Nicholas Grossman
@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
International Relations prof at U. Illinois. Editor of Arc Digital. Author “Drones and Terrorism.” Politics, national security, and occasional nerdery.
BORED OF PEACE
BOARD OF PEACEful sleep
more than two hours into this "Board of Peace" meeting, we are now enduring random world leader open mic time and Trump's eyes are closed
February 19, 2026 at 4:47 PM
BORED OF PEACE
How much media will cover the so-called "Board of Peace" as the gross farce it is?
Will they publish misleading headlines like "Countries Pledge Billions to Rebuild Gaza"? Or will they accurately emphasize conditioned offers, some from serial liars, many of which contradict each other.
Like this:
Will they publish misleading headlines like "Countries Pledge Billions to Rebuild Gaza"? Or will they accurately emphasize conditioned offers, some from serial liars, many of which contradict each other.
Like this:
Observation: leaders praise Trump, but then add their conditions to their pledges.
Qatar: FM/PM says they’ll donate $1B but add a condition of Palestine statehood
Turkey: demands 2-state solution
Albania: asks to free former Kosovo President prosecuted by ICC
Morocco: demands Palestine ownership
Qatar: FM/PM says they’ll donate $1B but add a condition of Palestine statehood
Turkey: demands 2-state solution
Albania: asks to free former Kosovo President prosecuted by ICC
Morocco: demands Palestine ownership
February 19, 2026 at 4:46 PM
How much media will cover the so-called "Board of Peace" as the gross farce it is?
Will they publish misleading headlines like "Countries Pledge Billions to Rebuild Gaza"? Or will they accurately emphasize conditioned offers, some from serial liars, many of which contradict each other.
Like this:
Will they publish misleading headlines like "Countries Pledge Billions to Rebuild Gaza"? Or will they accurately emphasize conditioned offers, some from serial liars, many of which contradict each other.
Like this:
Deploy military force—which on top of everything else, costs money—and figure out the purpose later.
A lot of air power can blow things up, and Iran wouldn't be able to stop that, but it lacks the ability to make anything last.
Not that different from Venezuela, but in an even harder situation.
A lot of air power can blow things up, and Iran wouldn't be able to stop that, but it lacks the ability to make anything last.
Not that different from Venezuela, but in an even harder situation.
The WSJ reports that the Trump administration has massed "significant" air power in striking distance of Iran, but hasn't yet decided what the purpose of an attack would be.
www.wsj.com/world/middle...
www.wsj.com/world/middle...
February 19, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Deploy military force—which on top of everything else, costs money—and figure out the purpose later.
A lot of air power can blow things up, and Iran wouldn't be able to stop that, but it lacks the ability to make anything last.
Not that different from Venezuela, but in an even harder situation.
A lot of air power can blow things up, and Iran wouldn't be able to stop that, but it lacks the ability to make anything last.
Not that different from Venezuela, but in an even harder situation.
Wow, they got both the reactionary bigot and the bigoted reactionary.
A diverse array of pro-Trump and anti-anti-Trump, whose arguments align this time, which is so rare you have no choice but to take it seriously.
A fascist and a fascism apologist are on the same page? Now I've seen everything.
A diverse array of pro-Trump and anti-anti-Trump, whose arguments align this time, which is so rare you have no choice but to take it seriously.
A fascist and a fascism apologist are on the same page? Now I've seen everything.
it's so funny to try to legitimize a moronic argument by claiming that it is supported by a growing movement of diverse thinkers and then you list the people who belong to that movement and every single one is stupid and/or racist
February 19, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Wow, they got both the reactionary bigot and the bigoted reactionary.
A diverse array of pro-Trump and anti-anti-Trump, whose arguments align this time, which is so rare you have no choice but to take it seriously.
A fascist and a fascism apologist are on the same page? Now I've seen everything.
A diverse array of pro-Trump and anti-anti-Trump, whose arguments align this time, which is so rare you have no choice but to take it seriously.
A fascist and a fascism apologist are on the same page? Now I've seen everything.
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
It is essential to take the threat to women’s voting rights posed by the SAVE Act within the wider context of coercive and misogynistic views on the right.
I wrote about it for @liberalcurrents.com
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-t...
I wrote about it for @liberalcurrents.com
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-t...
We need to talk about the right’s new voter suppression target: Women
The SAVE Act would make it harder for married women in particular to vote, and that is just one part of the MAGA right's misogynist project.
www.liberalcurrents.com
February 19, 2026 at 2:38 PM
It is essential to take the threat to women’s voting rights posed by the SAVE Act within the wider context of coercive and misogynistic views on the right.
I wrote about it for @liberalcurrents.com
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-t...
I wrote about it for @liberalcurrents.com
www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-t...
