My co-edited book, with Sameer Lalwani, Insecurity and Ambition: Understanding Pakistan's Strategic Debates, forthcoming at @georgetownup.bsky.social, is now available for pre-order. press.georgetown.edu/Book/Insecur...

Today, July 6, is the submission deadline for ISA-APSA International Security Studies Conference! We welcome paper, panel, roundtable, & author-meets-critics submissions from across security studies www.isanet.org/Conferences/...

In looking at population numbers recently in South Asia, one thing that jumps out is that India's youth bulge is passing through into prime age now, Bangladesh's youth bulge has plateaued (to mix metaphors), while Pakistan's is still growing.

Have any of my followers done content analysis with sentiment analysis? I'm doing something now where I'd love the chance to get a sanity check.

Maybe it was a silly idea to rename the Combatant Command to add “Indo-“ but once you made that decision you’ve really got to stick with it unless there is a very good policy reason (which there isn’t). www.pacom.mil/Media/Press-...

NEW: Our visual analysis suggests the U.S. hit two drinking-water facilities overnight in southern Iran with precision-guided munitions. Deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime. w/ @ckoettl.bsky.social @johnismay.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/w...

Last week I had the chance to chat with @catworsnop.bsky.social about the Trump administration, global public health, and the Ebola and Hantavirus outbreaks. goodauthority.org/news/hantavi...

It was my pleasure to moderate this podcast discussion of Sri Lanka's contemporary politics as it navigates great power competition and a global energy crisis. Please take a listen. 🎧 www.nbr.org/publication/...

"street prices for cocaine remain between $60 to $100 per gram in many U.S. cities, about where they were before the boat strikes began, according to Nabarun Dasgupta, an addiction scientist at the University of North Carolina." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/w...

Really enjoyed learning over these last few months from Rajni Gamage & @bhagyas.bsky.social in a series of discussions about contemporary Sri Lanka, where domestic demands for change are heavily constrained by international structural realities. Two essays by them out now at @nbr.org .

A trend that unless arrested will deeply shake higher education.

Last month I was pleased to have a chance to participate in this roundtable discussion alongside other scholars of Phil Haun's book, Tactical Air Power and the Vietnam War. My takeaway: how hard it is for tactical air power to achieve decisive effects. networks.h-net.org/group/discus...

I clicked "buy". You should, too. Important book at a crazy low price. I think I already own the physical book, but at this price I thought, "Why not the digital one, too?"

Trump putting his picture on the US passport. Trump's political enemies getting prosecuted. Communications regulator pressures television network because of a joke. Big 2025 energy today from the personalist regime.

Doing some prep to talk about the Arab Spring in the intro to global politics undergrad class. Sometimes it's really helpful to make a graph, I find.

Countries are often attracted to the idea of using secret diplomacy to sideline hardliners. That makes sense up to a point. But at some point moderates have to have enough authority within their systems for the hardliners to learn the truth & be unable to stop them.

My year-in-review article, examining India's 2025, is now out at Asian Survey journal. 2025 buffeted Modi's India with some of the most severe geopolitical & economic challenges of his long tenure as prime minister. Yet India perseveres despite global headwinds. online.ucpress.edu/as/article-a...

"This perusal of Iran’s options [in the face of Trump's blockade] should make it clear that if Tehran makes concessions, we should expect them soon. But if the coercive campaign drags on, U.S. hawks may underestimate Iran’s staying power," I argue.

One thing I've learned from war gaming over the years is that the other side gets to react. So my piece channeling that here: "Yes, Iran has options despite the U.S. blockade." In @goodauth.bsky.social . goodauthority.org/news/yes-ira...

Kabul is running out of water and infrastructure projects that might alleviate the problem are long-delayed. apnews.com/article/afgh...

🚨🎧NEW episode of @chalkboardpolitics.bsky.social on the surprising global ramifications of the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, incl. Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran talks. A rich conversation w/ @niloufersiddiqui.bsky.social @sushantsingh.bsky.social & student team. goodauthority.org/news/how-did...

