers. Better saying, it is a system of interconnected computer networks that use what is called “the internet standard protocol suite (or TPC/IP)” to link several billion devices worldwide. Diplomatic services everywhere have followed the trend and are now linked to the internet and rely on it for a variety of services (the most important being the e-mail) for their daily work. The importance of the internet and other new communication technologies (mobile phones, video-conferences, i-pads and i-pods…) is that they have overcome (more than other systems) the barriers of communication which include time and distance. E-mails facilitate instantaneous forwarding of even the most bulky documents and besides there is no waiting period for a person to receive the information sent to him. Moreover, their use allows for documents to be stocked easily in systems for future reference and use. And more than the fax, the internet has important research systems that allow for practically any matter in the world to be researched. The use of cell phones also aids instant consultations when in need of support during international negotiations. The wide scope of engagement in contemporary diplomacy and limited staff numbers of Diplomatic Missions has forced Foreign Ministries to use those ICT technologies to keep pace with new communication requirements. Besides, they allow for diplomatic resources to be pooled together, increases efficiency and capture economies of scale. Diplomats now use the internet to collect information and disseminate it, to report speedily to capitals, to send documents, to inform and engage the public and so forth (namely social networks like “Facebook” and “Twitter”). It must be remembered that the new technologies of communication are cost effective in the long run, especially when compared to other traditional means of communication such as air travel, fuel, snail mail and the logistical requirements of organising traditional meetings.
If diplomacy is essentially about communication— as I mentioned at the beginning of this paper— it is also very much about negotiations. In fact, negotiations are another area which lies in the heart of diplomacy. Diplomats are constantly negotiating something (both bilaterally and internationally) on a growing number of subjects: from the laws of the sea to immigration, from scientific and cultural cooperation to trade, tourism and technology transfers, from the environment to food security, from security to police cooperation, from medicine security to improved health services, from research to academic cooperation, from poverty to economic development, from children to women rights, etc. Often many of these negotiations take place simultaneously making it difficult for countries to send people to follow them. This is particularly true for small countries, which have limited means especially in terms of human resources and cannot pay for all the travelling costs associated with them. The internet, through the Skype and the system of video-conferences, allows countries to overcome these problems and to follow far way conferences and seminars from capitals, making it possible also for the officials of those countries to intervene in them and to make their opinions known.
On this issue, an example showing the importance of video-conferences is the one of a regional summit that was held in Africa in 2000 with the aim to solve the crisis in Burundi and Rwanda. President Bill Clinton could not travel to Africa at that time to attend that meeting, but he attended it from Washington with the aid of video-conference instruments, intervening in it and making his view points clearly known. He ended contributing decisively to the solution of the problems being discussed without having been physically in the conference hall in Africa. This is a major breakthrough which proves that virtual diplomacy is a reality in the world of today and can be used with efficiency.
When talking about the internet there are two matters linked to it that must not be forgotten to be mentioned here: security and e-governance. The internet has led nations to build security systems allowing for the confidentiality of the information materials transmitted. Also the internet systems used in Diplomatic Missions are part of wider efforts by governments in terms of e-governance. For sheer lack of space, we cannot analyse in detail these two matters. What we can say is that the internet offers today a high level of security, as good as any other systems with secure encryption techniques. What happened for example with the information leaked through “Wikeleaks” has nothing to do with internet security as it was a failure of the US authorities to monitor the use of confidential information by the officials who had access to it. It was due to no failure of secure internet communications.
By e-governance (or electronic governance) we mean in simple terms the employment of the internet and other electronic technologies to deliver official information and services to citizens and the general public. Its purpose is to provide government services online in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner. According to the UN, more than 100 countries in the world have adapted their working systems to the new electronic technologies and use e-governance to improve public services and their delivery. Diplomatic services have followed this trend and everywhere in the world Diplomatic Missions provide today efficient services online. In fact, most missions now have websites which provide information on travel (including immunisation information, common diseases, risky areas and contacts in case of medical emergency), visa application procedures and forms, etc. on their sites. A number of countries carry out online visa applications (including Canada, the UK and the United States of America), while others like Australia, Singapore, Cambodia and Kuwait even issue e-visas which has not only eased the process of visa processing but increased visits to such countries. The same happens with trade and investment matters and procedures. The use of the web as a source of information has also reduced substantially the number of people that visit Embassies and Consulates worldwide. This is an important change in terms of diplomatic working cultures as compared to the past.
