Clay Copper
@claycopper.bsky.social
Fed defense university faculty, Security Cooperation pro, international relations, diplomacy, diverse democracy enjoyer, some boardgames, human
Pinned
Clay Copper
@claycopper.bsky.social
· Feb 15
My internal monologue is just a medley of the angry Kendrick bars
Reposted by Clay Copper
"Elbridge Colby has requested a read receipt when you open this email. Would you like to send a read receipt to Elbridge Colby?"
November 25, 2025 at 1:39 PM
"Elbridge Colby has requested a read receipt when you open this email. Would you like to send a read receipt to Elbridge Colby?"
Just contributed! Love an unapologetically liberal publication that doesn't cede ground on foreign policy!
Was beyond moved by the outpouring of support yesterday. We’ve got an aggressive goal but I’m more confident than ever that we can hit us. Help us get there and get on more even footing with reactionary centrist publications gofund.me/e92c7f636
Donate to The Liberal Currents Startup Fund, organized by Adam Gurri
To fight fascism we need opposition media with a backbone. Liberal Currents is that. Help… Adam Gurri needs your support for The Liberal Currents Startup Fund
gofund.me
November 25, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Just contributed! Love an unapologetically liberal publication that doesn't cede ground on foreign policy!
They're gonna finally fire Hegseth and I'm not going to be able to bask in it bc it's going to immediately come out that he didn't support a kids glove approach to Ukraine, isn't it?
November 25, 2025 at 11:52 AM
They're gonna finally fire Hegseth and I'm not going to be able to bask in it bc it's going to immediately come out that he didn't support a kids glove approach to Ukraine, isn't it?
My experience is that colonels have their emails set up to transmit only, and that you should never respond outside of normal hours bc as soon as you reply once at 8pm you've now established a solemn, lifelong expectation that you're available Tuesday nights.
Bit of advice I once got from a Colonel mentor of mine… “Colonels don’t solve problems in emails, and they never say “No” in an email; you do that in person or over the phone now.”
November 25, 2025 at 2:40 AM
My experience is that colonels have their emails set up to transmit only, and that you should never respond outside of normal hours bc as soon as you reply once at 8pm you've now established a solemn, lifelong expectation that you're available Tuesday nights.
Come on, real people still work there trying to hold down real careers! Hard-hitting? Only if you're describing the feeling Rubio felt when he learned about the "deal."
Negotiations are ongoing this week on another Ukraine peace plan. While the Trump administration’s unorthodox, hard-hitting approach to negotiations have forced parties to the table before, it’s too early to know if this approach will work, notes CSIS's Emily Harding.
www.csis.org/analysis/wha...
www.csis.org/analysis/wha...
November 24, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Come on, real people still work there trying to hold down real careers! Hard-hitting? Only if you're describing the feeling Rubio felt when he learned about the "deal."
Don't mind me, just washing down my chocolate covered espresso beans with a cup of coffee while I head down to the beer and wine store.
November 24, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Don't mind me, just washing down my chocolate covered espresso beans with a cup of coffee while I head down to the beer and wine store.
We must adopt AI for the sake of adopting AI, and we must throw even more money at AI so that colleges and universities can adopt AI so that communities can throw money at AI that helps them AI.
We finally found something that is at once an end, a way, and a means.
We finally found something that is at once an end, a way, and a means.
November 24, 2025 at 9:06 PM
We must adopt AI for the sake of adopting AI, and we must throw even more money at AI so that colleges and universities can adopt AI so that communities can throw money at AI that helps them AI.
We finally found something that is at once an end, a way, and a means.
We finally found something that is at once an end, a way, and a means.
💯 As someone who teaches culture and human terrain (including the banned knowledge of gender), people do not realize how much being unprepared and unequipped to deal with this stuff really screwed people up, impacting morale and effectiveness.
I hear this constantly: "Nobody prepared me for that."
I hear this constantly: "Nobody prepared me for that."
My infantry Bn had a really hard time parsing the gender and sexuality issues of Southern Helmand.
When people say, "you wouldn't want a 'purple haired gender studies major' in the Marines" I reply "YES we desperately needed them!" We had teams of anthropologists who published studies for us.
When people say, "you wouldn't want a 'purple haired gender studies major' in the Marines" I reply "YES we desperately needed them!" We had teams of anthropologists who published studies for us.
November 24, 2025 at 1:51 PM
💯 As someone who teaches culture and human terrain (including the banned knowledge of gender), people do not realize how much being unprepared and unequipped to deal with this stuff really screwed people up, impacting morale and effectiveness.
I hear this constantly: "Nobody prepared me for that."
I hear this constantly: "Nobody prepared me for that."
I'd also caution that an admin could handle things in Venezuela "rightly," for the right reasons, with right coalition of local and international partners - and still have things turn out poorly if the theory of victory is a strong, stable, pro-America Venezuela. Competence won't guarantee success.
"Handled rightly" Chernobyl could've been the greatest energy infrastructure project ever conceived. The issue is that it was not and there were structural, political, and cultural barriers to it being "handled rightly."
I don't doubt that American airpower can ruin Maduro's day, I doubt phase 2.
I don't doubt that American airpower can ruin Maduro's day, I doubt phase 2.
November 24, 2025 at 1:34 AM
I'd also caution that an admin could handle things in Venezuela "rightly," for the right reasons, with right coalition of local and international partners - and still have things turn out poorly if the theory of victory is a strong, stable, pro-America Venezuela. Competence won't guarantee success.
This doesn't come anywhere near serious analysis, and Foreign Affairs: YOU DO NOT NEED TO PUBLISH THIS UNSERIOUS JUNK.
