IF you are an active Facebook user, then you are well on your way to fully understanding the way geopolitics work. The Facebook user model was obviously taken from the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.
The current loose definition of geopolitics is the relationships and interactions between nations and regions. That is also Facebook.
Gaining lots of Facebook friends is exactly what the US and the USSR did during the Cold War. It does not matter if you even know or care about a Facebook friend. The objective is to add them to your list. You start searching for people in your second grade class just because. The African nation of Guinea—of no strategic military or political importance—was “friends” with the Soviets. The US befriended Somalia.
It is all going well until you run across that third grade bully who always stole your pencils and he has more friends than you do. Worse yet, some of your friends are also his. As time goes on, even people you actually considered real friends are not loyal at all. In 1963 France pulled out of North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Other friends—like India—make “nice-nice” to you and your mortal enemy at the same time and keep asking for a loan until payday with the threat to “unfriend” you.
Many people on Facebook are also members of “groups”, an idea also from the Cold War. The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (Seato) was formed in September 1954 and was used to help validate the US participation in the proxy war against the Soviets in Vietnam. The US government officially marks November 1, 1955, as the start of that war. Facebook groups allow you to join with like-minded people to bash your “enemy”. You can invite anyone to join your group as the US did in having Pakistan become part of “Southeast Asia” through Seato.
However, geopolitics and Facebook have evolved and have become more economic than militaristic. Besides, Facebook might ban you for saying you are looking forward to attending—sooner rather than later—your enemy’s wake. One important geopolitical group is the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But just like what happens on Facebook, one member became way too friendly with the mortal enemy of the others.
The ultimate nuclear option on Facebook is to “block” someone. Then they cannot read your posts, comment or contact you. This is way beyond a simple “unfriend”. Further, you put this undesirable person in the position of not being able to do anything about the block. The GCC just did that to Qatar for “friending” Iran. The Qatar government responded by saying “this violates our sovereignty”, which is like someone saying that your blocking them violates their right to free speech. Good luck with that argument.
Facebook would like to claim in essence that it has changed the way we react to each other. Actually it is a cheap, cost-effective way to do what has always been done—form alliances to beat the other guy down.
****
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.