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Miles Kellerman

@mileskellerman.bsky.social

Assistant Professor at Leiden University's Institute of Security and Global Affairs. Working on the intersections of finance, crime, and international politics. Website: mileskellerman.com Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/mileskellerman

504 Followers  |  374 Following  |  311 Posts  |  Joined: 07.10.2023  |  1.8074

Latest posts by mileskellerman.bsky.social on Bluesky

It is hard to ignore the convenience of this initiative for American social media companies who might otherwise be restricted by campaign finance laws

06.02.2026 07:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Orange County Syndrome How the birthplace of subprime mortgages paved the way for Trump's rise.

What explains Trump's rise? How did we get here?

There are many theories. But I keep coming back to a single place: Orange County, California.

Here's a story about how my hometown invented subprime lending and, in turn, changed the course of history

mileskellerman.substack.com/p/orange-cou...

03.02.2026 16:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Licensed Detection Agents: A New Market Mechanism for

Writing in the Oxford Business Law Blog, I argue we face a "Detection Trilemma" in financial crime.

The solution? Licensed Detection Agents β€” regulated bounty hunters empowered to surveil data and rewarded for results.

#econsky #polisky #lawsky #finance

blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/oblb/blog-po...

30.01.2026 13:41 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Opinion | Europe Has a Bazooka. Time to Use It.

β€œEuropean officials, on the other hand, talk incessantly about the anti-coercion instrument, but it still fails to deter because they seem so extraordinarily reluctant to deploy it.”

@himself.bsky.social gets to the heart of the matter in a clear eyed op-Ed.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...

21.01.2026 17:08 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

To prevent miscalculation, avoid US taking Greenland, Europe has to disabuse the US of the notion that it is weak. This means clearly signaling what's on the table to deter action. To deter, Europe has to be clear. The problem is Euro foreign policy is anything but clear. 9/

20.01.2026 14:12 β€” πŸ‘ 35    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

They did after 9/11, it's a historical fact.

20.01.2026 20:01 β€” πŸ‘ 53    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0

The thing to know about the PM of Canada is he just signed a trade deal with China. He is as serious as a heart attack about this.

20.01.2026 18:43 β€” πŸ‘ 48    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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LIVE: PM Carney delivers special address at World Economic Forum YouTube video by CTV News

"You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination."

"Hegemons cannot continuously monetize their relationships. Allies will diversify..."

In an ocean of platitudes, a real speech emerges.

www.youtube.com/live/JtF630g...

20.01.2026 18:41 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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Betting on Regime Change Someone made a fortune betting on Maduro's capture. It exemplifies how prediction markets are reducing world events to nothing more than a casino wager.

Enjoyed this. I wrote a piece last week expressing similar sentiments (πŸ‘‡). The problem is not just the gamification of world events; it's also their reduction to binary outcomes, a trend that warps reality and encourages the worst forms of nihilism.

mileskellerman.substack.com/p/betting-on...

18.01.2026 19:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Betting on Regime Change Someone made a fortune betting on Maduro's capture. It exemplifies how prediction markets are reducing world events to nothing more than a casino wager.

Hi Brian, I wrote a piece last week expressing similar sentiments that might be of interest β€”>

open.substack.com/pub/mileskel...

16.01.2026 13:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

May be of interest to @weisenthal.bsky.social @tracyalloway.bsky.social @mattlevineofficial.bsky.social @katie0martin.ft.com @profgalloway.com @mims.bsky.social #kalshi #polymarket

07.01.2026 10:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Betting on Regime Change Someone made a fortune betting on Maduro's capture. It exemplifies how prediction markets are reducing world events to nothing more than a casino wager.

Before the Venezuela operation, a user made $400k on Polymarket betting against Maduro.

Prediction markets claim to facilitate truth discovery. But in a new post, I contend they are warping reality by reducing politics to a series of binary wagers.

mileskellerman.substack.com/p/betting-on...

07.01.2026 10:41 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

My head is spinning as Trump goes full neo-royalist. Venezuela becomes a tool to redistribute oil revenues to those of Trump's choosing. Very similar to the exceptions and investment deals tied to tariff negotiations.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

07.01.2026 00:39 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Betting on Regime Change Someone made a fortune betting on Maduro's capture. It exemplifies how prediction markets are reducing world events to nothing more than a casino wager.

With suspiciously perfect timing, someone made a fortune betting on Maduro's ousting.

In a new post for False Positive, I reflect on how prediction markets are reducing political events to nothing more than a casino wager.

#polisky #econsky #lawsky

mileskellerman.substack.com/p/betting-on...

06.01.2026 16:37 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Trump Doctrine in Venezuela Richard Haass explains why the US military intervention and arrest of NicolΓ‘s Maduro will play well in Beijing and Moscow.

5/This is not a world marked by spheres of interest in the traditional sense because the focus is not about competing blocks. It is about extraction and dominance for the insider elite clique.
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/u...

04.01.2026 15:07 β€” πŸ‘ 45    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œWe” are in the oil-selling business. The President of the United States claims Venezuela’s assets as his own.

