Alexander Clarkson
@aphclarkson.bsky.social
Lecturer for European Politics and History at King's College London. Opinions my own. RT not always endorsement.
Also to be found at @APHClarkson
https://www.ullstein.de/werke/die-macht-der-diaspora/hardcover/978354910
Also to be found at @APHClarkson
https://www.ullstein.de/werke/die-macht-der-diaspora/hardcover/978354910
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
I understand folks are scared but I want you to think about the mechanics of this.
There are more polling places (>100k) than ICE and CBP agents combined, so they can only pick a few districts to try to intimidate.
Now what happens when cell phone footage of that goes online in the early morning?
There are more polling places (>100k) than ICE and CBP agents combined, so they can only pick a few districts to try to intimidate.
Now what happens when cell phone footage of that goes online in the early morning?
i think people should consider the extent to which bannon, a known bullshit artist, knows that you will see this and panic. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Steve Bannon says ICE will ‘surround the polls’ as Trump doubles down on taking over elections
Trump doubled down on his comments to nationalize voting Tuesday during an Oval Office press conference. “If you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections,” Trump sai...
www.democracydocket.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:04 AM
I understand folks are scared but I want you to think about the mechanics of this.
There are more polling places (>100k) than ICE and CBP agents combined, so they can only pick a few districts to try to intimidate.
Now what happens when cell phone footage of that goes online in the early morning?
There are more polling places (>100k) than ICE and CBP agents combined, so they can only pick a few districts to try to intimidate.
Now what happens when cell phone footage of that goes online in the early morning?
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
It appears that unregistered Starlink terminals in Ukraine, which are only used by Russian invaders, are going offline. Russian military bloggers are furious, cursing Elon Musk.
February 5, 2026 at 8:30 AM
It appears that unregistered Starlink terminals in Ukraine, which are only used by Russian invaders, are going offline. Russian military bloggers are furious, cursing Elon Musk.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
JUSTIFIED “FUCK ICE” CHANTS #AEWDynamite
February 5, 2026 at 3:04 AM
JUSTIFIED “FUCK ICE” CHANTS #AEWDynamite
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
This is how Sen. Ron Wyden clues the public into activity that he finds extremely alarming. He does a press release about a letter he sent to the director of the CIA that basically says, 'I want to make sure you saw the classified letter I sent early today.' www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
February 4, 2026 at 9:53 PM
This is how Sen. Ron Wyden clues the public into activity that he finds extremely alarming. He does a press release about a letter he sent to the director of the CIA that basically says, 'I want to make sure you saw the classified letter I sent early today.' www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
Bonne nouvelle : les coupures suivent à nouveau un planning.
Mauvaise nouvelle : j’aurai 2h30 d’électricité aujourd’hui.
Mauvaise nouvelle : j’aurai 2h30 d’électricité aujourd’hui.
February 5, 2026 at 6:37 AM
Bonne nouvelle : les coupures suivent à nouveau un planning.
Mauvaise nouvelle : j’aurai 2h30 d’électricité aujourd’hui.
Mauvaise nouvelle : j’aurai 2h30 d’électricité aujourd’hui.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
5/
Moritz Döpfner arbeitete lange für Thiel und verwaltet heute rund 50 Millionen € seines Vermögens. Sein Vater Mathias Döpfner ließ öffentlich für Trumps Wiederwahl beten und ist seit Jahren eng mit Thiel verbunden, hat ihm den Frank-Schirrmacher-Preis verliehen.
Moritz Döpfner arbeitete lange für Thiel und verwaltet heute rund 50 Millionen € seines Vermögens. Sein Vater Mathias Döpfner ließ öffentlich für Trumps Wiederwahl beten und ist seit Jahren eng mit Thiel verbunden, hat ihm den Frank-Schirrmacher-Preis verliehen.
February 5, 2026 at 6:45 AM
5/
Moritz Döpfner arbeitete lange für Thiel und verwaltet heute rund 50 Millionen € seines Vermögens. Sein Vater Mathias Döpfner ließ öffentlich für Trumps Wiederwahl beten und ist seit Jahren eng mit Thiel verbunden, hat ihm den Frank-Schirrmacher-Preis verliehen.
Moritz Döpfner arbeitete lange für Thiel und verwaltet heute rund 50 Millionen € seines Vermögens. Sein Vater Mathias Döpfner ließ öffentlich für Trumps Wiederwahl beten und ist seit Jahren eng mit Thiel verbunden, hat ihm den Frank-Schirrmacher-Preis verliehen.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
3/
STARK sagt: Thiel habe keinen Einfluss. Doch das Gegenteil ist offensichtlich. Thiel hat mehrfach investiert – auch über Dritte – und agiert gemeinsam mit Döpfners und weiteren MAGA-nahen Investoren.
