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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds
@warstudent.bsky.social
1.8K followers 840 following 110 posts
Lecturer in Defence Studies Education at KCL, @dsdkings.bsky.social | Doctor in War Studies, @warstudieskcl.bsky.social | Associate @csns-uk.bsky.social‬ | Anglo-Japanese grand strategy post-45 🇬🇧🇯🇵 | Views my own
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · 22d
Time to do some archive-based teaching!
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · 27d
A new Miyako-class has entered the water. The JCG 'Hiroshima'.

A 3,500-ton of the PL type (Patrol Vessel Large), it is equipped with a flight deck, water cannons and 2x Bofor 40mm systems.

Its origins are in the 2016 Budget, with the first entering the water in 2018.

www.mhi.com/jp/news/2509...
三菱重工 | 海上保安庁向け大型巡視船の命名・進水式を三菱重工マリタイムシステムズで実施3,500トン型巡視船「ひろしま」
三菱重工
www.mhi.com
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Reposted by Will Reynolds
newdiplomacy.bsky.social
New Diplomacy Project @newdiplomacy.bsky.social · Aug 5
As @teamlabouruk.bsky.social marks its one year anniversary in office, Prof @jamiegaskarth.bsky.social & Prof @jasonralph.bsky.social ask the question "can foreign policy be pragmatic and progressive?"

www.newdiplomacy.uk/articles/kar...
Can foreign policy be pragmatic and progressive? — New Diplomacy Project
These are dark times for progressive foreign policy. We are moving towards an illiberal world order. In this climate, how can the UK advance progressive foreign policy goals?  Many UK policymake...
www.newdiplomacy.uk
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Jun 2
I suspect folks aren't going to like the suggestive nature of the document (it is an external 'suggesting' document after all).

Lots of room for interpretation and re-interpretation from all involved from policy through to implementation.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/683d89...
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · May 22
Having been around with The Centre for Grand Strategy for almost eight years now (in one form or another), am excited to see it take this next step as part of a wider community!
csns-uk.bsky.social
Centre for Statecraft & National Security @csns-uk.bsky.social · May 22
📢 Exciting news! The Centre for Grand Strategy and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation are merging to form a new hub within @warstudieskcl.bsky.social: the Centre for Statecraft & National Security @csns-uk.bsky.social

➡️ You can find more information here: csns.uk
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Reposted by Will Reynolds
csns-uk.bsky.social
Centre for Statecraft & National Security @csns-uk.bsky.social · May 22
📢 Exciting news! The Centre for Grand Strategy and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation are merging to form a new hub within @warstudieskcl.bsky.social: the Centre for Statecraft & National Security @csns-uk.bsky.social

➡️ You can find more information here: csns.uk
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · May 19
For more on how fish can make the public rather barmy at times, see:

William Reynolds,‘Refusing to Budge’ | 11 | The Role of the Domestic in Low-Intensity Maritime Conflict - A Cod Wars Perspective.

www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...
‘Refusing to Budge’ | 11 | The Role of the Domestic in Low-Intensity M
This chapter engages with the roles the domestic spheres inhabit during low-intensity maritime conflicts. During such conflicts, analysts often focus upon the
www.taylorfrancis.com
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Apr 20
Happy Easter folks!
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Mar 15
A thoroughly enjoyable Staff Ride (my first on the teaching side) with the U.K. Defence Academy. Great colleagues and great course members. Hope to see some of the latter on the Advanced Staff Course.
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
@easgwarwick.bsky.social @dsdkings.bsky.social @warstudieskcl.bsky.social @thejapansociety.bsky.social
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
Would just like to thanks @kclcgs.bsky.social
and @leverhulmetrust.bsky.social for the support to put this article together.

