You need to be the smartest person in the room to get even smarter people than you to work for you.

If I were asked who possesses the most strategic thinking among those I know or have heard of, I would say: ‘fate’, or ‘destiny’.

Young people have to live in a rat race: there’s always something to do, and everything must be done on time, under time pressure. But the elderly have no need to hurry: they have everything ahead of them – eternity awaits them.

Surprisingly, there is always a human element creeping into the relationship between people.

One of the distinctions between a gift and a bribe is that the giver of a gift cares about the recipient, whereas the giver of a bribe cares about himself.

The cause of many conflicts is the inability of people, groups, organizations, and countries to correctly assess and anticipate their own actions, as well as the intentions and actions of their opponents. Another important reason is the inability to find the optimal solution to the conflict among all possible options. In this regard, AI has great potential to help the parties properly calculate the possible steps of the parties involved and find the best options for resolving conflicts.

However, it can be assumed that even when everyone uses AI for negotiations and conflict resolution, there will still be some significant problems in this area. For example, one side may use a more advanced AI system (although the parties may agree that they will use one system, some – the stronger players – may not actually do this). Some parties may not have effective AI systems, or their AI assistant may be quite weak. And, in the end, people with their emotions and attitudes may simply not accept the AI’s suggestions, even if they are quite reasonable.

So, people probably won’t just give AI the lead role in conflict resolution. At least in the foreseeable future.

There is a word that delights me: Master. A master, regardless of the type of activity, is a phenomenon that cannot leave a person indifferent. True mastery, be it the skill of a pianist or a shoemaker, admires and even shocks. A person must give himself/herself completely to become a master of his/her craft. It’s a hard way. But a path that leads to self-actualization, joy, and freedom.

The emergence of public and then digital diplomacy marks important milestones in the development of international diplomacy. Modern diplomacy has become much more public, and this is largely due to the media and social media. We can also talk about a greater democratization of modern diplomacy, as public opinion has become more important in it.

The digitalization of diplomacy and the widespread use of social networks, instant messengers, video communications, and other electronic devices by diplomats have led to certain changes in the exercise of diplomatic influence and the conduct of diplomatic communications and negotiations. In general, all of these are, of course, positive and, in many ways, irreversible trends. At the same time, another truth becomes clear: no public means or digital technology can replace traditional face-to-face diplomatic negotiations. There are diplomatic negotiations in which public attention or publicity only hinders the achievement of a good agreement, and in negotiations via digital technologies, the parties often lack mutual trust.

In short, we can expect that in the future, diplomatic negotiations will be increasingly hybrid, that is, using both traditional and new, digital forms. Diplomacy will develop, but at the same time, it will maintain some of its basic properties.