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
Quite a major political choice by the UK. There are precedents for the UK refusing to let the US use its bases for military operations, but not many.
🔺 BREAKING: UK blocking Trump from using RAF bases for strikes on Iran
UK blocking Trump from using RAF bases for strikes on Iran
UK blocking Trump from using RAF bases for strikes on Iran
www.thetimes.com
February 19, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Quite a major political choice by the UK. There are precedents for the UK refusing to let the US use its bases for military operations, but not many.
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
“my children might see the children I voted to put in shackles, how shall they grow up”
February 19, 2026 at 4:44 AM
“my children might see the children I voted to put in shackles, how shall they grow up”
"In the administration’s imagination, [adverse court] rulings are evidence of a biased judiciary. In reality, what the administration perceives as open hostility from judges is an objective response to open authoritarianism."
A dose of sanity from @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social:
A dose of sanity from @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social:
Federal Judges Can Barely Conceal Their Disgust For the Trump Administration’s Lawlessness
When federal judges are appending Bible verses to their signature blocks, that is generally a sign that democracy is not in a good place.
ballsandstrikes.org
February 19, 2026 at 3:05 PM
"In the administration’s imagination, [adverse court] rulings are evidence of a biased judiciary. In reality, what the administration perceives as open hostility from judges is an objective response to open authoritarianism."
A dose of sanity from @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social:
A dose of sanity from @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social:
If the US had a Congress, it would be raising hell over the president ignoring Congress’s war powers and preparing to start another Middle East war without authorization or even debate.
Except the Republican majority doesn’t want the US to have a Congress, so it effectively doesn’t.
Except the Republican majority doesn’t want the US to have a Congress, so it effectively doesn’t.
February 19, 2026 at 2:32 PM
If the US had a Congress, it would be raising hell over the president ignoring Congress’s war powers and preparing to start another Middle East war without authorization or even debate.
Except the Republican majority doesn’t want the US to have a Congress, so it effectively doesn’t.
Except the Republican majority doesn’t want the US to have a Congress, so it effectively doesn’t.
More elite impunity than British royals.
More bigoted towards immigrants than Germany.
Worse sexual ethics than the French.
America 2026!
More bigoted towards immigrants than Germany.
Worse sexual ethics than the French.
America 2026!
February 19, 2026 at 2:20 PM
More elite impunity than British royals.
More bigoted towards immigrants than Germany.
Worse sexual ethics than the French.
America 2026!
More bigoted towards immigrants than Germany.
Worse sexual ethics than the French.
America 2026!
The United States has been badly out-democracied and out-rule-of-lawed by South Korea. And Brazil.
In those countries, a leader who breaks a lot of laws and attempts a coup instead of leaving office when legally required faces consequences, instead of being given special treatment then power again.
In those countries, a leader who breaks a lot of laws and attempts a coup instead of leaving office when legally required faces consequences, instead of being given special treatment then power again.
Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life in prison for leading insurrection in South Korea
Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life in prison for leading insurrection in South Korea
Former South Korean president found guilty over failed martial law declaration in 2024
A South Korean court on Thursday sentenced the former president Yoon Suk Yeol to life imprisonment with labour over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, finding him guilty of leading an insurrection and making him the first elected head of state in the country’s democratic era to receive the maximum custodial sentence.
Under South Korean law, the charge of leading an insurrection carries three possible sentences: death, life imprisonment with labour, or life imprisonment without labour. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
February 19, 2026 at 1:03 PM
The United States has been badly out-democracied and out-rule-of-lawed by South Korea. And Brazil.
In those countries, a leader who breaks a lot of laws and attempts a coup instead of leaving office when legally required faces consequences, instead of being given special treatment then power again.
In those countries, a leader who breaks a lot of laws and attempts a coup instead of leaving office when legally required faces consequences, instead of being given special treatment then power again.
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
Getting shown up in the arena of elite impunity by *the British monarchy* is an incredible “America at 250!” achievement
February 19, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Getting shown up in the arena of elite impunity by *the British monarchy* is an incredible “America at 250!” achievement
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
They saw France bust down the doors of X for being pedophiles and immediately started developing the national sex crime VPN.
Exclusive: The US State Department is developing an online portal to enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda, sources told Reuters reut.rs/4cySsA6
Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere
The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propagan...
reut.rs
February 19, 2026 at 1:49 AM
They saw France bust down the doors of X for being pedophiles and immediately started developing the national sex crime VPN.
1) US war on Iran
2) US backs down, losing face
3) Announcement of a concept of a framework Trump touts as a “deal,” and the US press covers as an unqualified success, effectively allowing Iran’s nuclear pursuits (as Trump did with North Korea) or stalls until this repeats
Only possible options.
