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Chris Bolan

@chrisbolan.bsky.social
423 followers 73 following 1.1K posts

Professor Emeritus U.S. Army War College, Stategic Studies Institute

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Reposted by Chris Bolan
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 9m
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed 74,245 Palestinians in three years, Gaza’s health ministry says. “There is a ceasefire in name only,” said a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations.
washingtonpost.com
Three years after Oct. 7, Israeli strikes in Gaza grind on and deaths climb
Almost a year has passed since President Donald Trump declared the fighting over and “peace in the Middle East” achieved.
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1h
Unprecedented corruption
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 13h
"Because all wars end with a bargain, the only rational purpose of fighting is to shift the terms of that bargain in one’s favor. Yet U.S. policymakers rarely integrate negotiating strategy with campaign planning."
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 13h
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state... Excellent piece that all national security & defense policymakers should read. 👇 "No war can end without an offer the enemy can accept, no matter how powerful one’s armed forces or how one-sided the fighting..."
foreignaffairs.com
The Myth of Military Victory
The dangerous idea driving today’s wars of choice.
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Roger Sollenberger @sollenbergerrc.bsky.social · 15h
DOJ hired these prosecutors: -A gambling exec turned conspiracy theorist podcaster -A guy found liable for selling fraudulent insurance leads -A guy who violated attorney-client privilege in a high-profile murder trial -A guy currently facing animal neglect charges www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/u...
nytimes.com
Justice Dept. Turns to Partisans and Conspiracists to Fill Depleted Ranks
The civil rights unit has recruited people whose questionable work histories and dearth of education and experience might have disqualified them in the past, former officials said.
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 17h
Something unprecedented happened during my visit to the Gulf. For the first time in 20 years in Congress, I was denied entry to U.S. military facilities and even meetings with military leaders. An order from Hegseth - that applies to both parties - to hide the cost of the war.
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 20h
I am downright sick of this President attacking the millions of patriotic Americans who live in "blue" states and cities. We are ALL Americans and this type of rhetoric is divisive and sickening. What a disgrace.
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Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 23h
NEW: Utah's Republican top election official said the Trump administration doesn't want to hear that noncitizen voting is a nonissue because it goes against its mass fraud narrative. The comment comes after the state found only 27 noncitizens out of over 2 million registered voters on the rolls.
democracydocket.com
Utah’s GOP election head purged noncitizens from voter rolls, but the Trump team didn’t want to hear how few she found
Utah has already combed its voter rolls for any noncitizens registered to vote and found it to be a non-issue, but that’s not what the Trump administration and congressional Republicans want to hear, ...
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 22h
Gasoline prices were briefly sky-high under Biden, in the immediate aftermath of Putin's Ukraine invasion. Then they came down, well before his term ended. Gas is up +39.4% from a year ago. Diesel it at ALL TIME high prices, up +67.0% from a year ago.
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Silverman on Security @silvermansecurity.bsky.social · 22h
🧵!!!!!
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 23h
Yes, and more particular to the Middle East, neither Saddam's Iraq nor Qaddafhi's Libya had nuclear weapons and they proved vulnerable to US military campaigns aimed at regime change.
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 23h
A nuclear-weapons capable Iran had been stopped by the effective JCPOA nuclear deal that Trump tore up without having a strategy to replace it. Trump's ill-advised war with Iran - while in the middle of negotiations - has given Tehran every incentive to pursue nuclear weapons as a deterrent.
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Abu Aardvark @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
“as wars in the Middle East and the Horn become inextricably linked, a single security sphere is coalescing…instability will continue to ricochet in both directions, and the overlapping conflicts and disputes will become harder to resolve.” Good piece www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/...
foreignaffairs.com
The New Red Sea Wars
Conflicts in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa have become inseparable.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 06/10/2026
"Whatever conclusions reached by the commission of an octogenarian crank and two billionaires, they'll be handed off to Hegseth, who believes wars are won by whichever side can do the most pushups, and whose obsession with creating an all-white, all-male military is dragging DoD down by the day."
publicnotice.co
“Project Meridian” is the stuff of satire
Elon Musk, Newt Gingrich, and Palmer Luckey walk into a bar ... and are given the keys to the DoD.
