Lizzy Shackelford
@lizzyshack.bsky.social
Foreign affairs columnist at Chicago Tribune, Dartmouth’s Dickey Center, former diplomat, policy wonk. Author of The Dissent Channel. Resigned in protest of Trump I and can’t believe we have to fight this again.
That nuclear weapons haven't yet destroyed the world was not luck or accident. It was thanks to hard diplomatic work and cooperation. This is the kind of urgency and collective action the world needs on AI now. My latest in @chicagotribune.com (gift link) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/21/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: AI should be managed like nuclear weapons
The AI threat could be even greater than nuclear weapons since agents can operate independent of and contrary to human action or direction.
chicagotribune.com
My only comment about Woke 1 vs Woke 2 is that neither of these things is real &, for the thousandth time, we don’t have to frame <every topic in American politics> on the terms of the far right authoritarian party & right-wing pundits. Other, more serious choices are readily available:
If there is a communist threat clawing its way into the halls of American power, that threat is coming from inside the White House, which is interfering with the free market to strengthen its own centralized power. My latest in @chicagotribune.com (gift link) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/07/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: The only communist threat is coming from inside the White House
Why has the “Red Scare” returned now? Because when a party in power is deeply unpopular, it must find another boogeyman.
chicagotribune.com
America's aggression is both ruthless and ineffective. All those who knowingly participate in it should one day be held accountable for these crimes, and all Americans should speak out against it. My latest in Chicago Tribune (gift link) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/24/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: The Trump administration’s aggression abroad is both ruthless and ineffective
The United States is imposing pointless suffering on the people of Cuba and Iran.
chicagotribune.com
Climate change is ruining summer and so much else. But the inconveniences of this heat are nothing compared to what lies ahead if we don't change course. My latest in @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/10/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: Climate change’s heat is baking us to death. We must act.
It isn’t just the U.S. Heat waves have rocked Europe, but these inconveniences to most are nothing compared to what lies ahead if we don’t change course.
chicagotribune.com
I know from experience how hard it is to leave a career you love and depend on, so I don't say this lightly. But if your job requires you to implement illegal or immoral policies on this administration's behalf, it's time to go. @chicagotribune.com (gift) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/26/o...
Elizabeth Shackelford: Civil servants should refuse to implement cruel policies, even if it costs them
President Donald Trump is deporting immigrants to African countries with travel advisories. Civil servants must resist.
chicagotribune.com
There is something terribly wrong about an economy that produces its first trillionaire, but cannot provide health care for its people. Or one in which the richest handful of families have the combined wealth of almost forty percent of the rest of the country.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3mo agoElon Musk’s net worth of $1.1 trillion is five million times as large as that of the typical family. The median American household had a net worth of just under $200,000 in 2022, the year with the most recent data available from the Federal Reserve. nyti.ms/4aL8sNH
Commentary: Ukraine is turning the tide with Ukrainian resolve and innovation. Should it manage to end this war with its independence intact and its territory defensible, that won’t only make for a sweeter victory, but the country that emerges will be stronger for it too.
Elizabeth Shackelford: Ukraine’s cheap drones and combat robots offer hope for the good guys
chicagotribune.com
In a year full of bad news stories, Ukraine is offering hope that the good guys just might win, thanks to grit, determination and imagination. My latest in @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/12/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: Ukraine’s cheap drones and combat robots offer hope for the good guys
Ukrainian professionals who once worked in finance, IT and construction have turned their civilian capabilities to military means.
chicagotribune.com
I had a front row seat to the US response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic. We are seriously unprepared for this one. Will this outbreak serve as a warning that triggers the USG to reinvest in global health, or will that warning come too late?@chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/29/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: I witnessed our Ebola response in 2014. We are now seeing the costs of US aid withdrawal
The Trump administration’s withdrawal from WHO and its cuts to foreign aid have put us and the world at far greater risk.
chicagotribune.com
The Trump admin claims their proposed $1.5 TRILLION military budget is a necessary defensive measure. But it is offensive in both senses of the word: aggressive toward the world and insulting here at home. My latest in @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/15/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: An indefensible defense budget proposal and what it portends for our nation
Giving the Trump administration a massive increase in funding only dials up the risk of further aggression and provocative posturing.
