| Revision as of 18:33, 3 August 2006 edit87.88.13.221 (talk) →External links← Previous edit | Revision as of 18:41, 3 August 2006 edit undoCdelutz (talk | contribs)5 edits Accuracy of this page questioned by the economistNext edit → | ||
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| ==Activities== | ==Activities== | ||
| Since 2002, the organization has been holding an annual spring conference at the graduate school of the law faculty of the ], ]. An annual fall conference is held in ] in rented conference facilities of hotels. | Since 2002, the organization has been holding an annual spring conference at the graduate school of the law faculty of the ], ]. An annual fall conference is held in ] in rented conference facilities of hotels. | ||
| == ACCURACY QUESTIONED== | |||
| The economist magazine challenges the merit of this page | |||
| In the 4 August edition of the Economist, that newspaper writes about the ICDISS, implying that it is actually a cover for disinformation, perhaps originating in the Russian Federation: | |||
| "SOVIET propagandists were experts in the art of disinformation: planting specious stories in obscure corners of the media, claiming, for example, that the CIA invented AIDS. Now Russia's interests are once again being promoted by information sources that look plausible, at least until you look closely at their antecedents. | |||
| Take, for example, the International Council for Democratic Institutions and State Sovereignty (ICDISS), a grand-sounding outfit that says it works on “result-oriented nation-building for new and emerging states”. It produced a report in July supporting international recognition for Transdniestria, a breakaway region of Moldova that has had Russian support and Western disapproval since a brief civil war in 1992. | |||
| Slickly produced and heavily footnoted, the report was publicised in Russia and Transdniestria as evidence that influential outside opinion was conceding the case for independence. That would be in sharp contrast to all Western governments' policy to date, which has been trying, rather ineffectually, to reunite Transdniestria with Moldova. | |||
| The report says it is based on the work of a bunch of well-known international lawyers, including a serving State Department official, and academics from Stanford, Oxford and Harvard. It implies they attended a conference at the Beacon Hotel in Washington, DC, in April 2006. | |||
| The truth is rather different. For a start, the Beacon Hotel has no record of any such conference. None of the supposed outside experts attended it. Those contacted crossly denied involvement, though one, a doctoral student, says he did offer some advice. The ICDISS has now removed the names from the report. | |||
| hat is puzzling enough. But the ICDISS is even odder. It has no address and no telephone number. Although its website, and an entry on a write-it-yourself encyclopedia, Misplaced Pages, claim that it was founded in 1999, there is no trace of its activities, or of its supposed staff members, in news databases or the internet before January this year. Since then, it seems to be solely involved in promoting Transdniestria. It claims to be based in America, but does not appear to be a charity there. | |||
| Its website is registered at a hotel address in Mexico, with a phone that does not answer, and operated from a server in Latvia. And that is positively illuminating compared with the report's other supposed publisher, the Euro-Atlantic Joint Forum Contact Group, which seems to have no existence other than its logo. | |||
| The report itself is written in professional legalese, peppered with Latin phrases and confident references to precedent. But some bits read awkwardly, with mistakes (telephone “centrals” rather than “exchanges”) often made by Russians writing in English. | |||
| Reached by e-mail, the ICDISS programme director, identifying herself as Megan Stephenson, declined to talk on the telephone, or to give details of ICDISS financing, staff, headquarters or other activities. The group wished to keep a low profile because of its previous involvement in protests in Venezuela, which had led to the arrests of its activists, she explained. A sentence on a dormant Venezuelan opposition website does acknowledge help from the ICDISS, although how, when and where is not clear. “If you wish to reach for the somewhat strained conclusion that our little group of volunteers is a Kremlin front, then so be it, but I again state clearly for the record that this is not the case,” insists Ms Stephenson." | |||
| this is a partial quoatation from http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7252974 | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 18:41, 3 August 2006
The International Council for Democratic Institutions and State Sovereignty, abbreviated ICDISS, is an international non-governmental organization which specializes in nation-building issues. The organization focuses its activities in two areas: The first is nation-building in failed states (although it prefers to refer to such states as weak or conflict states); the second is nation-building in new or emerging states, some of the latter being unrecognized countries with de facto sovereignty.
