iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Oh look, US National Science Foundation-supported science won the Nobel Prize in physics.

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Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 8h

Lots of crazy things happening these days, but the spy scandal unfolding in Germany at the moment about the former BND head handling out secret information seems quite high up there in the 'that usually only happens in a Le Carré novel'-list of events...

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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

these are our pianos, not theirs! I know this stuff can feel secondary with all of the immediate pain this admin causes, but in the face of such personalism, it also feels important to assert the democratic principle that these cultural inheritances don't belong to the president, they belong to us

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Anton Dekker 🚲 / AntonDekker@mastodon.nl @antondekker44.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"The additional moves will further strain the U.S. Navy, however, which has experienced supply shortages and faced near-record deployments during the conflict. Iran has in recent weeks fired ballistic missiles at American warships."

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Utility of carriers aside, it remains astounding that the United States doesn't have a carrier in the Indo-Pacific theater right now, and it's not because anything changed in the Indo-Pacific.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Pete Hegseth removing tenure protections shows precisely why they are needed. He wants to silence dissent by being able to fire anyone who questions his vision of the military. www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...

militarytimes.com

Hegseth halts tenure appointments for civilian faculty at military academies

Military academies will no longer appoint civilian faculty to tenured positions as Hegseth says it can contribute to “academic stagnation.”

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

So campus speech. Much viewpoint diversity. Very marketplace of ideas.

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Shayna Weiss @shaynamalka.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is very bad!!

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Ray Glennon OFS @rayglennon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The Naval Academy faculty has been roughly 50% civilian and 50% military since its founding in 1845. I was a Chemistry major (1972) and part of the military faculty as a Chemistry instructor from 1975-1978. Civilian profs were the core and foundation of the department.

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Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Watch the Sadat Forum: Business as Usual or the End of the American Middle East? With Gregory Gause, @abuaardvark.bsky.social, @profsaunders.bsky.social, and @stelhami.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGwb...

youtube.com

The Sadat Forum: Business as Usual or the End of the American Middle East?

YouTube video by Sadat Chair at UMD

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Learned so much from this conversation -- if you missed it, see the recording below. Thanks to @stelhami.bsky.social for the invitation!

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Join us this afternoon at 3pm EDT! Registration details below.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Wondering if secretly WH wants to lose so they get...actual coverage of the Xi visit, which includes an airport pickup -- and we know, from Seinfeld, just how important the airport pickup is.

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

COMING UP: The White House faces off against the press corps at a 3:30 p.m. ET hearing. 3 news outlets—CNN, MSNOW, and Politico—are seeking a restraining order to block Trump's move to revoke their reporters' hard passes & bar them from WH grounds. Follow along w/ @rparloff.bsky.social ⬇️👇

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Can’t get numb to this: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, despite being absentee in the role, is the nation's top diplomat.

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

He’s totally getting fired

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"In Trump’s first term, he reneged on JCPOA & reimposed sanctions, vowing that a policy of “maximum pressure” would force Iran into a “better deal.” trump got this enormous gamble completely wrong & US as well as others pay the price. Haven't seen any front page stories exploring this central point

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Thanks! I’d say 9/11 and GWOT are key.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Research units from across government have been gutted. More than 10,000 PhDs have left government. For example the research arm of the Department of Education lost 90% of their staff and the research office for the Secretary of Health and Human Services lost an estimated 60% of their staff.

figure shows dramatic cut in research staff

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

New from Lauren Supplee at Can We Still Govern? The US government had gradually become better at producing and using evidence. This evidence-based infrastructure is largely invisible, important, and one more thing gutted by Trump. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-system...

donmoynihan.substack.com

The System for Using Evidence to Improve Federal Programs Has Been Gutted

Here’s How We Fix It

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Takes my breath away every time I think about it. Not that the architecture was so great or would last forever. But the speed. Just non-believable except we all watched it live on truth social.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

They’re all different angles…love the Krepenevich too

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Best political account is Gelb and Betts, The Irony of Vietnam, which explains all the wars after too.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

And yet it’s actually all the architecture!

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

And it’s not like it’s over, there are markets opening tomorrow and diesel price signs without more decimal places and many countries that were counting on our missiles. That are gone.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Takes my breath away every time I think about it. Not that the architecture was so great or would last forever. But the speed. Just non-believable except we all watched it live on truth social.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

But we still get the triumphal arch, right?

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Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Timeline of Strategic Genius: Wednesday: Trump against helping Saudis fight Houthis Thursday: Gets a call from Crown Prince Salman, decides to join the fight Mid-day Sunday: Trump calls off airstrikes right as they were about to begin, declines to help Saudis (again)

nytimes.com

Trump Gets Caught in a Dilemma Over a Saudi Plea for Military Help

The president vacillated but decided on Sunday not to join Saudi Arabia, for now, in joint strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. But he also needs the kingdom’s cooperation in his war against Iran.

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Matthew Buckley @physicsmatt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I'm but a simple country theoretical physicist, so I assume that modern military strategy involves placing all your defensive ordinance in a well-known prominent immobile structure. Now to take a big gulp of coffee and read this wikipedia page about the opening offensives of WWII.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This was about the latest on the faux-triumphant arch but really could apply to anything.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

We’re completely numb to this but it’s horrifying on every possible level.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Amid reports that the US is about to escalate its failed war again, to probably no effect except further depleting already-scarce munitions, further damaging what is left of US influence, and killing innocent civilians, this is what the commander in chief is up to.

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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The ballroomification of the Trump Triumphal Arch. See, it is really about national security. (Had to check that this was real. What a time to be alive.)

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Did you give them the third option, high gas prices and maybe Iran still gets a nuclear weapon and US credibility and military power is decimated?

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Omar García-Ponce @garciaponce.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We're hiring! GW’s Political Science Department is seeking a junior tenure-track professor in Comparative Politics. The search is open to any substantive or regional focus and all methodological approaches. Review of applications begins October 16. www.gwu.jobs/postings/128...

gwu.jobs

Assistant Professor of Political Science

The Department of Political Science invites applications for a tenure-track position in Comparative Politics at the rank of Assistant Professor beginning as early as Fall 2027. This position is pendin...

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Shipwreck @shipwreck75.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The Pentagon will need at least five years to replace the missile interceptors it expended in the Iran war trying to defend U.S. troops and bases.-WaPo

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Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The end of America's Middle East? Join us for a Sadat Forum conversation with Gregory Gause, @abuaardvark.bsky.social, and @profsaunders.bsky.social, Monday, September 28, 3:00 to 4:00 PM EDT. Register by scanning code below or go to go.sadat.umd/sadatforum

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Certainly there are opportunities. My main frustration is the undifferentiated messaging. What works in one stage of a program or one type of class is not the same as what works in others!

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