Internationalist Writer

making sense of a workable world

Easy reading is damn hard writing

Nathaniel Hawthorne. 1853

Writers are like other artists. They see the world as a holistic gestalt. Writere specialize in finding just the right word for an image, which makes them an ideal communicator in a digitally connected global world.

Art used to be the sole province of the aesthetic realm. Today it is a necessary component of all human interactions from personal to governing and commerce. Social courtesy is itself an art form that follows the same process that a writer uses to create a novel or project proposal. The process calls for patience and attention, two social skills in short supply to varying degress among highly developed technological parts of the world. In a global world of near-200 countries, those skills are essential for progress in any one of them.

Information is the basic unit of exchange brtween any two entities whether the be people, governments or businesses. In this transitional phase of the digital age, information that was conveyed by the five human senses is now transmitted in a filtered form. T compensate, there is a tendency to provide too much information in an undigested form to satisfy the hasty pace of the digital medium. In a single country this can cause mayhem. Spread across many countries, bridging digital gaps can benefit all parties if hazards are also addressed.

A hallmark of the digital age is its tendency to deceive. The mystery of algorithms, apps and crypto create an air of the arcane. That in turn incubates conspiracies, false flags and other products of the human underworld of the mind. Add in false flags and deep fake pics, the digital information age is just as full of its murderous cousins ranging from misinfo to downright fake. Whatever the industrym the writing process helps make sense of it all.

“Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense,” noted American humorist Mark Twain way back 150 years ago during the industrial revolution. In the global digital age, getting facts to make the logical sense that fiction requies takes teamwork.

The world today is made up of near-200 countries roughly considered in terms of regions. The regions are constantly in flux as counties emerge on the world stage. At this point in history, the world stage is dominated by the North American US and Btitain. In large part due to or language, other world hubs like China, Russia, the Middle East and even modest Europe or robustly emerging India fail to gather global traction. Internationalism aims to level the playing field of the global stage.

Internationalism aims to unify the global world in contrast to the nationalism that divides in response to the inevitability of globalization. Simply stating the obvious, most of the challenges facing the world now call for solutions on a global scale. Climate, health and disease control, migration, currency, banking and trade, even religion and education are universal factors that leave no country untouched. Internationalism promotes a sharing of responsibilities and benefits accruing from addressing those challenges. And just as all countries bear proportional responsibility for the state of the world as is, no country can be dismissed as its next possible savior. The small Pacific island state of Vanuatu, for example, got a unanimous vote on an important climate action

By touting such achievements on the part of nations big and small, internationalism bridges gaps and unites countries and regions of the world. In that way, national and regional personalities emerge from shadows and onto the global stage. That is an immediate benefit to a currently troubled world largely due to migration.

Personalizing countries and giving them identities through their people cuts down on stereotypes and across social sectors. An American doctor working with a London-educated Malaysian civic leader to establish a rural delivery system for medical care is a sprinboard for news coverage easily adaptable for numerous markets with directed targets. In that same vein, resource advantages and needs can be brought forward to enhance visibility on the global stage. Morroco, for example has plenty of sunshine and is a gateway between north and soyth, east and west. It excels in clean energy initiatives. It wants global investment in impt\roving its democratic structures to attract other investors.

In simple terms, internationalist cooperation is a cash cow and a driver of political debate on social issues that affect nearly all countries in a digitally connected world. Human rights, free speech, freedom of the press and judicial oversight top the list of those universal concers as set out in the 1945 United Nations Charter.

Since the Second World War, the United Nations has been the central forum for countries to debate differences. The Organization has also led the intensive drive to promote development throughout the world so as to cut down on economic inequalities that can lead to war. The global system has smoothed the way for progress of all kinds, including for the expansion of corporate and private enterprise. However, as in all matters involving humans, the individual person is the deal maker or breaker.

“Think global, act local” was the first slogan for the fledgling climate change movement. In the 40 years since, history shown a more nuanced view of the world is “personal to local to regional to global.” The measure of change is rule of law in context of culture and history

Since the atrocities of the Second World War, all countries have signed the UN Charter based on the US Constitution stating democratic principles. Following the rule of law is one of those and it is the one Russia violated by invading Ukraine.

Under direction of its leader, Russia has continued to violate rights as democratic nations formed an alliance to support Ukraine’s resistance to aggression. The leaders of the involved countries set the pace for their people through information or the distortion of it. Rule of law and verification are the determinants driving the momenum in Ukraine’s favor.

All that came about because Ukraine’s leader was able to motivate his people for democracy, A skillful media campagn centered on Ukraine’s courage won global hearts as intensive diplomacy made Ukraine the hub of discourse about democracy. By contrast, Russia’s continued aggression and violation of law have made it a global pariah.

History and culture play a major role in a country’s global persona. That in turn either attracts or repels allies and investments. Also, cultural and educational exchanges along with diplomatic relations.

China, for example, is the world’s second largest economy but its continued listing as a developing country gives it perks in the global financial system that enable it to take advantage of competitors. India has recently displaced China as the most populous country. Its history with Europe tends to skew it in the direction of communist China even though its cultural heritage and values align it more Western democracy.

Thus, India conducts its commerce mostly with the Asia market while China runs its “Belt & Silk” infrastructure campaign in Africa and South America, The campaign has recently lost confidence due to China’s harsh policies. Nevertheless, countries within that sphere took advantage of cheap energy prices sold at a discount after sanctions cut off Russia’s access to higher paying markets.