2) US backs down, losing face
3) Announcement of a concept of a framework Trump touts as a “deal,” and the US press covers as an unqualified success, effectively allowing Iran’s nuclear pursuits (as Trump did with North Korea) or stalls until this repeats
Only possible options.
February 19, 2026 at 12:58 PM
1) US war on Iran
2) US backs down, losing face
3) Announcement of a concept of a framework Trump touts as a “deal,” and the US press covers as an unqualified success, effectively allowing Iran’s nuclear pursuits (as Trump did with North Korea) or stalls until this repeats
Only possible options.
2) US backs down, losing face
3) Announcement of a concept of a framework Trump touts as a “deal,” and the US press covers as an unqualified success, effectively allowing Iran’s nuclear pursuits (as Trump did with North Korea) or stalls until this repeats
Only possible options.
Don’t see how Iran would make a deal with the United States after the US reneged on the last deal without cause in Trump’s first term.
Iran had a years-long internal argument before doing the nuclear deal. The ones who said it’d be stupid to trust America won that argument with a giant told you so.
Iran had a years-long internal argument before doing the nuclear deal. The ones who said it’d be stupid to trust America won that argument with a giant told you so.
February 19, 2026 at 5:22 AM
Don’t see how Iran would make a deal with the United States after the US reneged on the last deal without cause in Trump’s first term.
Iran had a years-long internal argument before doing the nuclear deal. The ones who said it’d be stupid to trust America won that argument with a giant told you so.
Iran had a years-long internal argument before doing the nuclear deal. The ones who said it’d be stupid to trust America won that argument with a giant told you so.
Awfully hard to square the claims that ICE is focused on removing violent criminals that are so dangerous we can't let them be around with the fact that ICE tricks their targets by pretending to need help and waiting for neighborly types to respond by offering to help a stranger for free.
Two female ICE agents popped the hood of their car and knocked on the door of a mechanic born in Mexico. He went out to help.
“A bunch of agents jump out and tackle him, essentially restraining him, and take him away...His six kids are now without their father." www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
“A bunch of agents jump out and tackle him, essentially restraining him, and take him away...His six kids are now without their father." www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
ICE drawdown? Indications point to steady enforcement activity outside the Twin Cities
Some people who observe ICE activity are skeptical about a large scale drawdown of agents in the state. There are indications that activity has decreased in the Twin Cities, but has continued outside ...
www.mprnews.org
February 19, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Awfully hard to square the claims that ICE is focused on removing violent criminals that are so dangerous we can't let them be around with the fact that ICE tricks their targets by pretending to need help and waiting for neighborly types to respond by offering to help a stranger for free.
I have come across many 9/11 conspiracy theories — I’ve been teaching a class about terrorism for over 15 years — and many claim that “elites” (non-specified) secretly did it (don’t think too much about how). But this is the first time I’ve seen someone claim the elites did 9/11 to cover up 9/11.
If you want to get rid of some incriminating documents you don't want anyone to see, the best course of action is to hide them on the top floors of the most famous twin towers in the world and hit them with two hijacked passenger planes.
February 19, 2026 at 1:06 AM
I have come across many 9/11 conspiracy theories — I’ve been teaching a class about terrorism for over 15 years — and many claim that “elites” (non-specified) secretly did it (don’t think too much about how). But this is the first time I’ve seen someone claim the elites did 9/11 to cover up 9/11.
The biggest flaw in the tech industry and related writing is assuming away humans.
From early internet utopians failing to consider how people might use the tools nefariously to AI evangelists thinking they can ignore or bludgeon away all political constrains.
For some, it simply does not compute.
From early internet utopians failing to consider how people might use the tools nefariously to AI evangelists thinking they can ignore or bludgeon away all political constrains.
For some, it simply does not compute.
Maddening genre of writing about AI which blithely describes the conditions that to a civil war that killed one person in ten in China and proceeds on the basis that it would be less politically disruptive than deindustrialisation in the UK in the 1980s was.
This article is very strange. While saying this is very unlikely it treats it wholly as an employment problem with no solution, but never contends with the fact that this would lead to an economic depression!
February 19, 2026 at 12:58 AM
The biggest flaw in the tech industry and related writing is assuming away humans.
From early internet utopians failing to consider how people might use the tools nefariously to AI evangelists thinking they can ignore or bludgeon away all political constrains.
For some, it simply does not compute.
From early internet utopians failing to consider how people might use the tools nefariously to AI evangelists thinking they can ignore or bludgeon away all political constrains.
For some, it simply does not compute.
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
You really oughta read this @abeardedpanda.bsky.social essay on the influencer politics of the Trump administration. www.liberalcurrents.com/killing-for-...
