Zachary Shirkey
@zachary-shirkey.bsky.social
Professor of Political Science
Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY
International Relations; US Foreign Policy; Military Intervention; Historical IR
Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY
International Relations; US Foreign Policy; Military Intervention; Historical IR
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
I can't believe I'm posting this video - but we actually have to have a conversation about the real world implications of America going to war over Greenland.
Let me walk you through it. It doesn't turn out well for us.
Let me walk you through it. It doesn't turn out well for us.
January 11, 2026 at 2:44 AM
I can't believe I'm posting this video - but we actually have to have a conversation about the real world implications of America going to war over Greenland.
Let me walk you through it. It doesn't turn out well for us.
Let me walk you through it. It doesn't turn out well for us.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
“Far from making us more powerful, the pursuit of American dominance will make us weaker, eventually leaving us with no sphere, and no influence, at all,” Anne Applebaum argues: theatln.tc/sZC7K0uQ
🎨: The Atlantic. Source: Nicole Combeau / Bloomberg / Getty.
🎨: The Atlantic. Source: Nicole Combeau / Bloomberg / Getty.
January 11, 2026 at 2:15 AM
“Far from making us more powerful, the pursuit of American dominance will make us weaker, eventually leaving us with no sphere, and no influence, at all,” Anne Applebaum argues: theatln.tc/sZC7K0uQ
🎨: The Atlantic. Source: Nicole Combeau / Bloomberg / Getty.
🎨: The Atlantic. Source: Nicole Combeau / Bloomberg / Getty.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Reminder to those (like me) who are trying to figure out how to teach international relations this spring. @iojournal.bsky.social special issue- The Future of Global Governance and World Order- includes 16 non-technical ~4000 word essays by experts. #IOFoGG
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
International Organization: Volume 79 - Issue S1 | Cambridge Core
Cambridge Core - International Organization - Volume 79 - Issue S1
www.cambridge.org
January 8, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Reminder to those (like me) who are trying to figure out how to teach international relations this spring. @iojournal.bsky.social special issue- The Future of Global Governance and World Order- includes 16 non-technical ~4000 word essays by experts. #IOFoGG
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
JUST NOW: Huge mass of agents in a standoff, weapons drawn as Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig, and Kelly Morrison attempt to conduct congressional oversight at the Whipple Building, which has been HQ for thousands of ICE agents.
@zeteo.com
@zeteo.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:50 PM
JUST NOW: Huge mass of agents in a standoff, weapons drawn as Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig, and Kelly Morrison attempt to conduct congressional oversight at the Whipple Building, which has been HQ for thousands of ICE agents.
@zeteo.com
@zeteo.com
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Minneapolis, after the murder of Renee Nicole Good.
January 9, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Minneapolis, after the murder of Renee Nicole Good.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
at some point we're gonna have to have a real conversation about why we're still paying federal taxes to a regime that isn't using them to help anyone, but instead is using them to brutalize us
January 9, 2026 at 11:22 PM
at some point we're gonna have to have a real conversation about why we're still paying federal taxes to a regime that isn't using them to help anyone, but instead is using them to brutalize us
It’s natural to get discouraged. It‘s easy to believe that meaningful change is impossible. But if Indiana can win the national title in football … well the unthinkable is possible.
January 10, 2026 at 1:59 AM
It’s natural to get discouraged. It‘s easy to believe that meaningful change is impossible. But if Indiana can win the national title in football … well the unthinkable is possible.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Unless coercion is balanced by attraction, Donald Trump’s hemispheric doctrine will eventually fail and, in doing so, weaken the United States
In Donald Trump’s world, the strong take what they can
That will be bad for America—and everyone else
econ.st
January 10, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Unless coercion is balanced by attraction, Donald Trump’s hemispheric doctrine will eventually fail and, in doing so, weaken the United States
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Stephen Colbert on the ICE murder of Renee Nicole Good: “The message from this administration is clear. Only they determine the truth. And when their forces come to your city: obey or die. And if you die, you clearly didn’t obey. This should be an alarm bell for the entire country.”
January 9, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Stephen Colbert on the ICE murder of Renee Nicole Good: “The message from this administration is clear. Only they determine the truth. And when their forces come to your city: obey or die. And if you die, you clearly didn’t obey. This should be an alarm bell for the entire country.”
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
April 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Ex-Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: “We’re a 3rd world country now. I know. I’ve been to ‘em. I spent 17 months in SE Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf… that’s what happens in a dictatorship. In comes the military. That’s what’s happening here.” 🇺🇸
January 9, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Ex-Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: “We’re a 3rd world country now. I know. I’ve been to ‘em. I spent 17 months in SE Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf… that’s what happens in a dictatorship. In comes the military. That’s what’s happening here.” 🇺🇸
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Rep. @AOC: I understand that Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not. That is a fundamental difference between Vance and I. I do not believe that the American people should be assassinated in the street.
January 9, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Rep. @AOC: I understand that Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not. That is a fundamental difference between Vance and I. I do not believe that the American people should be assassinated in the street.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
I never again want to hear about how the Republican Party is the party of national security. You don’t incinerate our diplomatic capacity & violate all of our treaty commitments if you care about national security.