Trump "has made a catastrophic mess of this confrontation and appears to care only about his own self-image. That is, in the end, what makes this moment different from other moments of great-power recklessness..." writes @hbanai.bsky.social . newlinesmag.com/argument/the...

I was happy to host this conversation on the issues likely to confront the next generation of Indian leaders. Available wherever fine podcasts are streamed. (Search for “Asia Insight”.)

Degrading Iran’s drone and missile capabilities to the point they are not a meaningful threat may take longer than two more weeks. www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/p...

Minor methods point, but good example of how much an explicit "don't know" option can shift survey results on a question about which the respondent might not have thought very much about.

What is the best theory you've heard about why the Trump administration has relaxed (very modestly) the embargo on Cuba?

I hope the President knows (& is merely bullshitting here) that seizing Kharg Island doesn't actually seize Iran's oil. The island is fed by pipes from elsewhere in Iran that the Iranians will just turn off. Kharg Island is an embargo play. There are easier ways to embargo Iran.

For the last few months, I've been pleased to be a small part of a new @nbr.org project examining the foreign policy consequences of generational change in South & Southeast Asia. The first 2 essays by Bashir Ali Abbas & @rohanmukherjee.bsky.social are out now on India. www.nbr.org/program/trac...

I don't think it gets acknowledged enough how funny it is that Pam Bondi testifying that the rule of law wasn't a big deal since the Dow was over 50,000 is almost exactly when the Dow peaked and she inadvertently called the top.

There are about a dozen mines *that we know of.*

I keep seeing this framing like Bremmer's. It is wrong. Instead: 1. Iran was developing an ICBM when Khamenei imposed a 2,000-km range limit. 3. The programs shifted to space launch. 4. Khamenei lifted the restriction in October 2025 after the June attacks. 5. Now he's dead, and here we are.

Lord, let me never be so close to an incoming round that someone taking a picture of me can get a clear picture of the munition.

I think readers interested in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and US policy toward the region will want to stick around to the end of this conversation with Asfandyar Mir.

Yale Law class of 2016 questioning Yale Law class of 2009.

In general, I find, it is a good rule of thumb if you find yourself saying dialogue that could be in a movie script for a villain to perhaps reconsider one's rhetorical approach. The Secretary of Defense does not share my rule of thumb it appears.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26) Directorates to follow 1/10

Pleased my article, "Hindu Nationalism, Akhand Bharat, and Foreign Perceptions of India," is now out in the journal Indian Politics & Policy (without a paywall). www.ippjournal.org/hindu-nation...

. @hbanai.bsky.social on what's next in Iran. "The question that will dominate moving ahead is not the one the administration has been asking... It is this: what comes after the Islamic Republic, and who decides?"

This is practically an endorsement of Iranian proliferation www.axios.com/2026/02/28/t...

“The prevailing grammar of anti-imperial critique has a habit of allowing the indictment of external aggression to crowd out the indictment of internal tyranny, as though the two were in competition rather than in parallel.“

I think it’s likely that the US military can bring about the downfall of the Islamic Republic. But to do so without any authorization to use military force from the US Congress is clearly a lawless act, contrary to every vision of national defense offered in the constitution.

Trump's stated war aims are... expansive.

This is the best discussion of dealing with SAMs I can recall appearing in the media in quite a while.

After I ask a student if their paper was written by AI.

BASIC's South Asia team is looking for a talented, mid-career candidate with regional expertise and past experience with project management, who would be able to work in the UK, Italy, or Germany. Here is the job post: basicint.org/vacancy-proj...

Pleased to have an opportunity to speak with Sad Dhume as he researched his most recent column on Indian military acquisitions in the face of a challenging Sino-Indian military balance. www.wsj.com/opinion/indi...

One thing notable as I consider this episode is that I am unaware of any Biden administration official—by name or on background—who has indicated the Trump admin is wrong about this event.

Good example of what the diffusion of commercial satellite imagery and other open source intelligence tools means for our understanding of the world. Clear documentation of a de facto US blockade of Cuba that appears to be working. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/w...

Deadline for paper/panel submission for the 1st ever @isanet.bsky.social conference in South Asia has been extended (March 2)! And we are working on resolving the technical problems with submission asap. More on the conference 👇