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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · 2d

Trying to rationalise what I’ve seen and heard on both sides of the Atlantic, I wrote this short piece for the Dutch Atlantische Perspectief magazine.

“Culture warriors” are aligning and fuelling each others’ violence, and politicians don’t help.

@hcss.bsky.social

www.atlcom.nl/magazine/the...

The transatlantic bridge of violence? - Atlantische Commissie

In the ‘culture war’ that is waged in both the US and Europe, political violence is increasingly seen as an acceptable tool.

www.atlcom.nl

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · 14d

Will definitely be using this, from @vanjackson.bsky.social 's latest Substack post...

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · 16d

As much as there is to distrust from Russian leadership, this offer of maintaining quantitative limits under New START is for us advocates to be supportive of.

Arms control starts with small steps, and is not done between friends. Keeping New START is just smart.

www.reuters.com/world/putin-...

Putin offers Trump a temporary nuclear arms control deal that would extend status quo by one year

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that he was ready to extend by one year the last arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow that limits the number of nuclear weapons each side has if U.S. President Donald Trump does the same.

www.reuters.com

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Reposted by Davis Ellison

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 18d

John Roberts's "there's no such thing as corruption" and "the president has the right to use the DOJ as his personal law firm" jurisprudence is really working out well for us.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Sep 2

Certainly a good time to perfect it!

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Sep 2

So I've been working for a bit with the Project on Nuclear Issue's Arms Control Knowledge Transfer Initiative Archive, and it's cool to see my work on NATO and Warsaw Pact historical sources on the history of the NPT reflected in here!

ackti-archive.csis.org

Arms Control Knowledge Transfer Initiative Primary Source Archive | CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues

An archive of documents, interviews, and analysis dedicated to preserving arms control knowledge for future generations of experts.

ackti-archive.csis.org

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Sep 1

How are other people rationalising all of this? Genuinely curious. #CivMilSky #PoliSciSky

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Sep 1

Trying to write something about European foreign policy just feels kind of…..pointless I guess?

Like the centre node of knowledge and political capital from the last decades is just full blown autocratic. Hell no I’m not going to some conference in D.C. or LA now.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Sep 1

Like, the entire intellectual infrastructure that this is work is designed to feed into is either co-opted, lost its funding, or progressive and being targeted.

Do people know that all this work doesn’t lead to a State policy planning job in a Democratic administration anymore?

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Sep 1

Honestly, how do security studies people in/from the U.S. do anything unrelated to the current political situation?

Like, how does someone do a research report on scenarios on Taiwan while troops are occupying the capital and security forces are making life hell?

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Reposted by Davis Ellison

Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · Aug 29

China gets Tank Man and we get Sandwich Guy.

It's alright, I'm assuming we'll have our Tank Person at some point, too.

Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · Aug 29

Art depicting “Sandwich Guy” now at the scene of the alleged misdemeanor.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 29

My latest on my Official Position substack, asking what does it do to someone psychologically to prepare for war for decades, and then it never comes?

Just some weird Friday ruminating really....

officialpositions.substack.com/p/what-if-th...

What if the 'big one' never comes?

What does decades preparing for something that never happens do to someone?

officialpositions.substack.com

Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

For anyone who wants a lot more on this era, feel free to check out my open-access PhD thesis (especially chapter 6) kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/st...

Alliance Politics: Revisiting NATO’s History Through Civil-Military Relations

kclpure.kcl.ac.uk

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

SO, while we often bring up the Article 5 and 9/11 connection in today's discussion, it needs way more context about how all of that happened in D.C. and Brussels. It was not a moment of bright, transatlantic unity, but more a tepidly welcomed NATO initiative that many in D.C. disliked in practice.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

U.S. miltiary officials only saw NATO's benefit in Afghanistan from a burden-sharing perspective, in that NATO would take on Afghanistan while the U.S. shifted troops and attention to Iraq. General John Abizaid was explicit about this when NATO took over ISAF in 2003.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

Rumsfeld especially did not want any NATO procedures tying U.S. hands in their aggressive counter-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan (which of course went great for Afghans!)

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

If anything, the U.S. administration actively did not want NATO involved. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumseld was himself incredibly derisive of NATO, and hated it's 'war by committee' style of operation seen in BiH and Kosovo.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

Robertson is well-documented as being very concerned about NATO's post-Cold War relevance, and also quite eager to show off his 'special relationship' bona fides in D.C. (he even wanted NATO to go into Iraq!)

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

While Article 5 was invoked, it was not done so on behalf of the by U.S. permanent representative, but was tabled by then Secretary General George Robertson. Of course Burns then voted in favour of the motion, but it was not a U.S. initiative.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 27

One of the more interesting cases of selective memory regarding the U.S. and NATO is "Article 5 and 9/11".

It is often brought up in relation to any U.S. skepticism about NATO, with an admonishment that it was invoked for the first time after 9/11.

While true, there is more...

#HistIR

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Reposted by Davis Ellison

Julia Rose Kraut @juliarosekraut.bsky.social · Aug 20

It will come down to implementation & enforcement by individual officials with whatever guidance or lack of guidance they receive on determining "anti-American ideologies."

Their discretion can do some damage, but it's the chilling effect that will do much more.

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · Aug 20

The Trump administration plans to scrutinize social media for “anti-American ideologies” when deciding to grant visa or green-card applications.

Trump Administration to Screen Immigrants for ‘Anti-American’ Views

The new guidance builds on the agency’s policy of vetting social media for evidence of antisemitism.

on.wsj.com

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Reposted by Davis Ellison

Joe Kassabian @jkass99.bsky.social · Aug 15

Humvees and MRAPs driving through a city means it is only a matter of time before someone steals one, and when it does happen, it's going to be hilarious.

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 13

A new historical hill I will die on:

George HW Bush played a nearly singular role in setting the stage for the impunity of the War on Terror and Trump years by pardoning the Iran-Contra criminals at the Pentagon and CIA.

www.politico.com/story/2018/1...

Bush pardons Iran-Contra felons, Dec. 24, 1992

Caspar Weinberger and five others were pardoned.

www.politico.com

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 11

“we cannot accept that territorial issues between Russia and America are discussed or even decided over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians…I assume the US government sees it the same way…”

Like I get he has to say what he has to say, its just sooooo far from reality…

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Davis Ellison @davisellison.bsky.social · Aug 11

Have to say, Friedrich Merz and his team might be one of the worst readers of the Trump admin out there:

www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/202...

Germany’s Merz: Zelenskyy must be involved in Trump-Putin meeting

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must be involved in the 15 August meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in ...

www.pravda.com.ua

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