Patrick Iber
@patrickiber.bsky.social
Co-editor, Dissent Magazine. I teach history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Write books about Cold War culture and propaganda. Have written for the set of all publications that are not members of themselves
Hmm
The U.S. withdrawal from a whole host of international organizations, and in particular climate-related ones like the IPCC OR THE UNFCCC), removes the most powerful obstructionist force within them, which may enable them to finally hit the necessary stride.
open.substack.com/pub/nilsgilm...
open.substack.com/pub/nilsgilm...
January 9, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Hmm
Educational polarization in everything
getting most of the pre-2020 joint chiefs and officer corp in the national divorce is an odd, but good thing
They have lost McChrystal
January 9, 2026 at 1:50 AM
Educational polarization in everything
Here's Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Map in case you want to visually know how big things actually are (to a reasonable approximation)
January 9, 2026 at 1:04 AM
Here's Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Map in case you want to visually know how big things actually are (to a reasonable approximation)
Reposted by Patrick Iber
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).
January 8, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).
As history shows, maintaining domestic and international hegemony by being evil famously works out forever for those who employ it as a strategy
January 8, 2026 at 1:21 PM
As history shows, maintaining domestic and international hegemony by being evil famously works out forever for those who employ it as a strategy
Garland's Civil War got mixed reviews when it came out and I get it but it has been really _sticky_ in the culture and in my own mind; there are some scenes that have not left me and seemingly will not
even the movie shitposting subreddit is discussing the current political moment. huh.
www.reddit.com/r/okbuddycin...
www.reddit.com/r/okbuddycin...
From the okbuddycinephile community on Reddit: Posting this still from Civil War (2024) for no apparent reason.
Explore this post and more from the okbuddycinephile community
www.reddit.com
January 8, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Garland's Civil War got mixed reviews when it came out and I get it but it has been really _sticky_ in the culture and in my own mind; there are some scenes that have not left me and seemingly will not
Had the stray thought that if Trump’s first term channeled the energy of the Tea Party in government then the second is more like the J6 mob in power
January 8, 2026 at 9:40 AM
Had the stray thought that if Trump’s first term channeled the energy of the Tea Party in government then the second is more like the J6 mob in power
Guys I finally found Heems
January 7, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Guys I finally found Heems
I'm in Chile and I just got served a YouTube ad in Spanish, from Homeland Security, telling me that the US border is a death zone and even if I make it I will be sent back home
January 6, 2026 at 10:32 PM
I'm in Chile and I just got served a YouTube ad in Spanish, from Homeland Security, telling me that the US border is a death zone and even if I make it I will be sent back home
This is how he concludes the "The End of History?" article from 1989, so he was on to this potential dynamic from the beginning. IIRC correctly Fukuyama described himself as a conservative Hegelian at one point, and that's a good way of understanding his philosophy of history
Dr. Fukuyama, you can't miss
January 6, 2026 at 10:09 PM
This is how he concludes the "The End of History?" article from 1989, so he was on to this potential dynamic from the beginning. IIRC correctly Fukuyama described himself as a conservative Hegelian at one point, and that's a good way of understanding his philosophy of history
Get in losers, we’re defending Western Civilization
From an email to one of our faculty members....
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
January 6, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Get in losers, we’re defending Western Civilization
Reposted by Patrick Iber
"Trump won’t care. He doesn’t know why international organizations exist. He may relish the idea of a world order in which the strong do what they may."
This, from @patrickiber.bsky.social. was really illuminating. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
This, from @patrickiber.bsky.social. was really illuminating. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
The Trump Doctrine - Dissent Magazine
For years, Venezuelans have been trapped between two rogue states, with many reduced to hoping that one could solve the problem of the other. But it is the Venezuelan people who should decide how Vene...
dissentmagazine.org
January 6, 2026 at 2:45 PM
"Trump won’t care. He doesn’t know why international organizations exist. He may relish the idea of a world order in which the strong do what they may."
This, from @patrickiber.bsky.social. was really illuminating. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
This, from @patrickiber.bsky.social. was really illuminating. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
Trump's National Security Strategy calls for a "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, in which strategic resources are kept out of the hands of rival powers. As I wrote yesterday in @dissentmag.bsky.social, it is unlikely to stop with Venezuela dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
The Trump Doctrine - Dissent Magazine
For years, Venezuelans have been trapped between two rogue states, with many reduced to hoping that one could solve the problem of the other. But it is the Venezuelan people who should decide how Vene...
dissentmagazine.org
January 6, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Trump's National Security Strategy calls for a "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, in which strategic resources are kept out of the hands of rival powers. As I wrote yesterday in @dissentmag.bsky.social, it is unlikely to stop with Venezuela dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
Reposted by Patrick Iber
Seeing the world through an extractivist lens frees the US from concerns with democracy, stability and rule of law, even if it does little to free those who have long suffered under the regime now partnered with Trump. My piece in @newstatesman1913.bsky.social
The US can't treat Venezuela like Panama
The US framed its 1989 Panama invasion as a targeted capture of a rogue head of state wanted for drug trafficking
www.newstatesman.com
January 6, 2026 at 8:18 AM
Seeing the world through an extractivist lens frees the US from concerns with democracy, stability and rule of law, even if it does little to free those who have long suffered under the regime now partnered with Trump. My piece in @newstatesman1913.bsky.social
It seems basic and yet
"It is the Venezuelan people who should decide how Venezuela is governed, and by whom. Not the United States. Not a dictatorship. And certainly not some chimera of the two."