End/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
Ultimately, this traces a small, yet important, part of the evolving Anglo-Japanese relationship. It is very different to the days of the Alliance, both then and today. But the relationship of equals today is build on the backs of policymakers in this period. 8/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
That being said, the difficulty of 'penetrating' Japanese culture and language meant that the specialists continued to hold much sway. Individuals like Sir Hugh Cortazzi could and did bring greater expertise and cohesion to Britain's approach to Japan. 7/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
Yet, as Japan's importance grew, so too did the centralisation of shaping policy towards it in British circles. What started as mostly a peripheral affair, limited to specialists and diplomats, soon regularly featured in Cabinet Committees. 6/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
Margaret Thatcher, for example, was willing to simultaneously ignore her angry back bentchers on Nissan investment in Sunderland and berate the Japanese mercilessly for tariffs on Whiskey exports. This state of affairs would not begin to die down until the late-1980s. 5/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
There was no specific 'plan' to follow to achieve this. Rather, the fight between those favouring greater alignment and those focusing on domestic imperatives was won and lost depending on the context of the time and case study at hand. 4/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
British policymakers did actively strategise towards Japan, aiming to balance the tensions between the economic/domestic imperatives of safeguarding industry and jobs *against* the Japanese Phenomenon, whilst simultaneously not pushing Japan out of the Western orbit. 3/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
Whilst much scholarly attention has focused on the inflection point of the 1970s for Britain and the West as a whole, little has looked at Britain's view of the "third pillar of the West", Japan. 2/
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 21
Am happy to say my first academic peer-reviewed journal has just been published with Diplomacy & Statecraft:

'Facing the ‘Rogue Elephant’: The Evolution of British Strategy Towards Japan in the 1970s and 1980s

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Facing the ‘Rogue Elephant’: The Evolution of British Strategy Towards Japan in the 1970s and 1980s
By the 1970s, Japan had become a key player in international relations. Less than two decades after the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty, and the formal end of the Second World War and Japanese occu...
www.tandfonline.com
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 17
Not all the recommendations may be agreed with - three-star Chiefs anyone? - but it provides tangible reform options based off a thorough exploration of Defence.

Also, notably, Sir Richard Barrons - one of the SDR Triumvirate - wrote the foreword.
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 17
With the possibility of an uplift in Defence doing the rounds, I cannot recommend enough Andrew Curtis' book 'We Need to Talk About Defence' on managing the Defence Enterprise.

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/we-need-t...
We Need to Talk About Defence
Based on a distinguished 35-year career in the RAF as an Air Commodore, Andrew R. Curtis highlights what is wrong with the way defence is managed today, and pre…
www.bloomsbury.com
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 10
Northern Ireland seems to be making rather effective inroads into India. First Queen's University Belfast opens up a new campus in India and now Thales UK's LMM (manufactured in N Ireland) is being procured. www.gov.uk/government/n...
UK-India defence agreements boost ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ ambition
The UK-India strategic partnership has taken another major step forward with the formal launch of Defence Partnership – India (DP-I) and the signing of several defence agreements at Aero India 2025.
www.gov.uk
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warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Feb 10
Always some good news about to lighten the gloom www.gov.uk/government/n...
New satellite deal to boost military operations, jobs and growth
Armed forces personnel will have access to the latest space-based imagery for military operations, following a deal signed for a new satellite system, named Oberon.
www.gov.uk
Reposted by Will Reynolds
scottygb.bsky.social
Scott Bryan @scottygb.bsky.social · Feb 5
Nominative determinism of the day
Headline: Ex-Foreign Office cat starts job in Bermuda Palmerston, formerly the chief mouser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, sits next to a folder with the crest of Bermuda on it. Writer: Helen Catt. Political correspondent
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Reposted by Will Reynolds
warstudent.bsky.social
Will Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social · Jan 31
Looking forward to chatting about Britain, Japan and the Cold War next week!
easgwarwick.bsky.social
East Asia Study Group, University of Warwick @easgwarwick.bsky.social · Jan 31
🚨Research Seminar

The EASG is delighted to host Dr. William Reynolds @warstudent.bsky.social from @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

🗺️ 'From Oslo to Tokyo: Britain's Cold War Strategy and Japan'

📅 February 4th, 2025 - 2.15-3.30PM (hybrid)

More info at tinyurl.com/48puxnzc or [email protected]
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