Stephen M. Walt | Lightnews

Stephen Walt

@stephenwalt.bsky.social

3.5K followers 210 following 230 posts

Harvard professor, realist, FP columnist. Tennis enthusiast, amateur musician, proud dad, & grateful husband. Troubled by the state of the world & looking for solutions. For speaking engagements contact John Bute at john@chartwellspeakers.com .. more

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Stephen Martin Walt is an American political scientist serving as the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of international relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. A member of the realist school of international relations, Walt has made important contributions to the theory of neorealism and has authored the balance of threat theory. Books that he has authored or coauthored include Origins of Alliances, Revolution and War, and The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. .. more

Political science 72%

Sociology 17%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Elizabeth Saunders

John Cluverius @johncluverius.bsky.social · 1d

tomorrow's announcement on truth social

darth vader says " i am altering the deal pray i don t alter it any further "

Alt: darth vader says " i am altering the deal pray i don t alter it any further "

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Brian Doucet

Marco Foster @marcofoster.bsky.social · 1d

JUST NOW: Donald Trump gets loudly BOOED by the crowd at the Commanders game. What a loser!

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 3d

As a lawyer who advised and represented international financial institutions making loans and guarantees on major investment projects in Uzbekistan for 15 years, I can say with 100% certainty that Uzbekistan does not have $135 billion to invest in the US, or anywhere else outside of Uzbekistan.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Will Jennings, Scott L. Greer , and 3 more Stephen M. Walt, Will Jennings, Scott L. Greer, Michael D. McDonald, Brian Keegan, David Darmofal

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 4d

Chris Rufo/Ron DeSantis overhauled New College and made it "the most financially inefficient school in the university system"

Degree yield is 19%, 2nd-worst in Fla.

Operating funds per student at New College: $83,207
Same category at Univ of Florida: $45,765

www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/e...

New College of Florida shows soaring expenses as state targets 'woke waste'

A report by Florida DOGE found that Sarasota's New College is the most financially inefficient school in the university system.

www.heraldtribune.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Attie (SHE/HER) @portlandrose.bsky.social · 4d

but #SomeHeroesThrowHeroes

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Joanna Bryson, James Q. Wilson , and 12 more Stephen M. Walt, Joanna Bryson, James Q. Wilson, Nancy Kanwisher, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, David Rothschild, American Library Association, Rebecca Sear, David R. Miller, Erol Akçay, Jessica A. Gephart, Jason Lyall, Jon Dean, Stella M. Rouse

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 4d

The elimination of USAID was an unforgivable moral atrocity that should haunt Trump, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio for the rest of their days and beyond

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 4d

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands

The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

newyorkermag.visitlink.me

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Stephen M. Walt, Michael E. Mann , and 68 more Anne Applebaum, Stephen M. Walt, Michael E. Mann, Shannon Vallor, Richard S.J. Tol, Jonathan A. Eisen, Simon L. Lewis, Stephan Lewandowsky, Axel Bruns, Jocalyn Clark, Will Jennings, Ken Caldeira, Benjamin Mason Meier, Michael A. Clemens, Evelyne de Leeuw, David Johnson, Caroline Krafft, Amir Attaran, Ian Hall, Ralf Michaels, Rupert Read, Richard Waite, Juan Cole, Johan P. Olsen, Cathy N. Davidson, Gernot Wagner, Robin Celikates, Daniel W. Drezner, Michael Kevane, Devon Greyson, Smith, Robert C. Richards, Michael W. Kraus, R. M. Wilson, Aaron Sojourner, Gary D. Rawnsley, Rachael Garrett, Caroline T. Schroeder, Stephen D. Murphy, Nazita Lajevardi, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Amy W. Ando, Michael D. McDonald, James Goodwin, Brian Keegan, David C. Kimball, Jason Lyall, Graham Dutfield, Cailin O’Connor, Erin O’Donnell, Aurélien Mondon, Mark Rice, Peter Stegmaier, Claire L. Adida, Raúl Pacheco-Vega, Massimo Faggioli, Klaus Oschema, Christina Pagel, Césari Laurent, Philip Bell, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Tom Chevalier, Aidan O’Sullivan, David Stott, Virginia Sapiro, Maria Sobolewska, Dunlap, David Darmofal, Peter Jacobs, Elise Thomas, Pieter Vantieghem

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 4d

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands

The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

newyorkermag.visitlink.me

Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 4d

It is revealing that some of most effective weapons against Trump’s creeping authoritarianism have been inflatable frog suits and a deli sandwich.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Alan Richardson, David R. Miller , and 1 more Stephen M. Walt, Alan Richardson, David R. Miller, David Darmofal

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Q: Will you assure House Democrats they'll get a vote on ACA subsidies by a date certain?

MIKE JOHNSON: Ah -- no. I'm not promising anyone anything.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Lisa W. Fazio, Ben H. Ansell , and 7 more Stephen M. Walt, Lisa W. Fazio, Ben H. Ansell, Richard F. Catalano, Steve Peers, Iain Davidson, David R. Miller, Stephen D. Murphy, Patrick Stokes, David Darmofal

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 5d

this looks like a trick daffy duck would put up to get bugs bunny into "the oval office"

three sheets of paper are taped to the outside of a building. they have the words "The Oval Office" in gold script

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 6d

None of what Trump is doing is popular and voters are telling us that

Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 6d

Call me old-fashioned, but as these election results come in, let me just say that I don’t think anyone’s ethnic background is a good reason to vote for or against them. There are plenty of much better criteria.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, David Darmofal

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 6d

A pass so hard that it crushes diamonds.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Ann M. Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 8d

The global damage this one election inflicted will be impossible to tally

www.ft.com/content/4e0a...

