Becca Lucas

this is a very very big story because of the apparently totally fake story ICE/DHS put out about what happened.

Minna hits nail again 👇

"This does not mean that European countries should not be resilient, but simply that resilience is a defensive measure, not a way to deter such attacks. Russia has, unfortunately, not gotten bored with finding new and creative ways to poke around. It is a whack-a-mole game."

‘The appeal to the mystical image of the “warfighter” is that it avoids having to discuss war in concrete terms. It sells the attractive myth that by doing more of the parts of war that look cool and really make you feel like a man, you can actually win wars.‘

www.deadcarl.com/p/clausewitz...

The Turkish Foreign Minister's remarks about the difficulties Turkey is facing in procuring the engines for its KAAN fighter jet are a well-known story among those who work in the Turkish defence industry. One of the projects funded by our CATS Network dealt with the question in detail.

People of Illinois, we need your help.

Get your cell phones out – record what you see. Put it on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors.

We need to let the world know this is happening – and that we won’t stand for it.

A letter from the front in Portland....

Chicago with no war in sight

Chicago - still with nothing remotely resembling war

Just going to pop these here from a long run I did along the lake two months ago. Can Rand Paul tell me where the war is?

Feds in military gear flood downtown Chicago; top border official says arrests based on 'how they look' The immigration agents were spotted making arrests in downtown Chicago and River North neighborhood early Sunday.

In which a top US Border Patrol official, incredibly, tells my tall and Anglo colleague @chipmitchell1.bsky.social that he's not the type they're looking for as they go about downtown Chicago arresting people based on "how they look"

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

And while the SCOTUS decision about arrests based on appearance and race may be in keeping with some of the Founding Fathers’ approach to the world, it overturns the decades of judicial precedent since that tried to correct their mistakes. I am ashamed.

Feds march into downtown Chicago; top border agent says people are arrested based on ‘how they look’ Immigration agents wearing tactical gear and carrying long guns made arrests in downtown Chicago and the River North neighborhood Sunday. “This is not making anybody safer — it’s a show of intimidatio...

The Sun Times here also quotes a key fact - the numbers show that immigrants are not the ones committing violent crimes. So even if you try to suggest that there is justification for this abuse of power (which to be clear there is NOT) it can’t possibly work!

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

It is hard to articulate how it feels to watch not only the city where I built the first phase of my adult life, but now the city where I grew up overtaken by masked men in fatigues with long guns. This is the opposite of everything that could ever make America great #chicago #stopICE

Yes, this is really, really bad.

Today’s Trump–Erdoğan meeting underscored how dependent Turkey remains on the West for its defense needs, and on the East for its energy needs.

Despite claims at home and abroad that Ankara’s expanding indigenous defense sector makes it ‘strategically autonomous,’++

A last lazy long run before marathon training starts in earnest! And a beautiful fall day for it

So Trump tells Europeans to increase their defence budgets & buy more US kit, & the Pentagon tells them they can’t have it. Maybe it’s time for Europe to stop thinking it can rely on the US, & start investing in a rapid build-up of domestic arms production, even if it’s slightly lower quality.

I'd just highlight again that this is precisely how Erdogan did it in Turkey.

A question: for years I have wanted to do the Istanbul marathon. This fall seems like a good opportunity for a variety of reasons. However I’m also conscious of what’s currently going on politically in Istanbul. Is it insensitive to go as a tourist right now?

Race bib from Tallinn half marathon

After COVID (and turning 30) my body changed. I had to change my mindset and learn to love my body again. To do that I focused on what my body can DO rather than what it looks like - and it can run a half marathon! #tallinnhalfmarathon

From Princeton Professor of Politics and International Affairs, @jshapiro.bsky.social.

We are witnessing the destruction of the remnants of Turkey’s already agonizing parliamentary democracy, as police forces occupy the Istanbul headquarters of the main opposition party, firing tear gas and plastic bullets both inside and outside against party members, MPs, and protesters.

In front of main opposition CHP’s Istanbul HQ, police tear-gassed opposition MPs resisting the government’s move to replace the party’s elected officials with hand-picked trustees. Erdoğan is lifting a page from Putin’s playbook—ensuring the opposition is obedient and his hold on power is permanent.

Every time I’m about to delete X, I’m reminded that - as great as BlueSky is - it’s quite limited outside of English-language sources especially Turkish (unless I’m missing something?). To follow the rest of the world I unfortunately think I need to stay on X….

While a 200 megawatt coal-fired unit can be destroyed by one or two missiles, the equivalent capacity wind farm would comprise 35 turbines, requiring hits from at least 35 missiles. “Building more solar or wind or battery storage is not only about the green transition, it’s about energy security.”

While the Trump administration tries to cancel offshore wind for "national security" reasons, here's the CEO of Ukraine's largest private energy company

Help me with some math/logic. If you add up the following, what do you get?

1. “We can simply declare against all evidence that drug gangs are terrorists.”

Some thoughts on the most recent assault on the CHP:

1) As the regime's loyalty test with the CHP fails to achieve the desired outcomes, the CHP leadership is exposed to accelerated and aggrevated forms of domination test.

The collective yawn from US based press over the Turkish government's legal assault of the main opposition CHP is quite remarkable. Yes, Turkey's "slide towards authoritarianism" has been going on for a long time; but it is quickly nearing a precipice.

This is what democracy looks like! A people united will never be defeated. We want federal forces out of DC NOW! #WeAreAllDC #FreeDC

What it's like to be a Middle East Studies professor in 2025 Basically, it sucks. Last week, Tuft's Dan Drezner and my GW colleague Dave Karpf published really good pieces on what it's like to be, respectively, a dean of international affairs and a professor o...

What it’s like to be a Middle East Studies Professor in fall 2025 - my new post surveys the field, and my colleagues.

Basically it sucks and it’s getting worse. But we haven’t given up.

abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/what-its-lik...

Really interesting points here - it’s easy to get excited about new technologies but important not to get caught up in the hype!

Netanyahu is not an accidental Prime Minister.

Many well-meaning people of vaguely liberal - left inclinations have supported Israel because they retained a fantasy of what Israel was.

Too slowly, people are realizing they Israel they loved wasn't the one that existed in the real world.