Brian Romanchuk
@brianromanchuk.bsky.social
Writes about the economics of the bond market. Live in the Greater Montreal area.
Website: www.bondeconomics.com,
Substack: https://bondeconomics.substack.com/
Website: www.bondeconomics.com,
Substack: https://bondeconomics.substack.com/
OK, this is a bot, but it also stupid enough to be true.
January 7, 2026 at 4:26 AM
OK, this is a bot, but it also stupid enough to be true.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
THUCYDIDES: In my book I invented the Melian Dialogue as a cautionary tale
DIPSHITS TALKING ABOUT IR WHO WANT TO SOUND SMART: At long last, we have done the Melian Dialogue from the classic book Don't Do the Melian Dialogue
DIPSHITS TALKING ABOUT IR WHO WANT TO SOUND SMART: At long last, we have done the Melian Dialogue from the classic book Don't Do the Melian Dialogue
The Melian Dialogue has a similar role to the Clausewitz quote about “politics by other means” - it exists to give a bit of frisson and even sexual pleasure to morons who have never read those quotes in context but who are still desperate to sound smart.
People who fancy quoting the Melian Dialogue ("the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must") ignore the fact that Thucydides was clearly portraying this as the kind of hubris that squandered Athens' primacy and paved the way for a devastating peer war that it ultimately lost.
January 7, 2026 at 4:12 AM
THUCYDIDES: In my book I invented the Melian Dialogue as a cautionary tale
DIPSHITS TALKING ABOUT IR WHO WANT TO SOUND SMART: At long last, we have done the Melian Dialogue from the classic book Don't Do the Melian Dialogue
DIPSHITS TALKING ABOUT IR WHO WANT TO SOUND SMART: At long last, we have done the Melian Dialogue from the classic book Don't Do the Melian Dialogue
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
>we’re at the European States are releasing joint statements on the territorial integrity of Greenland phase of the Trump Presidency
January 6, 2026 at 1:04 PM
>we’re at the European States are releasing joint statements on the territorial integrity of Greenland phase of the Trump Presidency
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
I read somewhere (sometime in the late 1990s after I left the UK) that a significant portion of crop circles were initially found within 1-2 hour drive of Oxford and/or Cambridge (later on, they spread worldwide). Which was somewhat suggestive given the habits of said undergraduates.
January 5, 2026 at 6:54 PM
I read somewhere (sometime in the late 1990s after I left the UK) that a significant portion of crop circles were initially found within 1-2 hour drive of Oxford and/or Cambridge (later on, they spread worldwide). Which was somewhat suggestive given the habits of said undergraduates.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
January 5, 2026 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
Threads passes Twitter
January 5, 2026 at 4:02 AM
Threads passes Twitter
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
On Jan. 4, 1998, an ice storm developed over southern Ontario and Quebec.
For more than 80 hours, freezing rain fell.
It left millions without power, killed 34 people and caused billions in damages.
This is the story of the 1998 Ice Storm.
📸 Robert Galbraith
🧵 1/12
For more than 80 hours, freezing rain fell.
It left millions without power, killed 34 people and caused billions in damages.
This is the story of the 1998 Ice Storm.
📸 Robert Galbraith
🧵 1/12
January 4, 2026 at 2:00 PM
On Jan. 4, 1998, an ice storm developed over southern Ontario and Quebec.
For more than 80 hours, freezing rain fell.
It left millions without power, killed 34 people and caused billions in damages.
This is the story of the 1998 Ice Storm.
📸 Robert Galbraith
🧵 1/12
For more than 80 hours, freezing rain fell.
It left millions without power, killed 34 people and caused billions in damages.
This is the story of the 1998 Ice Storm.
📸 Robert Galbraith
🧵 1/12
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
Everyone knows that if you’re playing a North America strategy in Risk you’ve also got to hold Venezuela, so, really, that’s not a foreign entanglement either.
