Matthew Bunn
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matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn
@matthew-bunn.bsky.social
510 followers 130 following 330 posts

Father, husband, citizen, professor, focusing mainly on nuclear weapons and nuclear energy issues. Faculty lead for Harvard's Managing the Atom project: www.belfercenter.org/programs/managing-atom
My website: matthewbunn.scholars.harvard.edu .. more

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Matthew Bunn is an American nuclear and energy policy analyst, currently a professor of practice at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. He is the Co-principal Investigator for the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom. .. more

Political science 44%
Engineering 24%
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matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · Oct 23
Proud to have been part of 50 years of work to reduce the danger of nuclear war at the Harvard Kennedy School, detailed in this new account in the Kennedy School's magazine. The effort is more urgent and essential than ever. www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-rese...
Inside the Kennedy School’s long fight to prevent nuclear catastrophe
For generations, the insights and engagement of Harvard Kennedy School scholars have strengthened nuclear strategies and reduced dangers.
www.hks.harvard.edu

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

portlandken.bsky.social
Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 6h
While RJK Jr claims that not recommending vaccines is simply "leaving the choice to parents," that is NOT true.

Vaccines not recommended by the CDC and FDA are NOT covered by insurance, meaning parents will likely pay hundreds of dollars for them. Only those who can afford it will have a choice.
HHS will overhaul childhood vaccine schedule to recommend fewer shots | CNN
The US Department of Health and Human Services will recommend fewer vaccines for most American children, health officials said Monday.
www.cnn.com

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 7h
Wise piece from NYT’s David French. If the United States joins the powers using force to grab whatever they think serves their interests, we risk a long-term descent into a far bloodier world. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/o...
Opinion | Trump Is Unleashing Forces Beyond His Control
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

bdtaylor-su.bsky.social
Brian Taylor @bdtaylor-su.bsky.social · 8h
Article with @jimgoldgeier.bsky.social "NATO Did Not Cause Putin’s Imperial War” is now available for free @twqgw.bsky.social website:

twq.elliott.gwu.edu

See 🧵below for preview.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Michael A. Clemens, Ryan Enos , and 1 more

drodrik.bsky.social
Dani Rodrik @drodrik.bsky.social · 8h
We are looking for a project manager for our new Global Economic Transformation initiative at Harvard. Please spread the word. Details here. careers.harvard.edu/job/project-...
Project Manager, Reimagining the Economy
careers.harvard.edu

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 9h
Ian Bremmer sums up the situation with Venezuela quite well here.
www.facebook.com/ianbremmer/p...
Ian Bremmer
us presumption is next venezuelan leaders will now do what the americans want because they’ve just seen the “or else.” i wouldn’t exactly call it a plan.
www.facebook.com

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Matthew Bunn

mcopelov.bsky.social
Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 1d
🎯 from @profsaunders.bsky.social. Straight to the Intro to IR syllabus. I think the international order is only mostly dead, but this is a great piece.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, David Darmofal

proftalmadge.bsky.social
Caitlin Talmadge @proftalmadge.bsky.social · 1d
This is a good moment to step back & remember that U.S. military intervention in Venezuela was 100% elective. This is what you see next to "war of choice" in the dictionary. Not forced on U.S. in any way by any pressing issue or imminent/actual attack. Just something POTUS felt like doing.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Ralf Michaels, Robert Black , and 4 more

jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social
Jack Goldsmith @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social · 2d
My quick take on the legality of the Venezuela invasion.

open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
On the Legality of the Venezuela Invasion
Executive branch precedents can be garnered to support the action—which does not, of course, mean that it is lawful.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Lawrence Freedman, Matthew Bunn

ryanevans.bsky.social
Ryan Evans @ryanevans.bsky.social · 2d
A ten-part thread on misreading Trump:

A number of thoughtful observers argued Trump would not pursue regime change in Venezuela. From the outset I argued that he would on the podcast and in private conversation.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Patrick A. Jansen, Dawn J. Wright , and 7 more

anneapplebaum.bsky.social
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 2d
Remember that there is a legitimately elected president of Venezuela: Edmundo Gonzalez. He won the election in 2024.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Michael Jones‐Correa

rikefranke.bsky.social
Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 2d
“My biggest regret is being too reassuring, wanting to believe that American politics had returned to normal.” - Amanda Sloat, Senior Director for Europe in the National Security Council under President Biden.

