Halvard Leira
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halvardl.bsky.social
Halvard Leira
@halvardl.bsky.social

Research Director and Research Professor at NUPI, ass. ed. EJIR. Comment here primarily as a private citizen. I do research on conceptual history, privateers and diplomacy etc. I like mountains, skiing and my woodfired pizza oven. .. more

Political science 67%
Psychology 9%
Pinned
I just thought everyone should see this

If this is the end result, Trump will have terminally weakened the closest US friendships in the world, for nothing. Nothing at all. The US already has this. Pathetic.
“.. Denmark would give the United States sovereignty over small pockets of Greenlandic land where the United States could build military bases, according to three senior officials ..”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...

And, if fund managers in Europe draw the same conclusions, we might eventually catch up to the rest of the world. If TACO can be predicted, based on Wall St. movements, that does create opportunities.

Occam's razor suggests that you are correct.
“.. Denmark would give the United States sovereignty over small pockets of Greenlandic land where the United States could build military bases, according to three senior officials ..”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...

Reposted by Halvard Leira

Tyrone: Hey, baby. Maybe you can help clean *my* pipe... *whips out his cock*

Tiffany: The United States reaffirms its commitment to collective security but maintains control over Greenland is a core national interest.

Tyrone: First of all, Tiffany, that's contrary to the spirit of collective sec

Reposted by Halvard Leira

"And so the King of Mexico calls me and she's like "Mister Trump, I need you to fix my plumbing and then I..."

Meanwhile in a LA porn studio, Tiffany is a little confused as to why she's supposed to talk about NATO and global trade before the gang bang, but it's interesting reading.
Trump on NATO: "Until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They called me daddy."

(He means Greenland.)

Reposted by Halvard Leira

The script of that Carney speech is going to end up on a lot of IR readings lists...

Reposted by Halvard Leira

Eh, Belgien premiärminister citerar Gramsci för att beskriva den situation som Trump skapat....

www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Confirmed by Norwegian PM.

In 1940, the USA accepted my grandparents, my father and his three siblings as political refugees from the Nazi occupation of Norway. Thankful for this since childhood, I never thought that my own government might in my lifetime honour that debt to US citizens facing their own government.
Good summary of “don’t give him what he wants” from relatively comfortable white liberals.
Yeah, I don't know how you write a piece that features Niall Ferguson of all people and then pretend "they wanted a university without cancel culture"
ICE seems to get completely flummoxed when they’re being yelled at by white men over 35. They kind of put their heads down and shuffle their feet. It’s like their kryptonite.
The families of Danes killed in Afghanistan have a message for Trump
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
The Sacrifice of the Danes
After September 11, Denmark fought alongside its ally. The families of fallen soldiers have a message for Trump.
www.theatlantic.com

«Realisme» er strålende på post hoc. «Slik gikk det, ergo var policyen realistisk». Realisme er ellers en seriøs og interessant IR-teori, men ofte misforstått og forsimplet.

Reposted by Halvard Leira

When I travelled a lot l met loads of Canadians with Canada flags stitched on their backpacks. "Why the flags?" I would ask, "so people don't think we're American and shoot us in the back" was the usual response.
Time to stop writing articles about the "security" or "economic" reasons to capture Greenland, they are irrelevant
Not everyone believed me when I wrote that Trump wants Greenland becuase it would make him feel important, but that's what he told the NYT:

When asked why he needed to possess the territory, he said: “Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success"
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’
www.nytimes.com
New, from me: The Trump administration isn’t just using social media to shape a narrative. They view the world through a social media lens in a way that is plausibly corrupting their judgment and undermining their performance.
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Life Under a Clicktatorship
What happens to government when everything is content?
donmoynihan.substack.com
It's wild that the PM of a NATO member feels compelled to put out a statement like this vis-à-vis the US government.

While twisting "Western Civ" (whatever that might imply) completely tangled into WHITE SUPREMACYYYYYY!

Sto bak Captain Lewis Nixon i en Starbucks-kø i New Orleans en gang.

The spirit of X-mas present. Keep on enjoying, stay safe and warm and get some good sleep!

Men det er åpenbart en tangent til hovedtråden og en veldig nerdete ting å følge opp. Point taken. Jeg logger av og gleder meg heller til julefeiring. God jul, alle! 2/2

Hm. Jeg tror veldig sjelden at jeg har RETT. Hvis det er etterlatt inntrykk, kommuniserer jeg for dårlig. My bad. Jeg er opptatt av to ting her 1) mulighet for samtale - en eller annen skjør og midlertidig felles forståelse av begreper 2) begrepers historisitet. 1/2

Jeg er lei for å si det, men hvis man mener at "radikal" er en eksklusiv venstresidebetegnelse, så er man nok (i det minste mentalt) en "boomer". Generasjonen før (som nå stort sett er i jorda) og generasjonene etter, har for mange eksempler på andre ytterpunkter til å følge denne språkbruken.

Jo. Den gjengse forståelsen i samfunnsvitenskapene er at "radikal" innebærer en vilje til å omvelte det bestående. Fra venstre eller høyre, nord eller sør, opp eller ned. I 68er-lingo har "radikal" vært limt til venstresiden, men på 20-tallet kunne det gå begge veier.

Absolutt ikke. Jeg forstår ikke helt hvordan du kommer til den konklusjonen. Begreper er sosialt konstruerte. Mitt poeng er at kommunikasjon blir tungt hvis vi alle legger forskjellige ting i begreper som for eksempel "radikal".