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Ken McDonagh

@kenmcdonagh.bsky.social
1.7K followers 4.2K following 320 posts

Associate Prof in IR, DCU, research EU security & defence, occasional runner, dad of triplets, mo thuairim fèin

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Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 7h
Haven’t seen other big outlets cover this, though it’s funny someone at State leaked the cable demanding these conversations. Maybe if these censored disinformation researchers were college students at Oberlin complaining to a student journalist about dining hall food, it would get more pick up?
politico.com
EU, Canada and Lithuania pull out of disinformation conference after US pressure
The Trump administration was bothered by panels that referred to the U.S. as a disinformation threat.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 10h
Credit to the US for making the point the conference was trying to make about US foreign interference in European democracies for them, and bringing more attention to the conference and its themes than they could have possibly hoped for. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...
politico.com
EU, Canada and Lithuania pull out of disinformation conference after US pressure
The Trump administration was bothered by panels that referred to the U.S. as a disinformation threat.
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yet another blow for Germany’s reliability and reputation, as this ex-chief of BND seems to have been supplied with material from foreign partner agencies as well and used it to brief a foreign agency…
handelsblatt.com
August Hanning: Ex-Chef des BND wegen Spionageverdachts festgenommen
Hanning leitete den BND von 1998 bis 2005. Nun wurde er festgenommen.
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NewsThump @newsthump.com · 05/10/2026
NEWS! Fears grow that high diesel prices could lead to more cyclists newsthump.com/2026/10/05/f...
newsthump.com
Fears grow that high diesel prices could lead to more cyclists
People in the UK are terrified today after considering the possibility that high diesel prices could lead to an increase in cyclists.
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Hey, I’m just asking questions. Ignorant questions, bigoted questions, questions that have been repeatedly answered for many years. Sorry, but I’m not listening to answers right now; I’m far too busy asking questions. It’s called being intellectually curious.
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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Ireland's chronic over-dependence on HGVs for freight leaves us at mercy of every fuel crisis & cutting diesel prices is only a short-term salve. We need to shift to rail freight & electrify our HGV fleet, as I explain in @irishexaminer.bsky.social today. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
irishexaminer.com
Subsidies for diesel are lost money when electric trucks are the future
Pumping taxpayers' money into diesel-guzzling trucks is fair to nobody when we should be subsidising companies to transition to electric vehicles
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Andy Scollick @andyscollick.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A looming strike by oil workers in the #NorthSea could “severely disrupt” UK fuel supplies, the Unite union has said. (Guardian)
theguardian.com
Strikes by North Sea oil workers could ‘severely disrupt’ UK fuel supplies
Union says staff left with no choice but industrial action after breakdown in pay talks with Texas oil firm Apache
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Dublin City University @dublincityuni.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Are you doing essential 'wife work' at your job without getting promoted? In The Irish Times, Dr Sabrina Fitzsimons of DCU Institute of Education, highlights how women perform invisible labour, like mentoring and supporting colleagues, that goes unrewarded. Read more: launch.dcu.ie/4j3IBpv
Dr Sabrina Fitzsimons
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Philip Boucher-Hayes @philipb-h.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ireland imports 80% of its wheat. Not great food security. Concentration on livestock farming elbowed Irish wheat out. Imported wheat and flour add considerably to the cost of living crisis. But new crop science opens the door to Irish grown wheat. Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/listen/clip/...
rte.ie
Food Security: Bread
Only the tiniest fraction of the flour needed to bake the 50kg of bread we eat a year is grown and milled in Ireland, and the cost of what we import is sky rocketing. We take a look at what needs to b...
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🤷Літ🤦 хоче спекти пасочку 👍 @lithra.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
#UkrainianView Today I got to know a funny fact from X-witter. If someone tries to raise awareness about religious persecution (including mass murder) of Christians in russian occupation - the person will receive minimum coverage and will be attacked by bots. 🔽
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Elisabeth Braw @elisabethbraw.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Australia is creating a brilliant backup plan to allow its financial system to keep operating - think debit cards payments for food - in case its cables are cut. It's an unlikely scenario - but important to prepare for. Learn from Australia! www.ft.com/content/fba5... (Me @financialtimes.com)
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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I think the entire public sector slowly grinding to a halt because the minster for public expenditure wants to burnish his hard man credentials for an upcoming leadership bid should be more of a scandal/news story tbh #speirgorm
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hey you, Europe, You know how we started a war without telling you, failed badly, and hurt all our economies? No, after we tariffed you, lectured you that Russia isn’t a threat, and demanded territory. Okay. So. Weaken yourself to rescue us or we’ll hurt our own economy more and you’ll be sorry.
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Ken McDonagh @kenmcdonagh.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
He has a point - this sort of thing could give state sponsored murder a bad name!
