Delacorte magazine prof @Columbiajourn, contributor @nplusonemag, married @emilygould. Author of A TERRIBLE COUNTRY and RAISING RAFFI, due out June 7.
Jan 27, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Apropos of nothing, Lea Ypi's Free is a delight. The first English-language book that I know of to describe the post-communist "transition" from a survivor's perspective. Also very funny. Recommended!
A few more books I've liked recently, if anyone is in the market for some beach reads:
Feb 22, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Trying to reconcile the recognition of LNR and DNR with Putin's subsequent speech. The speech opens with a long disquisition on the nationalities debate between Lenin and Stalin from 1922. (Really.)
Putin blames Lenin for his cynical approach of trying to appease the nationalists on the Russian periphery by promising them a certain degree of autonomy. Putin (not incorrectly) believes this created a nationalist time bomb that finally exploded in 1991.
Dec 20, 2021 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
One more time about NATO expansion.
There has always been a robust debate, including inside the US Government, on wisdom and feasibility of NATO expansion. 1/n
The practical objections have been: Can we actually defend, eg, Estonia, in the event of an invasion? And, equally important, are we undermining a potential long-term detente with Russia by expanding an anti-Russia military alliance? 2/
Aug 6, 2020 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
A few thoughts on school reopening and the dilemma that the media finds itself in, but especially the New York Times.
The Times is both a local paper and a national one--not just a national paper, but the best national paper. It always has been both local and national, mostly happily, but with school reopening this has turned into a real problem, because the stories are so different.
Jul 9, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
One line from the Harper's letter I've been thinking about: "Editors are fired for running controversial pieces." That would be disturbing, right? Part of what's irritating about the letter is that it speaks in generalities, so you can't check. But in this case we can guess. 1/
I suspect the editors are James Bennet, obviously, and Ian Buruma, who was fired from the New York Review of Books. The "controversial" pieces were Cotton's op-ed calling for military occupation of the US and Jian Ghomeshi's account of his "cancelation" for sexual assault. 2/
Sep 27, 2019 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
A few words on Kurt Volker, who appears to be the State Department contact that Giuliani keeps telling us is in his iPhone.
He is a highly respected former G.W. Bush administration official. He is a Republican from the neocon tradition with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe; in the 90s he worked for Richard Holbrooke during the Bosnia negotiations and for John McCain as a foreign policy aide.
