Eugene Finkel
@efinkel.bsky.social
Professor, Johns Hopkins SAIS. Study horrible things that happen to OK people, write books, overuse sarcasm. Lviv-Haifa-Jerusalem-Madison-New Haven-Washington-Bologna.
Pinned
It's corruption only it comes from the Corruptian Mountains of Eastern Europe, otherwise it is just a sparkling gold bar.
To negotiate a trade deal with the President of the United States, the Swiss government arrived with a "special Rolex desktop clock" and "a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar"
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:08 AM
It's corruption only it comes from the Corruptian Mountains of Eastern Europe, otherwise it is just a sparkling gold bar.
Of course I knew that Epstein files must contain some pretty shocking stuff but "churkin was great" was not on my bingo list
NEW: Jeffrey Epstein said in emails that he had been advising the Russian government on how to deal with Donald Trump, one of several cases in which he wielded his connections to try to influence the course of foreign affairs. w @nahaltoosi
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 12, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Of course I knew that Epstein files must contain some pretty shocking stuff but "churkin was great" was not on my bingo list
Netanyahu hasn't evrn been convicted yet, and Trump is already working on a pardon. Felons of the world, unite!
Trump sends letter to Herzog asking him to pardon Netanyahu, says corruption trial ‘unjustified’
* * *
www.timesofisrael.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Netanyahu hasn't evrn been convicted yet, and Trump is already working on a pardon. Felons of the world, unite!
Reposted by Eugene Finkel
I’m thrilled that the Kennan Institute is back as an independent institution and delighted to have joined as a non-resident fellow www.kennaninstitute.org
Kennan Institute | Advancing Scholarship and Statecraft
Explore expert analysis on Russia, Ukraine, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Stay informed with the latest research, events, and policy insights from The Kennan Institute.
www.kennaninstitute.org
November 10, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I’m thrilled that the Kennan Institute is back as an independent institution and delighted to have joined as a non-resident fellow www.kennaninstitute.org
For what it worth, it could be twice the number of people killed in Gaza over two years in a single day, and nobody would still lift a finger because most people consciously decided not to give a shit about Sudan. Because reasons.
“We're seeing a level of proliferation of bodies & body piles from space that's unlike anything I've ever seen…”
Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond explains how more people could be killed within a week in Sudan, compared to the past two years in Gaza.
🔗 zeteo.com/p/sudans-dea...
Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond explains how more people could be killed within a week in Sudan, compared to the past two years in Gaza.
🔗 zeteo.com/p/sudans-dea...
November 9, 2025 at 4:16 PM
For what it worth, it could be twice the number of people killed in Gaza over two years in a single day, and nobody would still lift a finger because most people consciously decided not to give a shit about Sudan. Because reasons.
Reposted by Eugene Finkel
Congratulations to Eugene Finkel, honorable mention recipient of the Omeljan Pritsak Book Prize for Intent to Destroy: Russia’s Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine with Basic Books.
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/263LQUf
@efinkel.bsky.social
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/263LQUf
@efinkel.bsky.social
November 8, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Congratulations to Eugene Finkel, honorable mention recipient of the Omeljan Pritsak Book Prize for Intent to Destroy: Russia’s Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine with Basic Books.
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/263LQUf
@efinkel.bsky.social
#ASEEESPrizes
See all winners: buff.ly/263LQUf
@efinkel.bsky.social
The biggest takeaway of yesterday's election is that you can win in NYC as a progressive and in Virginia as a moderate Democrat. Thanks for coming to my TED talk
November 5, 2025 at 7:27 AM
The biggest takeaway of yesterday's election is that you can win in NYC as a progressive and in Virginia as a moderate Democrat. Thanks for coming to my TED talk
During my times the PhD students workroom at the University of Wisconsin political science department, where Cheney started, but not finish his doctorate had a picture of him with the caption "You can always quit." Well, he eventually did.
November 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM
During my times the PhD students workroom at the University of Wisconsin political science department, where Cheney started, but not finish his doctorate had a picture of him with the caption "You can always quit." Well, he eventually did.
Vienna people, if you have nothing better to do Thursday evening, do come!
Our next Transformative Salon is coming up already next week – Prof. Eugene Finkel (@johnshopkinssais.bsky.social) will be presenting his new book "Intent to Destroy", commented by Prof. Alexander Etkind (@weareceu.bsky.social), moderated by Cathrin Kahlweit.
November 4, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Vienna people, if you have nothing better to do Thursday evening, do come!
Also, hosts a campus or two of this or that prestigious university. Just sayin
When we look at this massacre and many more perpetrated by the RSF, let's be clear who funds, equips & sustains them. It's the UAE. Yes, the same UAE that might own your football club, fly you on your holidays, invests in our national infrastructure. If boycotts work, we should be boycotting now.
