Paul O'Shea
@pauloshea.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer at Lund University.
Interested in international relations, foreign policy, politics in general. East Asia and Scandinavia.
Interested in international relations, foreign policy, politics in general. East Asia and Scandinavia.
The Trump tariffs are bad news for Japan, South Korea, beyond the economic costs.
Asia was hardest hit. Tariffs drive Asian states towards China. Maybe thats the point. Maybe USA is ok with Chinese dominance of Asia.
We wrote about this dilemma for Seoul/Toyko
theconversation.com/slammed-by-t...
Asia was hardest hit. Tariffs drive Asian states towards China. Maybe thats the point. Maybe USA is ok with Chinese dominance of Asia.
We wrote about this dilemma for Seoul/Toyko
theconversation.com/slammed-by-t...
Slammed by tariffs and defence demands, Japan and South Korea toe a cautious line with Trump
The strength of these alliances depends on whether Trump views Tokyo and Seoul as bulwarks against China’s rise or vassals that can be extorted for financial gain.
theconversation.com
April 3, 2025 at 5:32 AM
The Trump tariffs are bad news for Japan, South Korea, beyond the economic costs.
Asia was hardest hit. Tariffs drive Asian states towards China. Maybe thats the point. Maybe USA is ok with Chinese dominance of Asia.
We wrote about this dilemma for Seoul/Toyko
theconversation.com/slammed-by-t...
Asia was hardest hit. Tariffs drive Asian states towards China. Maybe thats the point. Maybe USA is ok with Chinese dominance of Asia.
We wrote about this dilemma for Seoul/Toyko
theconversation.com/slammed-by-t...
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
The South Korean mediascape is quite overwhelming right now, but it shows a democracy in crisis after the martial law decree. Reports reveal that the Yoon administration was serious about thwarting democracy and establishing military rule. The fallout is severe, but the next steps are unclear.
December 11, 2024 at 9:56 AM
The South Korean mediascape is quite overwhelming right now, but it shows a democracy in crisis after the martial law decree. Reports reveal that the Yoon administration was serious about thwarting democracy and establishing military rule. The fallout is severe, but the next steps are unclear.
I'm teaching a class on South Korean politics on Friday. Not a specialist, but one thing missing from much of the coverage, also the posts here on bsky:
Massive protests every few years & impeachment of multiple presidents is not a sign of a 'healthy democracy'.
Massive protests every few years & impeachment of multiple presidents is not a sign of a 'healthy democracy'.
December 4, 2024 at 1:06 PM
I'm teaching a class on South Korean politics on Friday. Not a specialist, but one thing missing from much of the coverage, also the posts here on bsky:
Massive protests every few years & impeachment of multiple presidents is not a sign of a 'healthy democracy'.
Massive protests every few years & impeachment of multiple presidents is not a sign of a 'healthy democracy'.
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law in South Korea, citing alleged anti-state activities by opposition forces. This extremely surprising move grants the military authority over civilian affairs. Why did this happen? Some context and thoughts are below.
apnews.com/article/sout...
apnews.com/article/sout...
South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared an “emergency martial law," accusing the country's opposition of controlling the parliament and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities.
apnews.com
December 3, 2024 at 3:18 PM
President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law in South Korea, citing alleged anti-state activities by opposition forces. This extremely surprising move grants the military authority over civilian affairs. Why did this happen? Some context and thoughts are below.
apnews.com/article/sout...
apnews.com/article/sout...
Where did all the furries go? The last time I was on Bluesky, there were furries left, right, and centre.
Back today, not a single furry. Which is great, as I'm here for politics, international relations, Japan, East Asia, and increasingly Europe. Good luck to the furries, wherever they end up.
Back today, not a single furry. Which is great, as I'm here for politics, international relations, Japan, East Asia, and increasingly Europe. Good luck to the furries, wherever they end up.
November 18, 2024 at 8:49 PM
Where did all the furries go? The last time I was on Bluesky, there were furries left, right, and centre.
Back today, not a single furry. Which is great, as I'm here for politics, international relations, Japan, East Asia, and increasingly Europe. Good luck to the furries, wherever they end up.
