The Foreign Service Journal, November 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2015 15 devices; an application for Android devices will be available in the coming months. To accompany this technologi- cal leap forward, State is also getting a new look, which will be unveiled in the October issue. If you have any questions, the maga- zine’s staff encourages you to write to statemagazine@state.gov . Readers can also sign up to receive email alerts when a new issue is available through www.bit.ly/1jA7doo. —Shannon Mizzi, Editorial Intern Counterpoint : A New Outlet for Russian Academics E ditor Maria (Masha) Lipman dis- cussed the Russian-language online journal, Counterpoint , launched recently as an independent forum for Russian academics, at The George Washington University on Sept. 16. Lipman, a commentator on Russian social and political affairs, created the journal with financial backing from the MacArthur Foundation and with the help of GW’s Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. Russian academics have told her, Lip- man states, that they face strong political pressure on their programs, especially when it comes to history and communi- cations instruction. Lipman hopes that diverse voices, many of which are being silenced by the Russian government, will create a picture of Russian life from the inside through Counterpoint . Each issue is devoted to a central theme, with authors investigating and analyzing different aspects of it. The first issue, “Crimea and Russia: 18 Months Together,” contains articles addressing such topics as Putin’s high approval ratings; boundaries, or lack thereof, in Russian nation-building; the transition from a focus on ethnic and racial identity to national identity inside Russia; and the costs of regional expan- sion that does not generate development, as in Crimea, among other topics. —Shannon Mizzi, Editorial Intern Beyond the Refugee Crisis T he failure of the international com- munity to step up to the refugee cri- sis originating in the Middle East is clear, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told an audience at the United States Institute of Peace on Sept. 18, but the road we now need to take is less so. “Americans are the most generous people in the world, but we do have the shortest attention spans,” she added, arguing that the United States needs to take the lead on solution implementation to uphold its own ideals. When top positions are reserved for people who have not come up through the ranks, it’s difficult to sustain diplomacy as a career, let alone establish and nurture it as a profession. —Ambassador (Ret.) Chas W. Freeman Jr., speaking on “Diplomatic Amateurism and Its Consequences” at the Ralph Bunche Library of the U.S. Department of State, Oct. 9. Contemporary Quote