It was a pleasure to write a chapter for “The Three Body Problem and International Relations.”
Michael Allen
@ma-allen.com
IR Scholar Professor• War, US Foreign Policy, Basing, Troop Deployments, Data, and Political Economy • @boisestate • International Relations • SciFi • Gaming • www.ma-allen.com • https://tinyurl.com/GoogleScholarAllen
Wait a minute, Galaxy Quest is basically the same story as the Three Amigos… I wonder if the Three Amigos holds up, I haven’t seen it in over three decades.
@carlammm.bsky.social, @ma-allen.com, and I wrote another piece for the Conversation where we talk about President Trump’s threats to withdraw more personnel from Germany and how deployments and basing go beyond allied defense. theconversation.com/why-trumps-c...
Why Trump’s call to pull 5,000 US troops from Germany will hurt America
Overseas US military bases are integral to combat operations and can burnish the country’s image to advance its foreign policy goals.
theconversation.com
Writing a bit about the high rate of stockpile consumption in Iran: theconversation.com/can-the-near...
Can the nearly $1 trillion-a-year US military really be depleting key weapons in Iran?
Measuring US weapons stockpiles sheds light on future constraints and what Russia and China may learn from the Iran war.
theconversation.com
NATO’s internal cohesion is being threatened (again) – but in pushing for support on Iran, Trump may risk eroding US influence on the alliance Written by: Michael A. Allen, Boise State University; Carla Martinez Machain, University at Buffalo, and Michael E. Flynn, Kansas State University Soon…
NATO’s internal cohesion is being threatened (again) – but in pushing for support on Iran, Trump may risk eroding US influence on the alliance
Written by: Michael A. Allen, Boise State University; Carla Martinez Machain, University at Buffalo, and Michael E. Flynn, Kansas State University Soon after the Israeli-U.S. war in Iran began on Feb. 28, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump called upon NATO allies to help support the effort. The response of European leaders was at first mixed. Some, like the United Kingdom, offering limited or qualified support.
quantitativepeace.com
@carlammm.bsky.social @ma-allen.com and I wrote a new piece for The Conversation on Iran, NATO, and how the current conflict might affect the future of the alliance and US influence. theconversation.com/natos-intern...
NATO’s internal cohesion is being threatened (again) – but in pushing for support on Iran, Trump may risk eroding US influence on the alliance
NATO members have been divided before. But the war in Iran could prove particularly troublesome for an alliance founded at the beginning of the Cold War.
theconversation.com
NATO’s internal cohesion is being threatened (again) – but in pushing for support on Iran, Trump may risk eroding US influence on the alliance: theconversation.com/natos-intern...
NATO’s internal cohesion is being threatened (again) – but in pushing for support on Iran, Trump may risk eroding US influence on the alliance
NATO members have been divided before. But the war in Iran could prove particularly troublesome for an alliance founded at the beginning of the Cold War.
theconversation.com
A suite of Lorcana tools for competitive play: ma-allen.com/lorcana/ (1/7) #lorcana #lorcanatcg
Lorcana Tools by Zubrin
Meta calculator, Swiss tournament simulator, replay analyzer, performance analyzer, and local event finder.
ma-allen.com
Bradley–Terry Models and Pairwise Comparisons in brms Whew—it's been a minute since I've written a blog post. But I recently published a paper that seemed like it would lend itself nicely to a new post, so here we are! Before I move on I'll note that this is an abbreviated version of a longer post…
Bradley–Terry Models and Pairwise Comparisons in brms
Whew—it's been a minute since I've written a blog post. But I recently published a paper that seemed like it would lend itself nicely to a new post, so here we are! Before I move on I'll note that this is an abbreviated version of a longer post from my personal blog. You can read the full post here. If you really want to dig into the code and the resulting figures I'd suggest going over there to see it.
quantitativepeace.com
Bradley–Terry Models and Pairwise Comparisons in brms Whew—it's been a minute since I've written a blog post. But I recently published a paper that seemed like it would lend itself nicely to a new post, so here we are! Before I move on I'll note that this is an abbreviated version of a longer post…
Bradley–Terry Models and Pairwise Comparisons in brms
Whew—it's been a minute since I've written a blog post. But I recently published a paper that seemed like it would lend itself nicely to a new post, so here we are! Before I move on I'll note that this is an abbreviated version of a longer post from my personal blog. You can read the full post here. If you really want to dig into the code and the resulting figures I'd suggest going over there to see it.
quantitativepeace.com
"Wars usually end when the fighting nations agree on their relative strength, and wars usually begin when fighting nations disagree on their relative strength." - Blainey 1988.
