Tom Stevenson
@tomstevenson.bsky.social
Foreign correspondent. Contributing Editor @ LRB.
tomfstevenson@gmail.com
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2978-someone-else-s-empire
tomfstevenson@gmail.com
https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2978-someone-else-s-empire
Pinned
Tom Stevenson · Climbing the Ziggurat: Xi Jinping’s Inheritance
China, which in the post-Cold War period was viewed as either lunch for American capital or an irredeemable dungeon, has...
www.lrb.co.uk
In the new @LRB, I wrote about Xi Jinping and his father. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
The @financialtimes.com columnist @edwardluce.bsky.social has argued that in annexing Greenland, the US ‘would kill Nato in one swoop’. But would it? Trump appears to think Europe’s leaders are cowed enough to accept even this. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ja...
Tom Stevenson | Don’t crack your teeth
‘The US needs Greenland for the purpose of national security,’ Donald Trump has said. ‘Anything less’ than ‘...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 15, 2026 at 9:58 AM
The @financialtimes.com columnist @edwardluce.bsky.social has argued that in annexing Greenland, the US ‘would kill Nato in one swoop’. But would it? Trump appears to think Europe’s leaders are cowed enough to accept even this. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ja...
Reposted by Tom Stevenson
Issue 48.01 is now online, featuring:
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on Xi Jinping
David Runciman on Kamala Harris’s memoir
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Auden and Eliot
Chal Ravens on Britney Spears
Tony Wood on Trump’s invasion of Venezuela
and a cover by Jon McNaught.
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on Xi Jinping
David Runciman on Kamala Harris’s memoir
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Auden and Eliot
Chal Ravens on Britney Spears
Tony Wood on Trump’s invasion of Venezuela
and a cover by Jon McNaught.
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
January 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Issue 48.01 is now online, featuring:
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on Xi Jinping
David Runciman on Kamala Harris’s memoir
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Auden and Eliot
Chal Ravens on Britney Spears
Tony Wood on Trump’s invasion of Venezuela
and a cover by Jon McNaught.
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on Xi Jinping
David Runciman on Kamala Harris’s memoir
Colm Tóibín on Yeats, Auden and Eliot
Chal Ravens on Britney Spears
Tony Wood on Trump’s invasion of Venezuela
and a cover by Jon McNaught.
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
In the new @LRB, I wrote about Xi Jinping and his father. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · Climbing the Ziggurat: Xi Jinping’s Inheritance
China, which in the post-Cold War period was viewed as either lunch for American capital or an irredeemable dungeon, has...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 12, 2026 at 5:36 PM
In the new @LRB, I wrote about Xi Jinping and his father. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Tom Stevenson
‘During the Cold War, US-sponsored regime change was most often carried out at arm’s length. The kidnapping of Maduro seems to follow an older model, closer to the gunboat diplomacy which saw US troops occupy Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua between 1900 and 1934.’
Tony Wood
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tony Wood
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tony Wood · On Venezuela
The choice of narco-trafficking as the pretext is partly motivated by a desire to skirt even the feeble murmurs that...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 10, 2026 at 11:10 AM
‘During the Cold War, US-sponsored regime change was most often carried out at arm’s length. The kidnapping of Maduro seems to follow an older model, closer to the gunboat diplomacy which saw US troops occupy Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua between 1900 and 1934.’
Tony Wood
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tony Wood
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
On the anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, the White House issued a proclamation celebrating trade deals in Latin America and the restoration of ‘privileged access through the Panama Canal’. The US, it said, would always decide destiny in ‘our hemisphere’. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Tom Stevenson | Detrimental Outside Influence
Last week, the US published its new National Security Strategy (one is produced each presidential term; this is Trump’...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 9, 2025 at 9:04 AM
On the anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, the White House issued a proclamation celebrating trade deals in Latin America and the restoration of ‘privileged access through the Panama Canal’. The US, it said, would always decide destiny in ‘our hemisphere’. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Reposted by Tom Stevenson
Our new issue 47.16 is now online, featuring:
@tomstevenson.bsky.social in El Salvador
Kasia Boddy on Dorothy Parker
Seamus Perry on Richard Ellmann’s biography of James Joyce
Ruby Hamilton on David Lynch
and Emily Witt (@embits.bsky.social) on the manosphere.