Conclusion
We have tried to describe in this paper that a new era in diplomacy has developed in the recent past as a result of electronic means of communication. Digital diplomacy has opened a new world of cross-cultural communication and information that is more open and transparent than in the past and essentially based on soft power. In fact, ICTs have practically turned information into a source of power and influence. Whereas the methods of work of Foreign Ministries and Diplomatic Missions have essentially remained the same, the internet transformed communication from the traditional methods of information to the use of modern methods associated with instantaneous communication. Not the least, it has stimulated the missing part of an old dream that men always had: the access to information at anytime from anywhere. Diplomatic services have therefore explored the potentials of these new technologies (like the internet) for their own empowerment, in order to preserve their pivotal role in international relations. Through a well planned and well organised use of information technologies in a Foreign Ministry, a country —especially if it is a small state— can cope with a great number of challenges and stay informed of developments and emerging trends in modern diplomacy.
Only a century and a half ago, wind-powered sailing vessels served as the means of diplomatic communication. They were followed by steamships. Then communications evolved with the arrival of the telegraph, the telephone and air mail as the main systems of diplomatic correspondence. Nowadays the great revolution in diplomatic communication is due to the computer and to electronic means of communication, which allow for such communication to be more rapid, sure and efficient. Many things which once required a physical presence are now possible to exist in a virtual fashion. Diplomacy is not an exception.
The impact of the new information and communication technologies on modern diplomacy has been profound and with deep repercussions. The main areas within diplomacy in which technology has had a major influence and impact are diplomatic missions, negotiations and communication, as this paper clearly shows. Virtual diplomacy has improved the traditional diplomatic functions of missions, which are representation, negotiation, reporting, facilitation and coordination. It merges foreign and domestic policies and publics and allows diplomacy to occur through the media and information technologies. Virtual diplomacy is therefore a reality and it can be said that it has thus become a field of diplomacy in its own right.
(1). Jönsson, C. and Hall, M. “Essence of Diplomacy” (Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005).
Dr. Luis Ritto – Former EU Ambassador to the Holy See and the Order of Malta and Former EU Permanent Representative to the United Nations Organisations. ISPD Emeritus Professor and expert on diplomacy, diplomatic protocol and world affairs.
Sources:
Jönsson, C. and Hall, M. “Communication: Essential Aspect of Diplomacy” (Lund: Lund University, 2002).
Rana, Kishan S. “21st Diplomacy: A Practitioner’s Guide” (New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011).
Jönsson, C. and Hall, M. “Essence of Diplomacy” (Hapshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005).
Nye, Joseph S. “Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics” (New York: Public Affairs, 2004).
Black, Jeremy “A History of Diplomacy” (London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2011).
Reus-Smit, C. and Snidal, Duncan “The Oxford Handbook of International Relations” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Berridge, G. “Diplomacy: Theory and Practice” (Hertforshire, Prentice Hall, 1995).