time.com/7340472/trum...
A Letter to Europe for 2026
Stop waiting for America to return. The world has changed and its time to strengthen your own hand, writes Amanda Sloat.
time.com

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 2d
ICYMI: Detailed account of the tragicomedy of Trump’s befuddled Ukraine policy. Depressing how shamefully the United States has treated a country trying to defend its freedom. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Separation: Inside the Unraveling U.S.-Ukraine Partnership
As President Trump sought a peace deal and Vladimir V. Putin sought victory, factions in the White House and Pentagon bled the Ukrainian war effort.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Erica Chenoweth

jodemocracy.bsky.social
Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 3d
Young people from Peru to Madagascar to Nepal — furious with political elites reaping the spoils of privilege and corruption — are rising up to demand change, write Erica Chenoweth and @matthewcebul.bsky.social. Read "Why Gen-Z Is Rising" in our new January issue!

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

tendar.bsky.social
(((Tendar))) @tendar.bsky.social · 4d
I compiled my data relating to the frontline movements in the year 2025.

- Russians gained around 4,075 square kilometer (1,573 square miles) over this period of time. This is around 0.67% of Ukraine's total size.

- Ukraine holds 79.4% of its territory.

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d
Truly a repulsive web of conflict of interest and using the Presidency to make money. Good reporting offers a clearer understanding of the scale.
opiniontoday.bsky.social Opinion Today @opiniontoday.bsky.social · 4d
Trump’s Tangled Web of Deal-Making, Policy and Riches: Since his return to office, President Trump and his family have engaged in a moneymaking campaign like none in modern American history.
(@lazarogamio.bsky.social and Amy Schoenfeld Walker, NYT-unlocked)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Trump’s Tangled Web of Deal-Making, Policy and Riches (Gift Article)
The president, his family and some of their closest associates have engaged in a sprawling campaign of deals that stretches across industries and the globe.
www.nytimes.com

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d
Comments from me and John Holdren here: www.belfercenter.org/publication/...
Fusion Breakthroughs in Context: Professors Holdren and Bunn Reflect on Fusion Ignition Announcement
The Belfer Center Communications Team reached out to policy experts John P. Holdren and Matthew Bunn to reflect on the recent achievement of fusion ignition at the Lawrence Livermore National Laborato...
www.belfercenter.org

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d
The engineering challenges for getting reliable, cost-effective electricity from fusion are still huge. My guess is that it will still be >30 years before there’s a commercially funded fusion plant connected to the grid or a data center. But I dearly hope I’m wrong.

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 4d
ICYMI: This puts a company partly owned by President Trump in direct competition with other companies in a highly speculative energy industry heavily influenced by the Federal government. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/b...
Truth Social Parent to Merge With Nuclear Fusion Firm in $6 Billion Deal
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

opiniontoday.bsky.social
Opinion Today @opiniontoday.bsky.social · 4d
Trump’s Tangled Web of Deal-Making, Policy and Riches: Since his return to office, President Trump and his family have engaged in a moneymaking campaign like none in modern American history.
(@lazarogamio.bsky.social and Amy Schoenfeld Walker, NYT-unlocked)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Trump’s Tangled Web of Deal-Making, Policy and Riches (Gift Article)
The president, his family and some of their closest associates have engaged in a sprawling campaign of deals that stretches across industries and the globe.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Axel Bruns, Peter Thorne , and 8 more

artologica.net
Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 4d
Just making sure that 2025 is definitely over
14th century painting of St. Margaret of Antioch attacking a devil woman in a virid dress hitting a demon with a hammer

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 5d
Totally agree.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

jjjcameron.bsky.social
James Cameron @jjjcameron.bsky.social · 6d
Russia can strike Europe with a range of conventional and nuclear weapons. Oreshnik does little to change this, it's just the reality European states have to deal with in devising their own deterrence strategy/strategies.
Ukraine war live: Russia says it has moved its nuclear-capable Oreshnik missiles into Belarus
Move could feasibly allow Russian missiles to reach European targets faster from Belarus, its neighbouring ally that also shares a border with Nato countries Poland, Lithuania and Latvia
www.theguardian.com