03.01.2026 17:26 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

A deluge of work on regime change after the 2003 invasion of Iraq yielded strong (and rare) agreement in IR: it doesn't work & has terrible consequences. @profdownes.bsky.social's book Catastrophic Success lays it out, but it's right there in the title. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

03.01.2026 13:41 β€” πŸ‘ 642    πŸ” 262    πŸ’¬ 16    πŸ“Œ 22

This is a huge moment, a complete integration of crypto into the state-regulated sphere and the realm of companies likely to be bailed out by taxpayers in times of stress

12.12.2025 18:02 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Will the EU’s Blacklisting of Russia Make a Difference? Miles Kellerman concludes that it will marginally improve the pressure campaign on the Kremlin but risks collateral damage.

Russia’s well-resourced financial intelligence unit, Rosfinmonitoring, is indeed capable of extensive oversight. But it uses these tools against the Kremlin’s conception of bad actors, writes @mileskellerman.bsky.social. bit.ly/4oMGEg3

12.12.2025 16:58 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Will the EU’s Blacklisting of Russia Make a Difference? Miles Kellerman concludes that it will marginally improve the pressure campaign on the Kremlin but risks collateral damage.

I have a new op-ed in @projectsyndicate.bsky.social on the EU adding Russia to its AML blacklist (no, it wasn’t already on it!).

It’s symbolically important and closes a (narrow) loophole, but will also impose collateral damage on innocent Russian Γ©migrΓ©s

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/e...

12.12.2025 16:31 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Economic Statecraft on Chaos Mode Trump’s reversal on Nvidia chip sales to China exposes a deeper rot: U.S. export control policy is running on vibes and private interests.

1/AI chip sale to China strike a tectonic shift in US national security policy? Whats diving it:"It is a system that closely reflects what Stacie Goddard and Abraham Newman have referred to as neo-royalism...The winning clique is clear: Nvidia, Trump’s inner circle"
open.substack.com/pub/mileskel...

10.12.2025 12:42 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Economic Statecraft on Chaos Mode Trump’s reversal on Nvidia chip sales to China exposes a deeper rot: U.S. export control policy is running on vibes and private interests.

Yesterday, Trump lifted the ban on H200 chip sales to China just hours after the DOJ busted a smuggling ring for the exact same chips.

This isn't just bad coordination. It exposes a deeper rot: US economic statecraft is now running on vibes and private interests.

open.substack.com/pub/mileskel...

09.12.2025 17:23 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Economic Statecraft on Chaos Mode Trump’s reversal on Nvidia chip sales to China exposes a deeper rot: U.S. export control policy is running on vibes and private interests.

Yesterday, Trump lifted the ban on H200 chip sales to China just hours after the DOJ busted a smuggling ring for the exact same chips.

This isn't just bad coordination. It exposes a deeper rot: US economic statecraft is now running on vibes and private interests.

open.substack.com/pub/mileskel...

09.12.2025 17:23 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Nvidia can sell H200 AI chips to China, Donald Trump says President says other chipmakers can also resume exports and β€˜25% will be paid’ to the US

Last week, the DOJ shut down a major network for smuggling Nvidia H200 chips into China. This week, Trump says those controls no longer apply.

U.S. statecraft on chaos mode.

www.ft.com/content/ac63...

09.12.2025 07:44 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Exclusive | Chinese Rare-Earth Dealers Find Ways to Dodge Beijing’s Export Restrictions Companies are tweaking magnet formulas and embedding them in motors to keep selling to the West.

With every action a reaction. Chinese companies are finding workarounds to sidestep Beijing's export controls.

www.wsj.com/world/china/...

03.12.2025 12:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

"In White House meetings, Mr. Sacks echoed [Nvidia CEO] Mr. Huang’s ideas that the best way to beat China would be to flood the world with American technology. Mr. Sacks worked to eliminate Biden-era restrictions on Nvidia and other American chip companies’ sales to foreign countries."

30.11.2025 20:19 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Nicolas Guillou, French ICC judge sanctioned by the US: 'You are effectively blacklisted by much of the world's banking system' Six judges and three prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have been sanctioned by the Trump administration. In an interview with Le Monde, Guillou discusses the impact of these measures on ...

This story should be covered waaaaayy more than it is.

The US has sanctioned six judges if the international criminal court ICC, because Trump didn’t like them issuing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

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

24.11.2025 20:13 β€” πŸ‘ 1224    πŸ” 730    πŸ’¬ 32    πŸ“Œ 42
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Looking forward to our next PEPP talk with @huysmans.bsky.social, December 2 in the Hague cc. @mileskellerman.bsky.social

20.11.2025 11:58 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
What does ASML expect from a new Dutch government? | Christophe Fouquet | Buitenhof
YouTube video by Buitenhof What does ASML expect from a new Dutch government? | Christophe Fouquet | Buitenhof

ASML CEO confirms company intends to retain its headquarters in the Netherlands.

Also discusses Nexperia, tariff exemption, Mistral, and European regulatory landscape

m.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ7H...

16.11.2025 19:22 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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