Please follow at www.broderickjamesmcdonald.com for future updates
Broderick James McDonald
@broderickjames.bsky.social
NatSec x Online Harms | Director at Oxford Advisory | Research Fellow at Kings College London XCEPT | The Alan Turing Institute CETaS Fellow | ex-GOV, UN
Middle powers like the UK and Canada will not win the race for ever larger AI models, but through collaboration they can win the deployment race. Read the latest RUSI Commentary from @broderickmcdonald.bsky.social, Connor Attridge and Alexandra MacEachern.
Middle Powers Must Win the AI Deployment Race
Middle powers like the UK and Canada will not win the race for ever larger AI models, but through collaboration they can win the deployment race.
rusi.org
“China sees utility in Myanmar’s fractured political landscape.” Read Amara Thiha on how Beijing is engaging with both the military junta and local armed groups in Myanmar to formalize “a system built on permanent fragmentation”:
How China Carved Up Myanmar
Beijing’s strategy to create stability through dependence.
foreignaffairs.com
In Iraq, Martin Tamm Andersen sat beside a dying Danish soldier who had stepped on an IED fighting America's war. Now Trump threatens to take Greenland and Vance calls Denmark a bad ally. "You feel betrayed. It’s extremely uncomfortable." My story from Copenhagen www.wsj.com/world/europe...
‘You Feel Betrayed.’ In Denmark, Public Stunned by Trump’s Designs on Greenland.
Of all the U.S.’s allies in Europe, Denmark was among those that fought closest alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan
wsj.com
Saudi Arabia has finally had enough with the UAE building bases, ports and allied militias in the region and is, rather belatedly, stepping up efforts to rollback Abu Dhabi's presence in Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...
After Yemen rift, Saudi Arabia aims to oust UAE from wider region
Saudi Arabia, alarmed by what it sees as aggressive moves by its onetime ally, is working to counter the influence the UAE has built around the Red Sea.
washingtonpost.com
Had an incredible time at the Oxford Generative AI Summit last week. Thanks to my fellow panellists Sara Wahedi, Daisy McGregor, Amy Harland, and Robert Trager for a great discussion More: www.oxgensummit.org/speakers2025... Recent work: cetas.turing.ac.uk/about/our-te...
Look forward to speaking about the Geopolitics of AI at the Oxford Generative AI Summit later this week. Come say hi if you're in Oxford on Oct 16-17! Agenda: oxgensummit.org About: oxgensummit.org/speakers2025...
We were actually getting somewhere, too. 😞 @sbmitche.bsky.social www.library.hbs.edu/working-know...
MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration. MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone." orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart
orgchart.mit.edu
I recently spoke to The International Risk Podcast about Syria and the opportunities & challenges ahead. Listen below: Full episode: theinternationalriskpodcast.com/episode-270-... Guest profile: Broderick McDonald — The International Risk Podcast theinternationalriskpodcast.com/broderick-mc...
The #Syrian government announced an agreement with #Jordan and the US this week that seeks to restore calm in Suweida following sectarian violence which killed over 2,000 people. The agreement comes with a UN investigation into the nature of the clashes.
Syria announces plan with Jordan, US to restore calm in Druze-majority Suweida
The Syrian government has announced a joint plan with Jordan and the United States aimed at restoring calm in the southern province of Suweida.
newarab.com
Syrian officials sent 47 French nationals suspected of being Islamic State members to Iraq for prosecution two months ago, Iraqi officials reported Thursday. The individuals had been held in Kurdish-run state prisons in Northeast Syria since their arrest.
Accused French Islamic State members held in Syria sent to Iraq for trial, officials say
Forty-seven French citizens suspected of being Islamic State members have been handed over to Iraq for prosecution
abcnews.go.com
**Call for contributors to the Elgar Concise Encyclopaedia of Terrorism Law** @jessieblackbourn.bsky.social, @drkatyvaughan.bsky.social and I are compiling a new Concise Encyclopaedia of Terrorism Law, to be published by Edward Elgar. So far we have commissioned over 100 entries with a fantastic
After breaking into the US Institute of Peace (USIP) Monday, DOGE members immediately got to work taking down signs to erase the independent agency. Photos taken yesterday shared directly with me:
Tunisia has forcefully descended into a new dictatorship, staging mass trials of political prisoners that echo Ben Ali's kangaroo courts of the 1990s. Kais Saied's rule by fiat makes a mockery of Tunisia's democratic decade (2011-21). And a great many people are being crushed under its wheels.
Bassam Khawaja@khawaja.bsky.social · 2y agoA long-awaited trial for so-called conspiracy against the state began in Tunis on Tuesday. Authorities should put an end to this sham by immediately releasing all those arbitrarily detained in this case and dropping abusive charges against all defendants. www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...
Hello @vox-pol.bsky.social ! Great to see you here. Anyone interested in cutting edge online extremism research, do give them a follow! 💻 voxpol.eu
VOX - Pol | Network of Excellence
The VOX-Pol Network of Excellence (NoE) is an academic research network focused on researching Violent Online Political Extremism.
voxpol.eu
(WSJ) - The world economy could face a crash similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s unless the U.S. rows back on its plans to impose steep tariffs on imports, a senior official at the International Chamber of Commerce warned. @wsj.com www.wsj.com/economy/trad...
People are going to die because of this. Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/h...
Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid
nytimes.com
Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, malaria, H.I.V. and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/h...
Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid
Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, malaria, H.I.V. and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work.
nytimes.com
Ukraine reels from ‘worst-case scenario’ suspension of US foreign aid
Ukraine reels from ‘worst-case scenario’ suspension of US foreign aid
USAid pause affects projects such as veteran rehabilitation, independent media and humanitarian assistance Ukraine is reeling from the shock decision by the Trump administration to pause all US foreign aid programmes immediately, as a variety of projects…
theguardian.com
Trump is dismantling USAID—its website has been disrupted, funding frozen for most foreign aid programs, and vital aid efforts are being scaled back. It’s an attempt to silence humanitarian efforts and consolidate power. Lives are at risk.
This. The president is violating the constitution, firing the civil servants who keep us safe on airplanes, defunding research into cancer and Alzheimer’s, and even cutting foreign aid that will result in child deaths. www.propublica.org/article/trum...
“People Will Die”: The Trump Administration Said It Lifted Its Ban on Lifesaving Humanitarian Aid. That’s Not True.
Organizations that provide vital care for desperate and vulnerable people around the world have been forced to halt operations, turn away patients and lay off staff. “I’ve never seen anything that sca...
propublica.org
Jonathan Ladd@jonathanmladd.com · 2y agoDems can’t win by some parliamentary trick. Repubs have majorities in the House, Senate and SCOTUS. But they can embarrass the governing party, turn the public against them. Simple messages: The president is violating the Constitution. Planes are getting less safe and your hospital will go bankrupt.
FEWS NET, which detects famine outbreaks, has shut down per Trump’s freeze on all foreign aid.
USAID website goes offline amid Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid www.cnn.com/2025/02/01/p... @apnews.com
USAID website goes offline amid Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid | CNN Politics
The website of the US Agency for International Development went offline without explanation Saturday as thousands of furloughs, layoffs and program shutdowns continued amid President Donald Trump’s fr...
cnn.com
Trump just cut your family’s purchasing power by $3500.
Victor Ray@victorerikray.bsky.social · 2y ago“Assuming that Americans do not substitute higher-priced items and that consumers bear the cost entirely, Mr. Knightley said, the tariffs would translate to a $835 hit per person in the United States, or $3,342 for a family of four.” www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...