It is

Looking forward to listening to this - really enjoyed reading Motherland!

A black cat lounges on a wooden floor in a patch of sunshine

Shadow enjoys the Sunday afternoon sun

🚨 We are hiring an Assistant Professor in Political Science, with a focus on International Peace and Security @vuamsterdam.bsky.social (deadline May 22). 👉 workingat.vu.nl/vacancies/as...

We had a gorgeous day today - a nice change from stormy and grey

A short interlude:pear blossoms and a blackbird singing outside my window while I do some marking

Harried academic chairs of departments and deans. cc @jnovkov.bsky.social

Closeup of a ginger and white cat sitting in a red jute shopping bag

Bruce has his #Caturday spot staked out. 😹

Standing cat with arched back facing right created with vertical strips of wood with peeling paint, all against a light blue background

'Scaredy Cat' by Cornish artist Kirsty Elson who trawls the beaches of her home collecting driftwood as the raw materials for her artworks #WomensArt

A slightly irritated looking black cat sits on the arm of a blue sofa, staring directly into the camera

I am sure the cat would regard that as a completely reasonable solution. Just like the look I sometimes get from a cat seated on upholstered furniture, suggesting I sit on the floor

Poor cat. He NEEDS that home cooked chicken and fish!!

Next Trump Truth Social Post will be like

So apparently Johnson and Vance are Just War Theory experts now. As someone who used to lecture on this, I'd be interested in their detailed explanations of: jus ad bellum and the legitimacy of the attack on Iran in the absence of an imminent threat...

A fascinating webinar that will include our colleague Dr Jana Wattenberg as discussant! ⬇️

Lt Gen Susan Coyle: Who is the first female in history to lead the Australian army? Lieutenant General Coyle has held a number of senior roles, and became the first female to command Joint Task Force 633 in the Middle East

Lt Gen Susan Coyle to be the first female Chief of the Australian Army.

What's significant about this is, yes she's the first woman, but the experience she brings that makes her so relevant for the job in today's geopolitics of info warfare, cyber, space, & ...

www.forcesnews.com/women/lt-gen...

On 15 April our colleague Professor Berit Bliesemann de Guevara & Rachel Julian (Leeds Beckett University) presented their work on community led unarmed civilian protection as part of a series of online seminars on the topic of the future of the protection of civilians. 1/2
fba.se/en/what-we-d...

The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they're the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive-because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about "Western civilization," while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

Really powerful, hopeful paragraph from the latest article in the Atlantic by @adamserwer.bsky.social

What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows.

Heartbreaking description of the pointless, thoughtless damage being done to the Kennedy Center. It was such an important part of life in Washington, and is now being destroyed for no reason

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

The russian attack has been ongoing for the second day.

Two people were killed and 27 injured in a attack on Dnipro.

Fourteen of the wounded are hospitalized. Five of them are in serious condition.

The strike hit a densely populated civilian area.

"Do not diss the cat. Revenge will be meted out when you least expect it"

Again, there is literally no one covering Hegseth’s Pentagon worship services more closely than @briankaylor.bsky.social.

Prestigious 9 May military parades cancelled in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions Amid growing fears that Ukraine’s long-range drones could strike deep into northern Russia, military authorities have decided to cancel one of the country’s most symbolic displays of military power: the 9 May Victory Day parade.

Amid growing fears that Ukraine’s long-range drones could strike deep into northern Russia, military authorities have decided to cancel one of the country’s most symbolic displays of military power: the 9 May Victory Day parade.

🚨 Job Alert: AsstProf International Peace & Security in Amsterdam (VUA)🚨
workingat.vu.nl/vacancies/as...

Painting of dark brown tulip blossoms among a group of tulip plants

Tulips, 1936 by Ida O'Keeffe, US painter and younger sister of Georgia #WomensArt

This ⬇️

There are so many things wrong with withholding weapons from Ukraine that it is hard to know where to start, but even on the grounds of saving money it fails...

It also says a lot about the poverty of this administration's achievements that stopping funding for Ukraine is the one that Vance is most proud of

This is why Russia is still fighting, why the war continues and why people are dying: Because Trump and Vance encouraged Putin to believe he could win

It's so funny to me that right-wingers love to pretend to love the Middle Ages and the Crusades and all that and then complain that the Pope shouldn't get involved in politics.

If Vance understood even the most basic tenets of just war theory, he would not dare to claim that this administration follows its guidance