What it means is hegemonic suicide

Ho Chi Minh: "You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill one of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it."

“Compared to what?” is always the essential question when asking about critiques of higher education & universities, whether we’re discussing declining trust, freedom of speech, viewpoint diversity, or any of the other things.

The Berlin Holocaust Memorial at night 📷

Not going to hold my breath.

The main detection mechanism is the complete lack of connections to my course readings and lectures (or poor attempts at it).

The Tulip Stairs, Queen’s House, Greenwich 📷

One challenge many of these analyses miss is that while Europe can and will contribute more, NATO will no longer have a single leader. Allies could accept US leadership, and US did the role well. Without US leading, there’s no country that can play that role. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/w...

As much as it would be satisfying for Rutte to lash out at Trump, I am not sure what good it would do, and it could do real harm. The goal for NATO right now should be to hedge while avoiding (or at least delaying) full rupture. The problem isn't Rutte. It's Trump.

One of the many tragedies of AI in higher education is that students think that they have to cheat and plagiarize because their peers are doing it already. In my (non-representative) sample of undergrads, 50% of them flat-out detest what AI has done to their education

After a long wait, circuit court rejects Florida’s defense of barring profs at public universities from espousing disfavored ideas in the classroom 1/

Not stopping the game clock during the hydration break is real commitment to the bit.

There‘s a lot of discourse about American decline But when you look at what has happened to Russia and its empire in the past few years: -Assad gone -Orban gone -failed to protect Armenia from Azeris -Finland and Sweden join NATO -economic vassal state of China now -starting to lose to Ukraine

The problem is that a US win with an asterisk saying it was due to Trump’s intervention is the best possible outcome from Trump’s perspective.

We’re trying to get out of a packed parking lot but people are calling Waymos to pick them up, so there is a line of Waymos trying to get into the lot and they are completely perplexed by the chaos. 😬

Here in California, the SF Symphony is doing an homage to the “Summer of ‘69” Just did the Age of Aquarius.

This is the best of who we are and what we represent. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

There is nothing more patriotic than wanting better lives for your neighbors.

Really helpful analysis here.

p=0.06

Hegemonic suicide

But for, AHEM, Chadha, we would now have a legally binding requirement that the US end hostilities in Iran. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Really wish I lived in a country where the botched renovation of a reflecting pool was actually the most serious problem and not just a metaphor for other, more serious problems.

Quirky find at the Ambrosiana museum in Milan: gloves worn by Napoleon at Waterloo.

Here’s what’s sad: it would be nice if DC had a clean beautiful reflecting pool. But Trump had to make it a Monument to His Greatness, a Testament to the Stupidity of His Predecessors, and an Opportunity for Grift. So now here we are, rooting for Team Algae instead of enjoying a public landmark. 😞

View from the Palazzo Borromeo on Lake Maggiore, Italy. 📷

I don't think telling your opponent that they can impose intolerable economic pain on you is a good way to gain leverage for the upcoming nuclear talks.

This is really useful!

Congrats to Rubio for keeping a straight face through this.

as someone who studies peace processes, my expert opinion is that this is why you try to keep weapons-grade turnips from running your country

This thread is profound. It describes something that many university educators can sense: students who feel lost stressed by the proliferation of AI which they *know* interrupts their learning, and betrayed by a system that insists that they must use it nonetheless or be left behind

When Trump withdrew from JCPOA in 2018, Mike Pompeo gave a speech outlining a set of demands that any new agreement would have to meet. If we want to judge, not just the outcome of this war, but the broader project of renegotiating the Iran deal, this is a useful yardstick.

If it is Iranian propaganda, they could easily debunk it by releasing the text of the agreement they signed. And yet…

omg www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/a...

Ukraine and Iran both faced existential threats. And while the strong do what they can, the weak will do whatever they must to survive. Both Putin and Trump were intoxicated by their own power, and now they both look like losers. Trump is trying to get out. Not Putin. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/w...

Paris sunset 📷

The social science community lost a good soul this week. Rest well, @raulpachecovega.bsky.social

Saying goodbye to Zurich, my home away from home for the past 8 months. Thanks for a great time.

Wildflowers and wild mountains (Grosser Mythen peak, Switzerland)📷

My time in Zurich is almost over but we managed to squeeze in one more quintessentially Swiss experience: going to Germany to buy some things we needed at half the price.

Zurich

If the United States is trying to contain China, then it is doing so in the stupidest way possible: alienating local allies, drawing down stockpiles for an unpopular war in the Middle East, pausing arms shipments to Taiwan, encouraging others to give China a second-look. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Switzerland’s incomparable Lauterbrunnen Valley. (Said to be the inspiration for Tolkien’s Rivendell.) To make it a truly Swiss experience, the photo was taken from a moving train. 📷

Sounds like they're worried about a ballroom blitz.

"When your war aim is 'status quo ante bellum,' you can skip the bellum"—Clausewitz, probably

Congratulations to the pal @adambonica.bsky.social on being named a 2026 Carnegie Fellow. A well-deserved honor for a brilliant political scientist with a real commitment to the public good. news.stanford.edu/stories/2026...

hawks will be like "you really believe in negotiating a joint comprehensive plan of action with Iran? that pales in comparison to my strategy, winning a war of regime change" and then not win a war of regime change

Roberts touted the Court as a “counter-majoritarian check.” But the highest imperatives of counter-majoritarianism in a democracy are don’t let majorities disenfranchise minorities and don’t insulate a majority winner from the rule of law. By his own criterion, his Court has failed spectacularly.

Good long read on Europe’s reactions to German rearmament. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Germany re-arms: what does it mean for Europe?