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Thomas Hughes

@thomashughes.bsky.social
485 followers 612 following 252 posts

Assistant Prof Mount Allison Uni and Dep Director Centre for Defence and Security Studies Uni of Manitoba. Arctic and N. Am Defence, NATO and European Security. And fly fishing with a dose of NUFC.

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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ooooh, does that include me?!
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Mark Walters @mark-walters.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The visit to Llaneilian Church, Anglesey was well worth a diversion off the coastal path 😍 5th c. CE foundation with visible remains from the 12th-17th c. Remarkable 1496 timber rood screen with image of Death inscribed ’Sin is the sting of death’. 14th c. side chapel of St. Eilian down steps.
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Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
this is "someone rephrased the existing 1951 agreement to grandpa and the danes agreed to put an extra dude with a M1917 up there"
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MAKS 26 👀🇺🇦 @maks23.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🇳🇴 NATO troops disrupted Russian underwater "training" near Svalbard. Submarines of the "Russian Department of Deep-Sea Research" covertly practiced the technology of remotely damaging underwater cables near the Arctic archipelago.
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David Burbach 🇺🇸 @dburbach.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is a big deal. www.defenseone.com/defense-syst...
defenseone.com
US military has ‘on-orbit’ space weapons, Air Force Secretary reveals
Experts said the acknowledgment may lead to overt action by China, Russia.
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I can’t emphasise enough how UTTERLY WILD this is
wsj.com
Exclusive | Mark Carney’s Audacious Bid to Make Canada an ‘Associate Member’ of the EU
As trade talks with the U.S. collapse, prime minister pursues a major—and risky—pivot to Europe; an Ottawa book club plays its part.
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Black Cloud Six @blackcloudsix.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Reposting this. blackcloudsix.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...
blackcloudsix.substack.com
This Is What Betrayal Looks Like
A Canadian officer reflects on Afghanistan, the Allied burden, and Trump's deliberate rewriting of history.
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Annie Chave @anniechave.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A feel good story to share. More of this please 🙏 much more. www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/s...
theguardian.com
State schools finally get their big day: ‘All of a sudden, playing at Lord’s becomes cool’
The inaugural Knight-Stokes Cup was a special occasion not just for the teenagers playing on Lord’s hallowed turf, but for the English game as a whole
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Spot on!
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Steve Saideman @smsaideman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Our latest #BattleRhythm cdsn.substack.com/p/episode-42... with an interview with Canada's Surgeon General!
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Margo Gontar @margogontar.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Have your national media told you Russia has been bombing food warehouses and grocery stores in Ukraine on daily basis now to make Ukrainians starve ?
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
As Sweden tries to open up mining for rare minerals in the north, politicians are questioning the right of the Sami people to reindeer herd on their lands www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
theguardian.com
Reindeer and rare-earth minerals: Swedish politicians take aim at Indigenous Sami in mining dispute
Gabna community fear their traditional herding routes will be sacrificed as far-right rhetoric ramps up against them
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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 07/09/2026
📡 Our new cooperation on satellite connectivity takes off today. With immediate results. North Greenland will see massive improvements in internet access in the coming days. And by October, remote communities in East Greenland will also have better, faster internet!
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Enjoyed this notice in New Brunswick. Can’t argue with fact! #nufc @podonthetyne.bsky.social
A sign saying “NB Burn Updates” and “Legend” underneath, with the actual legend for the accompanying map cropped out
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The Ukrainian Review @theukrainianreview.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
‼️ POLITICO: For the first time in decades, NATO allies held submarine-hunting drills off Iceland without U.S. ships or aircraft, as European and Canadian forces took lead in defending North Atlantic. The exercise focused on GIUK Gap, a key route for Russian nuclear submarines entering the Atlantic.
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The Barents Observer @thebarentsobserver.com · 02/09/2026
A Russian passenger vessel operating between Murmansk and the Russian settlement of Barentsburg on Norway's Svalbard archipelago has been seized by Norwegian authorities
thebarentsobserver.com
Norway seizes Russia's Svalbard liner
The Governor of Svalbard confirms that the Professor Molchanov, the Russian passenger vessel operating a second season of voyages between Murmansk and the Russian settlement on the Norwegian Arctic ar...
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Angelica Shalagina Official🇺🇦 @angel-shalagina.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🔥🔥Ukraine reportedly struck the Plesetsk Cosmodrome - russia’s main northern military spaceport. It’s used to launch Soyuz-2 and Angara rockets carrying military satellites and communications systems.
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WarTranslated (Dmitri) @wartranslated.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
1/ Russia's first confirmed strike on Ukrainian civilian logistics dates back to February 28, 2022, hitting Epicentr in Chernihiv. Over the following four and a half years, 25 separate strikes hit Ukrainian retail chains, postal terminals, and distribution centers.
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Chris Waugh @chrisdhwaugh.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
🏴🏳️ @worflags.org.uk with a wonderful & poignant stadium-wide tribute to the late Kevin Keegan. ♥️ 👏 #NUFC #LFC #NEWLIV
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
This is fascinating. Absolutely gigantic implications for determining the line between civilian and military, though. And that doesn’t fill me with joy.
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Nice (not actually nice) to see exercises and threat perception in the news again. That “perception” point is critical - for both the exercising party and those watching.
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This is a really significant development, especially given that it’s the UK that wants to get rid of US components - one of the hitherto closest US allies, with a deeply US-intertwined defence industry. ”We don’t want to depend on how some negotiations are going”, a UK govt official said
ft.com
UK unveils prototype missiles for Ukraine with no US components
Low-cost, long-range weapons could be deployed as soon as this year in war against Russia
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Contrast with my previous
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Book market
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
