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Ed Schatz

@edwardschatz.bsky.social
863 followers 285 following 270 posts

Political Scientist, Central Asianist, University of Toronto Posting about politics, authoritarianism, and Central Asia.

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Reposted by Ed Schatz
Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 8h
Just remember, unlike when the imperialists threten it, when Russia promises to wipe out humanity with nukes, it's cos we have "legitimate security concerns"
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Top thinkers Steve Levitsky and Lucan Way on competitive authoritarianism: www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/com...
journalofdemocracy.org
Competitive Authoritarianism in America | Journal of Democracy
The United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"The real threat is a slow, comfortable drift toward not understanding what you're doing. Not a dramatic collapse." ergosphere.blog/posts/the-ma...
ergosphere.blog
The machines are fine. I'm worried about us.
On AI agents, grunt work, and the part of science that isn't replaceable.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Hey chatgpt how can i make my classroom assignments ai-proof has to be the wierdest thing I will type today
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm like the next guy: I want to explain variation. But only on interesting/important questions. Leveraging just for its own sake might help to get published, but I see some substantively empty stuff hiding behind the language.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm an academic. I get a tad nervous with the increasing use of the term "leverage" in journal articles, grant applications, etc. Are we all unapologetically utilitarian now?
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Welcome to the newest member of the Eurasian Economic Union.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
In the end, we're all kinda working for big tech.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Some of them think tech will kill only most of us. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Not all AI workers think the tech could kill everyone
In text exchanges and conversations, multiple people who have worked for leading companies are sceptical of the warnings.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"Thank you for your attention to this matter!" is not the main thing I will miss about this president, but it's on the list.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I am as glad as the next guy that the Supreme Court and the Fed are capable of holding fast. That said, don't celebrate the resilience of our institutions quite yet. Norms shattered, principles violated, agencies gutted, violence unleashed. The effects of this presidency will be felt for decades.
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Reposted by Ed Schatz
Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 27/08/2026
Le Pen: “Ukraine is part of Russia's sphere of influence, it's a fact. Just like Canada is part of America's sphere of influence.” France, pls vote wisely!
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
give it a minute
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I think we should just call it Lake Trump, which he is welcome to bathe in, and give him a Lake Trump Peace Prize, whose Great Glory he is most welcome to bathe in.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Let's call it Lake Trump instead. As a brand, it will end up where Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza, Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage, the Trump Foundation, etc etc ended up: defunct, discontinued, bankrupt, ashes in the dustbin.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
One of Hemingway's characters from The Sun Also Rises, responding to a question about how he went bankrupt, offers pithily: “‘Two ways,’ Mike said. ‘Gradually and then suddenly.’” Threshold effects can be deadly.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
As we head into election season, your upteenth reminder (that's a lot of reminders) that what people tell pollsters is a fraught and highly imprecise measure of a public's actual opinion. All that matters are the votes. Vote.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Her late-breaking epiphany is welcome.
cnn.com
After being ‘bamboozled by Russian propaganda,’ Laura Loomer says she’s all in for Ukraine | CNN Politics
The longtime Trump ally — and Ukraine critic — released an exceedingly friendly 45-minute interview with Vladimir Zelensky recorded in Kyiv.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
but how could this possibly have happened www.cnn.com/2026/07/24/h...
cnn.com
US measles cases reach 35-year high, for second record-breaking year in a row | CNN
Measles has continued its historic resurgence in the United States this year, with a second record-breaking year in a row.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Mark Beissinger in 1995 called it the “persisting ambiguity of empire.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/m...
nytimes.com
Is Venezuela a Colony Now? A Sovereign State? Modern Empires Rule in Ambiguity.
Occupation is a hassle. Large countries have many new ways to control small ones.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
but was it good?
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Like so much in AI, this fine print is basically unhelpful: "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info."
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
This senate confirmation hearing confirms that we are screwed. The only question is how badly.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
One approach.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Timing trips to the gas station based on whatever crazy shit is happening in US foreign policy should not be normal.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Trump didn't cause FIFA to be corrupt, but somehow corruption always finds Trump.
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Reposted by Ed Schatz
Marci Shore @marcishore.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Thank you to @hanyangsydney.bsky.social in Sydney for a lively conversation about--among other things--why I find John Mearsheimer's position intellectually weak and morally bankrupt.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Устали от деда www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | In Russia, Rage Is Boiling Over
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Good news I guess is that no one reads anything any more
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
There’s hope!
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Voilà, in which I exhort fellow scholars to use the term "decolonization" with precision. "Persistent Problems with 'Decolonization': Reflections on the Central Asian Example" @poppublicsphere.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S153...
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Sounds exciting. Will these works be exhibited within Kazakhstan as well?
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
“Russia’s president, who has become a superlative authoritarian over time, has shown himself to be a mediocre head of state, a poor caretaker of the Russian economy and the agent of a regional disorder that is boomeranging back into Russia.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Putin Has No Good Way Out of His War
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
If only this could have been foreseen www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Hits the Stalemate Phase of His International Interventions, and It Stings
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
ironies, all the way down: “The band Milli Vanilli was also announced as a performer, though one of its singers, Jodie Rocco, said on Thursday that the group had not been asked to appear.” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/a...
nytimes.com
Trump Urges Canceling Freedom 250 Concerts After Artists Drop Out
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Wishing love and strength to all there
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Watching Arsenal play PSG at a bar in Almaty with Super Bowl stylings and Kazakh play by play is a bit weird.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Decolonization is not happening here. can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Tokayev, Putin Sign Seven Principles of Friendship Declaration, Expand Kazakhstan-Russia Cooperation - The Astana Times
Tokayev, Putin Sign Seven Principles of Friendship Declaration, Expand Kazakhstan-Russia Cooperation
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Vigilance and strong passwords always.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
It isn’t any less corrupt because they do it in plain sight www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u...
nytimes.com
I.R.S. to Drop Audits of Trump and Family
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Listen to Anna. Listen to my terrific colleague @marcishore.bsky.social
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
In the other war, no the other other war, Ukraine has changed things on the ground. youtu.be/chI-4vEuvko?...
youtu.be
Ukraine regains momentum as Russia suffers battlefield losses | DW News
YouTube video by DW News
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
There are few sources of satisfaction greater than unsubscribing from email lists. Thanks so much to the Democratic National Committee for providing endless satisfaction. Every day, really.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
If only there were some way to hold elections where the party breakdown of representatives would be in rough proportion to the breakdown of votes overall. You know : so the shape of districts wouldnt matter much. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/u...
nytimes.com
Two Court Decisions Have Unleashed an Era of Perpetual Redistricting
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Educators: what strategies do you use to encourage students to exercise their judgment even / especially when they're using AI? How might we encourage a healthy "hermeneutic of suspicion" (Ricoeur), when AI produces such polished answers with such a tone of confidence?
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Nothing about this war was inevitable. Leaders make choices, even if they dress up their choices in the garb of inevitability. Beware anyone saying they "had no choice."
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
This war of choice matters because it's morally abhorrent and strategically self-defeating, not because it's politically detrimental to Trump. When the media focus on the midterms, it takes our eye off the ball.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Foreign entities with deep ties to the Trump family.
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Ed Schatz @edwardschatz.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Imagine a 28th Amendment creating a simple and clear and reasonable mechanism for confidence votes in government. #updatedchecksandbalances
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