Burton, J.W, “Systems, States, Diplomacy and Rules” (Cambdrige: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
Benjamin Ferencz at T.M.C. Asser
Benjamin Ferencz at T.M.C. Asser Instituut in September
The Supranational Criminal Law (SCL) Lecture Series is a lecture series on international criminal law and has been organized, on an almost weekly basis, since 2003, by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University. By Christophe Paulussen,T.M.C. Asser Instituut. These (free admission) lectures are usually held on Wednesday evenings, in The Hague at 19:00 and they deal with a variety of issues related to international criminal law. They are attended by LLM and PhD students, professors, diplomats, international lawyers and others working in The Hague’s international legal sphere. Previous lecturers have included: former ASP President Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, current ASP President Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, former ICC Prosecutor Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, former Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone Mr. David Crane, former Registrar of the ICC Ms. Silvana Arbia, Prosecutor of the ICTY Serge Brammertz, Prof. Cherif Bassiouni of DePaul University, Prof. John Dugard of Leiden University, former President of the ICC Philippe Kirsch, Ombudsperson of the Security Council’s 1267 Committee Ms. Kimberly Prost and and many, many others. Tuesday 2 September was the kick-off of the new season with a lecture on “Illegal armed force as a Crime against Humanity” by an extraordinary speaker, namely Benjamin Ferencz. Mr. Ferencz is the only surviving Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor, who served as a combat soldier in World War Two and has devoted his life to trying to deter illegal war by holding responsible leaders to account in national or international criminal courts. For more information about the SCL Series, please visit regularly the website of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut or subscribe to our mailing list on International Humanitarian and Criminal Law. Please see the following video: http://www.Rastrelli Cello Quartet – review
By Dmitry Badiarov, independent contributor to the Diplomat magazine
One of Rastrelli Cello Quartet reporters once wrote, “to say that their performance was breathtaking is an understatement…” This was my impression after their performance in The Hague on November 24 last year and after their recent performance at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on the 29th of July. “They are men on a mission. The Rastrelli Cello Quartet, four Russians living in Germany, is out to cross all genres” wrote the Strings magazine and each concert shows they are steady on their route. Picture yourself a mufficking crowd in a concert. This is not necessarily a rock concert! It is the Rastrelli’s at Concertgebouw. 
The cellists entered and started playing at once, without tuning – even before the welcoming applause ended – with David Popper’s fiery Tarantella, in which the quartet displayed their extraordinarily rich range of dynamics, including their hallmark barely audible but incredibly present pianissimo drawing everyone’s full attention and sensitivity towards the following pieces, each of which expressing completely different emotions. The Popper was followed by the elegiac Le cygne by Camile Saint-Saens, the quirky variations on Paganini’s 24th capriccio by the Quartet’s arranger-cellist Sergey Drabkin, the outpouring of Russian soul in Tchaikovsky’s Andante from the 1st string quartet in D, the virtual journey to Georgia in Sulkhan Zinzadze’s Folk Suite, and Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turk. First cellist Kira Kravtzoff explained that even if this last piece was written 5000 km away from Georgia, it mirrored the spirit of Zinzadze’s music. The second part of the concert was dedicated to jazz, to the works of Euday Bowman, Hoagy Carmichael, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astor Piazzola, Leroy Anderson, Jimmy Forrest and Paul Desmond, all masterfully arranged by Sergey Drabkin whom the audience gave a well-deserved special applause. The pieces we heard that evening in the Concertgebouw sounded completely different from those we had heard in the previous concert in The Hague because Drabkin frequently re-writes the Quartet’s repertoire. However, there is another composer present in the Quartet – such luxury! – Misha Degtjarev, whose Lullaby was also delighted the audience in the second half of the program.
A singularly unique ensemble, the Rastrelli Cello Quartet has been thrilling audiences with their renderings of non-traditional programming since 2002. Kira Kravtsov, founder and artistic director, Kirill Timofejev, Misha Degtjarev and Sergey Drabkin formed the ensemble with a mission to play music “between the genres”. The Rastrelli have performed in many of Europe’s main concert halls, including the Gasteig in Munich, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the St. Petersburg’s Philharmonic Hall, the Bulgaria Hall in Sofia, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Leiszhall in Hamburg and the Mariinsky Theater in St.-Petersburg. In addition to concert tours in Europe, the USA and Russia, the Rastrelli performs at Summer festivals such as the Beethoven Festival Bonn, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Darmstadter Festspiele, the Branderburgische Sommerkonzerte, the Oberstdorfer Musiksommer, the Hohenlohe Kultursommer, the Rheingau Musikfestival, the Ohridsko Leto (Macedonia) and the Meadowlark Music Festival USA, and have cooperated with Giora Feidman, David Geringas and Gilles Apap. http://www.rastrelli.de
The cellists entered and started playing at once, without tuning – even before the welcoming applause ended – with David Popper’s fiery Tarantella, in which the quartet displayed their extraordinarily rich range of dynamics, including their hallmark barely audible but incredibly present pianissimo drawing everyone’s full attention and sensitivity towards the following pieces, each of which expressing completely different emotions. The Popper was followed by the elegiac Le cygne by Camile Saint-Saens, the quirky variations on Paganini’s 24th capriccio by the Quartet’s arranger-cellist Sergey Drabkin, the outpouring of Russian soul in Tchaikovsky’s Andante from the 1st string quartet in D, the virtual journey to Georgia in Sulkhan Zinzadze’s Folk Suite, and Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turk. First cellist Kira Kravtzoff explained that even if this last piece was written 5000 km away from Georgia, it mirrored the spirit of Zinzadze’s music. The second part of the concert was dedicated to jazz, to the works of Euday Bowman, Hoagy Carmichael, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astor Piazzola, Leroy Anderson, Jimmy Forrest and Paul Desmond, all masterfully arranged by Sergey Drabkin whom the audience gave a well-deserved special applause. The pieces we heard that evening in the Concertgebouw sounded completely different from those we had heard in the previous concert in The Hague because Drabkin frequently re-writes the Quartet’s repertoire. However, there is another composer present in the Quartet – such luxury! – Misha Degtjarev, whose Lullaby was also delighted the audience in the second half of the program.