Context for Trump withdrawing dozens of ambassadors
*China has invested heavily in expanding diplomacy
*The US has significantly degraded soft power
*The US already has scores of diplomatic vacancies
*China has invested heavily in expanding diplomacy
*The US has significantly degraded soft power
*The US already has scores of diplomatic vacancies
December 25, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I never again want to hear about how the Republican Party is the party of national security. You don’t incinerate our diplomatic capacity & violate all of our treaty commitments if you care about national security.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Hell yeah.
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).
January 8, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Hell yeah.
Since some good news is always welcome, Detroit's homicide rate continued it's remarkable decline falling 19% last year to the lowest rate since the late 1960s and lowest absolute number since 1964.
www.freep.com/story/news/l...
www.freep.com/story/news/l...
Detroit homicides drop 19% for 2025, the fewest since 1964
Homicides in Detroit continue to decline, with 2025 marking what officials have described as yet another historic drop.
www.freep.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Since some good news is always welcome, Detroit's homicide rate continued it's remarkable decline falling 19% last year to the lowest rate since the late 1960s and lowest absolute number since 1964.
www.freep.com/story/news/l...
www.freep.com/story/news/l...
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
This is a BFD! The Senate just voted 52-47 to advance the war powers resolution on #Venezuela! Five Republicans joined all the Democrats in sending a massive rebuke to Trump's mad king warmaking.
This isn't the end of the line, but it's a really big deal and massive defeat for Trump.
This isn't the end of the line, but it's a really big deal and massive defeat for Trump.
January 8, 2026 at 4:51 PM
This is a BFD! The Senate just voted 52-47 to advance the war powers resolution on #Venezuela! Five Republicans joined all the Democrats in sending a massive rebuke to Trump's mad king warmaking.
This isn't the end of the line, but it's a really big deal and massive defeat for Trump.
This isn't the end of the line, but it's a really big deal and massive defeat for Trump.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Really worth watching this interview with a bystander who witnessed the ICE shooting in Minneapolis: "I'm pretty right-leaning. But seeing this, this is not how we're supposed to be doing things in America.”
January 7, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Really worth watching this interview with a bystander who witnessed the ICE shooting in Minneapolis: "I'm pretty right-leaning. But seeing this, this is not how we're supposed to be doing things in America.”
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
The latest from YouGov (n ~ 2.2k): No one's buying this Greenland shit. Trump loses virtually everyone on the threat of force. He barely gets *half of Republicans* on "purchasing" Greenland.
today.yougov.com/topics/overv...
today.yougov.com/topics/overv...
January 7, 2026 at 7:50 PM
The latest from YouGov (n ~ 2.2k): No one's buying this Greenland shit. Trump loses virtually everyone on the threat of force. He barely gets *half of Republicans* on "purchasing" Greenland.
today.yougov.com/topics/overv...
today.yougov.com/topics/overv...
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
I just left the Venezuela briefing.
It's worse than you thought.
Oil company executives seem to know more about Trump's secret plan to "run" Venezuela than the American people.
We need public Senate hearings NOW.
It's worse than you thought.
Oil company executives seem to know more about Trump's secret plan to "run" Venezuela than the American people.
We need public Senate hearings NOW.
January 7, 2026 at 6:12 PM
I just left the Venezuela briefing.
It's worse than you thought.
Oil company executives seem to know more about Trump's secret plan to "run" Venezuela than the American people.
We need public Senate hearings NOW.
It's worse than you thought.
Oil company executives seem to know more about Trump's secret plan to "run" Venezuela than the American people.
We need public Senate hearings NOW.
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
In the video in the post, you can see that the officer can clearly get out of the way of the vehicle, at first doesn't, pulls his firearm and continues to shoot as the driver has already driven past him. bsky.app/profile/bnon...
NEW: Second video shows ICE shooting in Minneapolis. A woman, a U.S. citizen, was killed
January 7, 2026 at 6:29 PM
In the video in the post, you can see that the officer can clearly get out of the way of the vehicle, at first doesn't, pulls his firearm and continues to shoot as the driver has already driven past him. bsky.app/profile/bnon...
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
What I find particularly remarkable is how so much American debate seems oblivious to how much the foundations of US global power is dependent on access to infrastructure, bases and depots in Europe and Canada
Walk through what that 'mask off' world looks like: Europe accelerates rearmament, functioning as an independent power bloc - to which the United States' neighbors, threatened by our bullshit, will want to realign, creating flash-points for potential trans-Atlantic Big Boy Wars. 4/
January 7, 2026 at 8:49 AM
What I find particularly remarkable is how so much American debate seems oblivious to how much the foundations of US global power is dependent on access to infrastructure, bases and depots in Europe and Canada
Reposted by Zachary Shirkey
If Trump uses military force against Denmark, that would be a world historical disaster on the scale that dwarfs what just happened in Venezuela (which is a BFD in itself). It would blow up NATO and alienate all of our allies in Europe, and Canada would side with Europe.
January 7, 2026 at 12:47 AM
If Trump uses military force against Denmark, that would be a world historical disaster on the scale that dwarfs what just happened in Venezuela (which is a BFD in itself). It would blow up NATO and alienate all of our allies in Europe, and Canada would side with Europe.