Welcome to the latest edition of my President’s Desk Newsletter showcasing the individuals, issues, and questions at the heart of international affairs and ethics. 

Democracy's Essential Virtue

The past few days and weeks have been a trying time for American democracy. The January 6th Committee is chronicling the details of a failed insurrection; the Supreme Court has issued rulings on gun regulation, abortion, and the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency that do not reflect the views of the majority of Americans; on Independence Day weekend the Patriot Front—an avowed white supremacist group—marched on Boston’s Freedom Trail; and the recent spate of mass shootings—more than 300 in the first half of 2022—continued at the Highland Park July 4 parade.

As Darren Walker writes in The New York Times, many of us feel “a toxicity that threatens to asphyxiate our democracy.” Illiberal forces have been rising in the U.S. and around the world for some time now. The question is, how to respond? No one answer suffices. However, one element in indispensable, and that is democracy’s essential virtue of pluralism. It is pluralism that is on the line today, as single-minded groups and individuals seek to impose their single-minded views, sometimes violently.

For democracy to be an ethical standard, it must remain open, unfinished, and constantly evolving. The disquiet we feel today comes from the feeling that many do not share that commitment. How we confront this reality is the challenge of our time.

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They Said What?

A recent dialogue at the Qatar Economic Forum was perhaps more revealing than intended. When queried about the contradiction of defending free speech on Twitter and ignoring free speech in China, Elon Musk showed his cards.

Bloomberg’s John Micklethwait: “You are one of the biggest and fastest growing investors in China. Tesla, you’ve talked about it (China) being a third of your sales going forward. You’re now buying Twitter, the public forum for free speech. The Chinese, historically, don’t tend to be very enthusiastic about free speech. Are you worried about whether you can keep those two particular horses running? Is buying Twitter going to get you in trouble with the Chinese?” 

Elon Musk: “Well Twitter does not operate in China. And I think China does not attempt to interfere with the free speech of the press in the U.S. as far as I know. I assume you’re not under pressure at Bloomberg from China? I don’t think this is going to be an issue.” 

As Musk would have it, freedom is to be expanded and promoted where it is already allowed; for others; well, good luck! This dialogue shows an alarming aspect of the tech oligarchy. An unelected and unaccountable leader can profess to protecting the interests of the people. But when the one horse is democracy and the other is power, power wins. 

The UN: A Distinct and Exceptional Purpose

In June, I had the privilege to sit down with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for a discussion on ethics, diplomacy, and public service. We were joined by Carnegie New Leaders and students from the Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership, City College of New York (CCNY). The ambassador’s remarks echoed a theme of my recent essay on the “distinct and exceptional purpose” of the UN, while recognizing its flaws, limits, and ultimate necessity.

Global solidarity is fracturing at an alarming rate, at the very moment we are facing the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, war, the migration of millions of refugees, and pandemics. The ambassador details how realism and pragmatism—informed by ethics—shows us the way forward. 

Collateral Damage Goes Global

The war in Ukraine exhibits “an especially malign form of globalization in which a war in a place that could not be further away from your concerns . . . could still end with you starving to death.” So concludes David Rieff as he illuminates the devastating effects of losing Ukrainian and Russian wheat, normally 30 percent of the global supply chain.

As Rieff explains in the journal Compact, while the fighting in Ukraine is regional and contained, its effects are global, incalculable, and often not front of mind when reckoning with the costs of this war. I encourage you to read his latest piece “Collateral Damage Goes Global.”

News from Carnegie Council

A reminder to visit Carnegie Council’s Ukraine resources page where you can access our latest content and analysis on the ethical questions at the heart of the conflict. Also stay tuned in July for the Council’s upcoming announcement on plans for Global Ethics Day 2022. More to come soon!

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