February 19, 2026 at 12:09 AM
You really oughta read this @abeardedpanda.bsky.social essay on the influencer politics of the Trump administration. www.liberalcurrents.com/killing-for-...
Rise of Skywalker. The worst.
But my less popular answer: The Creator (2023).
Original sci-fi, interesting premise, some well executed sequences… but internally inconsistent and building to a message that so rubbed me the wrong way that I nearly asked a friend to watch it just so I could complain.
But my less popular answer: The Creator (2023).
Original sci-fi, interesting premise, some well executed sequences… but internally inconsistent and building to a message that so rubbed me the wrong way that I nearly asked a friend to watch it just so I could complain.
fun question: what’s the maddest you’ve ever been leaving a movie theater? not necessarily worst movie you’ve seen, but the one that just pissed you off the most. mine is Batman v Superman
February 19, 2026 at 12:17 AM
Rise of Skywalker. The worst.
But my less popular answer: The Creator (2023).
Original sci-fi, interesting premise, some well executed sequences… but internally inconsistent and building to a message that so rubbed me the wrong way that I nearly asked a friend to watch it just so I could complain.
But my less popular answer: The Creator (2023).
Original sci-fi, interesting premise, some well executed sequences… but internally inconsistent and building to a message that so rubbed me the wrong way that I nearly asked a friend to watch it just so I could complain.
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
I recently received “The Bomber Mafia” as a birthday gift (heh). It was bad, so bad that I believe it cannot be read as a reliable account of strategic bombing in World War II. In so many ways, it demonstrates the worst tendencies of the “pop history” genre. My review (and latest)⬇️
Strategic Bombing and the Pop History Problem
Reviewing Malcom Gladwell’s “The Bomber Mafia”
secretaryrofdefenserock.substack.com
February 18, 2026 at 10:04 PM
I recently received “The Bomber Mafia” as a birthday gift (heh). It was bad, so bad that I believe it cannot be read as a reliable account of strategic bombing in World War II. In so many ways, it demonstrates the worst tendencies of the “pop history” genre. My review (and latest)⬇️
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
So what's the ongoing #1 excuse for us to attack Iran? Because I literally haven't seen the case coherently made anywhere, not even by minions of this administration, and it seems it is going to happen any minute now.
February 18, 2026 at 7:13 PM
So what's the ongoing #1 excuse for us to attack Iran? Because I literally haven't seen the case coherently made anywhere, not even by minions of this administration, and it seems it is going to happen any minute now.
The US position, the premise of the White House's statements, is that Ukraine doesn't have agency, Ukrainians are wrong to do a version of "give me liberty or give me death," Ukraine's president doesn't speak for them, and America's goal is make them surrender.
Which is basically Russia's position.
Which is basically Russia's position.
Q: Zelenskyy said he doesn't think it's fair Trump is saying Ukraine has to make concessions & not Russia. What's Trump's response?
LEAVITT: I think the president would respond by saying he doesn't think it's fair thousands of Ukrainians are losing their lives, and Russians too, in this deadly war
LEAVITT: I think the president would respond by saying he doesn't think it's fair thousands of Ukrainians are losing their lives, and Russians too, in this deadly war
February 18, 2026 at 7:31 PM
The US position, the premise of the White House's statements, is that Ukraine doesn't have agency, Ukrainians are wrong to do a version of "give me liberty or give me death," Ukraine's president doesn't speak for them, and America's goal is make them surrender.
Which is basically Russia's position.
Which is basically Russia's position.
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
So after Trump pardoned Honduras's narco-president, the admin didn't just let him out--they canceled an immigration hold and sent a specialized team to **chauffeur him to the $1k/night Waldorf Astoria.**
“It's "absolutely fucking nuts,” said one official
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
“It's "absolutely fucking nuts,” said one official
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
February 18, 2026 at 1:21 PM
So after Trump pardoned Honduras's narco-president, the admin didn't just let him out--they canceled an immigration hold and sent a specialized team to **chauffeur him to the $1k/night Waldorf Astoria.**
“It's "absolutely fucking nuts,” said one official
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
“It's "absolutely fucking nuts,” said one official
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
Reposted by Nicholas Grossman
This is the kind of thing white supremacists have been doing to Emmett Till’s memorial for decades.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.
Someone doused Renee Good’s Minneapolis memorial and a nearby pile of wood with gasoline and started a fire at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Renee Good memorial site in south Minneapolis doused in gasoline
Damage was minimal but police are investigating.
bit.ly
February 18, 2026 at 5:19 PM
This is the kind of thing white supremacists have been doing to Emmett Till’s memorial for decades.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.
It’s wild to see them do this to a white woman who the entire world saw extrajudicially murdered.