STARK sagt: Thiel habe keinen Einfluss. Doch das Gegenteil ist offensichtlich. Thiel hat mehrfach investiert – auch über Dritte – und agiert gemeinsam mit Döpfners und weiteren MAGA-nahen Investoren.
February 5, 2026 at 6:45 AM
3/
STARK sagt: Thiel habe keinen Einfluss. Doch das Gegenteil ist offensichtlich. Thiel hat mehrfach investiert – auch über Dritte – und agiert gemeinsam mit Döpfners und weiteren MAGA-nahen Investoren.
STARK sagt: Thiel habe keinen Einfluss. Doch das Gegenteil ist offensichtlich. Thiel hat mehrfach investiert – auch über Dritte – und agiert gemeinsam mit Döpfners und weiteren MAGA-nahen Investoren.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
The chanting is interesting - people should note this stuff can be a leading indicator. The darts crowd chanting at Ally Pally came 7 months before Boris Johnson came under serious pressure to resign.
February 5, 2026 at 7:30 AM
The chanting is interesting - people should note this stuff can be a leading indicator. The darts crowd chanting at Ally Pally came 7 months before Boris Johnson came under serious pressure to resign.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
You can see a through-line from routinisation of Centcom GWOT counter-terror strikes under a loosely interpreted legal framework to clumsy attempts by Southcom to morally legitimise supposed counter-cartel strikes in the Carribean to potential normalisation of death squads in US domestic operations
October 15, 2025 at 12:43 AM
You can see a through-line from routinisation of Centcom GWOT counter-terror strikes under a loosely interpreted legal framework to clumsy attempts by Southcom to morally legitimise supposed counter-cartel strikes in the Carribean to potential normalisation of death squads in US domestic operations
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
These strikes on boats in the Carribean are normalising the claim from the US Right that it is acceptable for a President to deploy American military units as extrajudicial death squads
There is no conceivable argument that these ships, even if we assume they were carrying narcotics, could not be dealt with in some other way. I think we can just drop the caveats and say: This is mass murder.
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
October 15, 2025 at 12:37 AM
These strikes on boats in the Carribean are normalising the claim from the US Right that it is acceptable for a President to deploy American military units as extrajudicial death squads
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
He cannot be clearer. There is no difference to him between bombing random fishermen on boats and shooting Americans protesters in the face
I swear this clip is not edited. Trump pivots from downplaying the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti ("two people out of tens of thousands and you get bad publicity") to in the very next breath claiming "we've been very tough on the waters," leaving Tom Llamas baffled ("the waters?")
February 5, 2026 at 4:30 AM
He cannot be clearer. There is no difference to him between bombing random fishermen on boats and shooting Americans protesters in the face
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
Wow! What sounded like the entire AEW Dynamite audience in Las Vegas tonight chanted "Fuck ICE! Fuck ICE!" in unison before the main event
February 5, 2026 at 3:31 AM
Wow! What sounded like the entire AEW Dynamite audience in Las Vegas tonight chanted "Fuck ICE! Fuck ICE!" in unison before the main event
Why Trump will lose
February 5, 2026 at 7:21 AM
Why Trump will lose
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
Man, the second Trump-era has just been truly awful for this city.
Washington DC and California have the highest unemployment rates in the country:
February 5, 2026 at 2:05 AM
Man, the second Trump-era has just been truly awful for this city.
And again, Trump hasn't got the resources to undermine the mid-term elections in themselves, but he definitely has enough DHS goons and fanatical grass roots loyalists to swarm into Washington and disrupt the swearing in of a Dem-controlled Congress in January 2027
Trump Says He Will Accept the 2026 Midterm Results ‘If the Elections Are Honest’
www.mediaite.com/media/news/t...
www.mediaite.com/media/news/t...
Trump Says He Will Accept the 2026 Midterm Results ‘If the Elections Are Honest’
Donald Trump said he would accept the results of the midterms "if the elections if are honest," telling NBC's Tom Llamas that if that proves not to be the case "something else has to happen."
www.mediaite.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:04 AM
And again, Trump hasn't got the resources to undermine the mid-term elections in themselves, but he definitely has enough DHS goons and fanatical grass roots loyalists to swarm into Washington and disrupt the swearing in of a Dem-controlled Congress in January 2027
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
There’s a definite “Peak Oil” vibe at the moment.