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 6d
Making America great. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
How Social Security has gotten worse under Trump
Customer service deteriorated by key measures as the agency enacted sweeping cuts in Trump’s second term, internal data and interviews show.
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Will Jennings, Steve Peers , and 10 more

donmoyn.bsky.social
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 9d
Denmark lost more troops per capita in the post 9/11 war on Afghanistan. Saying they “are not a good ally” because they won’t surrender their territories to the US is lunacy. We are betraying our allies to satisfy the whims of a would-be Emperor for whom the US is not enough.
onestpress.onestnetwork.com Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 9d
They’re again advocating against Denmark when it comes to Greenland

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

atomicanalyst.bsky.social
Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 11d
Tonight in 1991, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, resigned and peacefully ceded power to Boris Yeltsin as president of the new Russian Federation. The next day, the Supreme Soviet formally voted to dissolve itself and the 69-year-old Soviet Union.
The front page of the December 26, 1991, edition of the New York Times featuring the banner headline, "GORBACHEV, LAST SOVIET LEADER, RESIGNS; U.S. RECOGNIZES REPUBLICS' INDEPENDENCE." Below that is a large black and white photograph of Gorbachev sitting at a desk after announcing his resignation on state television, closing a folder or notebook containing his remarks with a downcast look on his face. The sub-headline for the lead article reads, "Communist Flag is Removed; Yeltsin Gets Nuclear Controls." A separate article below the photograph is headlined, "The Soviet State, Born of a Dream, Dies." The front page of the December 26, 1991, edition of the New York Daily News featuring a nearly full page black and white photograph of Gorbachev wearing a hat and coat and waving, with the with words "Bye, Gorby" printed in large capital letters above.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

maxboot.bsky.social
Max Boot @maxboot.bsky.social · 12d
Moscow has attacked Ukraine’s energy grid on a scale unseen in past years. Whereas last winter, a major Russian attack might have involved 100 drones and missiles, now it can send 500. www.wsj.com/world/christ...
Christmas in Ukraine Approaches With Power Grid in Crisis
Moscow has launched far more drones and missiles than in previous years, leaving energy supplies at a tipping point.
www.wsj.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn

atomicanalyst.bsky.social
Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 12d
You may not know it, but over the years Santa Claus has had an interesting relationship with nuclear weapons.

During World War II—on a visit to the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee—his sack of toys was subjected to a thorough search before he was allowed to enter the secret city.
An archival black and white photograph of two security guards at Clinton Engineer Works (where highly enriched uranium was being produced) giving a man dressed as Santa Claus and his sack of toys a thorough inspection outside a guard shack at an entrance to the facility (where two more guards look on from inside the shack). Santa holds a stuffed toy dog in his right hand as one guard looks warily at another toy and the other rummages through the sack.

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 13d
SCOTUS deals a serious blow to Trump's efforts to normalize sending troops to blue-voting cities and states -- something he very likely plans to try during the 2026 midterms, to suppress Democratic votes. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Supreme Court hands Trump a major defeat on National Guard deployment
The Supreme Court holds that the president’s authority to deploy the National Guard for law enforcement purposes likely only applies in “exceptional” circumstances.
www.washingtonpost.com

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 13d
Not often I find myself agreeing with John Bolton. He notes that the Witkoff-Kushner Ukraine peace negotiations are untethered to any serious analysis of U.S. national security interests. (Or to Ukraine's, I might add.) www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | How the West is losing Ukraine without losing a battle
E.U. timidity and Trump’s pro-Russian diplomacy are shifting the war in Moscow’s favor.
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Aaron Sojourner

jasonfurman.bsky.social
Jason Furman @jasonfurman.bsky.social · 13d
New piece in @nytopinion.nytimes.com trying to explain the GDP boom combined with job bust. I don't have a definitive answer--in fact I'm skeptical of grand unified theories given how the data is often revised and noisy. As always, only update a little on this news. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/o...
Opinion | Economic Growth Is Up. Unemployment Is, Too. What’s Going On?
www.nytimes.com