“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”
November 1, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Also, hosts a campus or two of this or that prestigious university. Just sayin
"Nathaniel Redmond, director of the Yale school of public health, said on Tuesday that the “horror, scale and velocity of killing” in El Fasher had left pools of blood visible from satellites"
Pity the West simply does not have any tools to pressure UAE, which is the RSF's main funder and supplier
Pity the West simply does not have any tools to pressure UAE, which is the RSF's main funder and supplier
Sudan siege ends in bloodbath despite pleas for mercy
Evidence emerges of atrocities committed by the paramilitary RSF after it seized control of El Fasher
www.ft.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:00 PM
"Nathaniel Redmond, director of the Yale school of public health, said on Tuesday that the “horror, scale and velocity of killing” in El Fasher had left pools of blood visible from satellites"
Pity the West simply does not have any tools to pressure UAE, which is the RSF's main funder and supplier
Pity the West simply does not have any tools to pressure UAE, which is the RSF's main funder and supplier
That special smell of Totenkopf in the morning
October 29, 2025 at 7:54 PM
That special smell of Totenkopf in the morning
I would have loved to live in this Soviet Union. Unfortunately, only the actually existing one was available
...i'm increasingly convinced that some people have no clue about the fiscal sociology of the Soviet Union
knee-jerk anticommunism is stupid but this is also *not* at all how Soviet planning worked whatsoever
knee-jerk anticommunism is stupid but this is also *not* at all how Soviet planning worked whatsoever
October 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I would have loved to live in this Soviet Union. Unfortunately, only the actually existing one was available
Reposted by Eugene Finkel
the Sudan Solidarity Collective has partners in El Fashir distributing aid. give what you can
bsky.app/profile/nisr...
bsky.app/profile/nisr...
The Sudan Solidarity Collective is doing a big fundraising push to support our partners in El Fashir to support food distribution, evacuation and medications.
Please help us boost our support. Please share and donate 👇🏾 .
sudansolidarity.com
Please help us boost our support. Please share and donate 👇🏾 .
sudansolidarity.com
Home - Sudan Solidarity Collective
Solidarity with Sudan! Support the Emergency Response Rooms doing life saving work in Sudan by donating to the Sudan Solidarity Fund. Workshops4Sudan is a new fundraising initiative of the Sudan Solid...
sudansolidarity.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:38 PM
the Sudan Solidarity Collective has partners in El Fashir distributing aid. give what you can
bsky.app/profile/nisr...
bsky.app/profile/nisr...
Reposted by Eugene Finkel
"UN refugee agency official Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet said that the new arrivals told stories of widespread ethnic and politically motivated killings, including reports of people with disabilities shot dead because they were unable to flee"
this keeps getting worse
www.ctvnews.ca/world/articl...
this keeps getting worse
www.ctvnews.ca/world/articl...
Sudan’s paramilitary killed hundreds including hospital patients in Darfur, residents say
Sudan’s paramilitary forces killed hundreds of people including patients in a hospital after they seized el-Fasher city in the western Darfur region over the weekend, according to the UN, displaced re...
www.ctvnews.ca
October 29, 2025 at 4:37 PM
"UN refugee agency official Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet said that the new arrivals told stories of widespread ethnic and politically motivated killings, including reports of people with disabilities shot dead because they were unable to flee"
this keeps getting worse
www.ctvnews.ca/world/articl...
this keeps getting worse
www.ctvnews.ca/world/articl...
Reposted by Eugene Finkel
I am old enough to remember people in the West and especially college students, actually giving a damn about Darfur. Now, nobody gives a shit. I have no idea why, it's not like there is a legal limit on the number of conflicts and massacres one can care about, Gaza or Ukraine are not an excuse.
Grave fears for civilians after Sudanese paramilitary claims capture of El Fasher
RSF says it has seized control of army’s main base in Darfur, home to famine-stricken displacement camp
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:44 AM
I am old enough to remember people in the West and especially college students, actually giving a damn about Darfur. Now, nobody gives a shit. I have no idea why, it's not like there is a legal limit on the number of conflicts and massacres one can care about, Gaza or Ukraine are not an excuse.
I am old enough to remember people in the West and especially college students, actually giving a damn about Darfur. Now, nobody gives a shit. I have no idea why, it's not like there is a legal limit on the number of conflicts and massacres one can care about, Gaza or Ukraine are not an excuse.
Grave fears for civilians after Sudanese paramilitary claims capture of El Fasher
RSF says it has seized control of army’s main base in Darfur, home to famine-stricken displacement camp
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:44 AM
I am old enough to remember people in the West and especially college students, actually giving a damn about Darfur. Now, nobody gives a shit. I have no idea why, it's not like there is a legal limit on the number of conflicts and massacres one can care about, Gaza or Ukraine are not an excuse.
