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rajanmenon.bsky.social
@rajanmenon.bsky.social
Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor Emeritus of Int'l Rels, CCNY/CUNY, Senior Research Scholar, Saltzman Inst., Columbia U. Words in NY Times, Guardian, New Statesman, Wash. Post, LA Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, etc. Live in NYC and NH.
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Great read on the radicalisation of Dominic Cummings by @johnmerrick.bsky.social. Cummings cuts a distinctive figure as a British right-wing 'revolutionary' rather than a traditional conservative.
The rage of Dominic Cummings
Britain’s rogue intellectual has predicted a civil war. Is he also cheerleading one?
www.newstatesman.com
September 11, 2025 at 11:07 AM
I have not read a better account of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the horrific conditions in which aid workers, 400 of whom have been killed, operate.

Anatomy of a famine: how Gaza has starved
economist.com/1843/2025/08...
from The Economist
Anatomy of a famine: how Gaza has starved
Aid workers are wondering if they are complicit in Israeli policy
economist.com
August 26, 2025 at 3:56 AM
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"Evening" - my oil painting
August 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM
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Your health has more to do with where you live than “what you individually do”, says Devi Sridhar on “Babbage”
Devi Sridhar: living a long life isn’t a solo endeavour
Our podcast on science and technology. Why government policy is key to increasing life expectancy
econ.st
August 20, 2025 at 7:20 PM
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Bill Burns: "If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon. Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants
You all deserved better.
www.theatlantic.com
August 20, 2025 at 10:51 PM
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Now that peace looks closer (we're not there yet...) people being all smug about opposing military aid for Ukraine in favour of a negotiated settlement back in March 2022 seem to be forgetting that all of these blue parts were still occupied.

"Fighting back was always hopeless" is some revisionism.
August 19, 2025 at 2:05 PM
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Yep.

RFK Jr has slashed vaccine research. You need to know how perilous that is for the world www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... by @profdevisridhar.bsky.social

"This isn’t just bad policy. It’s a generational setback."

RFK Jr = "a serious risk to national & global health security."
RFK Jr has slashed vaccine research. You need to know how perilous that is for the world | Devi Sridhar
The avian flu virus is now just one mutation away from easier transmission among humans. Trump’s health chief is a grave risk to world health, says Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at ...
www.theguardian.com
August 11, 2025 at 5:11 PM
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"Russia and the United States have discussed Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as a model for ending the war in Ukraine"

“Ukraine will never give up its sovereignty. But the reality is it’ll be occupied territory and the model is Palestine.”

An abomination.
August 13, 2025 at 4:49 PM
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If Mamdani *were* to pull this out, what’s the over-under line for how much outside SuperPac money comes in to the general to try to stop him? $100 mil? $200?
June 25, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Full details still unclear, but a June 1 Ukrainian sabotage operation, using drones apparently smuggled in over many months, destroyed or damaged a third or more of Russia strategic bomber force at airbases in Russia’s remote eastern and northern regions. m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fxm...
"This is a turning point" - Over $2.2bn worth of Russian strategic aviation aircraft are destroyed
YouTube video by Kanal13
m.youtube.com
June 1, 2025 at 10:10 PM
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May 14, 2025 at 2:36 PM
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I gave a talk on Trump’s policies at Chatham House last week. The title: “A Shock to the System.” You can watch it here: www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/r...

My thanks to Leslie Vinjamuri, Anar Bata, and the rest of the staff for the invitation.
A shock to the system: The global implications of Trump II
What have been the implications of the second Trump administration’s foreign policy approach?
www.chathamhouse.org
May 19, 2025 at 1:22 PM
My piece on the Kashmir crisis— in today’s New Statesman.

magazine.newstatesman.com/2025/05/08/w...
Will India or Pakistan resort to the nuclear option?
Air strikes and the downing of aircraft are just the latest escalation in a long-running conflict.
magazine.newstatesman.com
May 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
India has just fired the first shots following the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam in the Indian-ruled part of Kashmir. Pakistan will certainly fire back. But both countries have strong reasons not to let things spin out of control, not least because of the mind-concentrating nuclear factor.
May 6, 2025 at 11:09 PM
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will direct federal health agencies to explore potential new treatments for measles as the U.S. faces its largest outbreak in 25 years. Experts fear the decision could have grave consequences, as studies show the existing vaccine is 97% effective in preventing infection.
RFK Jr. Orders Search for New Measles Treatments Instead of Urging Vaccination
Decades of research have turned up no miracle treatment for measles, but studies show the M.M.R. shot is 97 percent effective in preventing the disease.
www.nytimes.com
May 2, 2025 at 7:51 PM
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This is absolutely nuts. Seems likely it’s meant to deliver immigrant delivery cyclists straight to ICE as part of Eric Adams corrupt bargain w Trump.
May 2, 2025 at 2:23 PM
UN World Food Program:

“Today, WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip. These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days. For weeks, hot meal kitchens have been the only consistent source of food assistance for people in Gaza.”
April 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM
If you really want a political settlement as opposed to giving Putin everything on a silver platter Crimea is the dumbest reason to allow the talks to blow up. Even Putin hasn’t required that Crimea be part of a deal. It’s something the US introduced suddenly and now insists that UA accept.
April 23, 2025 at 8:55 PM
If the US does ditch the Ukraine talks, it won’t hurt Kyiv nearly as much as many claim. Trump & Witkoff really aren’t mediators: they back Putin’s positions. Yes, the US could end arms supplies to Ukraine, but it seems to have no plans to resume them. EUR now has to step up even more. Won’t be easy
April 22, 2025 at 3:50 PM
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BREAKING NEWS: The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The White House has begun process of looking for new secretary of defense
The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
www.npr.org
April 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM