My thoughts on the latest civ-mil fracas: "the American military cannot save us from the politicians we elect to high office...the proper role for our military is political inertness. However well-meaning, to encourage them to be otherwise is further pulling them into the political fray.”

In @warontherocks.bsky.social Dr. Meise and I argue that China’s port investments aren’t a single, coherent strategy for global dominance. Beijing has strategic aims, but projects are shaped by SOEs seeking profit, provincial rivalries, and host country politics. warontherocks.com/2025/09/port...

In our piece for @madeinchinajournal.com, @pguer.bsky.social and I examine the paradoxes of China’s hydropower: a technology meant to solve problems that often deepens them. Using the lens of technopolitics, we show how technology reshapes power itself. madeinchinajournal.com/2025/09/04/t...

Just got my author copy of The Fate of the Americas: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Hemispheric Cold War!! It feels unreal to hold something in my hands that I've been working on for more than a decade 🗃️ #History

Also excited

Excited about this one. @historyandrew.bsky.social 's very soon to be published book about the PR industry and US foreign relations. @universitypress.cambridge.org @shafrhistorians.bsky.social

Haven't seen one of these for SHAFR / US in the World people, so thought I'd make one given that I'm currently trapped under a cat. Happy to add people!

go.bsky.app/CFos3Xu

In our new publication in CJIP, @pguer.bsky.social and I analyze the BRI through a technopolitical lens, tracing how it connects China’s frontier governance with regional integration, thus reshaping both China’s domestic peripheries and peninsular Southeast Asia.
academic.oup.com/cjip/article...

Page proofs!

My colleague and I just published a piece @thediplomat.com complicating purely geopolitical takes on China-Iran BRI ties. We spotlight the domestic drivers: China’s push to develop its interior, and Iran’s bid to be a Eurasian trade hub. thediplomat.com/2025/05/beyo...

In my recent publication for Connections: The Quarterly Journal, I argue that Indo-Pacific states are exercising their agency in ways that constrain or co-opt the Sino-American strategic competition in the region. Open access: connections-qj.org/article/stra...

Some time ago, NASA hired me to write about stuff humanity had flung into the heavens, far beyond Earth. They published it in 2018. This is it, a 372-page reference on every spaceship sent to deep space (cover by explorer & filmmaker extraordinaire @arielwaldman.com): www.nasa.gov/history/hist...