Conor Tobin

The last Soviet BTR, draped with red flags, crossing the bridge across the Amu Darya. A single soldier walks beside the BTR

Col. General Boris Gromov, the last soldier to evacuate Afghanistan

a line of Soviet armoured vehicles crossing the bridge out of Aghanistan

OTD February 15, 1989 Soviet troops complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Although the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan had been made as early as October 1985, how to do so proved very difficult for Gorbachev due to competing interests from military,

Cover image for Not Just a Housewife: Women Strike for Peace and the Cold War Women’s Peace Movement

Two days until it’s released and I realise I haven’t skeeted about my book! So here’s my obligatory post…

Not Just a Housewife: Women Strike for Peace and the Cold War Women’s Peace Movement, out with @umasspress.bsky.social on Friday!

www.umasspress.com/978162534887...

Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention - Kindle edition by Long, Magda, Cormac, Rory, Lester, Genevieve, Stout, Mark, Van Puyvelde, Damien, Cormac, Rory, Van Puyvelde, Damien, Rogg, Jeffrey P., Long, Magda, Stout, Mark, Munier, Marco, Stoltz, William A., Wegener, Jens, Wagner, Steven, Haas, Melinda, McGarr, Paul M., Nader, Philippe B., Goncalves, Joanisval B., Ozcan, Nihat A., Bezci, Egemen, O'Brien, Kevin A., Aina, Folahanmi, Mathers, Jennifer, Avramov, Kiril, Richterova, Daniela, Rendek, Peter, Schovanek, Radek, Blancke, Stephan, Castro, Sara B.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention.

It's out! Truly a wonderful book, full of useful new insights. A groundbreaking contribution to the field of Intelligence Studies by so many of our favorite scholars. www.amazon.com/Covert-Actio...

Aviva Guttmann, Podcast Episode · New Books Network · 11/08/2025 · 49m

New episode for @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social

This time, I chatted with Dr Aviva Guttmann about her latest book Operation Wrath of God.

Episode here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...

Buy the book here: www.cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/ope...

@socintelhist.bsky.social

It is finally here! It is publication day of my new book about ‘Operation Wrath of God’ - My research reveals for the first time how Western intelligence agencies helped Mossad to hunt and kill Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorist activities in Europe
@universitypress.cambridge.org

thrilled to share that my article, "The Ghost of Comilla: Authoritarian Biopolitics and Global Development in Rural East Pakistan," is now out in print in the latest issue of @diplomatichistory.bsky.social.

Lockte Jimmy Carter die Sowjetunion 1979 in Afghanistan bewusst in ein Falle? @conorntobin zum Mythos der “Afghan Trap” @SHAFRDH. Sehr lesenswert: https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-abstract/44/2/237/5699276?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Any Mesoamerican historians out there who may be interested in some paid script writing work for a very well established YT channel?

PM me if interested and please share 😊

Lecturer in Modern Irish History (Fixed term for up to ten months) at Liverpool John Moores University Searching for an academic job? Explore this Lecturer in Modern Irish History (Fixed term for up to ten months) opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

If you're a historian of modern Ireland, we are currently welcoming applications for a temporary position in @ljmuhistory.bsky.social. This is to cover my esteemed colleague @gillianobrien.bsky.social, who will be on research leave in AY2025-26.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNB992/l...

In December 1979, #KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov was one of the main advocates of military intervention in Afghanistan resulting in 14,500 Soviet soldiers' deaths.

But, as this document shows, unlike millions of ordinary Soviets, his son Igor was exempt from military service.

Karl Marx in America The vital and untold story of Karl Marx’s stamp on American life.   To read Karl Marx is to contemplate a world created by capitalism. People have long viewed the United States as the quintessential a...

On the occasion of Karl Marx's birthday, I will send a free, signed copy of my new book, "Karl Marx in America," to a randomly selected person. To be entered in the drawing, simply repost. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Books for Review Diplomatica – Review List – May 2025 Anna Popkova (ed.), Disruption and Dissent in Public Diplomacy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). Hendrik W. Ohnesorge (ed.), Soft Power and the Future of US Foreign P…

The list of books available to review for Diplomatica has been updated! You can find it here:
newdiplomatichistory.org/books-for-re...

If one of them catches your eye, please feel free to write us at diplomatica.bookreviews@gmail.com. There's something for everyone!

Congratulations Zachary, it looks very interesting.

CFP: 'Ireland and the American Revolution'. The organisers invite submissions for papers to be presented at a conference held in the Trinity Long Room Hub at Trinity College Dublin on the 9-10 October 2025. If you are interested submit an abstract of 250 words and a brief bio by the 1 May 2025.

