Rebuilding Ukraine with AIWS City Conceptual Model

Rebuilding Ukraine with AIWS City Conceptual Model

The Ukrainian people are currently enduring an unprovoked war that has resulted in tens of thousands of combatant and civilian deaths. Many cities and towns have been destroyed by indiscriminate Russian bombing. The free, democratic nations of the world have rallied around Ukraine to provide military and humanitarian assistance. The focus of the Boston Global Forum is to call on and coordinate world leaders, distinguished thinkers, innovators, governments, companies, and organizations in helping to end the war and provide for the basic needs of the Ukrainian people who remain in the country and those who have fled. As soon as the war ends, there is an opportunity for Ukraine and its allies to rebuild the nation as a model of peace, stability, and prosperity. The Boston Global Forum is starting to build strategies and programs for Rebuilding Ukraine, and AIWS City can provide a conceptual model for the rebuilding process.

About AIWS City

The AIWS City is an online digital city built on the foundation of AI technology and blockchain, with a view to bringing together cultural, historical, creative, innovative, and artistic values ​​of humanity, as well as offering a venue for world leaders, including thinkers, political leaders, creators, innovators, and educators, to promote a more civilized and prosperous world, one based on fundamental human values. AIWS City is guided by the principles of the [Social Contract for the AI ​​Age | Link to another page about Social Contract for the AI Age]. Thanks to AI technology and blockchain, the virtual City of AIWS will connect with activities and events in science, technology, culture, history, architecture, art, and economy at physical cities such as Boston, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Rome, Athens, and other epitomes of human civilizations. Thereby, AIWS city draws upon the diverse knowledge, experiences, lessons, and especially the vast human intellectuality, expertise, and creativity from these connected cities.

The sharing of diverse knowledge and expertise allows AIWS City to pioneer initiatives in higher education with the application of AI and Blockchain: The AIWS University. AIWS University will be a place of lifelong learning, deep reflection, personal growth and recognition, and studying with the world’s great professors. At the individual level, each “resident” of AIWS City citizen will have a Digital Home for storing and processing personal data and will work with others to build the AI World Society, dedicated to improving the lives of all through innovative and prudent applications of AI.

 

Objective

To rebuild destroyed cities in Ukraine as smart and democratic cities, where:

  • citizens are directly involved in the political decisions of the country,
  • institutions and structures promote kind, humane, civilized, creative, and innovative policies and practices,
  • the rule of law protects equality of opportunities for all people,
  • engagements with civic institutions are open and transparent, and
  • the system of taxation is transparent, equitable, and provides sufficient certainty to citizen taxpayers to aid in Ukraine’s recovery.

Strategies for Rebuilding Ukraine

As Ukraine turns its attention to rebuilding the nation and society following hostilities, it is imperative to apply standards, norms, and common values outlined in the Social Contract for the AI Age and pioneering ideas and concepts contained in the book “Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment,” with contributions by distinguished leaders and thinkers. The book “Remaking the World” advances pioneering ideas that could help reshape the world as the United Nations progresses toward its centennial in 2045 and addresses the standards that should govern the development and use of AI and digital technology. These ideas and standards have been the subject of several recent conferences, including the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid Policy Labs on September 16-18, 2020 and September 7-9, 2021, and the Riga Conferences in 2020 and 2021.

As Ukraine rebuilds, it will have the opportunity to incorporate the features above into its cities. While physical facilities must without question be reconstructed, the operations of these facilities could be connected to those of other cities that are currently alliances of AIWS, and AIWS City itself, through AI technology and blockchain. For example, as Kharkiv rebuilds the universities that were destroyed by Russian bombardment, it could connect with AIWS University and other universities in Boston, Berlin, Rome, and even Kyiv (if intact). Students in Kharkiv would then be able to take a wide range of virtual courses offered by top universities around the world. As Mariupol rebuilds the hospitals that were targeted by Russian artillery, medical professionals from these hospitals can connect with doctors from hospitals around the world to collaborate virtually, given that virtual medication or “telehealth” has been underway. Virtual meetings with psychologists might also fill the demand for post-war psychological conditions in the population. Additionally, based upon the Estonian model, Ukraine can develop an e-government platform, using blockchain technology, to enhance the efficiency and transparency of identification, taxation, and other governmental processes. A more detailed plan is outlined below.