Founding and Membership
The International Council for Democratic Institutions and State Sovereignty was founded in Washington D.C. in December 1999. The organization has about 60 members (2005). Most members are either active career diplomats and professionals from international organizations. The organization is a proponent of upholding Westphalian sovereignty and critical of the new concept of contingent sovereignty. One of the organization's leading members wrote about this in a now-defunct personal blog called The Diplomad and in the forums of the icdiss.org website.
Activities
Since 2002, the organization has been holding an annual spring conference at the graduate school of the law faculty of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City. An annual fall conference is held in Washington D.C. in rented conference facilities of hotels.
ACCURACY QUESTIONED
The economist magazine challenges the merit of this page
In the 4 August edition of the Economist, that newspaper writes about the ICDISS, implying that it is actually a cover for disinformation, perhaps originating in the Russian Federation:
"SOVIET propagandists were experts in the art of disinformation: planting specious stories in obscure corners of the media, claiming, for example, that the CIA invented AIDS. Now Russia's interests are once again being promoted by information sources that look plausible, at least until you look closely at their antecedents.
Take, for example, the International Council for Democratic Institutions and State Sovereignty (ICDISS), a grand-sounding outfit that says it works on “result-oriented nation-building for new and emerging states”. It produced a report in July supporting international recognition for Transdniestria, a breakaway region of Moldova that has had Russian support and Western disapproval since a brief civil war in 1992.
Slickly produced and heavily footnoted, the report was publicised in Russia and Transdniestria as evidence that influential outside opinion was conceding the case for independence. That would be in sharp contrast to all Western governments' policy to date, which has been trying, rather ineffectually, to reunite Transdniestria with Moldova.
The report says it is based on the work of a bunch of well-known international lawyers, including a serving State Department official, and academics from Stanford, Oxford and Harvard. It implies they attended a conference at the Beacon Hotel in Washington, DC, in April 2006.
The truth is rather different. For a start, the Beacon Hotel has no record of any such conference. None of the supposed outside experts attended it. Those contacted crossly denied involvement, though one, a doctoral student, says he did offer some advice. The ICDISS has now removed the names from the report. hat is puzzling enough. But the ICDISS is even odder. It has no address and no telephone number. Although its website, and an entry on a write-it-yourself encyclopedia, Misplaced Pages, claim that it was founded in 1999, there is no trace of its activities, or of its supposed staff members, in news databases or the internet before January this year. Since then, it seems to be solely involved in promoting Transdniestria. It claims to be based in America, but does not appear to be a charity there.
Its website is registered at a hotel address in Mexico, with a phone that does not answer, and operated from a server in Latvia. And that is positively illuminating compared with the report's other supposed publisher, the Euro-Atlantic Joint Forum Contact Group, which seems to have no existence other than its logo.
The report itself is written in professional legalese, peppered with Latin phrases and confident references to precedent. But some bits read awkwardly, with mistakes (telephone “centrals” rather than “exchanges”) often made by Russians writing in English.
Reached by e-mail, the ICDISS programme director, identifying herself as Megan Stephenson, declined to talk on the telephone, or to give details of ICDISS financing, staff, headquarters or other activities. The group wished to keep a low profile because of its previous involvement in protests in Venezuela, which had led to the arrests of its activists, she explained. A sentence on a dormant Venezuelan opposition website does acknowledge help from the ICDISS, although how, when and where is not clear. “If you wish to reach for the somewhat strained conclusion that our little group of volunteers is a Kremlin front, then so be it, but I again state clearly for the record that this is not the case,” insists Ms Stephenson."
this is a partial quoatation from http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7252974
External links
- International Council for Democratic Institutions and State Sovereignty official website
- Archive of The Diplomad blog
- Really ?