Kyle Reed 🟥
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kylereed.bsky.social
Kyle Reed 🟥
@kylereed.bsky.social
2.2K followers 3.6K following 1.3K posts
Assistant Professor of International Relations, University of Amsterdam | Studying international law, language, and politics | #IntLaw (IHRL, IHL, jus ad bellum) | he/him 🏳‍🌈 | Views are mine, nobody wants to pay for them
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kylereed.bsky.social
Big talk from the guy who just fired almost every member (162!) of Dornsife's support staff.
Screenshot from the article reading: "What do you see as Dornsife’s greatest strengths? And what is a strength that this community might not recognize about itself? First off, the level of talent here is extraordinary. Faculty, staff, students — across the board, we’re operating at a very high level. There’s intellectual excellence, but also a real commitment to each other and to the mission of the College. That’s not something you can take for granted in academia."
October 13, 2025 at 6:52 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Fun fact, the EPP thinks you're an idiot.

www.bbc.com/news/article...
Screenshot from the article reading: "Marketing plant-based products using meat labels "is misleading for the consumer", the member of the conservative EPP group in the EP said."
October 9, 2025 at 8:12 AM
kylereed.bsky.social
In the DOJ's defense, this outcome could only have been foreseen by anyone over the age of 12 with a passing familiarity of current events.
Screenshot from the article reading: "The FBI and the Justice Department planned to wait to see whether Homan would deliver on his alleged promise once he became the nation’s top immigration official. But the case indefinitely stalled soon after Donald Trump became president again in January"
September 20, 2025 at 10:53 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Apropos of nothing in particular, I've found myself recalling this random line almost every day since I encountered it doing archival research.
An excerpt of a typewritten letter reading "I confess that I am getting a little anxious as to where all this is leading us." The signature is at the bottom right of the page in blue ink "S. Lloyd."
June 12, 2025 at 10:54 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
First time breaking out the camera in a while.

I'm pretty happy with this shot of cherry blossoms reflected on the water. #photography
A picture of pink cherry blossoms reflected on blue water. The blossoms go across the center of the frame with white clouds behind them
March 29, 2025 at 4:29 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Honestly, I found #SpotifyWrapped a bit underwhelming this year compared to some past iterations (I miss the genre info), but this bit did get a laugh out of me.
A Spotify Wrapped card titled "Goblincore Banjo Folk Punk," describing my August listening. Featuring The Mountain Goats, AJJ, and Apes of the State
December 9, 2024 at 12:09 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
A bit late to the game with my #SpotifyWrapped post, but no real surprises this year.

A reasonable 139,176 minutes, covering 8,871 songs by different 2,860 artists.
Image of a Spotify Wrapped summary. Top artists: 1. The Mountain Goats 2. Taylor Swift 3. Dessa 4. Anberlin 5. Enter Shikari Top songs: 1. True Blue (boygenius) 2. Hot & Heavy (Lucy Dacus) 3. A Better Son/Daughter (Rilo Kiley) 4. Garden Song (Phoebe Bridgers) 5. I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore (Lucy Dacus) Total minutes: 139,176
December 9, 2024 at 12:07 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
What a night. Finally heard Symphonie Fantastique - an all-time favorite - live, as well as a tremendous piano performance by Daniil Trifonov.

Also, Het Concertgebouw is an amazing venue with some incredible seats.
Image of a concert hall, taken from behind the Orchestra, looking out toward the seats
November 27, 2024 at 10:38 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
With timezones, this is a Tuesday that doesn't feel entirely like an election day.

Tomorrow's 9am class, though? Different story.
A map of poll closing times in the US election, shaded for CET. East coast polls close starting at midnight, with some wear coast polls not closing until after 4am CET.
November 5, 2024 at 8:52 AM
kylereed.bsky.social
Coming soonish to an International Studies Quarterly near you - "The Argumentative Power of International Law: Legal Rhetoric, Human Rights, and the Universal Periodic Review."

This paper comes from my book project examining the use of IL language & argumentation. [1/2]
Screenshot of an article abstract. The article tests the effectiveness of legal framing in human rights arguments, applying statistical research methods to recommendations in the Universal Periodic Review, to find that arguments framed on legal grounds outperform those framed on non-legal grounds. This calls attention to the value of legal argumentation and the place of legal rhetoric in IOs and human rights
October 2, 2024 at 7:28 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
I had the privilege of spending the last few days in Berlin for the @kfgintlaw.bsky.social Concluding Conference.

The time I spent with the KFG as a postdoc was immeasurably enriching - personally and professionally - and the Concluding Conference was certainly a bittersweet moment.
A group photograph of conference participants standing outside the KFG building.
September 30, 2024 at 12:54 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Flying boats don't get enough love. They're the perfect mix of kinda feasible, kinda silly.
A black and white photo of a Martin P6M Seamaster, a jet powered flying boat. Picture is looking down at the plane on the water.
September 11, 2024 at 4:22 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Fact check: Laughably false.

