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Dr. Ian Garner

@irgarner.bsky.social
14K followers 2.4K following 1K posts

Prof of Totalitarian Studies @ Pilecki Institute, Warsaw/Fellow @ Centre for International and Defence Policy, Ontario | FrHistS | Author of "Z Generation: Russia's Fascist Youth” - get it @ linktr.ee/igarner | 🇨🇦

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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Delighted to announce the greatest achievement of my career
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
"Four and a half years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has conquered no more than a slice of Ukrainian territory. Half a million Russian soldiers are dead, the economy is running on fumes." Why won't they stop the bloodshed?
foreignpolicy.com
Where Does Russia’s Violent Imperialism Come From?
A new book provides some helpful—if not always spot-on—answers.
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Reposted by Dr. Ian Garner
Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
That’s a formal warning. If he does it again he’ll start to lose marks for the course.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
We do not mention the months of procrastination on the paper before today.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Day 1 of my fellowship at Cambridge and I have already submitted a paper. Crushing it.
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Benjamin von Wyl @benjaminvonwyl.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
“The Kremlin’s aim is not necessarily to win an election or this referendum in Switzerland,” explains @irgarner.bsky.social who spoke with Swissinfo before Sunday’s vote result was known. www.swissinfo.ch/eng/informat...
swissinfo.ch
Swiss democracy in the crosshairs of Russian propaganda
The vote on the neutrality initiative saw open interference by Russia – as well as covert operations, Swiss authorities say.
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Post-Soviet Affairs Journal @postsovietaffairs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
How does democracy function in wartime Ukraine? What constrains Zelensky's administration? Is there democratic accountability? Discover all in Pavlo Otamas' new article in Post-Soviet Affairs ⬇️
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Post-Soviet Affairs Journal @postsovietaffairs.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Why did Central Asian states bring home citizens linked to ISIS when so many other governments refused? Elena Zhirukhina's brand new article has the answer ⬇️❗️
tandfonline.com
When society, identity, and security align: repatriation strategies in Central Asia
Thousands of nationals, referred to as foreign terrorist fighters and their families, who travelled to Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State and other groups, had remained in detention sites in nor...
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"I bought a projector to read and review papers on the ceiling as I go to sleep" New academic productivity benchmark just dropped.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Criminals, state-sponsored groups, spyware vendors, scientists and propagandists have attempted to use Anthropic’s AI to design missiles and bombs, create deadly pathogens and surveil dissidents. We're so fucked, aren't we?
theguardian.com
Anthropic details bad actors’ efforts to misuse its AI for bioweapons
The 154-page report comes two days after former employee Jacob Coxon resigned due to Anthropic racing to improve its models that would cause human extinction by 2030
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I don't mind when the comments are spot on - I just published something in Media, War & Conflict that really benefitted from 2 genuinely high quality rounds of review - but it's infuriating when the reviewers just can't be bothered to engage
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This was the point I emphasised about Palantir when I wrote about tech soverignty - their model is to make bits of the state dependent on them and them jack up the price. samf.substack.com/p/sovereignt...
samf.substack.com
Sovereignty for sale
Tech monopolies and the future of the nation state
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
That one was so out there that I am going to submit the paper with zero changes to another journal
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Much better than last week's, which spent several paragraphs explaining why my submission was a complete waste of time and I had embarrassed everybody by even posing the questions in it
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"That was one of the strongest papers I have read in a while." Now that is the peer review feedback you want to start your day with!
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
P.S. Thanks to the peer reviewers, who were all super constructive, made me think harder, and helped get the piece in shape!
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Could it be the most important thing I’ve ever written? Could it be a theory explaining how Russians are simultaneously in a highly individualistic and an immerse, collective society? Yes and yes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Ambient war: Stalingrad memory and Russian state-aligned Telegram networks in the war against Ukraine - Ian Garner, Hugh Garner, 2026
The idea of fighting World War II again has been an important feature of Russian state-aligned discourse about the ongoing war in Ukraine. This article examines...
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Hundreds of "free speech" big dog professors are going to organize an open letter and kick up an international media fuss about this, right? ...right?
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John Sipher @johnsipher.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
We will look back on this period with shame. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/u...
nytimes.com
West Point Climate Professor Says He Was Fired for Refusing to ‘Defy Science’
Dr. Adam Kalkstein is suing the U. S. Military Academy, where he was a professor of geography and the only climate scientist, after being fired.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Yes. The answer's yes.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Will Westerners keep going to fight for Russia because they're bored, lonely, emasculated, or just stupid?
unherd.com
How Westerners are lured into Russia’s army
Bradley Townsend is reportedly the first British volunteer to be killed fighting for Russia in the war with Ukraine. Townsend told his family that he planned to visit Romania earlier this year. Instea...
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Happy dog day, friends!
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Post-Soviet Affairs Journal @postsovietaffairs.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
One from our archives, from 1993: "Russia, Ukraine, and the Imperial Legacy"
tandfonline.com
Russia, Ukraine, and the Imperial Legacy
Published in Post-Soviet Affairs (Vol. 9, No. 4, 1993)
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Post-Soviet Affairs Journal @postsovietaffairs.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Why did Russia's "muscular mediation" in Nagorno-Karabakh fall flat? Check out this new article from Post-Soviet Affairs to find out ⬇️
tandfonline.com
Russia’s failed “muscular mediation” in Nagorno-Karabakh
From 2015 to 2023, Russia engaged in coercive diplomacy seeking to avert and then truncate war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. This article explores if the rece...
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The Jason Arday story is by no means the biggest scandal at Cambridge University. I'm sure the media is going to pick this up and run with it in just the same way ... Or is the exaggerated CV of one Black professor somehow more important than this?
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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This is 5-year-old Emilia and 10-year-old Sofia Dvornychenko, Russia killed them in a terrorists attack on girls own home in Sumy on August 4. 🕯💔 Russians struck the family's home with a guided aerial bomb, completely destroying it and killing two children…
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Meanwhile in the Bad Place:
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Some of my papers have been reviewed and are "Awaiting Recommendation" for so long I think the journal editors might be deceased
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The New Voice of Ukraine @english.nv.ua · 04/08/2026
🤖 Russia has circulated an AI-generated video falsely claiming Ukraine struck a civilian gas station, in what Ukrainian officials describe as another disinformation campaign
english.nv.ua
Russia spreads AI-generated video alleging strike on gas station in Poltava Oblast
Russian propaganda channels are circulating an AI-generated video falsely alleging the destruction of a gas station in Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) report...
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Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 @pravda.ua · 04/08/2026
‼️ Russian serviceman shoots fellow soldiers and civilians in Crimea: four killed
pravda.com.ua
Russian serviceman shoots fellow soldiers and civilians in Crimea: four killed
A Russian serviceman has shot dead four people in the village of Khmelnytske near Sevastopol, with four more injured. The suspect has been detained.
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Hurst Publishers @hurstpublishers.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
To sample 'A History of South Africa' by Thula Simpson, read here ➡️ tinyurl.com/yvz868ej
tinyurl.com
Sample of "History of South Africa" by Thula Simpson
Peek inside this book and discover another great read.
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Humanists UK @humanists.uk · 27/07/2026
Springwatch icon, humanist, and probably the UK's best-loved birdwatcher, Bill Oddie, has died aged 85. Very sad. Thank you for a lifetime of helping us understand nature.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
It’s really important that the #Vancouver Downtown Business Association, who were originally against bike-lanes, are now among their most vigourous supporters, because of ACTUAL EVIDENCE that they’re better for downtown business than any street parking they replaced. Safe bike-lanes mean business.
A protected bike-lane filled with people riding bikes in Downtown Vancouver, Canada
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Lauri Donahue @lauridonahue.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
futurism.com/future-socie... lol
As one New York financier told Financial Times journalist Gillian Tett, new hires who were seen as “AI natives” are turning out to have alarmingly shallow ideas. So much so, the anonymous finance worker admitted, that his firm now actively avoids seeking out AI-literate STEM graduates, and opts to comb through humanities students instead.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
“Climate scientists appalled by politicians' refusal to accept responsibility as heatwave hits France… They say that years of warnings issued from scientists about the consequences of global warming have not been taken seriously.” #France #ClimateCrisis #UrbanHeat
lemonde.fr
Climate scientists appalled by politicians' refusal to accept responsibility as heatwave hits France
Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Jean Jouzel and Christophe Cassou say that years of warnings issued from scientists about the consequences of global warming have not been taken more seriously.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
In which I attempt to theorize slopaganda. TL;DR: it’s not looking good. legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2026/07/0...
legrandcontinent.eu
L’âge de la slopagande | Le Grand Continent
Pour comprendre le nouveau régime informationnel, il faut élaborer une nouvelle théorie de la propagande à l'ère de l'IA.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I'm actually writing for Le Grand Continent...if you want to take a look at this mad, rambling mess I have created before I publish, I would be very grateful!
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I'm quite open to AI use, but we really have no idea how this is going to change society or knowledge, do we?
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I am in a cafe in Warsaw writing a piece on slopaganda. I can see 4 other people's laptop screens. All 4 have ChatGPT open. The world's about to get really, really weird.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
It's too hot to write. I think my brain is on fire. And it's going to be almost 10 degrees hotter over the weekend.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I am glad, with the world exploding from climate change and bombs and bullets, the leader of the free world is focused on his pool like some suburban grandpa
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
For research purposes I am in Trump's Truth Social. The guy is obsessed with his damn pool.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Since the knives out, let me also lay into the Guardian, where the writing style is getting simpler by the minute. Most of their content now reads like a series of tweets, not a piece of cohesive prose.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
It's the 10th anniversary of the dumbest moment in modern British history so let's celebrate some of the idiots who made it happen. First up ... Jacob Rees-Mogg and his promise of cheap food and wine... In fact food prices have increased some 12% as a direct result of Brexit (LSE) 1/5