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Trump says 'Let them take out Los Angeles.' Recall this map: The *entire states* with population smaller than LA County. Among them they have 80+ US Senators. LA is about 1/3 of Calif's population, which has 2.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 05/10/2026
Pete Hegseth’s claim that military service members are superior to American civilians “is not only unwarranted, but actively dangerous,” Eliot A. Cohen argues:
bit.ly
Hegseth’s One Percent
A cult of military superiority over civilians is not only unwarranted, but actively dangerous.
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Xela Hart @xelahart.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/10/2026
Despite multiple complaints — and videos — of physical abuse and mistreatment of students, Arkansas' Delta Institute continues to receive public funds. It is just one of hundreds of private schools taking state money with little oversight. (Published July with @arktimes.bsky.social)
propublica.org
This Private School Had Students Scrub Floors and Attack a Fellow Classmate. The State Still Funds It.
One of the few requirements for Arkansas private schools is that they have an American flag and a flagpole. But millions in state funds go to the largely unmonitored schools while complaints about saf...
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This proves only two things. The Ukrainian campaign against Russian refineries is causing serious damage. Putin has asked Trump to help him out and the US president obliged.
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Just Security @justsecurity.org · 01/10/2026
If the Trump administration declines to disclose the terms of its oil deal with Venezuela, Congress has legislative tools available to compel it to do so. Mike Mattler on what such legislation should contain:
justsecurity.org
How Will Congress and the Public Learn the Details of Trump’s Venezuela Oil Deal?
If the Trump administration declines to disclose the terms of the Venezuela oil deal, Congress has tools available to compel it to do so.
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
wapo.st/4zfiMY3 Good piece highlighting cost of US failure to understand the politics, people, history, and culture of Iraq/Iran. This will get worse as Hegseth narrows scope of military education to tactical matters. "Lethality" will never compensate for poor strategic thinking or planning.
wapo.st
Opinion | We’ve left Iraq. But we haven’t learned its lessons.
Political dogma breaks down when it meets on-the-ground reality.
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Would be nice to have some genuine military & historical expertise on a team assembled to consider the future of warfare.
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Trump is such a snowflake...he simply cannot tolerate other views let alone criticism.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Just a reminder: Tillis persuaded the woman Hegseth allegedly raped to come forward with her story, and told her that if she did, it would sink the nomination. She did. At great risk to herself. Tillis then cast the deciding vote for Hegseth. Because he’s a goddamned coward.
ms.now
Outgoing Sen. Tillis regrets pivotal vote for Hegseth: ‘He’s an actor. He’s not a manager’
Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis spoke to MS NOW about regretting his vote to confirm Pete Hegseth and his strained relationship with Trump.
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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
That's a truthful headline. A similar fate awaits many.
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Hi all, just letting you know that my book The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Hitler and Mussolini, is on an ebook special sale. It is only $2.99 until Oct 10. That’s a great price for 544 pages of pure reading pleasure. www.amazon.com/Strategists-...
amazon.com
The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler--How War Made Them and How They Made War
The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler-How War Made Them and How They Made War - Kindle edition by O'Brien, Phillips Payson. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler-How War Made Them and How They Made War.
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ex-Lethality Jane @lethalityjane.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
They gave me a video appointment with a RN to replace it but an RN can't prescribe meds and the scheduler couldn't tell me if this would count for my annual physical to maintain my health care with the VA. "I don't know, I'm sorry, I just schedule appointments".
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ex-Lethality Jane @lethalityjane.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Guess I need to switch my VA clinic. This is the second time in a row that my provider has called out the day of my appointment. My husband took off work for this so he could watch our son. I am out of meds and need a new prescription and I don't know what to do.
