USNA NAFAC

The premier undergraduate foreign affairs conference in the United States. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@usna_nafac)!

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#NAFAC19 made great strides today around the round tables and with our speakers. Conference-goers go to tour the Yard this afternoon and military delegates mingled for a social thrown by USNI after watching the Brigade step off for parade practice. Here's to a great last day!

[USNA NAFAC @USNA_NAFAC]

#NAFAC19 is in full swing after a successful first day! Today we heard from a stellar lineup of speakers and engaged in several intense conversations around the round tables. Look out for a play-by-play of the action streaming from the @usnavalacademy on Instagram.

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Merry Christmas from NAFAC and everyone working to bring you a great conference in 2019! We are excited to announce our topic of “Coming Apart: The Fate of the Rules-Based Order” for our conference on April 8-11, 2019.

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NAFACers! The 2018 conference is over, but your staff never rests! We’re always looking for ways to make NAFAC bigger and better. Check out this AWESOME video from 3/C Ethan Marcello! #NAFAC2018 https://t.co/VFdKHQ13zG

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Mr. Caryl: “Even with the severity of the problems we’re facing, there is absolutely still some optimism to be found here. People are scared of where the world is heading. They aren’t going along willingly.”

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“The missing piece in the United States... is that we as individuals have some right to our own data. We should have the ability to opt out of data mining, but right now it’s so hard, that our only option is basically to put down our phones and give up.” #NAFAC2018

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A quote from Mr. Fahey during the question and answer session, “The Constitution says, ‘in order to form a more perfect union,’ not ‘the perfect union’. We aren’t in the pursuit of perfection, we only strive to constantly be better.” #NAFAC2018

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Our moderator, 1/C Michael McKinney, closes out the main discussion with a succinct quote, “Integrity and public service does not have to come from someone in uniform.” #NAFAC2018 🗽

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Panel 3 has been addressing the topic of social media - my personal favorite!

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1. The volume of data available.
2. The organization of data - that is, an increase in labels and categories.
3. The advances in machine learning for internal networks (like a Turing test, but for data mining...)

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Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to join us, Mr. Abramowitz. After two days of hearing almost solely about the decline of democracy, it's nice to have a little bit of hope... #NAFAC2018

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Not everything is bad, though. Mr. Abramowitz says, "let me leave you with a story of hope." There ARE democratic renewals. Mr. Abramowitz gives the example of Macedonia, a Balkan state. Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, recently met with Mr. Abramwitz.

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To this, Mr, Abramowitz realized: "while there are large, influential nations backsliding towards autocracy, the future of democracy is not all bleak. As long as small nations like Macedonia do what they do, as long as Freedom House continues to do what it is, we will be ok."

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"The achievements of global democracy are also American achievements. America is a superpower. Superpowers do make mistakes. Vietnam. Iraq. But overall, America has formalized the commitment to the spread of freedom around the world."

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In China, "Xi Jinping puts forth the idea of Strong Man politics again. Unlike dictators of past, who at least fell some shame at their actions, China continues to barrel forward with no sign of stopping. Just recently, Xi changed the Chinese constitution to abolish term limits."

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Welcome back to Day 3 of #NAFAC2018! We kick off today with the Honorable Robert H. McKinney Keynote Address given to us by Mr. Michael @Abramowitz, President of @FreedomHouse. Let's see what Mr. Abramowitz has to say to us...

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In Russia, Putin "seeks to weaken American power, embarrass the American leadership, and undermine American interest."