The “Rare Earths” aren’t necessarily rare, they’re just not in super high demand and the “Critical” in “Critical Minerals” is a policy decision.
All of this fretting could vanish with a minor geological or engineering discovery.
The “Rare Earths” aren’t necessarily rare, they’re just not in super high demand and the “Critical” in “Critical Minerals” is a policy decision.
All of this fretting could vanish with a minor geological or engineering discovery.
February 5, 2026 at 1:43 AM
There’s a definite “Peak Oil” vibe at the moment.
The “Rare Earths” aren’t necessarily rare, they’re just not in super high demand and the “Critical” in “Critical Minerals” is a policy decision.
All of this fretting could vanish with a minor geological or engineering discovery.
The “Rare Earths” aren’t necessarily rare, they’re just not in super high demand and the “Critical” in “Critical Minerals” is a policy decision.
All of this fretting could vanish with a minor geological or engineering discovery.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
I think college leadership justifies the, frankly, rampant nepotism and corruption on the grounds that it gives them the resources to aid ordinary kids, and I think that's a self-serving delusion that papers over a fundamental rot.
A guy in my class that was a bit of a dumbass got into Georgetown because his Haliburton dad got him a recommendation letter from Dick Cheney. He didn't take a single AP or IB class, and got an average SAT score.
February 5, 2026 at 1:40 AM
I think college leadership justifies the, frankly, rampant nepotism and corruption on the grounds that it gives them the resources to aid ordinary kids, and I think that's a self-serving delusion that papers over a fundamental rot.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
You'd never know this by the media cycle
Alberta - Support For Independence:
🔴 Remain: 71%
⚫️ Independence: 18%
🔵 Join The US: 5%
Leger / Jan 26, 2026 / n=1003 / Online
🔴 Remain: 71%
⚫️ Independence: 18%
🔵 Join The US: 5%
Leger / Jan 26, 2026 / n=1003 / Online
February 4, 2026 at 7:40 PM
You'd never know this by the media cycle
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
Trump's constant degradation of female reporters is unsurprising but the press corps' collective decision to treat it as background noise is actually kind of sickening
February 4, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Trump's constant degradation of female reporters is unsurprising but the press corps' collective decision to treat it as background noise is actually kind of sickening
And we now go live to the US military's pivot to Asia
February 4, 2026 at 11:23 PM
And we now go live to the US military's pivot to Asia
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
@aphclarkson.bsky.social Ein Beitrag der DW über Vietnam. Hauptsächlich über die neuen Geschäftsmöglichkeiten, aber auch über die KP, die immer noch herrscht. Diaspora nur in Form eines US-Unternehmers mit vietnamesischen Elter
youtu.be/Az2tTirh1xc?...
youtu.be/Az2tTirh1xc?...
Vietnam - Between communism and capitalism | DW Documentary
YouTube video by DW Documentary
youtu.be
February 4, 2026 at 11:19 PM
@aphclarkson.bsky.social Ein Beitrag der DW über Vietnam. Hauptsächlich über die neuen Geschäftsmöglichkeiten, aber auch über die KP, die immer noch herrscht. Diaspora nur in Form eines US-Unternehmers mit vietnamesischen Elter
youtu.be/Az2tTirh1xc?...
youtu.be/Az2tTirh1xc?...
There is something quite hilarious about various figures who have been hawkish on China bashing the EU over supposed weakness only for Trump to keel over...like this
By his logic — such as it is — he will now have to place punitive sanctions on his own country for his having said this
February 4, 2026 at 11:08 PM
There is something quite hilarious about various figures who have been hawkish on China bashing the EU over supposed weakness only for Trump to keel over...like this
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
NEW: Abigail Spanberger this afternoon ordered that all state agencies leave ICE's 287(g) program.
This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.
Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.
This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.
Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.
Virginia’s New Governor Ends ICE Program. Local Contracts Remain, For Now. - Bolts
Abigail Spanberger left the 287(g) program, which empowered state law enforcement to detain immigrants. Will Democrats also bar local police and sheriffs from the program?
boltsmag.org
February 4, 2026 at 10:36 PM
NEW: Abigail Spanberger this afternoon ordered that all state agencies leave ICE's 287(g) program.
This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.
Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.
This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.
Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.
Reposted by Alexander Clarkson
America was an unprecedented global hegemon because it used to be good at the boring shit needed to stay powerful.
February 4, 2026 at 6:16 PM
America was an unprecedented global hegemon because it used to be good at the boring shit needed to stay powerful.