A singularly unique ensemble, the Rastrelli Cello Quartet has been thrilling audiences with their renderings of non-traditional programming since 2002. Kira Kravtsov, founder and artistic director, Kirill Timofejev, Misha Degtjarev and Sergey Drabkin formed the ensemble with a mission to play music “between the genres”. The Rastrelli have performed in many of Europe’s main concert halls, including the Gasteig in Munich, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the St. Petersburg’s Philharmonic Hall, the Bulgaria Hall in Sofia, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Leiszhall in Hamburg and the Mariinsky Theater in St.-Petersburg. In addition to concert tours in Europe, the USA and Russia, the Rastrelli performs at Summer festivals such as the Beethoven Festival Bonn, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Darmstadter Festspiele, the Branderburgische Sommerkonzerte, the Oberstdorfer Musiksommer, the Hohenlohe Kultursommer, the Rheingau Musikfestival, the Ohridsko Leto (Macedonia) and the Meadowlark Music Festival USA, and have cooperated with Giora Feidman, David Geringas and Gilles Apap. http://www.rastrelli.de The War Prayer by Mark Twain
The War Prayer by Mark Twain – Introduction by Dario Poli.
There is considerable visual evidence shown by the international media of wars large and small taking place around the world, and threats of new wars being openly discussed by professional pundits, politician, legal experts and business elites, most of whom have never been in a real conflict or faced personal danger and injury.
We the ordinary public going about our everyday business, are bombarded daily in the media outlets by the word ‘war’; the war on want, war on drugs, war on poverty, war on carbon, war on disease, war on crime, war on illiteracy, war against injustice, war of aggression, war of words, war against racism, war against intolerance and the war on terror.
Painful consequences
It appears that mankind is in a state of external war against its own social problems, the class war and now cyberwars, but with no solutions in sight.
We are told that war is the ‘price of freedom’. However from an historical perspective, in reality it usually results in the ‘loss of freedom’ when we engage in war. The subtile infiltration of the word ‘war’ into our subconcious is constant and needs to be understood as the ramifications can be very serious.
Any war enterprise however well prepared, is a hazardous, unpredictable undertaking, resulting in horrific experiences for those who fight them, as well as for the civilians, the animal life, the waste and contamination of our natural environment, not to mention the physiological and unending psychological trauma and problems of the victims. All suffer the painful consequences, including the enormous destruction of property, infrastructure and the irreplaceable loss of priceless art, culture and civilization.
Double speak
All this barbarity because of the deliberate intentions and actions, of those so few in number, using laws for war, created by the few for this purpose, who lead us the majority, into these risky adventures and horrendous conflicts, that in final analysis, come to an abrupt end usually due to immense material and human destruction, the high financial losses and the sheer exhaustion of the populations involved. Conflicts always have to be resolved by some form of dialogue and peaceful agreements, despite who is the winner and loser.
All wars by their very nature are vile, nasty and destructive, as the finest of our youth at the orders of the oldest, perish or are permanently disfigured in conflict. War heavily sustained by a suffocating blanket of misinformation and double speak, is death, murder, rape, torture, incarceration and ruin. War always destroys wealth and liberty and it can eradicate civilizations. According to George Orwell, ‘all the war propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.’
The War Prayer, by Mark Twain
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burnt the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpooring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.
