one thing about getting ppl addicted to ever-crazier conspiracy stories, from birtherism to pizzagate to QAnon, is that you can't step away from the ledge that easily. having already discredited yourself to enter this realm, you lose credibility by telling a lesser lie.

one thing about getting ppl addicted to ever-crazier conspiracy stories, from birtherism to pizzagate to QAnon, is that you can't step away from the ledge that easily. having already discredited yourself to enter this realm, you lose credibility by telling a lesser lie.

Pritzker: "One of the reasons Trump wants to send troops into cities is bc he wants to be able to take control of the 2026 elections...if they've got troops in cities, & it becomes a kind of norm for people, then it won't be abnormal for them when they're going to vote having troops at ballot boxes"

election poster Sarajevo 2010

one issue with Martin Niemöller is that if he were alive today, he wouldn’t say anything, because he is Martin Niemöller

Sarajevo 🐈‍⬛ ca 1900

What's the West anyway? Towards an analysis of the European radical right www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YYNCH...

always surprised how many ppl i know have been dependent on ezra klein to do their thinking for them, even tho they also recognize something is really wrong with that (and that entire media ecosystem)

the american habit of first agreeing with a minor aspect of a glaring threat & then adding a pitiful little subclause—"doctors say it's good to explore the boundary of life and death, but Dr Victor Frankenstein may be misusing electricity"—is only effective at conveying indetermination & cowardice

How I Learned to Stop Yugosplaining and Love the Bomb (2025)

so right now, these same ppl are doing something similar elsewhere and we *might* find out about it in a few years, is that not the obvious conclusion from this?

prompt: "how exactly did the arab spring start?" chatGPT: "It sounds like you're carrying a lot right now, but you don't have to go through this alone. You can find supportive resources here"

we need a Chuck Schumer of the far right

So the "intelligence" is artificial, but the stupidity... baby it's real publichealthpolicyjournal.com/mit-study-fi...

Some Titoism is inevitable. But Janos Kadar needs to come clean.

Could it really be evil if it's convenient for me personally?

so 3 years after chatGPT and "AI" became a thing, so since 2022... how has "AI" made the world better? no, really, what's the argument there? shouldn't that core claim, that AI has somehow made the world better and it will keep getting better, have superclear answers and not just smoke & mirrors?

A layered but also unfinished reflection for which I felt the need to share my anguish as well as my call to action www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Bo...

Pritzker: To the members of the press who are assembled here today and listening across the country, I am asking for your courage to tell it like it is. This is not a time to pretend here that there are two sides to this story.

this is the opposition to the current regime in America

Colleagues in Eurasian and Slavic studies (broadly defined) — Hokkaido University's Slavic-Eurasian Research Center is accepting applications for its Foreign Visitors Fellowship for 2026—27. Highly recommend this excellent program! Please circulate: src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/fvfp/index1....

Historians need to be represented by an organization committed to the position that historical sources, interpretation, argument, and, above all, understanding matter more and demand more than producing grammatical sentences incorporating suggested keywords in response to prompts.

PSA—Do not review books for the International Journal of Comparative Sociology. They asked me to review a book, I spent quite a bit of my time reading and writing it up, only for IJCS book review editor Lucas Lopez Arrastia to tell me that editors couldn't contact me, so they pulled my review. AVOID

democrat who spent all of 2024 saying trump was a threat to democracy then voted to confirm 98% of his nominees: people don't trust us, we need to say someone is old

“Prior to Dua Lipa, there were three Albanians a layperson might be expected to have heard of.” New online: Daniel Petrick on Ismail Kadare. www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Fez Factory "The King of Socks" Maks Hofbauer fashion Levi's "Pharmacy by the Moon" ~advertisements from 1920s Sarajevo~

ad for a coffeehouse in 1920s Sarajevo

Max Liebenwein and Sarajevo cats, ca. 1900

From 1897 — Croatian newspaper advertisement for a Czech Christian factory manufacturing "Oriental sweets" 🤔

Razbibriga — 1911 Bosnian advertisement for the gramophone

I've been thinking about intersections of historical record, material culture, and family silence and part of it is now an essay here: www.womenwritethebalkans.com/essays/the-w...

Heron encircled by a snake (Maria Sibylla or Gsell Merian, 1700)

As foretold by the village elders, here's an updated Balkans starter pack — featuring history, gender studies, literature & culture, poli-sci and other ppl on bsky. Let me know if you want to be added or removed! Feel free to share the link below! go.bsky.app/AcUhygT

so here's the bsky starter pack that you didn't know you needed. wondering what grift kushner & ivanka tr*mp are pulling buying up property in the balkans? sarajevo on your mind? or just want some wholesome stories about an ottoman-era donkey? we have you covered! go.bsky.app/AcUhygT