Paul O'Shea

Slammed by tariffs and defence demands, Japan and South Korea toe a cautious line with Trump The strength of these alliances depends on whether Trump views Tokyo and Seoul as bulwarks against China’s rise or vassals that can be extorted for financial gain.

The Trump tariffs are bad news for Japan, South Korea, beyond the economic costs.

Asia was hardest hit. Tariffs drive Asian states towards China. Maybe thats the point. Maybe USA is ok with Chinese dominance of Asia.

We wrote about this dilemma for Seoul/Toyko
theconversation.com/slammed-by-t...

The South Korean mediascape is quite overwhelming right now, but it shows a democracy in crisis after the martial law decree. Reports reveal that the Yoon administration was serious about thwarting democracy and establishing military rule. The fallout is severe, but the next steps are unclear.

Koreans are left with no choice but to take to the streets on a regular basis because of structural problems with the political system. Experts (i.e. not me) say this a result of the incomplete democratization process, which hasn't fully dealt with the authoritarian past.

I'm teaching a class on South Korean politics on Friday. Not a specialist, but one thing missing from much of the coverage, also the posts here on bsky:

Massive protests every few years & impeachment of multiple presidents is not a sign of a 'healthy democracy'.

i see this, but . . they could just pay attention to his policy work (foreign affairs etc..) then. why praise the theory stuff?

South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared an “emergency martial law," accusing the country's opposition of controlling the parliament and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities.

President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law in South Korea, citing alleged anti-state activities by opposition forces. This extremely surprising move grants the military authority over civilian affairs. Why did this happen? Some context and thoughts are below.

apnews.com/article/sout...

I would love to be added, thanks.

Where did all the furries go? The last time I was on Bluesky, there were furries left, right, and centre.

Back today, not a single furry. Which is great, as I'm here for politics, international relations, Japan, East Asia, and increasingly Europe. Good luck to the furries, wherever they end up.

The Swedish Left Failed the Vulnerable During the Pandemic Sweden’s “hands-off” COVID-19 response was hailed by libertarians abroad but also by most left-wingers at home. Far from enlightened, the Swedish left’s approach combined deference to authorit...

An excellent article examining what happened to the left in sweden during covid - how did a left-wing government end up the poster-child of libertarians?

jacobin.com/2023/11/swed...

Inside Volodymyr Zelensky’s Struggle to Keep Ukraine in the Fight “Nobody believes in our victory like I do. Nobody,” Zelensky told TIME in an interview after his trip to Washington, D.C.

This new article from TIME about Zelensky’s struggle to maintain Western support and about Ukraine’s eroding military capacity is one of the most damning, depressing things I’ve read about the war for some time. time.com/6329188/ukra...

Trump Plots to Pull Out of NATO — If He Doesn’t Get His Way Donald Trump is discussing how the U.S. might pull out of NATO or put it on "standby" should he be reelected and it not meet his demands, per sources.

During Trumps visit to Sweden in 2018, Trump thought that Sweden was already in NATO. When the prime minister explained that Sweden only cooperated with NATO in certain areas, Trump responded "maybe we should do that"

Anyone who's surprised by Trump wanting out of NATO haven't been paying attention

Edited by me👇I am super excited!🤩Please share widely🙏

Call for papers: Special Issue titled "Grappling with the Climate Crisis: Emotionally, Psychologically, Existentially", exploring the international politics of climate change sense-making. Edited by @nckc.bsky.social. Deadline for abstracts Nov 30. Thanks for sharing! cjir.iir.cz/index.php/cj...

Way too many people don't get that christian dominionism is apocalyptic accelerationism VERY LITERALLY SEEKING to hasten their vision of the Biblical end of the world.

That is not hyperbole or misinterpretation or a joke.

And they have VERY CAREFULLY worked their way into the halls of U.S. power.

finished teaching a course on East Asian international relations. the students were pessimistic about the prospects for peace.

also very little idealism in the classroom. pragmatic relativism dominates. the west has no moral authority, let china be china, etc..

polisky

Läs @paulinasokolow.bsky.social modiga text om vågen av antisemitism som drabbar svenska judar efter Hamas terrordåd. www.flamman.se/som-vansterj...

this is the kind of analysis i was looking for.

this article doesn't really offer any answers, but provides very useful background

The Daily Show - We Need to Talk About Israel Jon tries to have a calm discussion about Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, but he is quickly thwarted by The Best F#@king News Team Ever. Watch f...

This is doing the rounds . . mad it's ten years old. evergreen. worth a watch

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmCK...

Fascinating article. Turns out tons of highly cited econ articles all rely on the same deeply problematic source of population data. All kinds of implications for studies of long-term development, military outcomes, war, etc. The perils of data monocultures...

polisky

Opinion: Super Mario 3D World Is Not That Special, as Our World Is Also 3D Instead of lauding Super Mario 3D World for being three-dimensional, wouldn’t it be more logical to direct our acclaim toward our world, which is also 3D?

Opinion: Super Mario 3D World Is Not That Special, As Our World Is Also 3D (Guest Column by Neil deGrasse Tyson)

europeans can't access threads, don't forget about us . . .

i see the exchange, i suppose the 'you' could be understood as 'one', 'a person', rather than as 'you' 'the person to whom i'm speaking'.

but exactly the kind of vacuous vitriol want to avoid. sincerely hope that bsky doesn't go that way.

sounds good i will look into making a few custom feeds then.

to be fair to twitter, it was an excellent source for authoritative ukraine-analysis. also for japanese foreign policy and broader east asian politics. i sincerely miss that.

twitter right now is just ppl screaming at each other over the semantics of denunciation and solidarity

can anyone recommend accounts here on bsky, with quality insight and analysis on events in gaza/israel/broader region?

polisky

@profmusgrave.bsky.social

can you add me to the polisky feed please, much appreciated!

to be clear, not saying that 'western' realist theory isn't susceptible to the same critiques.

but 'moral realism' seems so obviously self-serving . . feels like we are going backwards. yet 'serious' people take it seriously...

#polisky
#irtheory

teaching chinese IR theory today.

Yan Xuetong's moral realism seems like self-serving CCP propaganda. But he wins prizes, and 'serious scholars' endorse him as a great thinker.

What I am missing?

But most left-wing political (and opinion) leaders blame 'party-narkare', i.e. people who smoke a joint on the weekend.

they are quick to use harsh rhetoric ('blood on their hands')
they completely fail to see how their own conservative, and totally unscientific, opinions contribute to the problem.

People outside Sweden think it is a socially progressive country. True in some areas, but it has some of the harshest drug laws in Europe.

It has the highest rate of overdose deats in the EU. And now the worst gang crime in the EU.

arbetet.se/nyhetsbrevsa...