Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ed Schatz

@edwardschatz.bsky.social

760 followers 210 following 120 posts

Central Asianist, Political Scientist, University of Toronto Posting mostly about politics and society in Central Asia.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Dec 11

Seeing China's Belt & Road (Oxford Univ. Press) will be available on January 2.

With a crack team of scholars, Rachel Silvey & I seek to learn, ground-up, from countries around the globe what the BRI's downstream impact is shaping up to be.

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

@oxunipress.bsky.social

2 4 19

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 11h

Thanks! What's the book?

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 13h

Thank God. For a second there I thought they were going after James Comey.

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 1d

almost like he forsaw social media...

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 1d

“One morning (and it will be soon), when everyone wakes up as a writer, the age of universal deafness and incomprehension will have arrived.”

― Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

1 1

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 5d

Teehee

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 11d

Political ethnography alert! 🚨

Fabulous article by @professorbiko.bsky.social and Tali Mendelberg in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social showing that MAGA is as much about 'reclaiming lost status' as it is about culture wars or policy preferences.

The Symbolic Politics of Status in the MAGA Movement | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

The Symbolic Politics of Status in the MAGA Movement

www.cambridge.org

2 10

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 12d

The Times Claims It’s Not Amplifying Trump’s Nonsense

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Predicts More Indictments and Claims It’s Not Revenge

www.nytimes.com

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 15d

In a brilliant essay, Steve Hansen argues that neopatrimonial rule is on the march, but its success is not foreordained . aseees.org/newsnet-arti...

The Fate of Regional Studies under Patrimonial Rule | Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies

This crisis is qualitatively different from any we have faced as scholars since the invention of modern area studies associations in the aftermath of World War II...

aseees.org

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 15d

On top of it all, he’s deeply weird.

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 24d

BREAKING er “NEWS” from the NYT

“In an Era of Deep Polarization, Unity Is Not Trump’s Mission” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/u...

In an Era of Deep Polarization, Unity Is Not Trump’s Mission

www.nytimes.com

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jul 31

@seva.bsky.social is on fire open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...

Facts Will not Save You

AI, history, and Soviet sci-fi

open.substack.com

1 2

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jul 31

Interesting piece, though huh? “When Moscow offered its 14 socialist republics independence in 1991…” edition.cnn.com/2025/07/31/t...

One of the world’s most isolated countries, this former Soviet state is showing signs it’s ready for more tourists | CNN

Turkmenistan has long been considered one of the globe’s most isolated countries. New streamlined visa regulations are reportedly in the works, a sign it could be ready to welcome more tourists.

edition.cnn.com

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jul 30

Democrats squabbling belongs on p. A24, not above the fold. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/u...

Democrats Clash on Senate Floor Over Policing Bills and How to Take On Trump

www.nytimes.com

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jul 22

Thoughts and prayers

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jul 11

I admit that I have said negative things about Kash Patel.

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jul 10

The 'Trump has seen the light on Ukraine' folks are wise to remember that he has no convictions and can swing back wildly at any moment.

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jun 22

Not winning hearts and minds you are.

a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars holding a sword .

ALT: a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars holding a sword .

media.tenor.com

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Jun 15

Oh so this is what happens when there’s no global police.

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · May 28

re-Stalinization

meduza.io/en/news/2025...

Restored sculpture of Stalin unveiled in Moscow metro station — Meduza

A sculpture of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin has been unveiled in a passageway at the Taganskaya Metro Station in Moscow, architecture researcher Alexander Zinoviev reported on Thursday.

meduza.io

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · May 15

This is insane.

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · May 15

this just started and i'm already losing my mind and screaming

Western white folk basically putting an AI avatar on stage and pretending it is a refugee from sudan — literally interacting with it as if it is a “woman that fled to chad from sudan”

just fucking shoot me

Through the case study report, "Ask Amina" and "Ask Abdalla" – experimental agents representing a refugee in Chad and a combatant in Sudan – participants will gain insights into how these technologies might transform field operations while navigating complex ethical terrain. The workshop will address critical questions about representation, power dynamics and data rights. Participants will:

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · May 2

Seems about right

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · May 2

Short lived, but great game wow

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · May 1

Before Trump: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" (Hanlon's razor)

Now: It's malice all the way down.

Reposted by Ed Schatz

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · Apr 23

JD Vance’s statement: « Now, of course, that means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own» is in astonishing bad faith. He isn’t talking about Ru giving up ANY of its territory…

7 13 120

Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · Apr 12

It's not a slippery slope, it's a vertigo-inducing free-fall that goes further, faster than any Orban or Erdogan could orchestrate. Even Putin in the early 2000's took *years* to dismantle Russia's weak democratic institutions.

www.cnn.com/2025/04/11/p...

‘Slippery slope towards authoritarian-like rule’: Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyer responds to Marco Rubio’s memo | CNN Politics

A Louisiana immigration judge is set to decide Friday whether to release Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil one month after he was arrested by federal agents followin...