Jo Wolff

Watching a TV show and a senior academic has bookshelves in their office with plenty of space for new books. I’m used to suspending disbelief but this is ridiculous.

A long time ago, I used to know a lot about foreign-imposed regime change (FIRC) and study them.

I guess that makes me qualified to write a thread about them, especially in wake of Trump bombing Iran.

So here goes nothing. 🧵

Long haul …

Examples of regimes ended by external forces coming up roses?

Alexandria OCASIO• CORTEZ REPRESENTING NEW YORK'S 14TH DISTRICT OCASIO-CORTEZ STATEMENT ON TRUMP'S COMBAT OPERATIONS IN IRAN 'The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic. "Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead. President Trump flippantly acknowledged the possibility of American casualties, stating "that often happens in war." "Mr. President: this was not an inevitability. This is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people. "Violence begets violence. We learned this lesson in Iraq. We learned this lesson in Afghanistan. And we are about to learn it again in Iran. Bombs have yet to create enduring democracies in the region and this will be no different. "In moments of war, our Constitution is unambiguous: Congress authorizes war. The President does not. I will do my part to uphold our Constitution by voting YES on Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie's War Powers Resolution. Every member of Congress must join us in rejecting this aimless war. ###

AOC statement:

Having admitted that he has no chance of getting into heaven is Trump now trying to get the Devil’s approval?

Bombing Iran by dropping the Epstein files on Tehran.

Trump lobbying to rename Nobel Peace price.

I’ve just read the suggestion that reading Proust aloud has been used to overcome respiratory problems.

OpenAI Reaches A.I. Agreement With Defense Dept. After Anthropic Clash

Capitalism, red in artificial tooth and claw.

OpenAI Reaches A.I. Agreement With Defense Dept. After Anthropic Clash www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/t...

Great thing about retirement is that I can wear the clothes I was ‘keeping for best’.

My god. Did these people ever leave middle school?

Who is the enemy and what is their wicked ideology? Europe? John Stuart Mill, Voltaire, Immanuel Kant?

Just submitted a claim for three books for the Anthropic settlement. Hmmmm ... would have been more confident I might have got something last week.

A good society is where people have plenty of legal rights but never even have to think of going to law to enforce them.

A bad society is where legal rights are fragile or contested or violated and the courts are overloaded with cases.

A terrible society is where rights are not legally protected.

[CITATION] Iranian Syntax in Classical Armenian: The Armenian Perfect and Other Cases of Pattern Replication J Wolff, A de Shalit - 2023 - Oxford University Press Save Cite Related articles

Did someone let AI loose on Google Scholar?

Does Trump know all this? Khamenei is the sort of leader he normally admires so much.

Who would be a Labour Party activist right now? Can anyone have joined for the policies it’s now promoting?

Hadn’t picked that up, but ….!!!

My god. Did these people ever leave middle school?

There are weddings. And speeches at other people’s retirements. And, sadly, increasing numbers of funerals.

Great thing about retirement is that I can wear the clothes I was ‘keeping for best’.

A good society is where people have plenty of legal rights but never even have to think of going to law to enforce them.

A bad society is where legal rights are fragile or contested or violated and the courts are overloaded with cases.

A terrible society is where rights are not legally protected.

Every political apology/excuse. “Yes we made mistakes. We didn’t communicate our obviously wonderful policies well enough.”

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Breaking: China's official statistics report a 0.3% drop in CO2 emissions from energy&industry in 2025, the third time that annual emissions have fallen this century and the first fall predominantly driven by clean energy growth. 🧵

They just make up these America sports headlines, don’t they?

Remembering steak and kidney pie and the disappointment if they was not enough kidney.

I went to a retirement dinner in about 1990. There was a choice of main dishes. I chose calves’ liver. Everyone one else came round to see what I was eating. They couldn’t believe anyone would choose liver if they was a single alternative option.

Exactly