Alleged non-interventionists suddenly rationalizing US expansion to the boundaries of North America in Risk: “doesn’t count as foreign entanglements if we turn all those places into domestic territory!@
January 4, 2026 at 11:54 AM
Everyone knows that if you’re playing a North America strategy in Risk you’ve also got to hold Venezuela, so, really, that’s not a foreign entanglement either.
This is looks to be the equivalent of the Arachnids from Klendathu attacking Washington to remove Trump and then install J.D. Vance. Great job, chumps.
January 4, 2026 at 4:27 AM
This is looks to be the equivalent of the Arachnids from Klendathu attacking Washington to remove Trump and then install J.D. Vance. Great job, chumps.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
Unless the "interim governing structure" is 'the Maduro regime run by Delcy Rodriguez,' they're gonna have a hard time governing much.
Either that or they have some invading to do. It is robustly unclear to me what they think they are doing or if they know.
Either that or they have some invading to do. It is robustly unclear to me what they think they are doing or if they know.
With Nicolás Maduro out of power, the Trump administration is racing to assemble an interim governing structure for Venezuela.
After Maduro Ouster, Trump Takes On the Risks of Governing Venezuela
The administration is racing to get an interim government in place, even as pushback from Maduro’s allies raise fears of instability.
on.wsj.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:42 AM
Unless the "interim governing structure" is 'the Maduro regime run by Delcy Rodriguez,' they're gonna have a hard time governing much.
Either that or they have some invading to do. It is robustly unclear to me what they think they are doing or if they know.
Either that or they have some invading to do. It is robustly unclear to me what they think they are doing or if they know.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
"Venzuela as the 21st century version of the Italian campaign in Africa" is what we're going to get, aren't we
January 3, 2026 at 10:38 PM
"Venzuela as the 21st century version of the Italian campaign in Africa" is what we're going to get, aren't we
So, I stopped playing Wizardry for a few minutes and checked out my feed. Oh dear, the FIFA Peace Prize winner really did it this time.
OK, time to go back to the graph paper and map level 7.
OK, time to go back to the graph paper and map level 7.
January 3, 2026 at 6:40 PM
So, I stopped playing Wizardry for a few minutes and checked out my feed. Oh dear, the FIFA Peace Prize winner really did it this time.
OK, time to go back to the graph paper and map level 7.
OK, time to go back to the graph paper and map level 7.
I just saw this post. The interest rate angle brings us to The Fiscal Dominance Fun Zone. Raising interest blows out the fiscal deficit further, but how much does it really help to reduce inflation?
Stupid policies causing a recession appears to be the Trump Inflation Plan™️.
Stupid policies causing a recession appears to be the Trump Inflation Plan™️.
The US has a budget deficit near 6% of GDP, a trade deficit despite tariffs, a massively negative NIIP, we’re cutting rates despite inflation running above target, and the dollar just fell 10% in a year. We are flirting dangerously close to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Memorial Neo-Fischerian Fun Zone.
January 2, 2026 at 12:49 PM
I just saw this post. The interest rate angle brings us to The Fiscal Dominance Fun Zone. Raising interest blows out the fiscal deficit further, but how much does it really help to reduce inflation?
Stupid policies causing a recession appears to be the Trump Inflation Plan™️.
Stupid policies causing a recession appears to be the Trump Inflation Plan™️.
The Trump trade juggernaut got overrun by Italian pasta makers. Worthless and weak.
youtu.be/eGlxP3YbMmw?...
youtu.be/eGlxP3YbMmw?...
January 2, 2026 at 4:04 AM
The Trump trade juggernaut got overrun by Italian pasta makers. Worthless and weak.
youtu.be/eGlxP3YbMmw?...
youtu.be/eGlxP3YbMmw?...
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
via @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social on Twitter: Saturn Devouring His Son, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1636, 📸 by Tiffany Trump
January 2, 2026 at 1:11 AM
via @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social on Twitter: Saturn Devouring His Son, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1636, 📸 by Tiffany Trump
From a great power diplomacy perspective, Hitler had a good run until the twin idiocies of invading the Soviet Union and declaring on the US.
