Conversations

Some time ago, I wrote about how much Facebook had added to my life.   It has permitted me to reconnect with old friends,classmates, and coworkers and stay abreast of family members (especially those with whom it is best for all concerned to stay connected from afar).  Yes, there are downsides to it--oversharing among them--but that is easily remedied by deleting someone from your feed.

Twitter is even better.  I now get much of my news through Twitter and it permits you to quickly flip through to articles and essays that may be of interest to you.   Even better, it allows you to join conversations with some really wonderful minds from your smartphone.  Its 140 character limit (which, sadly, Twitter is planning on relaxing) forces concision and pithiness.  I count it as a small victory if I am retweeted, favorited, or even answered by a public intellectual.

Last week, I was answered by Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, writer, and anti-Putin activist, author of the new book, "Winter is Coming:  Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped."  

Kasparov tweeted:
Uh-oh, Kerry is talking to Lavrov again. Already Assad stays & Iran is at the table. By tomorrow he'll have given Alaska back to Russia.

I answered:
We're also working on giving back part of Arizona and California back to Mexico. Big downsizing plan. 

Kasparov responded:
Well, smaller borders are easier to protect! Very clever plan. 

Then someone else chimed in:
Crap, I live in Wyoming; better learn to speak French.

It's a brief, punchy exchange, laced with humor, but highlights in four little tweets, two matters of grave global concern:  Obama's decision to withdraw the United States from its traditional post-WWII role as a global power wherever and whenever he can, second, the simultaneous opportunity that Vladimir Putin is seizing to move into that vacated space.  

This is the genius of Twitter.  In a few sentences, three people were able to establish that we are all on the same page.  Without a long diatribe from any of us, it is a safe bet that we see the world vision of Obama and of Putin as unsettling and disturbing.    Twitter enabled me to connect with an important voice and share the fear that the simultaneous retreat by the U.S. and resurgence of  Russia may be the most dangerous threat to freedom and democracy since the 1930's.