Brexit will REDUCE food,
wine and clothes costs
by 20% - Rees-Mogg
fires back at Remainers
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History Today @historytoday.com · 23/06/2026
The East German Uprising of 17 June 1953 was the first major revolt to take place in the Soviet Bloc. It almost succeeded in collapsing the system. ⌛️ Last chance to read this archive article for free buff.ly/L9mTYnP
buff.ly
East Germany’s Day of Dissent
The East German Uprising of 17 July 1953 was the first major revolt to take place in the Soviet Bloc. It almost succeeded in collapsing the system.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Academics, I know you get lots of peer review requests, but please just press the "I can't do it" button so we can all move on quickly. Don't leave me hanging.
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
My favourite genre is dipshit white supremacist influencers visiting Warsaw - the most liberal, open, and diverse city in Poland - during Pride Month and commenting on how brilliant it is.
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Post-Soviet Affairs Journal @postsovietaffairs.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Check out our latest special issue, Russian Migrants’ Transnational Activism in Wartime 👇 Articles cover diaspora protest, violence, and political disengagement. Vital reading for scholars across disciplines.
tandfonline.com
Post-Soviet Affairs
Russian Migrants’ Transnational Activism in Wartime. Volume 42, Issue 3 of Post-Soviet Affairs
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Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
"Declassified Intelligence," Tulsi Gabbard, Oil on Canvas, 2026
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