Espionage and Diplomacy (Essay Sample)

Espionage and Diplomacy
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Espionage and Diplomacy
There is a link between the two concepts, and this link was in use since the beginning of human intelligent societies. For one, one must give the definition of the two terms, in order to alert the reader to all entailed in the two topics. Espionage is the act of using spies to obtain information about a foreign country or company, (Merriam Webster 2011). The definition of diplomacy, on the other hand seems quite different compared to espionage. It is the act of using peace to relate with an individual or state level among countries, or organization, (dictionary.com 2011). The connective part of the two concepts can have relation to a famous proverb.
The wise saying explains that a person should keep his friends close, and at the same time, keep his enemies closer. In this way, the person should know who he/she can trust. In the intelligence field, there is no such thing, as a friend. There are interests, and goals that one should accomplish, and today’s ‘friend’ will become tomorrow’s enemy. The scope of the political, and intelligence world is constantly shifting, that one hardly has time to concentrate on one interest solely. The thing is, although that espionage is no longer confined to the state level, where spies exchange secrets over their countries military capabilities.
The cold war concluded, and so the focus that this created, and occupied most minds during the era. The busy body agencies such as the CIA and the KGB had to get something to do now, other than shadow operations, involving drugs, and weapons. Corporate espionage involving companies, and their technological advancements came into the picture. The number of players in the game also increased considering that the US and Russia, were not the only countries, advancing at the time. There are certain examples in this case that include China, France, and Russia, ‘Corporate Espionage and Diplomacy in the Post-Al Qaeda Age’ (Burton 2005).
In order, to get what one wants out of a situation like the fact, that the United States wants to have get hold of a countries secrets, and it so happens that it is not in speaking terms with that particular state. The only recourse would be to feign diplomatic relations, and get the secrets covertly. A perfect example is the first public speech by British head of the MI6. The speech targeted the nation of Iran, and the efforts toward making them abandon their nuclear program. He suggested that Britain was carrying out covert espionage missions to this effect, Analysis: Espionage-led diplomacy, (Press TV 2010).
In that case, the British were only using their diplomatic angle, as a front, to what they were actually doing behind the scenes. The official implied that they conducted this surveillance in the country, and when they found what they were looking for, they used the diplomatic pressure once more to constrain the plans of the Iranians. He stated categorically, that diplomacy alone would not bear fruit in the fight to make sure the Iranians follow suit. This looks like a dirty and quite nasty thing to do, in the wake of the fight against terrorism.
If the analysis is true, that means that the British intentionally made sure that the Iranian nuclear program does not see the light of day. This is quite disheartening, because the people, who had the obligation of following the rules, chose the option of hitting below the belt to achieve their goals. This is not new, and one will hear them say in their justification, that all is fair in love and war. The world is beginning to gain definition in terms of cooperation’s, and not countries that are superpowers. This is because of the rise of individualism, leading to a decrease in patriotism, and an increase in ‘private contractors’ who are mercenaries for lack of a term.
This changing of the world structure is leading to different descriptions of espionage. The world players are pretty much the same, but with new, rising members. China is one of these rising members, partly, because of the major corporate influence, which it has, with its major conglomerations, (China- the ultimate real laboratory? 2011). The Chinese view to take over cooperate scene bases, on the technological might that it has as well as the large economic market, which services most of the worlds customers. It is especially good in reinvention of products previously branded by other companies.
It is very masterful in the art of stealing technological secrets from other countries. The spying can take many forms, in this sense. For example, when a person of importance arrives at the airport, there will be some technical anomalies that will happen. Luggage will go through special checkups, probably without the owner present. This is to facilitate the copying of hard drives, and files on their laptop. This will happen, in the face of diplomacy and with a complete straight face. Another example is when the ‘target’ arrives at the airport.
The person of interest will receive an offer of a personal car which does not have a driver. The car already has bugs to listen in to whatever the person feels like sharing on a phone, and do not even think of using a hotel phone. This will still happen in the face of diplomacy. The poor guy probably thought he was going for a symposium to share new technologies. Unfortunately, these are the kind of games that carry on in the co-operate world, as the objective is to get ahead, by any means necessary. In essence the espionage cannot really go through in this case, without the use of diplomacy.
The United States, and the Soviet republic have been at it, for decades during the cold war, and the ongoing fighting was at times, quite open. The exercise of diplomacy came recently during the conclusion of the war so as to calm the rest of the world into thinking, that all was well again, that the two colossuses, would not destroy the world in a fight. This was pretence on some levels. Yes, the cold war came to an end, but some activities could not end so easily, ‘Soviet Publicists Talk about U. S. Intelligence’ (Leslie D. Weir 1993).
It may be not all the time, which espionage is behind the concept of diplomacy, although. The history of diplomacy is full of honourable people who did not spy for their respective countries in a bid to get ahead. The original diplomats were sent only as envoys during times of negotiation, and would return to their countries soon afterward. The origins of diplomacy trace to the beginning of the thirteenth century with the establishment of embassies in Milan. Milan was the first to send representatives to France, but could not accept theirs in return for fear of espionage, ‘A Brief History of Diplomacy’ (eDiplomat 2011).
Therefore, there were, and are cases were diplomacy had a clean reputation free from the taint of espionage. It is a politically correct theme nowadays, although, due to blatant showcases of spying in the name of diplomacy. An example is when the US government was in a scandal that it instructed its diplomats to spy on other diplomats concerning the UN leadership. The essence of the order was to collect information on the communication systems used by top officials in the UN. This is a bit of a blur on the line between espionage, and diplomacy. The order entailed details on the personal information of some top officials, and heads of agencies, ‘Hillary Clinton ordered diplomats to spy on UN: Wiki Leaks docs’, (Daniel Tencer 2010).
The order targeted some major key players like Ban Ki Moon, and his objectives on issues like Iran. The order went through most of the intelligence agencies: CIA, FBI, and the...