Back today, not a single furry. Which is great, as I'm here for politics, international relations, Japan, East Asia, and increasingly Europe. Good luck to the furries, wherever they end up.
An excellent article examining what happened to the left in sweden during covid - how did a left-wing government end up the poster-child of libertarians?
jacobin.com/2023/11/swed...
jacobin.com/2023/11/swed...
The Swedish Left Failed the Vulnerable During the Pandemic
Sweden’s “hands-off” COVID-19 response was hailed by libertarians abroad but also by most left-wingers at home. Far from enlightened, the Swedish left’s approach combined deference to authorit...
jacobin.com
November 22, 2023 at 10:58 AM
An excellent article examining what happened to the left in sweden during covid - how did a left-wing government end up the poster-child of libertarians?
jacobin.com/2023/11/swed...
jacobin.com/2023/11/swed...
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
This new article from TIME about Zelensky’s struggle to maintain Western support and about Ukraine’s eroding military capacity is one of the most damning, depressing things I’ve read about the war for some time. time.com/6329188/ukra...
Inside Volodymyr Zelensky’s Struggle to Keep Ukraine in the Fight
“Nobody believes in our victory like I do. Nobody,” Zelensky told TIME in an interview after his trip to Washington, D.C.
time.com
October 31, 2023 at 12:28 AM
This new article from TIME about Zelensky’s struggle to maintain Western support and about Ukraine’s eroding military capacity is one of the most damning, depressing things I’ve read about the war for some time. time.com/6329188/ukra...
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
During Trumps visit to Sweden in 2018, Trump thought that Sweden was already in NATO. When the prime minister explained that Sweden only cooperated with NATO in certain areas, Trump responded "maybe we should do that"
Anyone who's surprised by Trump wanting out of NATO haven't been paying attention
Anyone who's surprised by Trump wanting out of NATO haven't been paying attention
Trump Plots to Pull Out of NATO — If He Doesn’t Get His Way
Donald Trump is discussing how the U.S. might pull out of NATO or put it on "standby" should he be reelected and it not meet his demands, per sources.
www.rollingstone.com
October 31, 2023 at 6:21 AM
During Trumps visit to Sweden in 2018, Trump thought that Sweden was already in NATO. When the prime minister explained that Sweden only cooperated with NATO in certain areas, Trump responded "maybe we should do that"
Anyone who's surprised by Trump wanting out of NATO haven't been paying attention
Anyone who's surprised by Trump wanting out of NATO haven't been paying attention
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
Edited by me👇I am super excited!🤩Please share widely🙏
Call for papers: Special Issue titled "Grappling with the Climate Crisis: Emotionally, Psychologically, Existentially", exploring the international politics of climate change sense-making. Edited by @nckc.bsky.social. Deadline for abstracts Nov 30. Thanks for sharing! cjir.iir.cz/index.php/cj...
October 25, 2023 at 2:47 PM
Edited by me👇I am super excited!🤩Please share widely🙏
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
Call for papers: Special Issue titled "Grappling with the Climate Crisis: Emotionally, Psychologically, Existentially", exploring the international politics of climate change sense-making. Edited by @nckc.bsky.social. Deadline for abstracts Nov 30. Thanks for sharing! cjir.iir.cz/index.php/cj...
October 25, 2023 at 2:37 PM
Call for papers: Special Issue titled "Grappling with the Climate Crisis: Emotionally, Psychologically, Existentially", exploring the international politics of climate change sense-making. Edited by @nckc.bsky.social. Deadline for abstracts Nov 30. Thanks for sharing! cjir.iir.cz/index.php/cj...
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
Way too many people don't get that christian dominionism is apocalyptic accelerationism VERY LITERALLY SEEKING to hasten their vision of the Biblical end of the world.
That is not hyperbole or misinterpretation or a joke.
And they have VERY CAREFULLY worked their way into the halls of U.S. power.
That is not hyperbole or misinterpretation or a joke.
And they have VERY CAREFULLY worked their way into the halls of U.S. power.
Do not lose sight of the role that American evangelical are playing in cheerleading for war in the Middle East, relishing it in fact:
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Opinion | The dispiriting truth about why many evangelical Christians support Israel
For Christian Zionists, what happens to the Jews and Palestinians is, to put it very mildly, collateral damage.
www.msnbc.com
October 22, 2023 at 7:33 PM
Way too many people don't get that christian dominionism is apocalyptic accelerationism VERY LITERALLY SEEKING to hasten their vision of the Biblical end of the world.
