Such a joy to be in Rome, gazing at Borromini’s Piazza Spada and reveling in Bernini’s resentment of it.
Kori Schake
@kschake.bsky.social
Leads AEI’s foreign and defense team, author of The State and the Soldier, contributing writer at the Atlantic, reviews books for Foreign Affairs. https://www.aei.org/profile/kori-schake/
ACTION ALERT: Becoming a poll worker is one of the most direct things you can do to protect free and fair elections this Nov. It’s nonpartisan, it's paid in most states. We've partnered with #PowerthePolls to make it easy to find opportunities near you. Start here: https://protdem.org/4x56ArP
Fehrenbach in This Kind of War also chronicles the U.S. blowing bridges refugees were streaming over.
Hoosier Homer is reading With Zeal & With Bayonet Only by Spring@hoosierhomer.bsky.social · 5h agoamateur jackasses in charge of things is not a new phenomenon. bombs dam, destroys hundreds of thousands of tons of crop, etc: uwu we don't want them to think we're gonna destroy the rice crop on purpose
Incredible: another Ukrainian famine is unfolding, this time in Russian-occupied Oleshky. The remaining inhabitants of what used to be a thriving small city, now down to about 6000 people, are blockaded by Russian forces and cut off from food and water. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Oleshky: Eating garden weeds to survive in Russian-occupied city cut off from food and water
The BBC has spoken to residents in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky who say they are being "constantly shelled".
bbc.com
The systems haven't gone rogue. The CEOs of the companies overseeing these systems did not set proper safeguards. They are responsible for what happens in their companies. Humans are held to account, not some random computer that's 'gone rogue.'
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 21h ago“.. None of the incidents were breaches, OpenAI said, but were examples of its technology behaving in unexpected and concerning ways.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/t...
We need something similar in foreign policy
Pookleblinky@pookleblinky.bsky.social · 2d agoReminder that in Canada upon becoming an engineer you get an iron ring made of a collapsed bridge, purposely designed to be uncomfortable, to remind you that your ethics demand you give a fuck even about the boring grudgework of such as double-checking your math. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring
Pentagon quietly adds dozens to tally of troops wounded amid Iran war: With the addition of 29 U.S. sailors and eight Marines, the total number of personnel wounded since the start of hostilities has risen to 861, database shows. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Pentagon quietly adds dozens to tally of troops wounded amid Iran war
With the addition of 29 U.S. sailors and eight Marines, the total number of personnel wounded since the start of hostilities has risen to 861, a Pentagon database shows.
washingtonpost.com
Post-conflict planning is difficult and takes a long time. For example, 10 days after the Marines landed on Guadalcanal in 1942, the Navy sent its first cadre of civil affairs officers to Columbia University to learn how to govern Japanese territory that would be seized in operations during 1944.
Jim LaPorta@jimlaporta.bsky.social · yesterdayWashington — The U.S. Army Reserve is examining whether it can provide the military's Southern Command with police forces, medical personnel and other support units within the next four months, according to an internal Army message reviewed by CBS News. www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-gro...
My thoughts on how frontier AI’s claims and warnings seem prone to colliding with reality, whether that’s in economics, medicine or cyber security ciaranmartin.substack.com/p/on-ai-clai...
Frontier AI’s real world problems
Many of the claims and warnings about the impact of frontier AI seem to collide awkwardly with the realities of the specific subject in question
ciaranmartin.substack.com
Certain Americans like to blather about the Thucydides trap because it's the kind of trite just-so story that sounds smart and sophisticated even though it isn't. Xi likes to mention it because it flatters China as the supposed rising power.
"when Hegseth cuts off soldiers from reporters, he isn’t just silencing reporters, he’s silencing soldiers. He’s suppressing the stories of the most meaningful and dangerous and traumatic moments of their lives.” @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social
Opinion | What Hegseth Is Hiding
Soldiers want to tell their stories, and we need to hear them.
nytimes.com
"we’ve seen a level of secrecy, deception and outright propaganda that has made knowing the truth virtually impossible — until, at long last, the combination of leaks and commercial satellite photos made it impossible for the administration to maintain its spin.” @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social
Opinion | What Hegseth Is Hiding
Soldiers want to tell their stories, and we need to hear them.
nytimes.com
Gamel Abdul Nasser once said something to the effect that you Americans make no simple stupid moves, you make complicated stupid moves that leave us wondering what we’re missing.
