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Susie Colbourn

@susancolbourn.net

3.4K followers 1.5K following 400 posts

Historian at Duke. Latest book: EUROMISSILES. Still writing about NATO and European security since 1945.

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Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Mar 20

Current vibes are this, on loop.

a cartoon dog is sitting at a table with a cup of coffee surrounded by fire .

ALT: a cartoon dog is sitting at a table with a cup of coffee surrounded by fire .

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Susie Colbourn

Wayne E. Lee @milhistlee.bsky.social · 18h

Hey Military Historians, esp Grad students! The SMH is announcing its 2026 Summer Seminar in Military history, hosted by the Adams Center at VMI. This is a fabulous opportunity to learn the field outside your specialty, to network, and enjoy the Blue Ridge Mountains. www.smh-hq.org/summersemina...

Summer Seminar | The Society for Military History

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 3d

Spent a great day with students from Duke, UNC, NC State, and NC Central for our @bridgingthegap.bsky.social FIRST workshop, including a morning talking about scenario planning and some alternative futures for the world ten years from now.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 5d

Applications are now open for the 2026-27 predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships with the America in the World Consortium!

Applicants from all disciplines whose research bears directly on American grand strategy, broadly defined, are welcome to apply.

Deadline: December 1

AWC Pre- and Post- Doctoral Fellowships 2025-2026

The America in the World Consortium at Duke University, Johns Hopkins SAIS, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Florida seeks applications from current Ph.D. students for its Pred...

www.awconsortium.org

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 7d

History teaches us [insert thing I already believe].

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 7d

Motion to bar use of the phrase “as history teaches us.”

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 7d

Can we get a cost estimate on how much the American taxpayer coughed up for that “meeting”?

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 7d

FRUS klaxon: another new volume is out today on START I!

history.state.gov/historicaldo...

Historical Documents - Office of the Historian

history.state.gov 3.0 shell

history.state.gov

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 7d

Name-checking LeMay almost never makes me feel good.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 10d

Major increases in cost, even when adjusted for inflation, contributing to at least two other trends: (1) cost lends itself to narratives of elitism and (2) changing expectations about what education should provide to be a “good” ROI that frame some “culture war” attack on the humanities.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 10d

So, a biography of George Marshall?

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 14d

c) All of the above.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 14d

Great opportunity for early-career scholars working on topics related to World War II at the National WWII Museum’s Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy.

www.nationalww2museum.org/war/jenny-cr...

Call for Papers Emerging Scholars Workshop

The National WWII Museum’s Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy is pleased to issue this call for papers for its Spring Emerging Scholars Workshop, “New Directions in WWII History....

www.nationalww2museum.org

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 27d

“Their presence suggests that Russia was testing NATO resolve by forcing Poland and its allies to scramble air defenses thereby allowing Moscow to assess the speed and efficiency of an alliance response.”

Inside NATO’s Scramble to Shoot Down Russia’s All-Night Drone Raid Over Poland

Allies acted in concert to engage Russian drones over alliance territory for the first time.

Reposted by Susie Colbourn

Eugene Finkel @efinkel.bsky.social · 27d

Today, millions of people suddenly discovered, to their astonishment, that the North Atlantic Treaty also has articles 1 to 4. Thanks to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for their educational efforts

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · 28d

Me: writing the historiography section is the hardest, most painful part of any project.

Also me: agrees to write an entire essay on a fraught historiography.

🙃

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Sep 7

A fixture of the NATO literature: the Canadian caveat.

Screenshot of footnote that reads: "* This discussion will not deal with the U.S.-Canadian and Canadian-European alliance relationships."

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Sep 6

There is a rather depressing irony to this given how many of the treaty’s architects were motivated by a desire to forge a new kind of alliance, not replicate the old patterns like those before 1914.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Sep 2

"Crafting history in real time makes it harder to drain the emotion and to look at events objectively, removed from our own passions and personal commitments."

This @tnsr.org introduction from Frank Gavin has a great, short discussion on the differences between contemporary and "regular" history.

What Do We Really Know? - Texas National Security Review

We are more confident about our world than we should be.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Aug 31

“Integration was the fundamental premise of building security across Europe, including a democratic Russia as a full partner.”

A short interview with Stephan Kieninger on his new book about Strobe Talbott and US-Russian relations, SECURING PEACE IN EUROPE.

Strobe Talbott's diplomatic legacy | Brookings

An out-of-the-box thinker, Strobe Talbott was not constrained by conventional wisdom and generally accepted theories.

www.brookings.edu

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Aug 30

Alabama looks like they have no clue what is going on.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Aug 30

Too much positive pre-season chatter is a form of Texas curse, it seems.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Aug 30

Saturday is just better when there’s football.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Aug 26

Without fail, the first week of classes is like drinking from a fire hose.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Aug 23

A quaint, bygone era where consulting one’s allies was expected, if extremely annoying.

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Aug 22

American alliance management, 1978.

history.state.gov/historicaldo...

Screenshot of document that reads: "Getting the psychology right also means, of course, learning to live with the new frustrations of actually having to listen to the Allies during 'consultations' on issues like grey areas and ERW–and having to respond to them on economic questions–whereas before we had the relative power and position simply to get our way. A new experience for us: but one that will become more demanding on our patience and ability to adapt, not less."