That is not hyperbole or misinterpretation or a joke.
And they have VERY CAREFULLY worked their way into the halls of U.S. power.
That is not hyperbole or misinterpretation or a joke.
And they have VERY CAREFULLY worked their way into the halls of U.S. power.
finished teaching a course on East Asian international relations. the students were pessimistic about the prospects for peace.
also very little idealism in the classroom. pragmatic relativism dominates. the west has no moral authority, let china be china, etc..
polisky
also very little idealism in the classroom. pragmatic relativism dominates. the west has no moral authority, let china be china, etc..
polisky
October 20, 2023 at 7:38 AM
finished teaching a course on East Asian international relations. the students were pessimistic about the prospects for peace.
also very little idealism in the classroom. pragmatic relativism dominates. the west has no moral authority, let china be china, etc..
polisky
also very little idealism in the classroom. pragmatic relativism dominates. the west has no moral authority, let china be china, etc..
polisky
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
Läs @paulinasokolow.bsky.social modiga text om vågen av antisemitism som drabbar svenska judar efter Hamas terrordåd. www.flamman.se/som-vansterj...
October 12, 2023 at 2:01 PM
Läs @paulinasokolow.bsky.social modiga text om vågen av antisemitism som drabbar svenska judar efter Hamas terrordåd. www.flamman.se/som-vansterj...
this is the kind of analysis i was looking for.
Super interesting interview with Hamas expert Jeroen Gunning of KCL, arguing Israeli hardline annexation/repression on West Bank and successful diplomacy w/Gulf states strengthened hardliners and pushed them to take their shot; atrocities have strategic logic www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2023/...
‘Voor Hamas was het nu of nooit’
Jeroen Gunning | Kenner van Hamas: Op eerste gezicht lijkt het offensief van Hamas naast ongekend wreed ook zelf-destructief en irrationeel. Maar hoogleraar…
www.nrc.nl
October 13, 2023 at 11:18 AM
this is the kind of analysis i was looking for.
this article doesn't really offer any answers, but provides very useful background
How did Israeli intelligence fail?
How did the Shin Bet and Mossad fail to piece together clues about Hamas’s large-scale and highly complex plot in advance?
A former U.S. counterintelligence official looks at some of the structural issues
theconversation.com/how-did-isra... #gaza
How did the Shin Bet and Mossad fail to piece together clues about Hamas’s large-scale and highly complex plot in advance?
A former U.S. counterintelligence official looks at some of the structural issues
theconversation.com/how-did-isra... #gaza
How did Israeli intelligence miss Hamas' preparations to attack? A US counterterrorism expert explai...
Israel’s intelligence capacities are considered some of the best in the world – but unlike the US, it does not have a central organization coordinating all intelligence.
theconversation.com
October 12, 2023 at 1:19 PM
this article doesn't really offer any answers, but provides very useful background
This is doing the rounds . . mad it's ten years old. evergreen. worth a watch
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmCK...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmCK...
The Daily Show - We Need to Talk About Israel
Jon tries to have a calm discussion about Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, but he is quickly thwarted by The Best F#@king News Team Ever. Watch f...
www.youtube.com
October 12, 2023 at 8:11 AM
This is doing the rounds . . mad it's ten years old. evergreen. worth a watch
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmCK...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmCK...
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
Fascinating article. Turns out tons of highly cited econ articles all rely on the same deeply problematic source of population data. All kinds of implications for studies of long-term development, military outcomes, war, etc. The perils of data monocultures...
polisky
polisky
We Do Not Know the Population of Every Country in the World for the Past Two Thousand Years | The Jo...