I am old enough to remember these very people being totally OK the Russian invasion because there were politicians with Nazi symbols in Ukraine.
Establishment Democrats spent a full year complaining the Left forced them to be “woke.”
But then a left populist, Graham Platner, threatened to win in Maine, so they went right back to trying to cancel someone over old internet posts.
But then a left populist, Graham Platner, threatened to win in Maine, so they went right back to trying to cancel someone over old internet posts.
Democrats Cynically Wield “Wokeness” Against Graham Platner
Establishment Democrats spent a full year complaining the Left forced them to be “woke.” But then a left populist, Graham Platner, threatened to win in Maine, so they went right back to trying to cancel someone over old internet posts.
jacobin.com
October 24, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I am old enough to remember these very people being totally OK the Russian invasion because there were politicians with Nazi symbols in Ukraine.
Can't wait for the stage where the federal government starts doing "hearts and minds" in the country's major cities.
BREAKING
President Trump says he is not going to attempt to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco after a conversation with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The president says he has also spoken to SalesForce CEO Marc Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
President Trump says he is not going to attempt to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco after a conversation with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The president says he has also spoken to SalesForce CEO Marc Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
October 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Can't wait for the stage where the federal government starts doing "hearts and minds" in the country's major cities.
It's too bad, I am sure Putin just found a footnote in an overlooked 13th century Byzantine account of Kipchak hunting rituals that would finally convince everyone that Ukraine belongs to Russia and was so ready to share it with the President
The White House now says there are no plans for a Trump-Putin summit.
Days ago, they said there would be a summit in Budapest.
Days ago, they said there would be a summit in Budapest.
October 21, 2025 at 8:19 PM
It's too bad, I am sure Putin just found a footnote in an overlooked 13th century Byzantine account of Kipchak hunting rituals that would finally convince everyone that Ukraine belongs to Russia and was so ready to share it with the President
Yet another media request asking to speak on the relations between Trump and Zelensky. Dozens after every meeting. Still waiting to see when, instead of asking a political scientist to talk about Trump-Zelensky they finally realize they need a psychologist talking about Trump's relations with Trump.
October 20, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Yet another media request asking to speak on the relations between Trump and Zelensky. Dozens after every meeting. Still waiting to see when, instead of asking a political scientist to talk about Trump-Zelensky they finally realize they need a psychologist talking about Trump's relations with Trump.
Yep, it might, God forbid, even invade and take Kyiv in 3 days. Very worrying.
Breaking news: Donald Trump urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s terms for ending its war in a volatile White House meeting on Friday, warning that Vladimir Putin had said he would 'destroy' Ukraine if it did not agree on.ft.com/4ou5h1A
October 19, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Yep, it might, God forbid, even invade and take Kyiv in 3 days. Very worrying.
Easy. Offensive Constructivism. It's all constructed within Putin's head, and it is offensive to everyone who knows history.
I actually predicted that this is exactly what Putin would do, he is consistent in his obsessions, but thought Trump would just fall asleep like everyone else.
I actually predicted that this is exactly what Putin would do, he is consistent in his obsessions, but thought Trump would just fall asleep like everyone else.
October 17, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Easy. Offensive Constructivism. It's all constructed within Putin's head, and it is offensive to everyone who knows history.
I actually predicted that this is exactly what Putin would do, he is consistent in his obsessions, but thought Trump would just fall asleep like everyone else.
I actually predicted that this is exactly what Putin would do, he is consistent in his obsessions, but thought Trump would just fall asleep like everyone else.
I mean, it is probably not as bad as using ChatGPT for your homework assignment, but I do wonder what happens when ChatGPT hallucinates and advises him to deploy a regiment that doesn't exist, commanded by a colonel that it just made into an imaginary location in a context of a real conflict
Top US Army general says he’s using ChatGPT to help make key command decisions
Top US Army general says he’s using ChatGPT to help make key command decisions
Maj. Gen. William "Hank" Taylor told reporters that he's been using ChatGPT to refine how he makes choices affecting thousands of troops.
nypost.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:24 PM
I mean, it is probably not as bad as using ChatGPT for your homework assignment, but I do wonder what happens when ChatGPT hallucinates and advises him to deploy a regiment that doesn't exist, commanded by a colonel that it just made into an imaginary location in a context of a real conflict
Joel Mokyr wins the Nobel Prize. Wow. Just wow.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 was awarded “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth” with one half to Joel Mokyr “for having identified ...
www.nobelprize.org
October 13, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Joel Mokyr wins the Nobel Prize. Wow. Just wow.