New from @patrickiber.bsky.social: dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
New from @patrickiber.bsky.social: dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
The Trump Doctrine - Dissent Magazine
For years, Venezuelans have been trapped between two rogue states, with many reduced to hoping that one could solve the problem of the other. But it is the Venezuelan people who should decide how Vene...
dissentmagazine.org
January 5, 2026 at 8:51 PM
It seems basic and yet
Reposted by Patrick Iber
I’m sorry. I can’t let this Miller bullshit pass.
After WWII “the West,” sometimes relatively quickly, sometimes not until the ‘70s, realized that the writing was on the wall: that they could spend vast sums in blood and treasure trying to defeat anti-colonial movements, and still lose.
After WWII “the West,” sometimes relatively quickly, sometimes not until the ‘70s, realized that the writing was on the wall: that they could spend vast sums in blood and treasure trying to defeat anti-colonial movements, and still lose.
Eyes wide open, folks. They're revealing the supervillain plot.
January 5, 2026 at 7:16 PM
I’m sorry. I can’t let this Miller bullshit pass.
After WWII “the West,” sometimes relatively quickly, sometimes not until the ‘70s, realized that the writing was on the wall: that they could spend vast sums in blood and treasure trying to defeat anti-colonial movements, and still lose.
After WWII “the West,” sometimes relatively quickly, sometimes not until the ‘70s, realized that the writing was on the wall: that they could spend vast sums in blood and treasure trying to defeat anti-colonial movements, and still lose.
Just passing this along because I keep hearing speculation that someone in the Venezuelan government (Delcy, presumably) cut a deal to get rid of Maduro in part to cut ties with Cuba, which was Maduro's project and not one shared by her
January 5, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Just passing this along because I keep hearing speculation that someone in the Venezuelan government (Delcy, presumably) cut a deal to get rid of Maduro in part to cut ties with Cuba, which was Maduro's project and not one shared by her
They are playing ker-plunk
It honestly makes it hard to even analyze the news we are seeing because at this point it is simply not clear what their actual goal is or if they even all know what they are trying to do.
I suppose in the next weeks we'll get some clarity as to exactly what game they are playing. It ain't chess.
I suppose in the next weeks we'll get some clarity as to exactly what game they are playing. It ain't chess.
January 4, 2026 at 1:37 PM
They are playing ker-plunk
You know what on second thought this is exactly the way you would expect the winner of the FIFA Peace Prize to behave
January 4, 2026 at 12:38 PM
You know what on second thought this is exactly the way you would expect the winner of the FIFA Peace Prize to behave
Agree with Brad: if I see another “Wag the Dog” explanation I’m going to lose it. This has been planned for months and there are clear (if sometimes ridiculous) motives for the people involved. Come on.
For many Americans, and evidently some American historians the world is an abstraction with no real history of its own or dynamics that need explaining. Everything is just somehow a reflection of the oddities of American politics.
January 4, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Agree with Brad: if I see another “Wag the Dog” explanation I’m going to lose it. This has been planned for months and there are clear (if sometimes ridiculous) motives for the people involved. Come on.
Should this come to pass, it’s a grand slam for the “we try the imperialism in Latin America first” theory
Katie Miller, wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, posted an image of Greenland covered with an American flag and the caption “SOON.”
January 4, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Should this come to pass, it’s a grand slam for the “we try the imperialism in Latin America first” theory
Reposted by Patrick Iber
Fascinating long read here.
January 3, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Fascinating long read here.
Yes, although on the other hand this is never going to have 70% approval
It’s sobering to look back on the run-up to the Iraq war—a period of unceasing chattering-class debate, elaborate official lies, media complicity, unavailing global protest, in the end a giant stitch-up—and have it seem like some sort of paradise of public deliberation compared to these gangsters.
January 3, 2026 at 10:59 PM
Yes, although on the other hand this is never going to have 70% approval
Someone requested a reading list and, like, I dunno, what am I even doing here. But I guess I can try
January 3, 2026 at 10:14 PM
Someone requested a reading list and, like, I dunno, what am I even doing here. But I guess I can try
This is a niche post but I am its audience and I approve
Another way of putting it is that if you had an LLM and RAG-ed in the complete text of Albert Hirschman's Rhetoric of Reaction as a how-to for explainers of current events, the outputs would approximate Megan McArdle columns, +/- some acceptable amount of slop.
"Until there is substantial and repeated evidence otherwise, assume counterintuitive findings to be false, and second-order effects to be dwarfed by first-order ones in magnitude." x.com/zeynep/statu...
January 1, 2026 at 3:06 PM
This is a niche post but I am its audience and I approve