Renee Marlin-Bennett

Here's the abstract.

New (& somewhat quirky) article!

Marlin‐Bennett Renée. 2025. “War Talk as Strategic Ontology: Lessons from the Assyria–Judah Conflict of 701 BCE.” Media, War & Conflict OnlineFirst (September). doi.org/10.1177/1750....

journals-sagepub-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/doi/full/10....

I am not sure how to go forward today with the normal stuff of writing my APSA paper and getting my syllabus ready when democracy is dying in real time.

And if we go about our day smiling at folks and saying "Hi! How're you doing?" like usual, are we lobsters in a pot of cold water?

Even after a gazillion years as a professor, having a paper accepted for publication in a referee journal is still exciting. It's even better when a superb referee is really helpful.

Seafarers from cargo ship attacked by Houthis rescued after 48 hours in water Four more people rescued, with 11 still missing and six believed kidnapped, after Eternity C sank in Red Sea

The Houthis aren't really doing anything to help the Palestinians.

Just stating the obvious because I haven't seen it said lately.

(Like here 👇)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

May 12, 2025 The biggest news over the weekend was silence: the silence of Republicans.

More of Trump's awfulness on full display.
May 12, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

French researcher denied entry to US for 'expressing personal opinion' on Trump policies France's research minister expressed 'concern' on Wednesday at this decision by the US authorities. The researcher underwent a random check on arrival, before his computer and phone were searched, a s...

A French researcher, en route to a scientific conference, was denied entry to the US for criticizing Trump's policy on research. "Evidence" found on social media. Phone & laptop confiscated, too.

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

Trump is blowing a system that has benefitted the US in a way that is likely to increase the concentration of wealth in the hands of the already super wealthy and materially harm the vast majority of Americans..

And that ☝️is the bottom line. 8/8

I'm not a free trade absolutist, and I'm Realist enough in my assessment of global politics to believe that there are some national security reasons to limit how free trade is. The pandemic reminded us that dependence on supply chains for essential goods is potentially dangerous. But 7/8

Comparative advantage This is arguably the single most powerful insight into economics. Suppose country A is better than country B at making automobiles, and country B is better than country A at making bread. It is obvious (the academics would say “trivial”) that both would benefit if A specialized in automobiles, B specialized in bread and they traded their products. That is a case of absolute advantage. But what if a country is bad at making everything? Will trade drive all producers out of business? The answer, according to Ricardo, is no. The reason is the principle of comparative advantage. It says, countries A and B still stand to benefit from trading with each other even if A is better than B at making everything. If A is much more superior at making automobiles and only slightly superior at making bread, then A should still invest resources in what it does best — producing automobiles — and export the product to B. B should still invest in what it does best — making bread — and export that product to A, even if it is not as efficient as A. Both would still benefit from the trade. A country does not have to be best at anything to gain from trade. That is comparative advantage. The theory dates back to classical economist David Ricardo. It is one of the most widely accepted among economists. It is also one of the most misunderstood among non-economists because it is confused with absolute advantage. It is often claimed, for example, that some countries have no comparative advantage in anything. That is virtually impossible. Think about it ...

4. Explaining comparative advantage: www.wto.org/english/thew... 6/8

YouTube video by International School History Hawley–Smoot Tariff - Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

3. For comic relief:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuOH...
(We usually say "Smoot-Hawley," rather than "Hawley-Smoot." Aside from that detail, this is spot on.) 5/8

What Is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act? History, Effect, and Reaction The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act raised U.S. import taxes to protect American businesses from foreign competition. Global trade plummeted as a result.

2. We tried this before. It did not go well.
www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smoo... 4/8

Tariff Mania | National Review ‘Tariff’ is not a beautiful word for the state of our economy or our strategic relationships.

Here are some sources I found useful.
1. Even Conservative exports understand that Trump's tariffs are bad for the US. 3/8 www.nationalreview.com/2025/03/tari...

I posted a quick explainer on Facebook, too, because many friends and family just don't know this stuff. Not because they're stupid, but because it's not their job. Also pro-Trump friends/family should also hear truth even if they don't accept. (I still care about them!) 2/8

Educate if you can! Q I posed in class today: "What is a tariff?" [Silence, then one timorous hand]. "A tax on exports?" & that gave me my opening in an IR theory class to talk about the constitution of the liberal world order as a benefit to the US, tariffs in context of mercantilism... 1/8

Congratulations, Wisconsin!

BUT HER EMAILS!

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

You cannot make this shit up. Sharing this jaw-dropping story with a gift link -- give it a read.

This is so chilling: www.msn.com/en-us/news/c...

To do list entry: Cancel @washingtonpost.com subscription.

Completed.

Bezos broke it.

[qt of Amb Ross, con’t.] “to discredit their cause. Kidnapping and killing by hand 9 month old babies is monstrous. No cause can justify it. It is past time forPalestinian leaders to condemn Hamas.”

On the other site, former Ambassador Dennis Ross wrote: “One cannot be pro- Palestinian and pro-Hamas. No one has done more than Hamas to make Palestinians suffer and…[con’t]

The wages of the richest 1% have skyrocketed 182% since 1979. 

Meanwhile, the wages of the bottom 90% have seen just 44% growth. 

Trickle down economics was always a hoax.

Vaccine safety panel long criticized by RFK Jr. told to postpone meeting Health and Human Services officials said the postponement was to accommodate public comment ahead of the meeting but experts decried the delay.

Yet another scary thing. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Despite everything, Shabbat arrives. Shabbat Shalom.

Washington Post Headline: USDA tries to reverse mistaken firing of bird flu response workers.

It's going to be another face-palming day.

Busy responding to a referee report for an R&R. R1 was pretty positive. R2 thinks it's all BS and is nasty about it, full of personal attacks on my intelligence. In my response, I'm just saying:

I will not respond to referee comments that are demeaning.

I think that's fair. #politicalscience

I cannot allow myself to procrastinate by transcribing handwritten texts at the Library of Congress (crowd.loc.gov), but gosh it's tempting.

Deadlines loom for me, but maybe someone out there in the BlueSky might be interested.

#polisky -- there's stuff of interest here

A couple thousand years ago, as the world was crashing around him, Raban Shimon ben Gamliel said:

on 3 things the world exists:
on truth, on justice, and on peace.

I feel like he was talking to us.

#1059 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday January 31) Good morning,

Glenn Sonnenberg stays true to what used to be called "Moderate Republican" views. Principled conservatives still exist and we liberals can have productive conversations with them.

#1059 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday January 31) open.substack.com/pub/musingsb...