US accused of ‘bully-boy’ tactics to sink climate deal

Officials say ‘threats’ used to derail net zero deal for shipping industry ripped up rules of global diplomacy

www.ft.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Nick Turse @nickturse.bsky.social · 8d

Is this the long-awaited, much-ballyhooed replacement for Obamacare?

You message the president on social media and hope he intervenes?

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Marc Lynch, Elizabeth Saunders , and 1 more Stephen M. Walt, Marc Lynch, Elizabeth Saunders, Julia Lynch

Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 9d

Want to read what I really think about the Trump administration and the Asia Pacific? Here you go. It’s a goddamn catastrophe for U.S. national interests and for the regional economic and diplomatic order.

A United States that is disintegrating and no longer a leader in Asia

As Trump 2.0 hollows out US state capacity, the Asia Pacific must prepare for a world without US leadership

eastasiaforum.org

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Kim L. Scheppele, Sanford F. Schram , and 1 more Stephen M. Walt, Kim L. Scheppele, Sanford F. Schram, Henry Jones

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 9d

Yet in 2010, Noem—then a congressional candidate—had “20 speeding tickets, three stop-sign violations, two seat-belt violations and a citation for driving with no driver’s license.” She had six court notices for failing to appear, and had two warrants out for her arrest. trib.al/uQSDaqR

ICE Barbie Says Immigrants Are Too Dumb to Drive Semitrucks

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the inane claim while bragging about arresting immigrant truck drivers.

trib.al

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 10d

This is exactly right, with one addition to the end:

Trump wants to have the unconstrained ability to use lethal militarized force against Americans to make sure he never has to give up power—so that the corrupt enrichment & rank criminality of him, his family, & his cronies goes forever unpunished

🗽LOLGOP🗽 @thefarce.org · 10d

I've given my new Senator a lot of shit on here. But I don't think anyone with power has laid out the stakes of what we're facing as clearly as she does right here.

And if she's saying this, it's because she feels she must.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 11d

Exclusive: Nearly nine months after President Trump took over the Kennedy Center, sales for orchestra, theater and dance performances are the worst they’ve been since the pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis.

Kennedy Center ticket sales have plummeted since Trump takeover

Nearly nine months into Trump's oversight, sales for the three largest performance venues are the worst they've been since the pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Aaron Sojourner, Julie Cupples , and 2 more Stephen M. Walt, Aaron Sojourner, Julie Cupples, Samantha Brennan, David Darmofal

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 11d

LONDON (AP) — Buckingham Palace says King Charles III will strip Prince Andrew of remaining titles and evict him from royal residence.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Gerard Rathenau @grathenau.bsky.social · 12d

International Security is weer uit. Vooral benieuwd naar het artikel Conventionale deterrence of nuclear use!

direct.mit.edu/isec/issue/5...

Volume 50 Issue 2 | International Security | MIT Press

direct.mit.edu

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Håvard Kauserud, Ralf Michaels , and 2 more Stephen M. Walt, Håvard Kauserud, Ralf Michaels, Jonathan Hopkin, Johannes Breuer

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻🚫👑 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · 12d

“In my work with the (Nuremberg Trial) defendants, I was searching for the nature of evil, and I now think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy... a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”

- Captain G.M. Gilbert, US Army

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · 13d

Columnist @stephenwalt.bsky.social examines the rise, and potential fall, of a mainstay academic theory.

Democratic Peace Theory, R.I.P.

The rise, and potential fall, of a mainstay academic theory.

foreignpolicy.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Lisa W. Fazio, Ben H. Ansell , and 4 more Stephen M. Walt, Lisa W. Fazio, Ben H. Ansell, Elizabeth Saunders, Brendan Nyhan, Laurent Pech, Erol Akçay

Ryan Enos @ryanenos.bsky.social · 13d

The authoritarian nightmare. A regime with a massive security apparatus used for political purposes, completely unconstrained by the rule of law.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 15d

"If de Waal is anywhere close to right, this conflict will have killed 7.5 percent of the prewar population of Gaza in just two years. It already is, in proportional terms, deadlier than the wars in Yemen, Syria, Sudan and Ukraine." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/o...

Opinion | What Happened in Gaza Might Be Even Worse Than We Think

www.nytimes.com

Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 15d

Seems to me there’s a slight contradiction between insisting US must topple a dictator in Venezuela while Trump is trying to become one here in the US.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Michael A. Clemens, Sanford F. Schram , and 5 more Stephen M. Walt, Michael A. Clemens, Sanford F. Schram, Mark Rice, Kent Johnson, Ann Bartow, Mary Jane Curry, Vaughan S. Roberts

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 16d

I know this is obvious. And I know we all know this.
But if the President can raise taxes because an advert annoyed him, without even consulting Congress, then the US constitution is simply not functioning as intended.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Tom Clark

Ryan Enos @ryanenos.bsky.social · 16d

The thing is, the President can only impose tariffs in response to emergencies. If he isn't even pretending to do so anymore, it shows how much we have lost the rule of law.

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 16d

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to acquire TikTok and his family could soon own both Paramount and Warner Bros.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Kim L. Scheppele

Joshua Weishart @joshuaweishart.bsky.social · 17d

Every unlawful exertion of executive power has been pretextual--e.g., DEI, crime in cities, drug trafficking, antisemitism, waste, fraud, abuse, indoctrination, autism, insurrection--the real motive is and has always been to consolidate autocratic rule.

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