It is unknown whether the traditional US ally Saudi Arabia cooperated with the sanctions regime. But the countries most affected by higher energy prices were the Europeans sent into their own tailspin when Russia invaded Ukraine

Easern Europe had been isolated for 40 years after the War by the Iron Curtain of Russia’s failed Soviet Union. Ukraine had been a satellite Republic of that failed communist form of government that the Russian leader intended to resurrect starting with Ukraine. For Hungarian-born American writer Fogarassy, the long-buried scars of a wretched past were rubbed raw.

Fogarassy became American as a child refugee when Soviet Russians brutally squashed a heroic revolt against their oppression in 1956 Hungary. That anybody would want that sordid period back was incomprehensible to her. So was the astonishing fact that her own birth country was siding with Russia against the rights of Ukraine. Downright mind-blowing was the phenomenon that some in her own new country made a hero of Hungary’s Russophile leader

Fogarassy has written about Ukraine in her unforue style pf presenting thin-pieces, items intended to prompt further consideration for readers to draw their own conclusions. Her sources are accredited journalists, scholars and diplomat with citations of sources.

Institutional memory is one of Fogarassy’s great strengths. She has surivved and thrived on the basis of her wits and drive as the publishing has gone through its transformation from paper cut-and-paste to its current form offering virtual payments for little-known authors whose works are pirated on the world wide web. But the experience has given her a great leg up in both the writing profession and in real-time life. She has the same strength, stamina and humor that is enabling Ukraine to win against bully Russia. One example bears that out.

Life under communism in Hungary was first recorded in a memoir by Fogarassy’s mother in 1958 shortly after the family relocated to the US. No publishers would touch a book about a dark period still in place. When the Iron Curtain fell, Fogarassy rewrote the memoir in a brighter light for the American reader once her own first nobel was put out by a literar press. It wes handled by several agents with strict contractual demands for dozens of near misses. After a nonfiction book was issued by an academic publisher, sheconverted the typed manuscript into digital fomat and subsidy published for a fee. No publicity was done until Russia invaded Ukraine. Unfortunately, the publisher had perished during Covid and the book was reissued. Noone has ben able to get Amazon to merge the listings and dozens of publicists place nuisance calls claiming great reader interest in each of her books for a variety of fee options. The industry has become capitalism amock. All money, no rhyme or reason.

In a nutshell, digital technology has turned the publishing industry into a top heavy version of the writing process. The part that was once a linear series of actions requiring physical labor has been reduced to a fraction of what it once was. That left brain activity has been displaced by the need for right brain spacial thinking and sorting of information. That is the hard part of writing, the agony of nursing an idea like a cow chews icud until turned into mulch chucked back to the left brain to turn the process into a ready-made product.

When carried through to completion, that task oriented creative thinking produces the proverbial Aha! moment, the eureka thrill of discovery. Getting to that moment is an energy-guzzler.

The self control required to master the art of creative thnking in this transitional phase of the digital world is astronomical. That is especially true of the mighty United States where creativity is undervalued and indeed a cultural handicap. Few parents encourage kids to become actors or artists rather than doctors or lawyers.That cultural attitude is changing but perhaps not fast enough to keep the US as world economic leader.

The current debt ceiling crisis crisis centers on bottom-line social entitlements that conservatives oppose. That threat to the global economy cocks the trigger in a game of Russian roulette the country is playing in the global eye. News of mass shootins, maltreatment of asylum seekersrolling back of women’s rights is already distressing relative to the ideal once presented. But if the heavily indebted global giant defaulted on its debts, it would be exposed as the empty boastful fake that its previous leader had been. The bond market would crash as global confidence ebbed, leaving the giant as resentful as the current leader of Russia now is. Ukraine can change all that by its example of joyful resilience.

Traped in its Western hemisphere fortress called the United States, the country is a stale rehash of provincial conflicts inflated over time. Reluctant to mingle with neighbors east or west, it sits in the Americas like a Tiffany’s set down in the midle of some ghetto. It is thus marauded by opportunis at both the bottom and top of the social scale. Neither contributes to the overall social fabric increasingly fraying to reveal the real the of Hawthorne’s Scarlet letter.

The US began as apuritan have. Its founders were hardworking joyless perfectionis. But like the sinning couple featured in the Scarlet Letter, America likes to let loose from time to time. On a larger playground, it might even find solution to the problems that now threaten its role as a global ecomic power with great social potental.

This website is now on its maiden voyaget. It is a forum for exchange of views on all aspects of internationalism as a definer of national personality to counter the leveling effects of globalization. Its aim is to simplify the tsunami of info gushing out of the info superhighway. The skeleton framework is set out in the site itself. Updates will be in the form of comments and posts by both general visitors and experts from all around the world. Expert and general viws will be admixed to promote the healthy dialogue often missing in forums today.

As noted by the site structure, topics range from creative writing and the arts to diplomacy, business and industry. Cross-category input is encouraged, as are cross-industrial and cross- cultural. Items on lessons learned experiences are most welcome. Compensation is in the form of opportunities to make contacts for further development of connections.

The overall idea for the update input is that expressed by Keats in his timeless poem Intimations of immortality. “To see a world in a grain of sand.” Succinct is the right word taking some damn hard writing. No need to be S more than an emoji.

With few exceptions, advertisers will be transnational corporations with noted socially conscious business models. Corporations currently hogging markets may be running ads on the site now. Their replacements will be noted, especially as they are replaced by smaller or more regional advertisers.

Likewise, ads by nonprofits will be limited since they are already overrepresented in digital media. Donations to this website will be in the form of investments in global good will. Compensation will be in the form of good karma.

Finally, special projects will be featured a occasions arise. Currently, a special fund is being set up to provide food and equipment to front line soldiers cut off by fighting from main military supply lines. Compensation for donations to this fund will be in the form of continued growth for democracy. Not as concrete as a huggable teddy bear but its security for teddy bears to keep flowing. Cheers.