There’s a tendency in northeastern Europe to complain about southern Europe, and especially about Italy and Spain - that they ”don’t get it” re: the Russian threat etc. But in Latvia it was Italians and in Romania Spaniards who shot down drones.
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Bryan Based International Order 🇨🇦 @bryanpeeler.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Looks nervously at NORAD. *ducks*
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Should have read my book on signalling and exercises…
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Nerdic Defence @nerdicdefence.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Clear message from Greenland authorities to US oil drilling firm: -We will not put up with this. www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...
dr.dk
Klar grønlandsk besked til oliefirma: Vi vil ikke finde os i det
De grønlandske myndigheder har slået bremsen i over for planer om amerikansk olieeventyr.
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Really excellent piece
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Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This is an extraordinary story, centred on a group of remarkable women, but it just makes me mourn for the millions of women and girls trapped in Afghanistan, denied not only the freedom to play sports, but to speak, learn and live as they choose. We must not forget them.
bbc.co.uk
Banned from football at home, Afghan women's team reunite 8,000 miles away
Women in the team, which is recognised by Fifa, say football has given them freedom and independence.
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Margo Gontar @margogontar.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I want to repeat this : Russian drone hunted , taking its time , and then attacked a man selling vegetables in Kherson . A farmer. Knowingly . On purpose . There’re no two sides here .
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Margo Gontar @margogontar.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
⚠️ this is difficult video . this is Russian FPV drone hunting a farmer selling vegetables in Kherson. It’s piloted so there’s some Russian watching through camera how this man is running from it and still circling, taking his time, and then, knowing it’s just a farmer, still choosing to attack
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Still looking for a summer read? I have just the thing! Thrilled that "Military Exercises and Threat Perception in Europe" is now out! What was the (un)intended role of ex in signalling, and why did the right message rarely get through? Unfortunately prescient... www.routledge.com/Military-Exe...
routledge.com
Military Exercises and Threat Perception in Europe: NATO, Russia, and the Politics of War Games, 1975–2018
This book explores the politics of military exercises in Europe between 1975 and 2018, revealing how NATO, the Soviet Union, and Russia have used exercises as political tools and how these activities ...
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Thanks to @kevinmilligan.bsky.social et al for this study on the impact of universal childcare on women's income - Long run impact on women's earnings far beyond the childcare years - Increased tax remittances, reduced social insurance - Recoups 75-117% of program costs www.nber.org/papers/w35514
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
To cut through the #Odyssey discourse to a point I think we can all agree on: if the film is not a frame-by-frame line-by-line cinematic reincarnation of Rosemary Sutcliffe’s majestic translation / Alan Lee’s gorgeously illustrated “The Wanderings of Odysseus”, it’s wrong.
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Well, after swearing allegiance to the Monarch (and his successors) to whom I am already attached, plus some other important things, I am now officially Canadian! Now off to chug a pint of maple syrup to prove my credentials.
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Not my usual subject, but one dear to my heart. @georgecaulkin.bsky.social is a fantastic journalist, and Dan Burn is brilliant. This is wonderful interview, more than worth your time to read even if football isn't your thing.
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Not pot references, but some truly excellent submarine-related puns. I’m still annoyed I didn’t manage to use “sunk costs”. Fun episode, though, despite my accidental and unintended side-swipe at the electoral process for Canada’s current PM…
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 13/07/2026
😶 giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... EU buys record amount of gas from Russia’s flagship plant Be
giftarticle.ft.com
EU buys record amount of gas from Russia’s flagship plant
Europe purchased almost all the LNG produced by the Yamal facility in the first half of 2026 ahead of import ban
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Savchenko Volodymyr @savchenkoua.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
🤬 The ballistic missile that the Russians used to attack Kyiv at night was equipped with shrapnel, — head of RVA Kovtunov. Shrapnel is metal balls or fragments that fly apart during an explosion to increase human casualties.
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Urrggghhh. I’d hoped we had got over the Greenland thing for at least another 12 months.
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Canada awarded Germany a large submarine contract today. The rival Koreans were innovative and keen. The Germans were dour and unimaginative, but they'll bung us more in industrial benefits. As ever, @plagasse.bsky.social breaks it down best philippelagasse.substack.com/p/tortoise-b...
philippelagasse.substack.com
Tortoise beats hare
Slow and grumpy wins the submarine race
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Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Worth mentioning. Zelenskyy was in Ireland when the intel of the attack came in. He cut his vist short to stand in Kyiv with Ukrainian people. Amount of world leaders knowingly return to under massive bombing is extremely limited
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Evergreen Intel @vcdgf555.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
By some accounts, 30 TBMs and 30 ALCM/SSMs do far tonight for Ukraine, primarily Kyiv. One of the worst attacks of the war.
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I’ve kept telling Canadian colleagues and friends that if they want to get closer to Europe, the first step is to take part in the ESC. And here they go (or, come) ! Canada is clearly walking the talk 😁
eurovision.com
Canada will debut at the 71st Eurovision Song Contest
Public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada will send a song to Bulgaria in 2027
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Happy to see that what I identified as an inevitable consequence of the Trump administration’s policy toward Europe from the very beginning - European empowerment at the expense of US power - has by now become consensus. A good read ⬇️
foreignaffairs.com
Europe Goes Its Own Way
Drifting from America, the continent Is rearming and reordering itself.
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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
The girl who was killed by russian glide bomb in Kharkiv today came to the city for her university graduation. ​A graduation robe lies next to her body...
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Thomas Hughes @thomashughes.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
BBC News website access is now a paid subscription service (presumably only outside the UK)?! I understand finance pressure, but still seems grim. #BBC
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Musk says not a single person has died due to him axing USAID. Sadly, part of my job involves tracking aid spending. So here’s a thread with just some of the people who lost their lives because of USAID cuts
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