I saw a C-17 land at Gowen on Friday while I was shopping, and it looks like the A-10s are going to Lakenheath (where we toured/interviewed for our research), then to the Middle East to join Epic Fury: www.twz.com/news-feature...
Dozens Of A-10 Warthogs Appear Poised To Join Epic Fury
The deployment of additional Warthogs comes amid increasing signs a ground operation on Iranian soil could come soon. The attack jets would provide additional firepower for a range of operations…
twz.com
I'm not going to burn through my Claude quota this week. It can't handle plumbing for me.
This is a great sadness. Let’s get back to 7 seasons with 22 episodes and give times for characters to actually develop. variety.com/2026/tv/news...
‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ to End With Season 2 (EXCLUSIVE)
"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" will end with its upcoming second season, Variety has learned exclusively.
variety.com
Sitting on the tarmac in Chicago. Soon #isa2026, I will be there…
Straits of Malacca, Hormuz, and Gibraltar. This tracks.
NERV IRB Coordinator@professormusgrave.bsky.social · 5mo agoAs an IR scholar, the only bodies of water I can confidently name are ones with “strait” in their name because they are always talked about in the context of choke points in war time…or they are the Bering Strait
I get in too late, but definitely encourage anyone who can make this to go. Expand the network.
Steve Saideman@smsaideman.bsky.social · 5mo ago#ISA2026 civ-mil goers, the hangout is tomorrow at 6pm at the Barley brew co
Great, now I am going on a date with Claude.
Robert (Bob) Kubinec@rmkubinec.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe problem with AI-generated writing is that if the purpose is persuasion or communicating an idea then there isn't any reason to expand the prompt. I.e., if your prompt is, "I'd like to take you out for dinner", then you should just write, "I'd like to take you out for dinner", in the email.
Dr. Hiriluk’s final scene in s2e7 hits so well. The whole episode was a rollercoaster.
The Most Powerful Speech in One Piece (You Won’t Forget This) | ONE PIECE: Season 2) | Netflix
“When do you think a man dies? When he is shot through the heart by a bullet? No. When he is ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When he drinks a soup made from a poisonous mushroom? No! A…
youtu.be
At times, I feel like I don't understand how things work. This is a day and a half's worth of global oil consumption, but the goal may be to decrease any domestic pressure by altering global prices. We have (had) 415m in the SPR, so this is about a third of that. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/w...
U.S. Lifts Sanctions on Some Iranian Oil to Get More to Market
nytimes.com
Publication day! Check out my chapter on how to measure restrictions on civil society in the new Innovations in Human Rights book (edited by @kellyzvobgo.bsky.social and Francesca Parente) #PoliSky #PoliSciSky - Preprint: stats.andrewheiss.com/purple-parrot/ - Book: www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/inn...
From our FirstView article: Hidden Majoritarianism and Women’s Career Progression in Proportional Representation Systems DANIEL M. SMITH, @AliCirone.bsky.social, @teele.bsky.social, GARY W. COX and JON H. FIVA. doi.org/10.1017/S000...
No Starfleet Academy tonight, so One Piece s2 is my current fill-in now. What if the Federation was just some rubber kid who thought the Venrai Ral had cool flags?
Nampa is the 3rd-largest city in Idaho and is just outside Boise. At one point, I was going to Nampa weekly for card tournaments. Hogaboam was a town hall and was 47. idahonews.com/news/local/n...
Nampa Mayor Rick Hogaboam dies after medical emergency
Nampa Mayor Rick Hogaboam has died after experiencing a medical emergency Wednesday night, according to a statement from his office.The statement asked the comm
idahonews.com