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Matthew Ford @warmatters.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Latest publication: Hammers & Nails: Military Innovation as a Strategic Dead End In this article I argue that innovation has become an end-in-itself, supplanting the much harder challenge of defining a meaningful, justifiable and achievable strategy. www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/hamm...
militarystrategymagazine.com
Hammers and Nails: Military Innovation as a Strategic Dead End - Military Strategy Magazine
This article argues that contemporary Western military innovation has become a strategic dead end. Tracing the evolution of military innovation from the Revolution in Military Affairs through counteri...
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s also really clear to me this week that the people telling us that AI will transform work…haven’t seen a lot of jobs where people work.
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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Most TV is just this now.
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Izzy Kamikaze @izzykamikaze.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Mam made the front page, which would delight her! Funeral arrangements/condolences are here: rip.ie/death-notice...
Front page story in the Carlow Nationalist, "Trailblazing Margaret was the first female reporter in a local paper."
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Roberta Metsola @president.europarl.europa.eu · 29/09/2026
Good to have you back at @europarl.europa.eu, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Our Parliament will continue to support all Belarusians fighting for a democratic future rooted in freedom and respect for human rights. You can always count on us.
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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Having real #MeToo flashbacks today, what with various news stories going around, and thinking a lot about how women were encouraged to rip themselves open and show off our trauma, in all its Technicolor glory, so that men might begin to believe us
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Wendy Lyon @wendylyon.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026
This goes for Ireland too. I have not seen one single MSM journalist ask O’Callaghan, Burke, or Lawless how they reconcile their desire to cut immigration numbers with their own governmental reports showing an economic need for MORE inward migration. #speirghorm
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Max @maxtegman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
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Christina Wolbrecht @cwolbrecht.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I mean, COME ON.
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Alex Dukalskis @alexdukalskis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My department - @ucdpolitics.bsky.social - is hiring two PERMANENT posts in any area of politics, international relations, theory, or development studies. Please apply if you are on the academic job market, and if you're not, please do us a solid & spread the word! Deadline NOV 9.
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Andy Scollick @andyscollick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
What happens on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown has ramifications for Northern Ireland, Ireland and UK politics. If the PSNI (police) force a path through the nationalist residents and protect a loyalist triumphalist hate march ('Orange parade') along the road, it could spark widespread unrest.
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Ken McDonagh @kenmcdonagh.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s data mining to train AI models.
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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is a poor take that suggests Owen Jones doesn't know much about Russia in the 1990s, including Russia-US or wider Russia-West relations in the 1990s. By giving only one part of the story, he is repeating the Russian political elite's self-serving line that it was all the West's fault. Long 🧵
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Ken McDonagh @kenmcdonagh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It really is!
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Ken McDonagh @kenmcdonagh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is not usually a literary account but if you haven’t read this yet, get your hands on it! A remarkable novel
Picture of the cover of “Said the Dead” a novel by Doireann Nì Ghrìofa
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Katja Bego @katjabego.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Absolutely delighted to see my book reviewed so positively by Tim Judah in the @financialtimes.com! www.ft.com/content/f5ca...
ft.com
Undersea cables: the battle for the ocean floor
Two books take a deep dive into the hybrid wars over the vital arteries without which most of modern life would grind to a halt
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The BBC of course are not bothering to live report what is going on right now but apparently believe this is news...
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I think this is pretty hard to justify. The education reporters might I suppose argue that the Orr story is a politics one and hence goes to that desk. But we also have the student complaints, mentioned in the FT long read and apparently reopened this week.
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Dublin City University @dublincityuni.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
#ICYMI: A new book, 'Fearless! Vincent Browne's Magill and Ireland in the 1980s', by DCU’s Prof. Kevin Rafter, tells the story of the influential current affairs magazine and Irish life in the 1980s. Read more: launch.dcu.ie/4y1tGQZ
Prof Kevin Rafter at the launch of his new book Fearless! at the Mansion House. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie(L-R) Pat Kenny, Prof Kevin Rafter, Mariel Deegan (New Island Books) and Dara Calleary TD, Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht at the launch of Fearless! at the Mansion House Dublin. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie
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Sharrow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇮🇪🦄💙📚🎃 @sharrow.eurosky.social · 21/09/2026
We used such 'social media' platforms to create too much progressive change. It would not be possible to grow grass roots engagement and to organise the way we were able to for #MarriageEquality and #Repeal.
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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Virginia Woolf scholars – you have the floor.
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Dublin City University @dublincityuni.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
DCU Arts & Culture and the @artscouncilireland.bsky.social have announced two Writers in Residence positions for 2027. The closing date for applications is Thursday, October 1st, at 5:30pm. For more information, click here: launch.dcu.ie/3TAQrfO
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Simon Usherwood @simonusherwood.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Harsh. Fair.