Plan to build AI World Society (AIWS) City for Ukraine:

  • Apply the conceptual model of AIWS City to rebuild Ukrainian cities as smart cities.
  • Connect historical, traditional cities as Boston, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Rome, Athens, Vienna, Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Edinburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague, Dubrovnik, Zurich, Geneva, Jerusalem, Tokyo etc. to the AIWS City for Ukraine.
  • Build a digital platform and components of AIWS City for Ukraine: digital homes, art and cultural institutions, smart digital and AI universities, innovation ecosystems, smart healthcare centers, markets and exchanges.

Infrastructure:

As Ukraine reconstruct physical infrastructures, it can incorporate the following strategies:

  • Use advanced analytics to minimize costs and maximize effectiveness
  • Connect virtually with institutions that serve similar functions around the world
  • BGF connects and calls on cities, governments, companies, foundations to support Ukrainian government and cities to reconstruct cities and transportation system of Ukraine.

Projects and Programs for Rebuilding Ukraine:

Phase 1: Civic and Social Engagement
  1. Michael Dukakis Leadership Fellows for Ukraine

Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation develops and supports young Ukrainian leaders

  1. AIWS Leadership for Ukraine

Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation educates leaders to lead and rebuild Ukraine

  1. AIWS University for Ukraine
  • supports Ukrainian students and universities,
  • builds “Online Center of Knowledge for Innovation” to support Ukraine,
  • builds online resources to help connect and guide Ukrainian refugees so that they can quickly rebuild their lives,
  • applies AIWS Awards to recognize contributions of students and scholars to Ukrainian students and universities,
  • led by Harvard Professor Thomas Patterson, Professor Francesco Lapenta, Former Japanese State Minister Yasuhide Nakayama, Bui Thanh Nhon, Coordinators
  1. Creating and building global brand names for Ukraine

Advise and help promote PR high quality products and services of Ukraine become global brand names.

Professor John Quelch and Nguyen Anh Tuan, Coordinators

  1. Building a Digital and AI Platform for Ukrainian cities (AIWS City for Ukraine)
  • Every citizen has one digital home
  • Bring values from cities of the world to Ukraine
  • Bring solutions to reconstruct infrastructure of Ukrainian cities
  • BGF connects and calls upon cities, governments, companies, foundations to support Ukrainian government and cities to reconstruct cities and transportation system of Ukraine,
  • Led by Governor Michael Dukakis, Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija and BGF CEO Nguyen Anh Tuan, Coordinators

 

Phase 2: AIWS Government for Ukraine
  • Build a “smart” government aided by AI and Digital technologies, guided by concepts of AIWS Government
  • Develop the next generation of digital public infrastructure, modeled after Estonia and other leading digital government nations
  • AIWS Citizen and Information Ecosystem for Ukraine
  • Ukraine Community Innovation Ecosystem, including new distributed systems for greater national resilience
  • AIWS Financial System, with a reimagined set of tax policies that encourage future growth and prosperity for Ukraine

Led by Jason Furman, Mats Karlsson, Alex Sandy Pentland, Jeff Saviano

Resources for Support of Ukraine

  • AIWS Network of distinguished leaders, thinkers, innovators (AIWS.net) and AIWS.city
  • Call on companies, universities, and foundations for support
  • Connect and invite top universities from across the globe
  • Coordinate private companies: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Apple, EY
  • Encourage students and professors in Ukraine and countries around the world to join the rebuilding of Ukraine
  • Cooperate with Harvard Shorenstein Center, Niemann Foundation, Berkman Center, and MIT Media Lab
  • Connect governments to support Ukraine to build AIWS Government and AIWS Citizen system.

