Delighted to announce the greatest achievement of my career

"Four and a half years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has conquered no more than a slice of Ukrainian territory. Half a million Russian soldiers are dead, the economy is running on fumes." Why won't they stop the bloodshed?

Where Does Russia’s Violent Imperialism Come From?

A new book provides some helpful—if not always spot-on—answers.

foreignpolicy.com

That’s a formal warning. If he does it again he’ll start to lose marks for the course.

FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · 4d ago

Trump refuses to turn his camera on at the G7 summit

Day 1 of my fellowship at Cambridge and I have already submitted a paper. Crushing it.

“The Kremlin’s aim is not necessarily to win an election or this referendum in Switzerland,” explains @irgarner.bsky.social who spoke with Swissinfo before Sunday’s vote result was known. www.swissinfo.ch/eng/informat...

Swiss democracy in the crosshairs of Russian propaganda

The vote on the neutrality initiative saw open interference by Russia – as well as covert operations, Swiss authorities say.

swissinfo.ch

How does democracy function in wartime Ukraine? What constrains Zelensky's administration? Is there democratic accountability? Discover all in Pavlo Otamas' new article in Post-Soviet Affairs ⬇️

Why did Central Asian states bring home citizens linked to ISIS when so many other governments refused? Elena Zhirukhina's brand new article has the answer ⬇️❗️

When society, identity, and security align: repatriation strategies in Central Asia

Thousands of nationals, referred to as foreign terrorist fighters and their families, who travelled to Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State and other groups, had remained in detention sites in nor...

tandfonline.com

"I bought a projector to read and review papers on the ceiling as I go to sleep" New academic productivity benchmark just dropped.

Criminals, state-sponsored groups, spyware vendors, scientists and propagandists have attempted to use Anthropic’s AI to design missiles and bombs, create deadly pathogens and surveil dissidents. We're so fucked, aren't we?

Anthropic details bad actors’ efforts to misuse its AI for bioweapons

The 154-page report comes two days after former employee Jacob Coxon resigned due to Anthropic racing to improve its models that would cause human extinction by 2030

theguardian.com

This was the point I emphasised about Palantir when I wrote about tech soverignty - their model is to make bits of the state dependent on them and them jack up the price. samf.substack.com/p/sovereignt...

Sovereignty for sale

Tech monopolies and the future of the nation state

samf.substack.com

Amy Borrett@amyborrett.ft.com · 4w ago

Britain’s state-owned electricity system operator has awarded Palantir a £21mn contract without inviting rival bids, arguing critical processes are too reliant on its tech to run a competitive procurement process Latest for @financialtimes.com: as.ft.com/r/7fe6c0b7-2...

"That was one of the strongest papers I have read in a while." Now that is the peer review feedback you want to start your day with!

Could it be the most important thing I’ve ever written? Could it be a theory explaining how Russians are simultaneously in a highly individualistic and an immerse, collective society? Yes and yes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Ambient war: Stalingrad memory and Russian state-aligned Telegram networks in the war against Ukraine - Ian Garner, Hugh Garner, 2026

The idea of fighting World War II again has been an important feature of Russian state-aligned discourse about the ongoing war in Ukraine. This article examines...

journals.sagepub.com

We will look back on this period with shame. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/u...

West Point Climate Professor Says He Was Fired for Refusing to ‘Defy Science’

Dr. Adam Kalkstein is suing the U. S. Military Academy, where he was a professor of geography and the only climate scientist, after being fired.

nytimes.com

Will Westerners keep going to fight for Russia because they're bored, lonely, emasculated, or just stupid?

How Westerners are lured into Russia’s army

Bradley Townsend is reportedly the first British volunteer to be killed fighting for Russia in the war with Ukraine. Townsend told his family that he planned to visit Romania earlier this year. Instea...

unherd.com

Happy dog day, friends!

