Matthew Ford
@warmatters.bsky.social
Saarf-Londoner. Cat Dad. Associate Professor in War Studies at the Swedish Defence University. PhD from KCL. Associate, IWM Institute. Senior fellow at Global & National Security Institute, University of South Florida. ex-West Point fellow. FRHistS.
Pinned
Matthew Ford
@warmatters.bsky.social
· Sep 16
Yesterday I was number 2 on the Amazon US best seller list for Military Sciences.
Today I am number 1.
Many thanks to all those who bought a copy. Feedback and comments very welcome!
a.co/d/5TGkwrB
Today I am number 1.
Many thanks to all those who bought a copy. Feedback and comments very welcome!
a.co/d/5TGkwrB
Hot Fuzz
a close up of a man wearing sunglasses and saying morning .
ALT: a close up of a man wearing sunglasses and saying morning .
media.tenor.com
December 7, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Hot Fuzz
It is all Wham, Last Christmas chez moi.
Get this Whamageddon thing done early.
Get this Whamageddon thing done early.
December 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM
It is all Wham, Last Christmas chez moi.
Get this Whamageddon thing done early.
Get this Whamageddon thing done early.
"The U.S. officials told their counterparts that if Europe does not meet the 2027 deadline, the U.S. may stop participating in some NATO defense coordination mechanisms..."
www.reuters.com/business/aer...
www.reuters.com/business/aer...
Exclusive: US sets 2027 deadline for Europe-led NATO defense, officials say
The United States wants Europe to take over the majority of NATO's conventional defense capabilities, from intelligence to missiles, by 2027, Pentagon officials told diplomats in Washington this week,...
www.reuters.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:47 PM
"The U.S. officials told their counterparts that if Europe does not meet the 2027 deadline, the U.S. may stop participating in some NATO defense coordination mechanisms..."
www.reuters.com/business/aer...
www.reuters.com/business/aer...
Reposted by Matthew Ford
Governments' reliance on defense firms is eroding sovereignty, security, and accountability, as the Ukraine war shows.
For @carnegieendowment.org, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers, Michael Sullivan, and @warmatters.bsky.social explain this new character of war.
For @carnegieendowment.org, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers, Michael Sullivan, and @warmatters.bsky.social explain this new character of war.
Private Tech Companies, the State, and the New Character of War
Ukraine’s war offers a window into how governments’ growing reliance on defense firms is eroding national sovereignty, security, and accountability.
carnegieendowment.org
December 4, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Governments' reliance on defense firms is eroding sovereignty, security, and accountability, as the Ukraine war shows.
For @carnegieendowment.org, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers, Michael Sullivan, and @warmatters.bsky.social explain this new character of war.
For @carnegieendowment.org, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers, Michael Sullivan, and @warmatters.bsky.social explain this new character of war.
Reposted by Matthew Ford
Dangerous man
"There's a lot of noise and we don't really understand what's real from what's not.
And prediction markets are an antidote to that.
They do a very, very good job at distilling information and surfacing truth to people."
"There's a lot of noise and we don't really understand what's real from what's not.
And prediction markets are an antidote to that.
They do a very, very good job at distilling information and surfacing truth to people."
The co-founder of Kalshi says: " The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion."
December 3, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Dangerous man
"There's a lot of noise and we don't really understand what's real from what's not.
And prediction markets are an antidote to that.
They do a very, very good job at distilling information and surfacing truth to people."
"There's a lot of noise and we don't really understand what's real from what's not.
And prediction markets are an antidote to that.
They do a very, very good job at distilling information and surfacing truth to people."
That peace process worked out well.
Trump doesn’t have the gumption just to abandon Ukraine & destroy NATO.
Now we all see that.
What would it take for him to choose to give up Ukraine?
I cannot see an obvious spin that would let him gain a media advantage.
Trump doesn’t have the gumption just to abandon Ukraine & destroy NATO.
Now we all see that.
What would it take for him to choose to give up Ukraine?
I cannot see an obvious spin that would let him gain a media advantage.
December 3, 2025 at 10:13 PM
That peace process worked out well.
Trump doesn’t have the gumption just to abandon Ukraine & destroy NATO.
Now we all see that.
What would it take for him to choose to give up Ukraine?
I cannot see an obvious spin that would let him gain a media advantage.
Trump doesn’t have the gumption just to abandon Ukraine & destroy NATO.
Now we all see that.
What would it take for him to choose to give up Ukraine?
I cannot see an obvious spin that would let him gain a media advantage.
He’s got a very big head. It isn’t just an illusion created from the camera angles…
🤯👀 "I don't think we should think about a plan B. I DON'T have one," said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, answering the question of whether the Alliance has a backup plan in case peace talks with Russia fail and American arms supplies to Ukraine are cut off.
December 3, 2025 at 7:54 PM
He’s got a very big head. It isn’t just an illusion created from the camera angles…
Pete "it is all about content creation" Hegseth gets sensibly represented in the latest South Park...😀
More on the episode here:
youtu.be/p6qQatj3oxY?...
