Terrific new @meduza.io “Naked Pravda” podcast from @olyaoliker.bsky.social does the best job I’ve seen of laying out the strategic interaction implications of Russia’s airspace incursions and NATO’s possible responses: meduza.io/en/episodes/...

For anybody who wasn’t already boycotting Woody Allen movies: meduza.io/en/news/2025...

Terrific new article by Mariya Omelicheva @warontherocks.bsky.social on the role of a huge number of semi-state forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine: warontherocks.com/2025/08/insi...

Very interesting article by @radiofreetom.bsky.social: Trump is trying to provoke violence to excuse an authoritarian crackdown: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

We archive 94 Ukrainian and 162 Russian Telegram channels. A permanent record of war, propaganda, and truth. Dive into the archive:

Far from facing a migrant invasion, the US has recently seen the lowest levels of border crossings in decades. Violent crime is also falling rapidly, including in LA. The only emergency is the one the Trump administration is creating by mandating that ICE make 3,000 arrests a day. bit.ly/4jGDpnS

🧵 Friends, a thread speaking just for myself. I joined Columbia in Jan 2024. A lot I still don't know, but some is crystal clear. Most important is what's not in the news: Columbia students and faculty show great capacity for respectfully and thoughtfully engaging difficult topics every day. 1/

And for a more eloquent and thorough statement, please read this excellent article, grounded in social science as well as moral decency, from @ryanenos.bsky.social & @stevelevitsky.bsky.social 7/7 www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

“The new [US] administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, state television reported Sunday. “This largely aligns with our vision.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Encyclopædia Britannica will continue to use ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for a few reasons: -We serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the U.S. -The Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, and the U.S.’s authority to rename it is ambiguous. 🧵⬇️

Here are The Top 10 Dogs of the week! youtu.be/5LOSDbB3GUo

In a memo released Thursday, the Federal Highway Administration ordered states to halt a $5 billion program to build fast EV chargers on highways nationwide — an initiative that President Donald Trump cited as an example of the “Green New Deal.”

The underlying problem with US national security at this point is actually really simple. If the entire US-led world order can be undone because ~120,000 people in a few states are unhappy about burger prices then there is very little stability for any coherent natsec policy

After all that Marko Elez was the first taker on the resignation program.

For those who may not know: the biggest recipient of USAID funds is Catholic Relief Services, which is now in crisis mode: www.ncronline.org/news/exclusi...

Bravo to @jimgoldgeier.bsky.social and @profsaunders.bsky.social for this necessary and brilliant article! www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

A major new lawsuit asks a federal court to halt the Trump/Musk shutdown of USAID, reopen the building, reactivate the website, restore all grants and funding, and recall furlough notices to workers: fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldoc...

The 25-year-old who was taking over all the Treasury data is gone. Turns out he was an open racist, outed by (believe it or not) the WSJ: www.wsj.com/tech/doge-st...

Reminder - shuttering USAID may cause millions of people to die throughout the developing world in the next few weeks. Whatever else he thinks he’s doing madman Musk may about to become a mass murderer. open.substack.com/pub/simonwdc...

NEW: USAID source says staff are scrambling to save archived copies of US regulations before they're gone & are being actively locked out of systems, including a publicly available database of USAID documents. WIRED has built software to systematically check the status of 1,374 government domains.

Workers in DC are fighting to block Musk's minions. "About 100 Federal employees and supporters...blocked the doors to...‘data miners’....The small group of young men eventually left without entering after the protesters would not let them near the front doors." dcmediagroup.us/2025/02/02/f...

USAID being unlawfully dismantled. DOGE member has closed HQ. New tranche of workers cut off email. Staff tell me, "It is frightening being inside USAID right now. Our checks and balances failed. Congress has abdicated its responsibilities.” And Sec. Rubio has abdicated his.

Lawyers on here: Is there a legal challenge underway to Musk's apparent seizure of federal spending? If not, why not?

The main office of the US Agency for International Development in Washington was unexpectedly closed Monday and workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come in, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Let it be clear: DOGE violently shut down a congress-mandated government agency. No checks and balances, no legal process, no accountability.

