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Dan Nexon

@dhnexon.bsky.social

13K followers 2.2K following 4.8K posts

"'A man without a plan is not a man.' Nietzsche." Professor in the Department of Government and SFS @ Georgetown. I study international order, power politics, & empires. dhnexon.net | https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | duckofminerva.com

www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 5d

It has been suggested that i pin this piece, but I never actually posted it myself. So 👇

Lawyers, Guns and Money @lawgunsmoney.bsky.social · 7d

The State of the Republic is Grim

The State of the Republic is Grim - Lawyers, Guns & Money

If you’re on Bluesky and follow me, you’ve probably seen that I am writing threads that really should be the nucleuses of posts here. You’ve also likely gotten a bead on where I am these days: I say “seems” because it is possible that, behind the scenes, they are taking necessary steps. These include creating […]

www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 4h

Worth a friendly reminder that the next set of nation-wide No Kings protests are set for October 18th.

There's probably one in your area.

I am not generally a crowds or protests sort of person, but there's one in my town and I'll be at it on the 18th.

www.nokings.org

No Kings

As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

www.nokings.org

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

Sometimes it works. Turkish nationalists cleansed Christians, most famously those who identified as Armenians, but also lots of others. Sometimes it doesn't, as Assad learned. I'd like to think people understand that there are other ways to achieve security, but clearly not.

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

The West Bank is totally locked down. The only reason 10/7 was possible is that the Israeli government ignored warnings & transferred resources to support religious zionist settlers. But sure, why not do ethnic cleansing and genocide in pursuit of security?

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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 5h

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

They could collude with Fox News!

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

To the extent that the "war" has ended, that's because the Palestinian people have lost. If Trump stares the Israeli government down and forces it to accept a Palestinian State, then maybe he'll get his Peace Prize. I wouldn't hold my breath.

/end

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

2. Is the conflict over? No. Even if Israel promised not to formally annex the West Bank, it's still plowing ahead with its efforts establish "sovereign in all but name" 👇

Sovereignty in All but Name: Israel’s Quickening Annexation of the West Bank | International Crisis Group

With prominent members serving in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the settler movement is steering the Israeli state toward establishing formal permanent control of the occupied West B...

www.crisisgroup.org

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

Did the Trump administration nudge things along, either through side payments or threats? Quite possibly. But only after giving Bibi a blank cheque in the West Bank and Gaza for *months*, and even facilitating its starvation campaign. So no props to Trump.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

Bibi can't keep the war going forever. Most of the states that initially supported Israel have made clear – some in a rather dramatic fashion — that they've had enough; Israel is hemorrhaging support in the US; the Israeli public wants the war to end.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

1. The war "ended" for the reason why most wars end: the costs of continuing it outweighed the benefits. Hamas is basically defeated in Gaza; most of the Arab states hate it, Iran has its own problems, and Qatar seems to have had enough.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4h

🧵 I am not an expert on the Middle East and I am not privy to any special information about the negotiations that produced the current Gaza deal.

I'm going to lay out some "educated guesses" with the hope that people who actually know what they're talking about weigh in.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 5h

Everything I've posted since 2016–2022 about Trump and MAGA is basically just a reworded version of stuff I wrote during that period.

Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty @irhottakes.bsky.social · 4d

Honestly, it kinda feels like we're out of takes at this point. Like everyone's already said everything they had to say and we're done here.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 5h

Did you see the alt text?

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 5h

They could probably get away with a fake ceremony and a counterfeit medal.

Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 5h

A good way to win the Nobel Peace Prize is by making threats

Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 8h

The Guardian- The US president may impose tariffs, demand higher NATO contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says, if on Friday he is not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. www.theguardian.com/world/202...

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 5h

In particular, the notion that every nation deserves their own state and every state should represent a nation does seem pretty modern.

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 5h

I'm happy to elaborate, but that debate was more of a vehicle to drive home the idea that everyone agrees that the idea that someone's primary political identity is membership in a "nation" (as we now understand the term) is the exception, not the rule in human history.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 5h

As the "correction" replies note it's supposed to be "casual." What part of 'modernists think nationalism didn't really exist before ~250 years ago, neo-primordialists think they're overstating the case' wasn't clear? Do you need more on what nationalism is? Did u look up the 2 books I referred to?

Reposted by Dan Nexon

spooky tim dewey @tjdfotographist.bsky.social · 10h

Free speech is when I encourage people to send you death threats; hate speech is when you tell me to stop.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 10h

Can you hear the words coming out of your mouth, Megan?

Yes, the guy who received so many threats because of your own actions he had to flee to Europe isn’t the real victim. No. You are, because people called you out.

Megyn Doyle, a student at Rutgers and the treasurer for the Turning Point USA chapter who started the Change.org petition to remove Bray, told Fox News Digital in a statement that Di Filippo's petition is slanderous.
"The petition once again proves that Conservative students are always on the receiving end of hate when speaking about concerning issues," Doyle said.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 7h

*Warsaw Pact. Yeesh.

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Betcy Jose @betcy.bsky.social · 12h

Opponents "creat[e] solidarity among an unwieldy coalition, which knows that if everyone holds together, they will surely succeed. This too can become a self-reinforcing set of expectations — but only if the coalition’s members resist the threats & promises of those who are trying to break it."

Opinion | Where Trump Is Vulnerable and How to Act on It

www.nytimes.com

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Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 15h

The America we used to live in—the America we want to think we live in—is gone.

We’ll have to build again.

We want to think that the repeated, widespread abuse of basic rights by DHS; the DOJ actions against former officials like James Comey and John Bolton; the presence of 2020 election deniers across congressional and executive branch leaders; the unconstitutional dismantling of federal agencies; the consolidation of old and new media under leadership favorable to Trump; the use of lawsuits and executive branch power to intimidate and silence critics; and the clear attempts to subvert the 2026 and 2028 elections; and Trump's constant insinuation that he might seek a third term do not all in fact mean
that we have crossed the threshold into a competitive authoritarian environment.
But we have. We have passed through the veil. Whatever becomes of American liberal democracy in the near or distant future, it will be a resurrection and not a continuation.

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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 8h

I still haven't seen any answer that makes sense to me. Why is an opinion journalist running CBS News as editor in chief? How did that happen, and what is the logic of that appointment? It still isn't clear to me.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

Stephen Miller is murdering Venezuelans and Colombians in cold blood bc he believes it helps his propaganda campaign to paint Latinos as dangerous.

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Stephen Miller views the air strikes as an opportunity to paint immigrants as a dangerous menace, according to one of the White House officials.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 9h

The State Department absorbed the funds that went to USAID so that it could better align aid with "Trump's priorities" which are mostly the kinds of things those of us on the left (whether center-, unmodified, or radical) find appalling.

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 9h

The fact that the USG uses various agencies to launder covert and power-political actions doesn't make USAID "a moral atrocity." Those weren't the core of USAID's mission; Musk torched USAID to the ground because he doesn't think the US should spend money helping black and brown people overseas.

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