Trump is a 78 year old man held together by racism and McDonalds. He would actually be very bad at jiu-jitsu.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Quote from article: Campaigns are about many things: the state of the nation and the national mood, candidate character and candidate quality, policy prescriptions, the strength of a party’s infrastructure, money and advertising. But they are also about some intangibles, things that do not rise to the level of high policy or dignified debate, including sometimes a day-by-day jujitsu contest at which Trump once excelled.
August 23, 2024 at 1:56 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
This guy is gonna sweep the electoral college
The cover of the book "The Kid Who Ran For President"
July 18, 2024 at 9:05 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
A "restricted fire areas" only makes sense when there are "unrestricted fire areas." Also, remember that an "unrestricted fire area" is fundamentally incompatible with IHL.

Ordering evacuations doesn't mean a license to use indiscriminate violence in an area. [IntLaw, poliski] t.co/UsCPbP9ozw
Excerpt from the ICJ decision, paragraph 41: "41. According to the Respondent, the Israeli Defense Forces implement “[r]estricted fire areas” and “tactical pauses in fighting along evacuation routes” to enhance the security of the Palestinians evacuating..."
May 24, 2024 at 10:37 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
May 20, 2024 at 5:06 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
A huge decision from the European Court of Human Rights today.

States have obligations to adopt & apply "measures capable of mitigating the existing and potentially irreversible, future effects of climate change"

[polisky, IntLaw]

Link to the press release: t.co/9yp2paHV4I
The first page of the ECHR press release accompanying the decision. Full text is linked in the post.
April 9, 2024 at 12:26 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
2 quick thoughts on France's draft UNSC resolution:

1. Any sensible reading of OP11 rightly rejects the "demilitarized" red herring that is often attached to Palestinian statehood;

2. Even with a veto, there's nothing stopping France from fully recognizing Palestinian statehood. [IntLaw, polisky]
April 1, 2024 at 9:11 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
"We're gonna policy change youth slang!"

Sure, yep, good luck with that one.
Quote from article: His Wetenschapsinstituut voor de Ontengelsing van de Taal (WOT) agency will first “unEnglish” official reports and then tackle youth slang in schools, linked with online language migration. “You hear teenagers describing an invitation, for example, as nice or chill, but this makes no sense in Dutch,” said Tilburg University linguistics professor Onsa Taal, who is advising the WOT. “It’s never cold enough to chill, for a start. And their grandparents cannot understand a word they are saying.”
April 1, 2024 at 7:13 AM
kylereed.bsky.social
The UNSC has (finally) adopted a resolution demanding an immediate (although temporary) ceasefire.

14 votes in favor with the US abstaining. [IntLaw, polisky]
Picture of a UNSC draft resolution authored by Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Operative Paragraph 1: "Demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs, and further demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain." Operative paragraph two reiterates previous demands regarding the flow of humanitarian assistance and protection of civilians in Gaza
March 25, 2024 at 2:49 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Okay, hear me out...maybe you're having a hard time teaching this because you're just kinda...wrong?
Quote from a NY Times article: "Constitutional-law education is in a crisis, Justin Driver, a professor at Yale who has taught the subject for 15 years, told me. “One of the primary challenges when one is teaching constitutional law is to impress upon the students that it is not simply politics by other means,” he said. “And the degree of difficulty of that proposition has never been higher.”"
February 26, 2024 at 1:58 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Nothing demonstrates "national security credentials" like using the same tool, in the same way as every predecessor, with almost certainly the same results.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Quote from the article - "As he (Biden) intensifies his reelection campaign, the president must also showcase his national security credentials and his ability to keep Americans safe"
February 2, 2024 at 10:44 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Happy Spotify Wrapped day to those who celebrate 🎧
Screen grab of a Spotify Wrapped summary. Top Artists - the Mountain Goats, Taylor Swift, Anberlin, Dessa, Enter Shikari Top Songs - $20, Not Strong Enough, Garden Song, True Blue, Bite the Hand Minutes listened - 135,575 Top genre - Indie Rock
November 29, 2023 at 6:50 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
If you're in Berlin and interested in the International Criminal Court (or international law more broadly), you don't want to miss this.

www.kfg-intlaw.de/News%20and%2...
Poster for the lecture "The International Criminal Court - Between Internationality and Sovereignty," being given by Dr. Ute Hohoff on Tuesday 17 October at 6:15pm. The event is being held at Humbold University in Berlin, Lecture Hall 1072.
October 17, 2023 at 12:45 PM
kylereed.bsky.social
Trying my hand at something different - learning a language without depending solely on a judgemental owl.
Picture of a Dutch language textbook
October 3, 2023 at 4:56 PM