One Virus, Two Americas | Techno-Nationalism and Diplomacy | Militant Networks, and more

For example, for military commanders to sustain confidence in the advice of their physicians, they must trust that their doctors unfailingly exercise the courage to provide unvarnished truth. To witness military physicians bending or burying the truth does long-lasting damage to the confidence required for the system to work.
Doctors taking care of powerful leaders have long engaged in cover-ups, including in service of democratically elected heads of state as well as dictators. In the days of a tightly controlled press that wasn’t difficult. But in our time the failure to extend truth telling about their leaders to the general public was blindingly clear in Dr. Conley’s obvious prevarications in his updates on the president’s medical condition. Bound by the rules of privacy embodied in the law, Dr. Conley could disclose only the information that the President had expressly authorized — nothing more, and nothing less. Fair enough. But he went further. He intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the President’s health and treatment.
One interpretation of Dr. Conley’s rationale for some of his misstatements has been to paint a rosier picture for the president himself, perhaps to reassure him about his prognosis. If so that would be an invocation of the outdated therapeutic exception and might have given his patient false reassurance. Or perhaps Dr. Conley was obfuscating for another audience: the American public. In either case his decision cannot be justified.
This episode has illustrated how times and public expectations have changed. When a doctor speaks to American people about the condition of a leader that physician functions as a crucial membrane in that public’s understanding about the stability of their government. The polity’s expectations are and ought to be different than they were even a few years ago. Dr. Conley was obligated to object to any order to knowingly deceive the public about the President’s medical condition. That principle must become part of an explicit standard of ethics for the next physician in the position of Dr. Conley and his white coat.

The Death and Life of Terrorist Networks. How Alliances Help Militants Survive (Christopher Blair, Erica Chenoweth, Michael C. Horowitz, Evan Perkoski and Philip B. K. Potter, Foreign Affairs)

·  “The Islamic State (or ISIS) is quietly ‘rising from the ashes’ in parts of Iraq and Syria, but this is not the first time that it has recovered from a near-death experience. Its predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, also reconstituted itself after nearly being defeated in 2007–8. ISIS has demonstrated extraordinary resilience; about half of all terrorist organizations fail in their first year, but it has survived for the better part of two decades despite fighting against an international coalition assembled to defeat it.”

·  “The lesson of ISIS is that states should not underestimate the power of a shared ideology. Yet there are nonreligious ideologies that have offered similar benefits in the past—and could continue to do so in the future. For example, today’s growing networks of far-right militancy, bolstered by the ‘globalization’ of far-right ideology, could prove challenging to defeat if they develop strong ideological ties.”

·  “The Counter-Terrorism Committee of the U.N. Security Council recently issued a report on the ‘growing and increasingly transnational threat posed by extreme right-wing terrorism.’ Authorities in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United States have all issued guidance about the threat posed by far-right terrorism, and in April, the U.S. government listed a Russian white-supremacist group as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization’—the first time that a white supremacist organization has been so designated.”

·  “The lesson of the durability of ISIS and other successful militant groups over the last 70 years is that states should not underestimate the power of a shared ideology, even under concerted military or law enforcement pressure. Containing militant networks means investing considerable resources into discrediting and diminishing the appeal of the underlying ideology—even before the networks become a serious threat. When shared militant ideologies are allowed to flourish and grow unchecked, the groups that espouse them become much harder to defeat once governments do decide to crack down.”

Ukraine Deported Two American Members of a Neo-Nazi Group Who Tried to Join a Far-Right Military Unit for “Combat Experience” (Chrsitopher Miller, BuzzFeed News)
The two men were members of the U.S.-based Atomwaffen Division who tried to join Ukraine’s far-right Azov Regiment, Ukrainian security officials said.

Techno-Nationalism and Diplomacy (Alex Capri, Hinrich Foundation)
The rise of techno-nationalist approaches has precipitated a US-China race to promote ideological values through the reshaping of institutions and standards. Governments are pursuing strategic alliances and partnerships to advance their strategic interests, values and politics. This will lead to the creation of new institutions and rule frameworks, or produce outcomes that will profoundly influence the institutions that govern global trade.

How Social Networks Are Preparing for a Potential October Hack-and-Leak (Alfred Ng, CNet)
Four years ago, Russia’s hack-and-leak operation paved the way for QAnon’s rise. Social networks say they’re better prepared this time around.