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Dublin City University @dublincityuni.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Why is reaching leadership still so hard for women? Prof Yseult Freeney of DCU Business School notes workplace cultures haven't kept pace. The 1950s 'ideal worker' norm penalises women who handle most caregiving, making structural change essential. Read more in @irishtimes.com: launch.dcu.ie/4yCmniD
Prof Yseult Freeney
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Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
LOVE to see one of my bestie's work out there. I've been following Noah's work since we were wee grad students at Michigan. His work is amazing!
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Vincent Morley @vmstarai.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
He has a more general book on the same subject that covers the period 1600-1900: cic.ie/shop/leabhai...
cic.ie
Béarla sa Ghaeilge - Cabhair Choigríche: An Códmheascadh Gaeilge/ Béarla I Litríocht na Gaeilge 1600-1900 | Cló Iar-Chonnacht
Ról an Bhéarla mar mheán tánaisteach i réimsí áirithe ceapadóireachta Gaeilge sa tréimhse 1600-1900 ó thaobh na teangeolaíochta agus na litríochta araon de.
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EU Institute for Security Studies @euiss.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Today’s #SOTEU touched on several questions EUISS has been working on closely: Europe’s security architecture, how to sustain support for Ukraine & the strategic enablers Europe still lacks. Some of our proposals ↓
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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It’s not an “impossible position”. Sheeran is a very wealthy, successful musician who was asked by a stadium owner to kick a fellow musician off his tour for political reasons. He could choose to kick Macklemore off or to say no thanks, we’ll play elsewhere. www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/new...
independent.co.uk
Ed Sheeran in an ‘impossible position’ over Macklemore Gaza row, says Lisa Nandy
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Thomas von Boguslawski @thomasvb.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Breaking: #Finland has decided to join the French initiative on Forward Deterrence: www.presidentti.fi/en/joint-sta...
presidentti.fi
Joint Statement on Finland’s Participation in French Forward Deterrence - Presidentti
In his speech on nuclear deterrence doctrine, given on March 2nd at Île Longue, the President of the French Republic has expressed the European dimension of France’s vital interests, and articulated t...
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Ken McDonagh @kenmcdonagh.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Well he did save us all from the “grey goo” already! www.theguardian.com/science/2003... (or maybe the real Armageddon was the tech doomsday hype cycles we met along the way!)
theguardian.com
Brave new world or miniature menace? Why Charles fears grey goo nightmare
The scenario is a familiar one: scientists open Pandora's box, awaken Frankenstein's monster, or maybe just play God. But this time the menace on the laboratory bench is undetectable with any conceiva...
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Jess Miers 🦝 @jmiers230.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I did a somewhat deep dive into the recent OpenAI and Anthropic "hacks" for an upcoming interview. IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing. Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
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Vatnik Soup @vatniksoup.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we’ll introduce the “Safeguard Swiss neutrality” ballot initiative, which goes to a nationwide vote in Switzerland on 27 September. Superficially, its promise can sound appealing: peace, sovereignty, and permanent armed neutrality. But most of that is a distraction:
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Christoph Harig @charig.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Defence secretary Pistorius doesn't want AfD government to see National Defence Plan (so they can't share it with Russia) Will be hard to navigate this issue with an ever stronger AfD, though. How is national defence supposed to work if single states are excluded? www.focus.de/politik/deut...
focus.de
Pistorius will streng geheimen Plan vor AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt verbergen
Verteidigungsminister Boris Pistorius überlegt, im Falle einer AfD-Regierungsübernahme einen geheimen Plan aus der Staatskanzlei von Sachsen-Anhalt zu entfernen.
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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Incredibly, this RTÉ news report describes a criminal act of bribery and vote-rigging as a “striking attempt to persuade voters to back his party”. The degree to which news media continues to sane-washed this unhinged tyrant is a stain that will never wash off. www.rte.ie/news/us/2026...
rte.ie
Trump offers Americans $5,000 if Republicans win Congress
US President Donald Trump said he would pay every American adult a $5,000 (€4,299) "Trump dividend" if Republicans retain control of Congress in November's midterm election, a striking attempt to pers...
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Ken McDonagh @kenmcdonagh.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Fr Dougal Maguire sitting on a couch, the text reads "So I took the liberty of taping the conversation"
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Royal Irish Academy @ria.ie · 10/09/2026
'Drumcondra' by Ruth McManus is the latest publication from the Royal Irish Academy’s Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA) research programme. We are excited about this new publication and the launch of it in mid November! 👀 Pre-order 'Drumcondra' on our website: shop.ria.ie/products/dru...
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