Advisor: Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to President Obama, Harvard professor

Contributors: Professors Alex Sandy Pentland, Thomas Patterson, Nazli Choucri, David Silbersweig, Francesco Lapenta, former Vice President of the World Bank Mats Karlsson, former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija, former President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, father of Internet Vint Cerf, Assistant Secretary of Massachusetts Government Nam Pham, EY Global Tax Innovation Leader Jeff Saviano

Rebuilding Ukraine with AIWS City Conceptual Model

Statement of Boston Global Forum on Russia and Ukraine

Boston, 02/20/2022

We, the Boston Global Forum (BGF), an organization dedicated to promoting a more peaceful world through its World Leader for Peace and Security Award (its recipients have been Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chancellor Angela Merkel, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President Sauli Niinisto, President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President Ursula von der Leyen, Riksdag Speaker Andreas Norlen), urgently call upon concerned parties to peacefully resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in a way that upholds the rule of law and the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and legitimate security interests of both nations.

We urge Ukraine to pledge not to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and not accept offensive military weapons on its soil. We urge Russia to pledge respect for the independence of Ukraine on land, air, sea, and cyberspace and to refrain from acts that threaten the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its people’s right to self-determination. We urge other nations to respect these commitments and refrain from acts disruptive thereof.

We urge the world community to respond to the current crisis by developing binding new international rules and instruments to safeguard the rights, interests, and integrity of countries that are too weak on their own to withstand aggressive hostile actions by more powerful countries. We, the Boston Global Forum, commit to assisting in the development of the new international rules and instruments and to advocating for their adoption.

Michael Dukakis, Co-founder and Chair, Boston Global Forum

Tuan Anh Nguyen, Co-founder and CEO, Boston Global Forum

Thomas Patterson, Co-founder, Boston Global Forum

Russians intensifies threats against Ukraine

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In the resort of Yalta, in Crimea.

In what mean more Russian military attacks against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered naval war games in the Black Sea after he accused Ukraine of sending saboteurs into Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukrainian and other observers fear that Russia may plan to ramp up fighting in the war between  Ukraine and pro-Russian and Russian armed separatists.

Reuters speculated: “Such an escalation could be used by Putin to demand better terms in the Ukraine peace process, or to inflame nationalist passions at home ahead of Russian parliamentary elections next month.”

To read the Reuters story, please hit this link.

Ukraine war puts many weapons in hands of criminals

 

The Russian-backed attack on eastern Ukraine has   taken vast numbers of weapons  out of the hands of irregular military units and put them into the criminal  international arms business, which is selling the weapons far beyond the conflict zone.

“Interviews by Reuters with security officials and rebels, as well as study of law enforcement data and court documents have shown that weapons are being channeled out of the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in significant numbers, in some cases as part of an organized underground trade,” Reuters reported.

“Of course, they have moved arms across, and they’re moving them across now,” Igor, a fighter with a pro-Russian rebel unit in eastern Ukraine told Reuters. “Mainly they take Kalashnikovs,” he said.

To read the entire Reuters story, please hit this link.

Lucian Kim: The endless lies of Putin’s Russia

 

Lucian Kim writes in a Reuters opinion piece that the Russian athletes’  “doping scandal is a symptom of a much larger problem: the casual disregard for the truth that has become a hallmark of {Russian President Vladimir} Putin’s rule. In a country where elections are rigged, lawsuits are fabricated, and state TV spews lies around the clock, it’s hard to know what ordinary citizens are to believe anymore. Beyond politics, corruption has not only gnawed away at Russia’s reputation as a sports powerhouse, but cheapened the prestige of its once-vaunted institutions of higher education.

“Putin’s initial denial of Russia’s 2014 military intervention in Crimea — followed by a later admission of it — was the clearest demonstration of the Kremlin’s belief that the ends justify the means. Many Russians seem to agree.