Read online at lrb.co.uk
@tomstevenson.bsky.social in El Salvador
Kasia Boddy on Dorothy Parker
Seamus Perry on Richard Ellmann’s biography of James Joyce
Ruby Hamilton on David Lynch
and Emily Witt (@embits.bsky.social) on the manosphere.
Read online at lrb.co.uk
September 3, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Our new issue 47.16 is now online, featuring:
@tomstevenson.bsky.social in El Salvador
Kasia Boddy on Dorothy Parker
Seamus Perry on Richard Ellmann’s biography of James Joyce
Ruby Hamilton on David Lynch
and Emily Witt (@embits.bsky.social) on the manosphere.
Read online at lrb.co.uk
@tomstevenson.bsky.social in El Salvador
Kasia Boddy on Dorothy Parker
Seamus Perry on Richard Ellmann’s biography of James Joyce
Ruby Hamilton on David Lynch
and Emily Witt (@embits.bsky.social) on the manosphere.
Read online at lrb.co.uk
Reposted by Tom Stevenson
‘Calling himself the “coolest dictator in the world”, the restorer of the state monopoly on violence has replaced the state and seized the monopoly for himself.’
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on El Salvador under Nayib Bukele: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on El Salvador under Nayib Bukele: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · The Mask Is Off: Bukele’s Prison State
Giving the US access to El Salvador’s expanded prison system as an offshore gulag has made Nayib Bukele a darling of...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 3, 2025 at 1:22 PM
‘Calling himself the “coolest dictator in the world”, the restorer of the state monopoly on violence has replaced the state and seized the monopoly for himself.’
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on El Salvador under Nayib Bukele: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@tomstevenson.bsky.social on El Salvador under Nayib Bukele: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In the new @LRB, I went to El Salvador, where Nayib Bukele has mopped up the gangs and set up Washington's favourite prison state. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · The Mask Is Off: Bukele’s Prison State
Giving the US access to El Salvador’s expanded prison system as an offshore gulag has made Nayib Bukele a darling of...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 4, 2025 at 8:00 AM
In the new @LRB, I went to El Salvador, where Nayib Bukele has mopped up the gangs and set up Washington's favourite prison state. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Tom Stevenson
‘A friend was reading to me one day from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 and I misheard a line as “the senses have wind.” They did, they do.’
@tricialockwood.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@tricialockwood.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Patricia Lockwood · Diary: Back to the Rectory
It was our first visit to Kansas City since before the election and the rectory seemed to have grown smaller, darker,...
www.lrb.co.uk
August 13, 2025 at 6:04 PM
‘A friend was reading to me one day from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 and I misheard a line as “the senses have wind.” They did, they do.’
@tricialockwood.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@tricialockwood.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Trump's Midnight Hammer www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...
Tom Stevenson | Trump’s Midnight Hammer
The US has declared an uncertain and messy end to its attack on Iran. Trump announced a ceasefire some hours before it...
www.lrb.co.uk
June 24, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Trump's Midnight Hammer www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...
Iran's nuclear programme is mainly a diversionary justification for this attack - not a motive.
‘The US and Israeli governments have presented the offensive as a pre-emptive effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but that justification is laughable. Israel, on the other hand, has hundreds of undeclared nuclear weapons.’
@tomstevenson.bsky.social:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...
@tomstevenson.bsky.social:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...
Tom Stevenson | Operation Rising Lion
Israel’s codename for its attack on Iran, launched last Friday, was Operation Rising Lion, a pointed reference to...
www.lrb.co.uk
June 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Iran's nuclear programme is mainly a diversionary justification for this attack - not a motive.
Reposted by Tom Stevenson
Issue 47.11 is now online, featuring:
William Davies on right-wing TikTok
Andrew O’Hagan on Joan Didion
Tom Crewe on Ocean Vuong
Francesca Wade on the librarian Belle da Costa Greene
Jenny Turner on Olga Tokarczuk
and a cover by Lola Bunting.
