Scott Gehlbach

Did you know there are dolphins in the Black Sea? What Russia is doing in Ukraine is not just genocide but ecocide. My colleague @daryatsymbalyuk.bsky.social documents all the ways the war has affected the environment in her urgent new book. Here, in conversation at @seminarycoopbooks.bsky.social.

Will be camping out overnight in front of…well, one of Hyde Park’s many bookstores.

For those in Chicago:

Check out some or all of Masha’s symposium on Soviet director Boris Barnet, perhaps the best director of the Stalin era not named Sergei Eisenstein.

Special treat: Doc Films on campus is screening two of Barnet’s very best films on 35mm next Saturday.

Best and brightest: Watch me as I reshape the world.

Worst and dumbest: Hold my beer.

For those in Chicago:

Check out some or all of Masha’s symposium on Soviet director Boris Barnet, perhaps the best director of the Stalin era not named Sergei Eisenstein.

Special treat: Doc Films on campus is screening two of Barnet’s very best films on 35mm next Saturday.

On Feb 24, 2022, my nephew (he was 7 years old at the time) wrote in his diary: "This night Russia attacked Ukraine and Kyiv too."

#Ukraine #StandWithUkraine

This was good.

Deadline for proposals for this year’s Summer Workshop is February 28. Economists, historians, and political scientists, please apply!

Great lineup for this panel tomorrow marking four years of full-scale war in Ukraine. Please join Khrystyna Dmytryshyn, @ksonin.bsky.social, @daryatsymbalyuk.bsky.social, Dasha Zarivna, and me at the Harris School, Monday 6 pm.

Seven Ways in Which Trump’s Plans for DC Are Typical Dictatorial Fare Trump is following the autocrat’s blueprint for capital cities.

Trump seems determined to remake DC in his autocratic image. Seven ways he’s doing it:

Seven Ways in Which Trump’s Plans for DC Are Typical Dictatorial Fare Trump is following the autocrat’s blueprint for capital cities.

Trump seems determined to remake DC in his autocratic image. Seven ways he’s doing it:

Deadline for proposals for this year’s Summer Workshop is February 28. Economists, historians, and political scientists, please apply!

The only thing surprising in this story is the frog part.

How I Use Claude Code Running on My Mac mini From the iPhone and iPad Given what we've discussed on AppStories lately, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that I’ve been using Claude Code on my Mac mini home server a lot. And if you know me, you shouldn't be surprised ...

Bought a Mac Mini yesterday and set up remote access to Claude Code using the tips in this (unfortunately paywalled) article. What a beautiful setup. I can move around the city, periodically checking in with my “RA” from my phone or whatever, while maintaining full continuity across devices.

A Field Research Trip in Human Rights Violations What allows one person to perpetrate human-rights abuses against another.

Maksym Butkevych, winner of the 2025 Václav Havel Prize, was on campus yesterday for a talk. Maksym spent two years in Russian captivity in Luhansk. I asked what he had learned from his experience that helped him understand how one person can perpetrate abuses against another. His response:

A Field Research Trip in Human Rights Violations What allows one person to perpetrate human-rights abuses against another.

Maksym Butkevych, winner of the 2025 Václav Havel Prize, was on campus yesterday for a talk. Maksym spent two years in Russian captivity in Luhansk. I asked what he had learned from his experience that helped him understand how one person can perpetrate abuses against another. His response:

Such a great book by
@paulinegrosjean.bsky.social
I ❤️ the 🇫🇷 version.

You can’t get catchier than Mother of All Lemmas, which is what Matthew Rabin calls Lemma 1 in FL.

Trump wanted Dulles Airport and Penn Station named after him as condition of releasing rail tunnel funds Funding for the Gateway Project has been held up since October.

Your regular reminder that Lemma 1 in Fudenberg and Levine just says that there is a finite number of times you can be surprised, not that that number need be anything close to “small.”

@durlauf.bsky.social @ksonin.bsky.social You guys would enjoy.

Banned films on the Chicago campus!

The Old Jockey (Старый Наездник) is the latest in a 17-film retrospective at Doc Films of Soviet director Boris Barnet. This 1940 comedy was banned for, among other sins, suggesting that 64 was too old to work. (Stalin was then 62.)

docfilms.org/calendar/202...

Call for nominations for dissertation and book awards from @sioecon.bsky.social. Please get the word out!

Welcome to our Spring 2026 season!
To join any or all, remember to join our mailing list: mailchi.mp/fe045331c9c7...

Russian oil and gas revenue was just 2.0% of GDP in January. If I'm not mistaken, that is a record low for the whole Putin era (since 2000). Here is the data since 2011.

Yes, I have implicitly assumed that reviewers are following editors’ instructions.

so I spent yesterday getting up to speed on Claude Code and my main reaction is that we all have about six months to really take advantage of this before we settle into a new equilibrium in which we spend substantially more of our time reviewing

All That Jazz Reflections upon seeing the Julia Keefe Indigenous Jazz Ensemble in concert.

Took a break from the world to see the glorious Julia Keefe Indigenous Jazz Ensemble in concert. I have thoughts—on the genre, on university campuses, and on the group itself.

All That Jazz Reflections upon seeing the Julia Keefe Indigenous Jazz Ensemble in concert.

Took a break from the world to see the glorious Julia Keefe Indigenous Jazz Ensemble in concert. I have thoughts—on the genre, on university campuses, and on the group itself.

Democratic theorists hold that voting contributes to some political good: individual and collective autonomy, equality, justice, pluralism, stability, better policies, and many others. But elections are common under authoritarianism, and empirical research finds that holding elections can stabilize authoritarian regimes. This creates what we term the democrat’s dilemma, where citizens who vote in authoritarian elections may bolster the regimes they wish to unseat, even when they cast a vote for the opposition. We identify three major ways of thinking about the democratic value of electoral participation—justice-based, epistemic, and proceduralist approaches—and use them to examine the complex moral considerations that confront voters in authoritarian regimes. We contend that authoritarian elections’ residual democratic value can justify voting, even when doing so could further entrench the autocrat. Our argument also implies that the democratic principles that justify voting in authoritarian elections oblige citizens to choose the most democratic alternative.

You should vote, even if your vote won't change the outcome, because this is how we uphold the democratic principles that underlie our republican ideals.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

💯