The church filled
It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front, the church was filled, the volunteers were there, their faces alight with material dreams – visions of a stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabres, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! – then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden sees of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbours and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation – ‘God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest, Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!’
An aged stranger
Then came the ‘long’ prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us would watch over our noble young soldiers and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory.
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main isle, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preachers’s side and stood there, waiting.
With shut lids the preacher, unconcious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, ‘Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!’
Is it one prayer?
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said
‘I come from the Throne – bearing a message from the Almighty God!’The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. ‘He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd and grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.
‘God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two – one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of His Who hearth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this – keep it in mind. If you beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! Lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
The unspoken part
‘You have heard your servant’s prayer – the uttered part of it. I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it – that part which the pastor, and also you in your hearts, fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
‘O Lord our Father, our Young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, inploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen
After a pause
‘Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits.
It was believed afterwards that the man was lunatic; because there was no sense in what he said.
Twain wrote The War Prayer during the U.S. war on the Philippines. Submitted it for publication, but on March 22, 1905, it was rejected as unsuitable by Harpers’s Bazaar. Twain wrote to his friend Dan Beard, ‘I don’t think the prayer will be publisehd in my time. None of the dead are permitted to tell the truth.’ ‘The War Prayer’ remained unpublisehd until 1923. http://marbellamarbella.es/2014-08-11/the-war-prayer-by-mark-twain-introduction-by-dario-poli/
Apocalypse, painting Dario Poli.The beating of the war drums Amazingly despite all the above knowledge of war and its consequences, this peace normally holds until the next war breaks out and then the whole grizzly business begins again with renewed vigour, each side forcefully proclaiming their just cause, ingeniously holstered unto the trusting simplicity of the enthousiastically stimulated tribal patriotism of the majority of the populations of those involved, who still obediently follow the instructions and orders of the few, as if nothing had been learned from the previous tragedy, as they march meekly into the open doors of the house of carnage, to be savagely minced in the unmerciful war machine. Their cries of pity and fear vanishing unheeded into the universal ether, together with millions of tears washed away into a river of their precious blood. Arthur Koestler observed ‘The most persistent sound which reverberates through men’s history is the beating of war drums.’ ‘I confess without shame that I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded, who cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is Hell.’ – Civil War Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. Never a good war Humans daily face thousands of ways of dying from accidents and a myriad of diseases waiting to take our lives, but this appears not to be sufficient danger for us to face. Instead we deliberately increase our own peril and survival by skillfully, often ingeniously and effectively increasing the levels of killings by wars. What an incredible waste of energy, time and resources. Wars need to end as there are no victories, and as Benjamin Franklin noted ‘there was never a good war or a bad peace’. Mark Twain’s powerful The War Prayer is a reminder of the absurdity and stupidity of war, especially for those who have to fight them and is a timely warning to us all. Dario Poli.
The War Prayer, by Mark Twain
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burnt the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpooring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.
The church filled
It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front, the church was filled, the volunteers were there, their faces alight with material dreams – visions of a stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabres, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! – then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden sees of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbours and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation – ‘God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest, Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!’
An aged stranger
Then came the ‘long’ prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us would watch over our noble young soldiers and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory.
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main isle, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preachers’s side and stood there, waiting.
With shut lids the preacher, unconcious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, ‘Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!’
Is it one prayer?
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said
‘I come from the Throne – bearing a message from the Almighty God!’The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. ‘He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd and grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.
‘God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two – one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of His Who hearth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this – keep it in mind. If you beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! Lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
The unspoken part
‘You have heard your servant’s prayer – the uttered part of it. I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it – that part which the pastor, and also you in your hearts, fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
‘O Lord our Father, our Young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, inploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen
After a pause
‘Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits.
It was believed afterwards that the man was lunatic; because there was no sense in what he said.
Twain wrote The War Prayer during the U.S. war on the Philippines. Submitted it for publication, but on March 22, 1905, it was rejected as unsuitable by Harpers’s Bazaar. Twain wrote to his friend Dan Beard, ‘I don’t think the prayer will be publisehd in my time. None of the dead are permitted to tell the truth.’ ‘The War Prayer’ remained unpublisehd until 1923. http://marbellamarbella.es/2014-08-11/the-war-prayer-by-mark-twain-introduction-by-dario-poli/
The Senate of the Netherlands and Parliamentary Diplomacy
By Ms LL.M Ankie Broekers-Knol, President of the Senate of the Netherlands.