Instead of arguing it's a terrible idea to threaten your neighbors, Abrams ends up arguing that the US is pot committed to a campaign against Maduro. Strategic agency be damned!
Instead of arguing it's a terrible idea to threaten your neighbors, Abrams ends up arguing that the US is pot committed to a campaign against Maduro. Strategic agency be damned!
November 23, 2025 at 10:31 PM
This doesn't come anywhere near serious analysis, and Foreign Affairs: YOU DO NOT NEED TO PUBLISH THIS UNSERIOUS JUNK.
Instead of arguing it's a terrible idea to threaten your neighbors, Abrams ends up arguing that the US is pot committed to a campaign against Maduro. Strategic agency be damned!
Instead of arguing it's a terrible idea to threaten your neighbors, Abrams ends up arguing that the US is pot committed to a campaign against Maduro. Strategic agency be damned!
People can argue all day about what the worst social network is, but it's Yahoo Sports Fantasy social "features" and it's not even remotely close.
November 23, 2025 at 9:25 PM
People can argue all day about what the worst social network is, but it's Yahoo Sports Fantasy social "features" and it's not even remotely close.
Met a guy who put 600 hours in the rear seat of the SR-71 while I was here today so I went and stood next to the Cessna 152 to pay it forward for other visitors.
November 23, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Met a guy who put 600 hours in the rear seat of the SR-71 while I was here today so I went and stood next to the Cessna 152 to pay it forward for other visitors.
Aerial invasion of Britain
November 23, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Aerial invasion of Britain
Billy Mitchell's SPAD XVI
November 23, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Billy Mitchell's SPAD XVI
My military students: I didn't sign up to be a diplomat. I grew up in Wyoming and am not confident with my cultural competence.
Me: YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE, THE FUTURE OF THIS GREAT NATION'S DIPLOMATIC PROWESS
...and legitimately maybe it's only hope for the next 3 years.
Me: YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE, THE FUTURE OF THIS GREAT NATION'S DIPLOMATIC PROWESS
...and legitimately maybe it's only hope for the next 3 years.
"US senators say they spoke with Rubio about Trump’s Ukraine peace plan who denied it is a US plan." Welcome to the Topsy Turvy administration in which six or seven people are pursuing their own private foreign policy, and much of it is scripted by a hostile foreign power.
US senators say they spoke with Rubio about Trump’s Ukraine peace plan who denied it is a US plan
U.S. senators critical of President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war say they spoke with U.S.
apnews.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
My military students: I didn't sign up to be a diplomat. I grew up in Wyoming and am not confident with my cultural competence.
Me: YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE, THE FUTURE OF THIS GREAT NATION'S DIPLOMATIC PROWESS
...and legitimately maybe it's only hope for the next 3 years.
Me: YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE, THE FUTURE OF THIS GREAT NATION'S DIPLOMATIC PROWESS
...and legitimately maybe it's only hope for the next 3 years.
I didn't get in to two study abroad programs, couldn't afford a third, and my parents did not fundamentally understand what the West Bank was.
November 23, 2025 at 1:27 AM
I didn't get in to two study abroad programs, couldn't afford a third, and my parents did not fundamentally understand what the West Bank was.
Whipped up some squash tacos with cabbage slaw
November 22, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Whipped up some squash tacos with cabbage slaw
People really mobbing @vanhollen.senate.gov at this Thanksgiving Parade. Fighting matters!
November 22, 2025 at 3:21 PM
People really mobbing @vanhollen.senate.gov at this Thanksgiving Parade. Fighting matters!
Muting all posts that contain "zz" - with apologies to people sharing sick pizzas
November 22, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Muting all posts that contain "zz" - with apologies to people sharing sick pizzas
I just think career negotiators, a few interpreters/translators, regional experts, and our treaty fucking allies should be closely involved in what is likely the most consequential peace negotiations in 30 years.
We should create a Dept specifically to conduct foreign affairs, run by the Archivist.
We should create a Dept specifically to conduct foreign affairs, run by the Archivist.
November 22, 2025 at 1:49 PM
I just think career negotiators, a few interpreters/translators, regional experts, and our treaty fucking allies should be closely involved in what is likely the most consequential peace negotiations in 30 years.
We should create a Dept specifically to conduct foreign affairs, run by the Archivist.
We should create a Dept specifically to conduct foreign affairs, run by the Archivist.
Smashed through 2/3 of this audiobook fighting awful beltway traffic this week. It's...ok? I've had a lucky run of really good books, but this one hasn't lived up to expectations yet. It could go with more history, interesting details, description of the locations and peoples involved.
November 22, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Smashed through 2/3 of this audiobook fighting awful beltway traffic this week. It's...ok? I've had a lucky run of really good books, but this one hasn't lived up to expectations yet. It could go with more history, interesting details, description of the locations and peoples involved.
CEDAW binds and compels even non-signatories btw, and Stellaris allows me to enforce that through orbital bombardment.
I generally play Stellaris as the UNSC and I don't pretend it's the United Federation of Planets.
November 21, 2025 at 6:24 PM
CEDAW binds and compels even non-signatories btw, and Stellaris allows me to enforce that through orbital bombardment.
Reposted by Clay Copper
Undoubtedly, but if you're Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, or South Korea do you feel more or less confident about the reliability and commitment of the US after the continuing debacle wrt Ukraine?
You can say America First is Not America Alone 100 times, but talk don't mean shit.
You can say America First is Not America Alone 100 times, but talk don't mean shit.
November 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Undoubtedly, but if you're Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, or South Korea do you feel more or less confident about the reliability and commitment of the US after the continuing debacle wrt Ukraine?
You can say America First is Not America Alone 100 times, but talk don't mean shit.
You can say America First is Not America Alone 100 times, but talk don't mean shit.