chicagotribune.com
"The biggest threat of AI is that the bulk of this powerful technology is uniquely within the control of a small cohort of ungovernable men." My latest from @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/01/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: Ungovernable billionaires may be our biggest global threat
The biggest threat of AI is that the bulk of this powerful technology is within the control of a small cohort of ungovernable men.
chicagotribune.com
Orbán’s fatal flaw was believing his system was fixed enough that it would keep him in power even as his corruption brought ruin upon his country. But 'It’s the economy, stupid' as an election explainer still generally reigns supreme. @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/17/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: Hungary’s lessons for democracy under fire
In conditions short of absolute authoritarianism, as long as elections are still happening, ousting a wannabe dictator is possible.
chicagotribune.com
Trump nicely connecting the lawless boat strikes with his illegal war against Iran. The killing spree at sea was an inflection point as it established that the US military would in fact carry out unlawful orders and conduct patently illegal targeting.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo agoTrump: "Iran’s Navy is completely obliterated. What we have not hit are small number of 'fast attack ships.' Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using same system of kill we use against drug dealers on boats. It is quick & brutal."
Wow. I guess there is hope. The world needed some good news.
This is a far simpler answer than people would like to believe. Trump issues the order via the National Military Command Center to the commander of Strategic Command, and then STRATCOM carries it out directly. There is no second vote, no veto, no check-and-balance.
Wallace@wallace.bsky.social · 5mo agoOne thing I'd like to read is an explanation of what happens at a practical level if the President issues an order to use a nuclear bomb on a civilian population. Who does he issue the order to? What do they do with it? What are the mechanisms to reverse it?
In all seriousness, one thing that might be worth doing today: Tell your Reps and Senators to call Adm. Richard Correll, the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which controls the nation's nukes, and remind him of *his* unique responsibility to refuse an illegal order.
Who in the US #military built the plan that Trump says will take out every power plant and bridge in Iran tomorrow night? I know they fired all the JAGs specifically to enable this kind of thing, but YOU will still be responsible for #warcrimes. The Supreme Court didn’t give you immunity.
Rep. Balint: "My Republican colleagues have accepted for themselves that there's no bottom. They will continue to support this man regardless of how unhinged and how unfit he is for office. It's disgusting."
"Trump seems constitutionally incapable of doing or saying anything that contradicts or undermines Russia’s autocratic leader, regardless of the stakes or harms to U.S. interests. We have to start asking seriously: Why?" My latest in @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/03/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: Russia racks up the wins thanks to the United States
While Donald Trump derides our allies for not helping him fight Iran, he has refused to condemn Vladimir Putin for helping Iran.
chicagotribune.com
The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz was predictable - and preventable, argues IGA's @lizzyshack.bsky.social. For decades, the US government has rejected renewables like solar in favor of petroleum, enforcing dependency on foreign oil. Read her full argument in the @chicagotribune.com.
Just imagine the world we would live in today if we had forged ahead with Carter's solar plan nearly 50 years ago. For one, we probably wouldn't still be so poised for another war of choice in the Middle East. My latest in @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/20/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: Global oil crisis once again makes the case for renewable energy
If the U.S. had followed Jimmy Carter’s renewable energy strategy, our economy would not be held hostage by the fate of the Strait of Hormuz.
chicagotribune.com
On today’s episode of Cartoonishly Overt Sign We’re the Baddies: they’re taking the olive branch off the dime because it presents peace
Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 6mo agooh, come on. fortune.com/2026/03/12/u...
The Anthropic dispute is happening against the backdrop of an administration whose actions in the world are increasingly aggressive, interventionist and independent, with existing checks and balances failing to restrain it. My latest in @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/06/c...
Elizabeth Shackelford: The Pentagon’s fight with Anthropic is about unchecked power
Since AI is largely unregulated, we are left with only the protection that the conscience of a private business, like Anthropic, bestows.
chicagotribune.com
“Damas is the 10th detainee to die in ICE custody so far in 2026.” This is unconscionable.
Tim Steller@timsteller.bsky.social · 6mo agoAn ICE detainee in Arizona has died of a TOOTH INFECTION after it went untreated for weeks, a local official says. He was a Haitian asylum seeker imprisoned in Florence, Arizona. @emilybregel.bsky.social reports. tucson.com/news/local/b...