NYC folk: Hakeem Jeffries office is at 55 Hanson Pl. Suite 603, Brooklyn, NY 11217 near the Atlantic Ave Barclays Center stop Both K. Gillibrand and C. Schumer have district offices in midtown Manhattan at 780 Third Ave. NY, NY 10017 Gillibrand's office is 2601, Schumer's is 2301

USAID website is gone: usaid.gov So is: foreignassistance.gov I used those websites recently to document that, contrary to WH claims, the US did not have a contract to spend $50 million on condoms in Gaza.

Russia hit beautiful, irreplaceable buildings in a UNESCO World Heritage site, in a city long known (before Russia’s first intervention in 2014) as a place where Russians and Ukrainians happily coexisted. Glad I got some photos when I was in Odesa in 2010. www.rferl.org/a/russia-str...

Starting with the final article in the January issue of @worldpolitics.bsky.social, have a read of Michael L. Ross' book review article, "The New Political Economy of Climate Change." @profmichaelross.bsky.social muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

New 2024 data: Over 50% of GOP fundraising now comes from just 100 mega-donors. Trump’s embrace of the billionaire class—and their embrace of him—will only supercharge this trend.

From today’s Wall Street Journal (do Republicans still read it? We can hope): “The risk is high that Mr. Kennedy will use his power and pulpit at HHS to enrich his trial-lawyer friends at the expense of public health and medical innovation.”

The average DC foreign policy/international security critter probably needs to substantially stretch their imagination concerning how weird world affairs are about to get.

That didn't take long. A lot of the convicted J6ers have long criminal records of violence, like this Florida Man. "Jan. 6 rioter whose case was tossed after Trump pardon arrested on pending weapons charges" abcnews.go.com/US/jan-6-rio...

You don't need a constitutional law professor to tell you that the U.S. Constitution quite plainly states that people born in the U.S. are citizens of the U.S. But it it makes you feel better: Hi! I'm a conlaw prof. The U.S. Constitution plainly states that people born in the U.S. are citizens.

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It is admittedly tough to tell between bot behavior and people allergic to jokes behavior

It's never too late to quit X.

Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active duty U.S. military personnel, are having their flights canceled under President Donald Trump's order suspending U.S. refugee programs. @reuters.com www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

On the anniversary of Prigozhin’s mutiny, my update on the current status (alive and well!) of Russia’s Wagner Group: www.ponarseurasia.org/wheres-wagne...

Got comp tickets to the “Patriots” preview on Broadway—a terrific show, and a great portrayal of Russia’s patronage political system & Putin & Berezovsky. Don’t take it as a history lesson—not all the details are right—but great fun anyway! patriotsbroadway.com

Polisky Barnard is hiring a 1-yr Term Assist Prof in Political Theory for AY 2024-25. Please circulate the ad within your networks. Applicants can directly email [email protected] to ask questions or submit materials. acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?...

Polisky Barnard 1-year term position 2024/25 Comparative Politics—contact Sheri Berman [email protected] for more info: teach 5 undergrad courses esp democracy/autocracy, backsliding; social movements; Euro, Latin Am, South Asian and/or Middle Eastern politics. Must have PhD by start date, $82K

Very happy to have joined the long list of people sanctioned by the Russians! It’s a badge of honor! www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_p...

Is anyone else out there concerned that what we’re seeing is a coordinated Russia-Iran-North Korea effort to degrade US military capacities?

Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Carisa Nietsche, Nicholas Lokker, Kristen Taylor, and I argue via CNAS that even after Wagner's demise, Russia will likely use similar groups in its own neighborhood to exert influence and create instability & discuss how this might happen. www.cnas.org/publications...

Nice to see International Affairs blog post “Top 5 books: January 2024” include Evaluating NATO Enlargement, edited by me and Shifrinson medium.com/internationa...

This isn’t a “regional war” (so far it’s just limited air strikes) and it’s not even an “escalation” of the Hamas/Israel war. The Houthis have taken advantage of a marginally connected situation to increase what they’ve long been doing. I’m tired of the alarmism: www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/u...