More on the episode here:
youtu.be/p6qQatj3oxY?...
December 3, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Pete "it is all about content creation" Hegseth gets sensibly represented in the latest South Park...😀
More on the episode here:
youtu.be/p6qQatj3oxY?...
More on the episode here:
youtu.be/p6qQatj3oxY?...
Reposted by Matthew Ford
Great to see a fellow @hurstpublishers.bsky.social author on this list - @kieranconnell.bsky.social
Congratulations once again to this year's brilliant shortlisted authors: Eleanor Barraclough, @kieranconnell.bsky.social, @victoriandetective.bsky.social, Helen Castor, Hannah Durkin and Andrew Fleming.
December 3, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Great to see a fellow @hurstpublishers.bsky.social author on this list - @kieranconnell.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Ford
Bank of England warns of AI bubble risk, "sharp correction" in the value of major tech companies.
Repetition of dotcom mania, binge funded by banks.
Govt response - deregulation and lower capital requirements for banks.
Strategy for avoiding the crash?
Repetition of dotcom mania, binge funded by banks.
Govt response - deregulation and lower capital requirements for banks.
Strategy for avoiding the crash?
Bank of England warns of AI bubble risk
The central bank says US stock price valuations are their most stretched since the dotcom bubble burst.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Bank of England warns of AI bubble risk, "sharp correction" in the value of major tech companies.
Repetition of dotcom mania, binge funded by banks.
Govt response - deregulation and lower capital requirements for banks.
Strategy for avoiding the crash?
Repetition of dotcom mania, binge funded by banks.
Govt response - deregulation and lower capital requirements for banks.
Strategy for avoiding the crash?
Hegseth is gone. He’s the worst SecDef in history & history is not going to be good to him. He can’t manage his portfolio & doesn’t understand how the state manages war. The guy is leading DoD to failure, 1 policy announcement at a time. That’s obvious to me & I’m on the other side of the Atlantic.
Today Secretary Hegseth lectured the press about the "fog of war." But that ain't nothing to the fog--moral as well as intellectual--of being Pete. My latest.
www.thedailybeast.com/pete-hegseth...
www.thedailybeast.com/pete-hegseth...
Why Blowhard Pentagon Pete Just Put Himself in the Crosshairs
White House efforts to defend Pete Hegseth have stirred up a hornet’s nest of real life warriors.
www.thedailybeast.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Hegseth is gone. He’s the worst SecDef in history & history is not going to be good to him. He can’t manage his portfolio & doesn’t understand how the state manages war. The guy is leading DoD to failure, 1 policy announcement at a time. That’s obvious to me & I’m on the other side of the Atlantic.
Reposted by Matthew Ford
Me (speaking very tentatively!) about some early research conclusions on Special Air Service (SAS) command and culture in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Thanks to the Society for the History of War and @unipotsdam.bsky.social for a wonderful 2025 annual conference in Potsdam.
Thanks to the Society for the History of War and @unipotsdam.bsky.social for a wonderful 2025 annual conference in Potsdam.
December 1, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Me (speaking very tentatively!) about some early research conclusions on Special Air Service (SAS) command and culture in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Thanks to the Society for the History of War and @unipotsdam.bsky.social for a wonderful 2025 annual conference in Potsdam.
Thanks to the Society for the History of War and @unipotsdam.bsky.social for a wonderful 2025 annual conference in Potsdam.
Haddon Cave is forensic. Worse he will nail everyone’s arse to the wall.
Illegal stuff like this is corrosive to decision-making in all ways. Get it all out there & face up to the mess rather than let those who know about the dirty secret to play insider politics.
Illegal stuff like this is corrosive to decision-making in all ways. Get it all out there & face up to the mess rather than let those who know about the dirty secret to play insider politics.
Special forces chief tried to cover up concerns about SAS conduct in Afghanistan, inquiry told
Special forces chief tried to cover up concerns about SAS conduct in Afghanistan, inquiry told
Whistleblower says chain of command failed to stop extrajudicial shootings, including of children, after alarm was raised
The former director of UK special forces and other senior military officers tried to cover up concerns that SAS units were carrying out unlawful killings in Afghanistan, an inquiry has heard.
A senior special forces whistleblower said the chain of command failed to stop extrajudicial shootings, including of two small children, after the alarm was first raised in early 2011. That failure allegedly allowed them to continue until 2013. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Haddon Cave is forensic. Worse he will nail everyone’s arse to the wall.
Illegal stuff like this is corrosive to decision-making in all ways. Get it all out there & face up to the mess rather than let those who know about the dirty secret to play insider politics.
Illegal stuff like this is corrosive to decision-making in all ways. Get it all out there & face up to the mess rather than let those who know about the dirty secret to play insider politics.
