I am sure they will all be incredibly competent😜. Actually wish that someone becomes a candidate just to troll the party...

The flaw in this argument is that it presupposes Trump has the capacity to think strategically in any way, shape or form.
He's into the second week of this without articulating anything resembling a coherent rationale for the attack .
And he's given even less thought to an exit strategy.

The White House on X: "JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. 🇺🇸🔥 https://t.co/0502N6a3rL" / X JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. 🇺🇸🔥 https://t.co/0502N6a3rL

I could not believe when I saw it but yes, the White House X account has shared a propaganda video that uses footage of action movies like Braveheart or Gladiator😖. These psychos cannot understand the differences between a film or video game and a real war... x.com/WhiteHouse/s...

When Is an Illegal War Morally Defensible? - Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect In international relations, manifestly illegal government action can sometimes be morally defensible. While historical examples of legitimacy trumping legality are few and far between, they do exist. ...

I am finding this by Gareth Evans quite out of touch. Trump and Netanyahu do not "face an uphill battle" in arguing that the Iran war would be "illegal but morally defensible". They have no interest in facing that battle, because they do not care about the R2P. www.globalr2p.org/publications...

The United States Could Lose the Gulf Iran’s attacks on its neighbors are a reminder that the United States cannot protect them.

“Gulf states can no longer believe the United States can or will protect them from existential threats. And even as they are forced to openly cooperate with Israel in its war, they increasingly view it as a threat.” My new piece on the Gulf and the Iran war.

foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/05/i...

TWAS-DFG Cooperation Visits Programme

The DFG (German Research Foundation) has a programme funding stays of up to three months at German academic institutions for researchers in early career phases and of all disciplines from MENA (www.dfg.de/en/news/news...) and Sub-Saharan Africa (www.dfg.de/en/news/news...).

Israeli map showing all of southern Lebanon in red with yellow arrows pointing to north of the Litani river

The IDF just ordered the *entirety of south Lebanon* to be forcibly displaced.

They are emptying the land of its population, creating a massive crisis, and will now proceed to further annihilate large parts of Lebanon.

The very nation state of Lebanon is being destroyed.

Mahmood to stop study visas from four countries due to 'abuse' The government will end study visas from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, due to what she says is abuse.

The four countries - Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan - are all affected by armed conflict. So it is perfecly normal that their citizens are "likely to make an asylum claim after originally coming to the UK to study". Shame on you Shabana Mahmood! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🧵Cans of Worms possibly opened by Trump's war of choice in Iran, a running list:

(not exhaustive, with the caveat that I am not an expert on the region so these are questions from a US foreign policy perspective, please add others) 1/?

For those who still think that this war has anything to do with freedom for the Iranian people, worth reading #Hegseth's speech in full: "No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars".

Isn't this our former student who went on holidays in Afghanistan and had to be evacuated?? 😖🤮

Reform blame 'woke progressives, sectarianism and Islamists' for election defeat Matt Goodwin said the Greens were 'riding a very dangerous wave'

#Reform logic. Muslims voting for a non religious white woman, whose a party is headed by a gay Jewish man, is "dangerous sectarianism". White men claiming that you need to be an "ethnic English" to truly belong and threatening to deport hundred thousands is perfectly fine and normal...

New Green MP says 'we can win anywhere' as Starmer vows to 'keep fighting' after by-election loss Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber, wins the Gorton and Denton by-election, with Reform coming in second and Labour in third.

Fantastic that not only the Green have won this by election and humiliated Labour, but also that they are over 10% above Reform. Clearly the people of Gorton and Denton have chosen hope over hate! 💚💚💚 And now perhaps Matt Goodwin should eat his electoral leaflets 😂! www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...

Maybe Labour should have thought it, before fuelling the hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric that has brought us Reform?

Celebrating Africa Spectrum at 60 🎉

➡️Former Editor-in-Chief @grauvogelj.bsky.social (2018–2022) highlights articles from her tenure that impressed her for their strong empirical grounding & for raising important ethical questions for Global North-based #Africanstudies scholars.

Thread 🧵

The BBC's First Homosexual | LU Arts Multi-award-winning writer Dr Stephen M Hornby's play based on the transcript of a banned BBC documentary on homosexuality in 1954.

Watched this brilliant play based on the research that our @elhistorioso.bsky.social carried out in the #BBC archives. It tells about #LGBTQ+ people in 1950s England and the bigotry that dominated British society www.lboro.ac.uk/arts/whats-o... @lborouniversity.bsky.social @irph.bsky.social

Why are so many academics in the Epstein files? It’s not just about money | Christopher Marquis In a university ecosystem that breeds hunger for status, Epstein made scholars feel like celebrities

"Universities are perpetually fundraising and often avoid asking hard questions about where the money came from.... Epstein’s malevolent genius was understanding personal and professional vulnerabilities and then offering a bundle of bespoke rewards". www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

#Reform wants to deport hundreds of thousands people who are legally in the UK and have Indefinite Leave to Remain. To understand what it means, the deportation of people of Asian origin by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is probably the closest example. Will Zia Yusuf also deport his own parents?

This week, over 150 Part C students presented at the IRPH Dissertation Conference. Attached are just four title slides (from Mia Rose Tanswell, Niam Bhattacharya, Joshua Ryan, and Amelia Henley) giving a tiny sample of the range of topics we explored together.

When you are too much of a racist and ass***e even for #Reform. Ironically (but perhaps not so surprisingly) this guy who campaigned for an anti-immigration party seems to be a migrant himself... #Gorton and #Denton #VoteGreen

Very happy to see that the @greenparty.org.uk has won in a constituency that seemed impossible to gain just a few years ago! Proud to have given a tiny contribution to this campaign! 💚🎉

Today we have a by-election for a local councillor in #Leicester. And next week is time to beat the awful #MatthewGoodwin in Greater Manchester. Let's vote for change! @greenparty.org.uk

This government is managing to make everyone discontent, basically. The Reformers won't vote for them anyway and the traditional Labour voters will be repelled by this kind of language.

PhD proposals wanted for the annual scholarship competition at @lborouniversity.bsky.social School of Social Sciences and Humanities! Looking forward to receiving proposals on #peace and #security, internal #conflicts, #PVE, particularly but not exclusively with a focus on #WestAfrica.

UN risks 'imminent financial collapse', secretary general warns António Guterres says the international body could run out of money by July due to members' unpaid fees.

Good morning. These institutions, built over decades, are flawed, but we'll miss them when they're gone. Scary to think where we got to. #UN
www.bbc.com/news/article...

New slide for the introductive lecture of my International Conflict Management module... 🤨

The members of the Orwellian #BoardofPeace: Jared Kushner's only qualification – being Donald Trump's son-in-law 🙄

Research in dusty #BBC archives on how #LGBT people were portrayed in the media in the 1950s by my friend and colleague Marcus Collins comes to life in a play! Thanks to @theguardian.com for telling the story. @irph.bsky.social @lboropr.bsky.social

📢 Delighted to announce publication of #pacifist rejoinders to the #Hitler question, with @ejisbisa.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1017/eis..... Paper tackles head on some of arguments pacifist detractors expect victory over, complicating their critique, & expanding unpacking pacifist critique.

If the next elections in the US are free and fair, Trump and the Republican party will lose them. IF is the important word here though...