We Do Not Know the Population of Every Country in the World for the Past Two Thousand Years - Volume 83 Issue 3
bit.ly
October 12, 2023 at 1:51 AM
Fascinating article. Turns out tons of highly cited econ articles all rely on the same deeply problematic source of population data. All kinds of implications for studies of long-term development, military outcomes, war, etc. The perils of data monocultures...
polisky
polisky
Reposted by Paul O'Shea
Opinion: Super Mario 3D World Is Not That Special, As Our World Is Also 3D (Guest Column by Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Opinion: Super Mario 3D World Is Not That Special, as Our World Is Also 3D
Instead of lauding Super Mario 3D World for being three-dimensional, wouldn’t it be more logical to direct our acclaim toward our world, which is also 3D?
hard-drive.net
October 12, 2023 at 3:00 AM
Opinion: Super Mario 3D World Is Not That Special, As Our World Is Also 3D (Guest Column by Neil deGrasse Tyson)
twitter right now is just ppl screaming at each other over the semantics of denunciation and solidarity
can anyone recommend accounts here on bsky, with quality insight and analysis on events in gaza/israel/broader region?
polisky
can anyone recommend accounts here on bsky, with quality insight and analysis on events in gaza/israel/broader region?
polisky
October 11, 2023 at 7:01 AM
twitter right now is just ppl screaming at each other over the semantics of denunciation and solidarity
can anyone recommend accounts here on bsky, with quality insight and analysis on events in gaza/israel/broader region?
polisky
can anyone recommend accounts here on bsky, with quality insight and analysis on events in gaza/israel/broader region?
polisky
October 7, 2023 at 8:24 AM
to be clear, not saying that 'western' realist theory isn't susceptible to the same critiques.
but 'moral realism' seems so obviously self-serving . . feels like we are going backwards. yet 'serious' people take it seriously...
#polisky
#irtheory
but 'moral realism' seems so obviously self-serving . . feels like we are going backwards. yet 'serious' people take it seriously...
#polisky
#irtheory
teaching chinese IR theory today.
Yan Xuetong's moral realism seems like self-serving CCP propaganda. But he wins prizes, and 'serious scholars' endorse him as a great thinker.
What I am missing?
Yan Xuetong's moral realism seems like self-serving CCP propaganda. But he wins prizes, and 'serious scholars' endorse him as a great thinker.
What I am missing?
October 6, 2023 at 9:11 AM
to be clear, not saying that 'western' realist theory isn't susceptible to the same critiques.
but 'moral realism' seems so obviously self-serving . . feels like we are going backwards. yet 'serious' people take it seriously...
#polisky
#irtheory
but 'moral realism' seems so obviously self-serving . . feels like we are going backwards. yet 'serious' people take it seriously...
#polisky
#irtheory
teaching chinese IR theory today.
Yan Xuetong's moral realism seems like self-serving CCP propaganda. But he wins prizes, and 'serious scholars' endorse him as a great thinker.
What I am missing?
Yan Xuetong's moral realism seems like self-serving CCP propaganda. But he wins prizes, and 'serious scholars' endorse him as a great thinker.
What I am missing?
October 6, 2023 at 7:49 AM
teaching chinese IR theory today.
Yan Xuetong's moral realism seems like self-serving CCP propaganda. But he wins prizes, and 'serious scholars' endorse him as a great thinker.
What I am missing?
Yan Xuetong's moral realism seems like self-serving CCP propaganda. But he wins prizes, and 'serious scholars' endorse him as a great thinker.
What I am missing?
People outside Sweden think it is a socially progressive country. True in some areas, but it has some of the harshest drug laws in Europe.
It has the highest rate of overdose deats in the EU. And now the worst gang crime in the EU.
arbetet.se/nyhetsbrevsa...
It has the highest rate of overdose deats in the EU. And now the worst gang crime in the EU.
arbetet.se/nyhetsbrevsa...
October 5, 2023 at 2:27 PM
People outside Sweden think it is a socially progressive country. True in some areas, but it has some of the harshest drug laws in Europe.
It has the highest rate of overdose deats in the EU. And now the worst gang crime in the EU.
arbetet.se/nyhetsbrevsa...
It has the highest rate of overdose deats in the EU. And now the worst gang crime in the EU.
arbetet.se/nyhetsbrevsa...
speaking as a total non-expert, i found this to be a really measured, informative analysis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, particularly the part on Armenia's strategic mistake
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
October 4, 2023 at 1:59 PM
speaking as a total non-expert, i found this to be a really measured, informative analysis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, particularly the part on Armenia's strategic mistake
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...