This misses the point. Self-education has become more accessible in the last 20 years than at any point in history, though not through ‘amateur reading’. The problem isn’t access to information but learning how to evaluate it critically - and that brings us back to universities (and Humanities)

Both countries behaving like petulant teenagers if you ask me. Only one winner in this dispute and it's not Poland or Ukraine edition.cnn.com/2026/06/20/europe/zelensky-returns-poland-honor-latam-intl

Zelensky returns Poland’s highest honor amid escalating row over nationalist wartime unit | CNN

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has returned Poland’s highest state honor, after the Polish president stripped him of the award as a politically charged dispute over World War II history resurface...

edition.cnn.com

Polish Ukrainian arguments over the last weeks to me shows that both countries feel perhaps too secure and are letting their guard down a bit too much

I know it's a bit weird to say this on social media but I've found a great way to keep in touch with what's going on without social media, an RSS feed! I've found a good open source one without ads, no algorithm, no social element, feeder. It's really nice

Great interview of @samuelhelfont.bsky.social about his new book "The Iraq Wars: A Very Short Introduction" with @oxunipress.bsky.social on the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social. pocketcasts.com/podcast/new-...

Samuel Helfont, "The Iraq Wars: A Very Short Introduction" (Oxford UP, 2025)

pocketcasts.com

I've decided to massively decouple from US tech. I'm now using Le chat instead of US AI, Proton instead of Gmail, Vivaldi instead of Chrome and Qwant instead of Google. Anyone who's based in Europe the time is now to move towards European digital sovereignty!

My article about Polish Socialist fishing engagement in Senegal during the Cold War has now officially got a volume and issue number, so that means another 50 free copies to download, fill your boots! www.tandfonline.com/eprint/8BBEK...

‘Fishing for Profit?’ Socialist Bloc Inroads in Decolonised Spaces: The Case of Polish Fishing Co-Operation in Senegal, 1960–85

This article examines Socialist Poland’s fishing co-operation with Senegal between 1960 and 1985. Poland had the second largest Eastern Bloc fishing fleet with a worldwide reach. From the early 197...

tandfonline.com

The only 'good' thing about Trump's Venezuela operation is it gives me for fuel for my US neoimperialism lecture on the history of Empire course I'm preparing to teach

Yeah, think I'll give it a miss, thanks

My new open access article is out now! It continues my research into the Polish People's Republics' engagements with Francophone West Africa during the Cold War. Enjoy! resgestae.uken.krakow.pl/issue/view/802

The article on Polish–Angolan relations is out in the Journal of Cold War History. It explores an asymmetrical relationship shaped by anti-imperialist solidarity and economic pragmatism, but also marked by tensions, disappointments, and corruption. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Unlocking Opportunities: Polish economic interactions in Angola in the aftermath of decolonisation (1975–1981)1

This article examines the economic interactions between the Polish People’s Republic and the People’s Republic of Angola in the aftermath of decolonisation (1975-1981) and explores in detail Warsaw...

tandfonline.com

Great to see on paper mine and Helder's chapter on the Angolan Decolonization process, specially as we draw close to the country's 50 years aniversary.

My new open access article is out now! It continues my research into the Polish People's Republics' engagements with Francophone West Africa during the Cold War. Enjoy! resgestae.uken.krakow.pl/issue/view/802

It's weird how insinuous national history teaching is. When I was at school in the UK I was basically taught that the Spaniards were the baddies and we were the goodies re: any imperial history. Only when preparing a class on Empires in World History did I realise I had imbibed the 'black legend'

Funny how academia works: nothing for ages, then boom, 2 articles in a week. The 2nd began with @rekakrizmanics.bsky.social email. Not my usual period but those intriguing AAN files kept calling… Of course, Jewish threads are in: I wouldn’t be me otherwise 😉. doi.org/10.1177/0888...

Our new book with @benstanley.eu on illiberalism in Poland has arrived with @stanfordpress.bsky.social. We look at the successes and failures of the Law and Justice (PiS) party as a leading example of the evolving global challenges to liberal democracy. www.sup.org/books/politi...

Good Change | Stanford University Press

Few countries serve as a more useful case study for understanding the global tension between liberal and illiberal conceptions of democracy than Poland. Under the populist Law and Justice (PiS) –led g...

sup.org

My book is available for pre-order from @nupress.bsky.social. 25% discount with code NUP2025 at nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014884... Only a few more weeks until it comes out!

Nonaligned Imagination - Northwestern University Press

Recovering the literary and intellectual history of anticolonial collaborations   Preoccupied with developing a multiethnic, postcolonial culture and seekin...

nupress.northwestern.edu

Good piece but not enough about the main tensions that have led many Poles to become far more anti-Ukrainian since the early months of the war

Meduza in English@meduza.io · 11mo ago

Poland’s new president, conservative Karol Nawrocki, has vetoed a bill that would have extended support for Ukrainian refugees. Meduza looks at his decision, which could push nearly a million people in Poland into a legal gray zone. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Tbf I was quite surprised that the anti-Ukrainian part of Polish political discourse was so successfully stifled in the aftermath of the invasion. Put it this way, Polish society is deeply sceptical towards Ukraine for historical reasons (and prejudice has always lurked beneath the surface)

Kyiv Post@kyivpost.com · 12mo ago

Polish President has vetoed a bill to extend financial and medical aid for unemployed Ukrainian citizens, Wydarzenia reports. Nawrocki stressed that social support should go to those working in Poland, with Poles remaining the priority in their own country.

Tbf I was quite surprised that the anti-Ukrainian part of Polish political discourse was so successfully stifled in the aftermath of the invasion. Put it this way, Polish society is deeply sceptical towards Ukraine for historical reasons (and prejudice has always lurked beneath the surface)

Kyiv Post@kyivpost.com · 12mo ago

Polish President has vetoed a bill to extend financial and medical aid for unemployed Ukrainian citizens, Wydarzenia reports. Nawrocki stressed that social support should go to those working in Poland, with Poles remaining the priority in their own country.

To all proof readers. Please do not be overly thorough and intrusive when looking through proofs. My current article the proof reader has gone a bit ballistic.

Finding Poland's boasting of the fact they recognized Palestine a bit of a self own as it happened before the fall of communism when Eastern European countries all supported the Arab side anyway

Russia's over there (thus the obligatory black clouds 😉). At a little village called Piaski (Nowa Karczma) at the Polish Baltic Sea coast very close to the border

Possible highlight of my stay at the Polish coast; an 8 year girl with a t-shirt with the words 'I love saying dumb sh*t' on it. Would be interested to find out the conversation that preceded the purchase

Netanyahu has spent the better part of two decades trying to strong arm the United States into an unprovoked war against Iran and finally found a president stupid enough to do it for him. Unbelievable.

Trump's decision to attack Iran two days after saying he might do so in two weeks and now talking about regime change makes me feel that we're in some completely twisted, insanely sped up version of 2003

People who've done academic research on the Iraq war watching what's going on

a group of men in tuxedos are sitting at a desk with their hands on their faces .

ALT: a group of men in tuxedos are sitting at a desk with their hands on their faces .

media.tenor.com

Definitely something to read!

Jan Daniel@horalistani.bsky.social · last yr.

Finally, highlighting the uniqueness of the Czech position, Joanna Dyduch unpacks the Polish reaction to the Israeli war on Gaza and mounting breaches of IHL and notes the more critical tone of both Polish public opinion and foreign policy. 7/7 cjir.iir.cz/index.php/cj...