“In a poll taken by the independent Levada Center in April 2015, 37 percent of respondents said they believed their government that Russia wasn’t militarily involved in eastern Ukraine. An almost equal portion, 38 percent, said that ‘even if there are Russian soldiers and military equipment in Ukraine, it’s the correct policy for Russia to deny these facts in the current global situation.’ ”

To read Mr. Kim’s essay, please hit this link.

U.S. emphasizes it will keep Black Sea military presence

 

U.S.  Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said that the  United States will maintain its  military presence in the Black Sea despite, in Reuters’s words, “a Russian warning that a U.S. destroyer patrolling there undermined regional security.”

The USS Porter entered the Black Sea this month, drawing heavy criticism from Moscow. Turkey and Romania are expected to seek  a bigger NATO presence in the  sea at the NATO summit in Warsaw next month.

Mr. Mabus told Reuters that it was the U.S. Navy’s job to deter aggression, presumably meaning Russian aggression,  and keep international sea lanes open.

Relations between Russia and NATO have been very strained over Moscow’s attack on Ukraine and military  support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

For more details, hit this link.

 

Merkel: Implementing Minsk Agreement would end sanctions against Russia

Merkel: Implementing Minsk Agreement would end sanctions against Russia

(June 13th, 2016) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on June 10 that implementing the Minsk Agreement to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would end sanctions imposed against Russia  for  its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and its ongoing attacks on the latter nation’s east.

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Mrs. Merkel also said that in the long term, the European Union should aim for a vast common economic zone with Russia extending from Russia’s Pacific coast to Portugal.

“We should move gradually towards this goal,” she said.

The Boston Global Forum last December named Chancellor Merkel a “World Leader for Peace, Security and Development’’.

Hit this link for more details.

Will G7 pushback against Chinese, Russian aggression work?

Do the actions of the G7 nations meeting at their May 26-27 summit in Japan suggest that Russian aggression against Ukraine and Chinese aggression in the South China Sea will not succeed in the long run because of pushback from the G7 industrialized democracies? Joshua W. Walker of the German Marshall Fund discusses this in The National Interest.

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He concludes:

“The significance of this year’s G7 in Japan in advance of the G20 in China in September will be judged by which summit ultimately sets the tone for either the enduring nature of the liberal international order or sweeping tide of revisionist authoritarianism. Obama’s historic Hiroshima and Vietnam visits were symbolic of the legacy he hopes to leave. Yet, symbolism risks complacency without action. The G7’s latest initiative for global infrastructure development confirmed the member countries’ internationalist commitment but whether they can remain unified in the face of Chinese and Russian revisionist alternatives such as OBOR {One Belt, One Road} or the {Russiian-led} Eurasian Economic Union will have to be seen. As Japan passes the G7 baton to Italy next year, the world anxiously expects the world’s seven most advanced democracies and economies to lead toward the triumph of internationalism over revisionism.’’

To read the article, hit this link.

Merkel warns Russia that sanctions will continue

Merkel warns Russia that sanctions will continue

(May 30th, 2016) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on May 26 that the Group of Seven will not end sanctions on Russia over its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and its seizure of Crimea.

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“For me it’s too early to give the all clear,” Ms. Merkel said in Japan, where she was attending the G7 Summit.

“There is no change of position to be expected” from the G7, she said. Earlier that day European Council President Donald Tusk, also at the summit, said that the G7 needed to take a “clear and tough stance” toward Russia for its moves in Ukraine — as well as toward China for its controversial claims and militarization in the South China Sea.

“The test of our credibility at the G7 is our ability to defend the common values that we share,” he told reporters at the Japan talks. “This test will only pass if we take a clear and tough stance on every topic of our discussions here.”

Ukraine and its Western allies believe that Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and fomented an insurgency in the country’s east to keep a grip over the former member of the Soviet Union, and especially to prevent it from seeking membership in the European Union and NATO.