Read online at
www.lrb.co.uk
William Davies on right-wing TikTok
Andrew O’Hagan on Joan Didion
Tom Crewe on Ocean Vuong
Francesca Wade on the librarian Belle da Costa Greene
Jenny Turner on Olga Tokarczuk
and a cover by Lola Bunting.
Read online at
www.lrb.co.uk
June 18, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Issue 47.11 is now online, featuring:
William Davies on right-wing TikTok
Andrew O’Hagan on Joan Didion
Tom Crewe on Ocean Vuong
Francesca Wade on the librarian Belle da Costa Greene
Jenny Turner on Olga Tokarczuk
and a cover by Lola Bunting.
Read online at
www.lrb.co.uk
William Davies on right-wing TikTok
Andrew O’Hagan on Joan Didion
Tom Crewe on Ocean Vuong
Francesca Wade on the librarian Belle da Costa Greene
Jenny Turner on Olga Tokarczuk
and a cover by Lola Bunting.
Read online at
www.lrb.co.uk
In 2019, a group of scientists led by Owen Toon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, modelled the climatic effects of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan in 2025. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ma...
Tom Stevenson | Across the Line of Control
In 2019, a group of scientists led by Owen Toon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of...
www.lrb.co.uk
May 19, 2025 at 2:44 PM
In 2019, a group of scientists led by Owen Toon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, modelled the climatic effects of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan in 2025. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ma...
On the Mar-a-Lago Secretary of State www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ma...
Tom Stevenson | Condo Diplomacy
The Trump court is a royal progress that moves between Palm Beach and the White House, for the most part in private...
www.lrb.co.uk
May 6, 2025 at 1:09 PM
On the Mar-a-Lago Secretary of State www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ma...
In the new @londonreview.bsky.social, I wrote about the decipherment of the 4000 year old Linear Elamite script by François Desset www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · Beyond Mesopotamia: Linear Elamite Deciphered
Decipherment has attracted more than its fair share of formidable scholars, enthusiastic amateurs and crackpots, all...
www.lrb.co.uk
March 1, 2025 at 2:53 PM
In the new @londonreview.bsky.social, I wrote about the decipherment of the 4000 year old Linear Elamite script by François Desset www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In the new @londonreview.bsky.social, I wrote about Hamas. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · Illusions of Containment: Versions of Hamas
Hamas was founded to pursue armed resistance against the occupation, but in practice violent confrontation was always in...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 30, 2025 at 5:34 PM
In the new @londonreview.bsky.social, I wrote about Hamas. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In the new @londonreview.bsky.social, on Assad's fall, the post-Arab Spring era, and Turkey's and Israel's opportunism www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · Assad’s Fall
Assad’s legacy is the death of hundreds of thousands of Syrians. It is difficult to imagine how a working Syrian state...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 18, 2024 at 3:47 PM
In the new @londonreview.bsky.social, on Assad's fall, the post-Arab Spring era, and Turkey's and Israel's opportunism www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Tom Stevenson
‘The problem with painting Trump as the harbinger of the end of an enlightened international order is that it prompts the question of what that order is really like.’
Tom Stevenson on Trump and US power, online early from our next issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson on Trump and US power, online early from our next issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · Exquisite Americana
The problem with painting Trump as the harbinger of the end of an enlightened international order is that it prompts the...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 25, 2024 at 8:18 PM
‘The problem with painting Trump as the harbinger of the end of an enlightened international order is that it prompts the question of what that order is really like.’
Tom Stevenson on Trump and US power, online early from our next issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson on Trump and US power, online early from our next issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In the new LRB, I wrote about Trump, who has more in common with his domestic opponents than they like to admit.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom Stevenson · Exquisite Americana
The problem with painting Trump as the harbinger of the end of an enlightened international order is that it prompts the...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 25, 2024 at 11:29 PM
In the new LRB, I wrote about Trump, who has more in common with his domestic opponents than they like to admit.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In the new LRB, I wrote about how Israel has replaced much of Gaza with an uneven igneous landscape of black-grey mounds. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
February 7, 2024 at 7:54 PM
In the new LRB, I wrote about how Israel has replaced much of Gaza with an uneven igneous landscape of black-grey mounds. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...