His luck might have run out with the invasion of Poland if the invasion of France hadn’t worked. However, he did have a de facto alliance with the Reds.
His luck might have run out with the invasion of Poland if the invasion of France hadn’t worked. However, he did have a de facto alliance with the Reds.
In defense of my discipline, we do not, in fact, all agree to that.
Indeed, the general view from a military perspective is that the Wehrmacht succeeded (to the degree it did) substantially despite Hitler. I'm not sure many serious historians of any field would label him a 'genius.'
Indeed, the general view from a military perspective is that the Wehrmacht succeeded (to the degree it did) substantially despite Hitler. I'm not sure many serious historians of any field would label him a 'genius.'
"All serious historians agree."
January 2, 2026 at 12:15 AM
From a great power diplomacy perspective, Hitler had a good run until the twin idiocies of invading the Soviet Union and declaring on the US.
His luck might have run out with the invasion of Poland if the invasion of France hadn’t worked. However, he did have a de facto alliance with the Reds.
His luck might have run out with the invasion of Poland if the invasion of France hadn’t worked. However, he did have a de facto alliance with the Reds.
Been playing the remastered “Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.” I played the Apple ][ version, which was released in 1981 (45 years ago, sigh).
Pretty much the grand-daddy of computer RPG’s. I imagine it would make youngster sad.
Pretty much the grand-daddy of computer RPG’s. I imagine it would make youngster sad.
January 1, 2026 at 11:58 PM
Been playing the remastered “Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.” I played the Apple ][ version, which was released in 1981 (45 years ago, sigh).
Pretty much the grand-daddy of computer RPG’s. I imagine it would make youngster sad.
Pretty much the grand-daddy of computer RPG’s. I imagine it would make youngster sad.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
Population per capita by U.S. state.
December 30, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Population per capita by U.S. state.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
January 1, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Mysterious attack along the shore? Aqua Man or The Deep Ones.
REPORTER: Was the Venezuelan facility taken out by the US military or another entity like the CIA?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was. It was along the shore.
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was. It was along the shore.
Moments after seemingly confirming that the US conducted a land strike on Venezuela, Trump refuses to say if the military or CIA was behind the operation
December 29, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Mysterious attack along the shore? Aqua Man or The Deep Ones.
Well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.
The Daily Mail is now concerned at net emigration of Romanians from the UK to Romania: there were 539,000 people born in Romania in 2021 (+460k on 2011) but net emigration to Romania of 23,000 in 2024-25
December 29, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
Sparta is the perennial classic example of this because I bet they can't cite a single actual example of a Spartan military victory of note
What’s fascinating is how the “chud” adopts the most failed ideologies and movements in history as something cool--a pillar of masculine expression, in fact.
Whether it’s the Crusades, the Confederacy, monarchism, Nazism, all they have is millennia of utter disaster and humiliation.
Whether it’s the Crusades, the Confederacy, monarchism, Nazism, all they have is millennia of utter disaster and humiliation.
Far-right groups are co-opting the aesthetics of the Crusades for their own objectives, transforming an obsession with feudal justice into a campaign for a White Christian nation.
December 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Sparta is the perennial classic example of this because I bet they can't cite a single actual example of a Spartan military victory of note
“What happens when you start a war but the enemy refuses to acknowledge the existence of the war?” would be a fun exam question in International Relations.
El País: "What is striking in this murky affair is that Caracas has not denounced the attack, or that more information from the ground has not come to light."
Trump announces destruction of a drug production facility in Venezuela
Washington has declined to share details about the operation, which if confirmed would be the first US ground attack against the Latin American country
english.elpais.com
December 29, 2025 at 6:15 PM
“What happens when you start a war but the enemy refuses to acknowledge the existence of the war?” would be a fun exam question in International Relations.
Reposted by Brian Romanchuk
Not more current, but an another opportunity to share the shark attack graph from May.
December 29, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Not more current, but an another opportunity to share the shark attack graph from May.