In its broadest definition, diplomacy can be defined as the art and practice of conducting negotiations between two or more groups in order to achieve a particular goal. In today’s globalized world, diplomacy and international relations are no longer the exclusive preserve of governments. Members of parliament are undertaking more and more diplomatic activities, which supplement the efforts of the government within the context of ‘traditional’ diplomacy. We call this parliamentary diplomacy.
The Senate of the Netherlands is very internationally oriented and actively engages in parliamentary diplomacy. Historically, the Netherlands has always looked outwards. In view of the country’s open economy, it is important for parliamentarians to engage in international relations. The advantages of parliamentary diplomacy are that parliamentarians are ideally placed to build bridges between conflicting parties and that they are not bound by the positions taken by the government. Personal contacts between members of parliament of different states are likely to enhance mutual understanding and to establish alternative channels beneficial for bilateral relations between countries. Also inter-parliamentary contacts promote the development of the international democratic legal order. In international parliamentary fora parliamentarians are in place to engage in a credible exchange of expertise and to draw lessons-learned regarding the building of democratic institutions as well as for example political, intercultural and interreligious dialogue to safeguard pluralism.
In more and more international policy areas parliaments are increasingly ‘needed’. An example is foreign affairs and defence policy. More and more military forces are training together and are being integrated. There is not much point to this if parliaments, when the time is there, vote for deployment differently (for or against). This is just one example why it is crucial that parliamentarians know each other, maintain dialogue and invest in their mutual relationships. Parliamentary diplomacy is key here.
The parliamentarians of the Senate of the Netherlands establish relationships with parliamentarians from other countries by active participation in the parliamentary assemblies of international organisations and by organizing bilateral visits. With respect to the first pillar, senators take part in various parliamentary assemblies, such as the NATO, OSCE and Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and in the inter-parliamentary EU conferences. In fact, from 21-24 November 2014 the Senate and the House of Representatives will host the annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the World Forum in the Hague. Looking forward further, the Senate will host the meeting of the Association of European Senates in the spring of 2015.
Concerning the second pillar of bilateral visits, the Senate receives dozens of delegations each parliamentary year. Just this year we have received, amongst others, the Presidents of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of France, Prince Albert II of Monaco, the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia, the President of Burundi and the Speakers of the Senate of Canada and Rwanda.
In short, parliamentary diplomacy is important and challenging work, which the Senate of the Netherlands should continue to focus on.
Commonwealth Games: ‘Best ever’ games comes to an end in Glasgow
By Roy Lie A Tjam.
After 11 days, on August 3 2014, the XX Commonwealth Games came to an end in Glasgow, Scotland with a dazzling closing spectacle.
The Commonwealth Games were officially opened by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II on 23 July 2014. Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 of the 53 member states in the Commonwealth of Nations. She is also Head of the Commonwealth and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
England, one of the home nations, topped the table but the Caribbean nations, notably Jamaica, did well. Despite some rain and chilly wind, the Jamaican team won ten gold medals at the games, part of an impressive tally of 22 medals won.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Chef de mission of the 2014 team, Dr Ian Hypolite, expects the Glasgow experience to hold his country in good stead for the road to Rio 2016: ‘My expectation is that we would have benefitted immensely. It was a natural stepping stone for many teams. Prior to the Rio Olympics, Caribbean Nations have the 2014 CAC (Central American and Caribbean) Games in Vera Cruz, Mexico, the Pan Am Games 2015 in Toronto, the Beijing 2015 IAAF World Championships for track and field – clear stepping stones to Rio. Experience will do us well as we progress along the way’Hypolite stated.
Trinidad & Tobago ended the Games with three silver medals and five bronze. Olympic men’s javelin champion Keshorn Walcott, 400 meters hurdles world champion Jehue Gordon and shotputter Cleopatra Borel were the silver medalists.
‘The Games have made us all very proud and truly brought our family together’, said HRH Prince Imran, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), during the closing ceremony.