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
also highlights the abject failure of an emphasis on 'lethality' to substitute for actual strategic thinking
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
narrowing the range of military education (e.g., excluding int'l politics, economics, history, regional studies, etc.) will only increase likelihood of more ill-advised military adventures
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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 05/10/2026
One of the biggest consequences of Russia's war will be a changed Germany. It took a long time, but Germany is changing its approach to military force, to intelligence, to the arms industry. The result will be a huge expansion of European military power, firmly directed at Moscow.
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Steve Saideman @smsaideman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
To do strategy, one must have empathy and self-awareness. Trumpers are entirely lacking in both.
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 04/10/2026
Alll of this. I started my career in construction, working office jobs alongside people who worked trades. Know how many 60-year-old guys I saw working as bricklayers? Doing demo? Zero. How many 50-year-old roofers there are? Zero. One reason unions fight for high wages is because careers are SHORT.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Just a reminder that these Haitian immigrants in Springfield -- who came here legally, did everything they were asked to do and more -- became a target of federal crackdowns because the white nationalist vice president shamelessly spread racist lies about them.
rollingstone.com
J.D. Vance Defends False Claims Against Haitians: 'If I Have to Create Stories… That's What I'm Going to Do'
J.D. Vance defended his debunked claims that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
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Drew Magary @drewmagary.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Of course it was all lies. All the fuckers do is lie
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Chris Bolan @chrisbolan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
never ceases to amaze me how EVERYTHING is about him....golfers need more daylight???
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
literally in the next 48 hours! be aware!
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Because they are eugenicists. Back in the day when we still had to go to the library to make copies of scientific papers from peer-reviewed journals, I always made a point to grab an issue of an old Eugenics journal and copy a random article as a reminder of the dangers of malicious intent.
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Agree with all of the below, with this distinction: -Alito is the most *predictably* partisan-R member of the court. -Roberts is the most *consequentially* partisan-R member.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This one is doing the rounds
A picture of Elon Musk, via the London Economic. The quote says “If a monkey hoarded more bananas than it could eat, while most of the other monkeys starved, scientists would study that monkey to figure out what the heck was wrong with it. When humans do it, we put them on the cover of Forbes.“ – Nathalie Robin Justice. 
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Donna Stern @dvsmemphis.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If you think things are tight now, wait until the Big, Ugly Bull take effect. You have no idea what’s coming! #momsky#sheshed
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David Burbach 🇺🇸 @dburbach.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Scheller, a court martialled Marine Lt Col is now a DOD appointee in charge of developing a test for which officers should be promoted to General/Admiral. "You wake up in a Crystal City apartment. It appears to have a balcony. It is raining. What do you do?".
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
In the Biden administration, l led the team that developed what was arguably the first White House “AI safety” framework, the AI Bill of Rights. David Robinson, author of this forthright and sobering essay about risk culture at OpenAI and in Silicon Valley was on that team.
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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 03/10/2026
You'd think that the Democratic party would be making hay over their opposition's biggest donor fighting to let his bot keep making revenge porn.
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David Burbach 🇺🇸 @dburbach.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I think many "blob" critiques are unfair but my only interest in McGurk's thoughts on the MidEAst would be in the context of testimony under oath to a Senate hearing on "Biden and the ME: autopsy of failure".
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🍁🍂 🎃 Diva for the Season 💚💙🏈🫶👠👑 @queenofthinair.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
So awesome!
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Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Why Peter -- such snark!
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 03/10/2026
Trump corrupted America's most innovative institution, the National Science Foundation, by stealing $1.4B mandated by Congress for research. 🧪 🧵
A photo of Trump in front of the U.S. National Science Foundation entrance, overlaid headline that reads "Trump admin stole $1.4B for world changing science against the will of congress", with a Stand Up for Science logo beneath it.
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NK Finney @nathankfinney.com · 03/10/2026
Look at Pape being all applicable to today…
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
👇🎯 - NSF/NIH $ decimated - ongoing attacks on specific universities - Title VI/FLAS $ cancelled: new CAANN grants just illegally cancelled by Russell Vought - ongoing foreign student collapse bc of immigration restrictions - Constant lying about campus speech from the fascists Total failure
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