One from our archives, from 1993: "Russia, Ukraine, and the Imperial Legacy"

Russia, Ukraine, and the Imperial Legacy

Published in Post-Soviet Affairs (Vol. 9, No. 4, 1993)

tandfonline.com

Why did Russia's "muscular mediation" in Nagorno-Karabakh fall flat? Check out this new article from Post-Soviet Affairs to find out ⬇️

Russia’s failed “muscular mediation” in Nagorno-Karabakh

From 2015 to 2023, Russia engaged in coercive diplomacy seeking to avert and then truncate war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. This article explores if the rece...

tandfonline.com

The Jason Arday story is by no means the biggest scandal at Cambridge University. I'm sure the media is going to pick this up and run with it in just the same way ... Or is the exaggerated CV of one Black professor somehow more important than this?

Byline Times@bylinetimes.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🟡 From This Month’s Magazine Reform UK and Big Tech Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel’s ‘Political Pipeline’ Recruitment Project at the World-Renowned… By Byline Times raising The academic institution has nothing to say in response to a six-month investigation by Byline Times raising serious…

This is 5-year-old Emilia and 10-year-old Sofia Dvornychenko, Russia killed them in a terrorists attack on girls own home in Sumy on August 4. 🕯💔 Russians struck the family's home with a guided aerial bomb, completely destroying it and killing two children…

Meanwhile in the Bad Place:

Some of my papers have been reviewed and are "Awaiting Recommendation" for so long I think the journal editors might be deceased

🤖 Russia has circulated an AI-generated video falsely claiming Ukraine struck a civilian gas station, in what Ukrainian officials describe as another disinformation campaign

Russia spreads AI-generated video alleging strike on gas station in Poltava Oblast

Russian propaganda channels are circulating an AI-generated video falsely alleging the destruction of a gas station in Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) report...

english.nv.ua

‼️ Russian serviceman shoots fellow soldiers and civilians in Crimea: four killed

Russian serviceman shoots fellow soldiers and civilians in Crimea: four killed

A Russian serviceman has shot dead four people in the village of Khmelnytske near Sevastopol, with four more injured. The suspect has been detained.

pravda.com.ua

To sample 'A History of South Africa' by Thula Simpson, read here ➡️ tinyurl.com/yvz868ej

Sample of "History of South Africa" by Thula Simpson

Peek inside this book and discover another great read.

tinyurl.com

The English Historical Review@enghistrev.bsky.social · 2mo ago

History of South Africa: From 1902 to the Present, by Thula Simpson @hurstpublishers.bsky.social; Until We Have Won Our Liberty: South Africa after Apartheid, by Evan Lieberman @evlieb.bsky.social @princetonupress.bsky.social;

Springwatch icon, humanist, and probably the UK's best-loved birdwatcher, Bill Oddie, has died aged 85. Very sad. Thank you for a lifetime of helping us understand nature.

It’s really important that the #Vancouver Downtown Business Association, who were originally against bike-lanes, are now among their most vigourous supporters, because of ACTUAL EVIDENCE that they’re better for downtown business than any street parking they replaced. Safe bike-lanes mean business.

futurism.com/future-socie... lol

“Climate scientists appalled by politicians' refusal to accept responsibility as heatwave hits France… They say that years of warnings issued from scientists about the consequences of global warming have not been taken seriously.” #France #ClimateCrisis #UrbanHeat

Climate scientists appalled by politicians' refusal to accept responsibility as heatwave hits France

Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Jean Jouzel and Christophe Cassou say that years of warnings issued from scientists about the consequences of global warming have not been taken more seriously.

lemonde.fr

In which I attempt to theorize slopaganda. TL;DR: it’s not looking good. legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2026/07/0...

L’âge de la slopagande | Le Grand Continent

Pour comprendre le nouveau régime informationnel, il faut élaborer une nouvelle théorie de la propagande à l'ère de l'IA.

legrandcontinent.eu

I am in a cafe in Warsaw writing a piece on slopaganda. I can see 4 other people's laptop screens. All 4 have ChatGPT open. The world's about to get really, really weird.