Illia Ponomarenko@ioponomarenko.bsky.social · 2d agoThe Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo must be so dumbfounded by all of this that they simply can’t believe there isn’t some elaborate trick behind it -- it just can’t all be this stupid.
Interesting. The Phillipines pivoted to the US, away from China, and now, under Trump, are beginning to regret it www.worldpoliticsreview.com/philippines-...
The Philippines Chose to Align with the U.S. Now It Regrets It
Despite Manila’s efforts, it is increasingly evident that Washington cannot be trusted to uphold its commitments.
worldpoliticsreview.com
How do countries rank in terms of exposure to Chinese power & what to do about it? Today GPPi together with @merics.bsky.social & NTU published "China Exposure Index. Europe Edition" by George Yin. It's a major piece of work that hopefully will be a discussion starter in key countries.
Australia has signed a 10-year security agreement with Ukraine. It includes security assistance, industry & intelligence cooperation, med support to Ukraine’s military, energy, support in countering Russian misinformation, & holding Russia responsible for war crimes. www.dfat.gov.au/countries/uk...
US-Based Digital Forensics Firm Hid its Russian Ownership from U.S. Government Customers www.zetter-zeroday.com/us-based-dig...
US-Based Digital Forensics Firm Hid its Russian Ownership from U.S. Government Customers
The U.S. Department of War, Secret Service and other federal departments and agencies unwittingly purchased digital forensics software from a Virginia-based firm that was owned by Russian nationals an...
zetter-zeroday.com
23 SEPTEMBER 1776, HARLEM, NEW YORK: “Almost every Villainy and Rascality that can disgrace the Man, the Soldier or the Citizen, is dayly practised without meeting the Punishment they merit,” William Tudor writes of discipline in the Continental Army: founders.archives.gov/documents/Ad...
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-05-02-0019
founders.archives.gov
As I no longer hang out on ex-Twitter, I missed this worrying declaration from the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration last week. This new policy emphasizing building new nuclear warheads rather than maintaining the 3,700 we already have has not been debated or approved by Congress.
In the Senate confirmation hearings for Trump's 1st Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson (the man Putin had given an Order of Friendship to a few years earlier), Rubio asked Tillerson "Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?" A journalist needs to ask Rubio the same question now.
"As officers rise in rank, however, the nature of generalship itself demands a different form of leadership, one that privileges persuasion, deliberation, and reflection.” @bafriedman.bsky.social
The End of the Fighting General
America’s top brass should abandon dreams of battlefield glory—and focus on paperwork instead.
foreignpolicy.com
I’m not opposed to greater scrutiny of officers as they become generals/admirals, American high command certainly has its problems. But evaluating their tactical acumen is folly from the start. That’s neither been the problem nor the role of modern generalship. foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/12/t...
The End of the Fighting General
America’s top brass should abandon dreams of battlefield glory—and focus on paperwork instead.
foreignpolicy.com
The 🇺🇲🇩🇰🇬🇱 deal is an example of how Europe reduced a transatlantic confrontation: deterrence early in the year and negotiations for future cooperation later. More ideas for keeping transatlantic relations working in my latest brief @euiss.bsky.social:
EU Institute for Security Studies@euiss.bsky.social · last wk.🇺🇸 A Democratic win in the US midterms could constrain the Trump administration. But it is unlikely to end transatlantic tensions. With 2 more years of recurrent confrontation likely, Europe needs a more flexible playbook, argues @gspataf95.bsky.social in his latest Brief. shorturl.at/1otY8
no one wants to hear this, but the primary problem with the american military is american politicians, not the american military
So this is what it feels like to be embarrassed for an entire country.
“You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming.” - The Road
Dr Emma Salisbury@salisbot.bsky.social · 4d agoThe prose? Gorgeous. The despair? Pervasive. The trauma? Emotional. 14/10 I will never read this again
The Trump Administration is now 0-25 in its meritless attempts to seize voter data from the states. 0-25 is an incredible LOSS record. Their election takeover attempts are losing everywhere. www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trum...
Trump administration’s WA voter roll lawsuit dismissed
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday tossed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Washington seeking the state’s voter rolls, in line with many rulings across the country.
newsfromthestates.com
It’s amazing how all of this is supposed to be for deterring Russia, who the administration is neutral to positive about, and China, who the administration is tolerable to neutral about
Reuters@reuters.com · 5d agoEXCLUSIVE: US to open two new military bases in Greenland, sources say reut.rs/4xI3PwP