Reposted by Matthew Ford
New piece about how private tech companies are challenging the power of the state + changing war
Congrats to @warmatters.bsky.social, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers & Michael Sullivan for this timely article!
👇👇👇
carnegieendowment.org/research/202... @carnegiemec.bsky.social
Congrats to @warmatters.bsky.social, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers & Michael Sullivan for this timely article!
👇👇👇
carnegieendowment.org/research/202... @carnegiemec.bsky.social
Private Tech Companies, the State, and the New Character of War
Ukraine’s war offers a window into how governments’ growing reliance on defense firms is eroding national sovereignty, security, and accountability.
carnegieendowment.org
December 1, 2025 at 9:54 PM
New piece about how private tech companies are challenging the power of the state + changing war
Congrats to @warmatters.bsky.social, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers & Michael Sullivan for this timely article!
👇👇👇
carnegieendowment.org/research/202... @carnegiemec.bsky.social
Congrats to @warmatters.bsky.social, Emily Bienvenue, Maryanne Kelton, Zac Rogers & Michael Sullivan for this timely article!
👇👇👇
carnegieendowment.org/research/202... @carnegiemec.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Ford
Who could have foreseen this?!?
November 30, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Who could have foreseen this?!?
Vote Reform for more smart strategic thinking
British strategic thinking at its very, very best. Defying all logic, we’ve made it work!
Go Britain GO💪💪💪
Go Britain GO💪💪💪
Brexit is fantastic. You doomsters.
November 30, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Vote Reform for more smart strategic thinking
British strategic thinking at its very, very best. Defying all logic, we’ve made it work!
Go Britain GO💪💪💪
Go Britain GO💪💪💪
Brexit is fantastic. You doomsters.
a large ship is sinking in the ocean
ALT: a large ship is sinking in the ocean
media.tenor.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:04 PM
British strategic thinking at its very, very best. Defying all logic, we’ve made it work!
Go Britain GO💪💪💪
Go Britain GO💪💪💪
Brexit is fantastic. You doomsters.
a large ship is sinking in the ocean
ALT: a large ship is sinking in the ocean
media.tenor.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Brexit is fantastic. You doomsters.
Reposted by Matthew Ford
On my way to #show! One of the highlights of the Academic year @sochistorywar.bsky.social @hayleybrabazon.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 9:15 AM
On my way to #show! One of the highlights of the Academic year @sochistorywar.bsky.social @hayleybrabazon.bsky.social
A weekend in Manchester (& the Xmas market) and now back to into the darkness that is a Scandinavian winter…💪😀
November 30, 2025 at 7:22 PM
A weekend in Manchester (& the Xmas market) and now back to into the darkness that is a Scandinavian winter…💪😀
Good but, in the face of general AI idiocy, also a, “pushing water uphill,” corrective to LLMs will lead to everyone having WMD.
You can get me to help you “design a nuclear bomb” by buying me lunch ffs.
I do not assess public LLMs like ChatGPT as a nuclear weapons proliferation issue.
Hire a grad student instead of asking ChatGPT, the research will take longer but it will be more accurate.
www.wired.com/story/poems-...
I do not assess public LLMs like ChatGPT as a nuclear weapons proliferation issue.
Hire a grad student instead of asking ChatGPT, the research will take longer but it will be more accurate.
www.wired.com/story/poems-...
Poems Can Trick AI Into Helping You Make a Nuclear Weapon
It turns out all the guardrails in the world won’t protect a chatbot from meter and rhyme.
www.wired.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Good but, in the face of general AI idiocy, also a, “pushing water uphill,” corrective to LLMs will lead to everyone having WMD.
This implies cultural understanding, something that is being purged in favour of lethality…
taskandpurpose.com/news/army-ne...
taskandpurpose.com/news/army-ne...
The Army’s latest PSYOP recruiting ad reminds you: ‘We are everywhere’
The Army’s special operations forces of the information war released a new recruiting ad, full of ghosts in the machine.
taskandpurpose.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:11 PM
This implies cultural understanding, something that is being purged in favour of lethality…
taskandpurpose.com/news/army-ne...
taskandpurpose.com/news/army-ne...
Fahrenheit 451 retold: where VCs are in the fire department…
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Fahrenheit 451 retold: where VCs are in the fire department…
Reposted by Matthew Ford
Free marketeer admits that putting up trade barriers reduces prosperity.
The economic damage Brexit has caused is undeniable - even Brexiteers are now admitting it.
https://www.thetimes.com/business/economics/article/we-brexiteers-must-acknowledge-the-costs-of-leaving-europe-p3mhqd66f
https://www.thetimes.com/business/economics/article/we-brexiteers-must-acknowledge-the-costs-of-leaving-europe-p3mhqd66f
We Brexiteers must acknowledge the costs of leaving Europe
Breaking free from the EU has undoubtedly deepened the UK’s malaise, and it’s no use denying it
www.thetimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Free marketeer admits that putting up trade barriers reduces prosperity.