The last grand strategists: what Brzezinski and Kissinger could teach Trump [FREE TO READ] Living parallel lives, they counselled presidents and changed the course of the cold war. How would they steer America today?

The moral and intellectual pygmies around Trump might learn a thing or two from history and America's last grand strategists. Of course they won't. My weekend FT essay. on.ft.com/3GhNw4u

Yuri Gagarin in his space suit

colour photo, Vostok K rocket lifting off from launchpad

Titanium statue of Gagarin, abover the streets of Moscow. Statue is fashioned to appear as if he is launching into space.

OTD - April 12, 1961 Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first person to go to space when he is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in a Vostok 3KA space capsule atop a Vostok K rocket. The flight lasts one orbit, a total of 108 minutes, before Gagarin successfully returns to

Lecturer in International Economic History | University College Cork UCC wishes to appoint an academic to the role of Lecturer in International Economic History. Reporting to the Head of School of History.

Job alert! My dept is hiring a lecturer in international economic history. This a permanent, full-time post and it's (hopefully) a really good time to be joining the School of History here. Very happy to chat with anyone about the role, UCC, or life in Cork in general. 🗃️

www.ucc.ie/en/future-hu...

Congratulations, I’m very much looking forward to this one.

That tingling sense of excitement when years of research and writing arrives in boxes as a finished product. A biography to read in the age of revenge of geopolitics.

A copy of the front page of the April 8, 1978, edition of the New York Times, featuring the lead story (outlined in red): "President Decides To Defer Production of Neutron Weapons; Action is Called Reversible; He Says Building Warheads Will Depend on Moves by Moscow Affecting West's Security."

The continuation of the New York Times front-page story on President Carter's decision on the neutron bomb under the headline, "President Decides To Defer Production of Neutron Weapons." A four-paragraph sub-article below, under the headline "Carter Statement on Neutron Bomb," contains Carter's full announcement on the matter.

Today in 1978, President Jimmy Carter “decided to defer production” of controversial enhanced radiation warheads—commonly known as neutron bombs—for the Lance mobile battlefield missile (W70) and the W79 8-inch artillery-fired atomic projectile. Production was formally canceled that October.

Workers at Wilson Center Put on Leave as Trump Seeks Shutdown About 130 employees of the Wilson Center were told they were being put on leave, just four days after workers for Elon Musk’s team entered the center.

"Researchers from around the world have used the archives for projects, and scholars especially value the center’s records of documents from the Cold War era." DOGE's
dismantling of @wilsoncenter.org is a brazen act of vandalism. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/u...

The President’s Kill List The President’s Kill List

The moment has arrived, my Edinburgh University Press book The President's Kill List is now available for pre-order in paperback. It is only £24.99. Plus, you can get a 30% discount with the code PAPER30.

It is the perfect beach read.

edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-pre...

We're hiring 2 new colleagues @historyatgalway.bsky.social

- Lecturer A (.4FTE; 4-year post) in History (Ireland in Global Context)
- Lecturer A (1FTE; 6-month post) in History (Irish Economy and Society, 1750-1900)

Go here and click 'Academic Vacancies' www.universityofgalway.ie/about-us/jobs/
🗃️

Donald Trump praises Conor McGregor’s work ethic during St Patrick’s Day meeting at the White House MMA fighter’s immigration remarks ‘wrong’ says Taoiseach, as Tánaiste says fighter has ‘no mandate’ to speak for people of Ireland during Washington visit

It’s difficult to express without expletives how much the vast majority of people in Ireland are utterly disgusted by this … total f**king disgrace www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

The @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social book of the day is my interview with @lucatrenta.bsky.social: The President's Kill List: Assassination and US Foreign Policy since 1945. GREAT conversation! #History #PoliSky #LawSky 💙📚 #PolicySky
newbooksnetwork.com/presidents-k...

The podcast I recorded with @drsusanliebell.bsky.social for @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social is available. Have a listen as we explore the book and some current political reverberations. Also, the book is out in paperback in May with @edinburghup.bsky.social. newbooksnetwork.com/presidents-k...

Text slide summarizing the 1798 Naturalization Act, Alien Friends Act, Alien Enemies Act, and Sedition Act

🗃️ The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: A thread on some ominous precedents. 🧵1/14
@iehs.bsky.social @migrationcollab.bsky.social

The OSS, the CIA, and instruction manuals Sabotage, assassination, and freedom fighting

The 1940s OSS manual on sabotage is all the rage at the moment.

But the CIA also has a long history of developing manuals for all sorts of tasks, from assassinations, to denouncing communist infiltrators, to small sabotage against a government. Read more here: open.substack.com/pub/thebrush...