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Paul T. Levin

@paultlevin.bsky.social

2.8K followers 640 following 2K posts

Director of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. Managing Director Consortium for European Symposia on Turkey. Docent (Assoc. Prof.) of and pontificator on international relations. Opinionated. Painter.

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · Nov 1

I wrote my first Substack piece! In it, I ask if Turkey isn’t a better comparison to a second Trump administration than Nazi Germany. What can the US learn from an already autocratized Turkey? That the Washington Post is a precursor of what may come.
open.substack.com/pub/paultlev...

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 1h

Angående ytterligare en förlust för svenska fotbollslandslaget och frågan om vi ska köra på precis som vanligt: When you are in a hole, keep digging!
(Visst är det så man säger?)

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 3d

Angående ytterligare en förlust för svenska herrlandslaget och frågan om vi ska köra på precis som vanligt: Why change a losing concept?

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 5h

HT @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social who shot the video.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7h

Yes, if only America was more like general Sisi’s Egypt.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8h

Trump on Egypt: "They have very little crime. Because they don't play games. That's why. Like we do in the United States with governors that have no idea what they're doing."

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7h

I don’t think Democrats can repeat the mistakes of Merrick Garland. They will need to implement the law vigorously and to its fullest extent to protect democracy. They also need to install new guardrails against democratic backsliding so I like the idea of a well designed Democratic Project 2029.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7h

@mallenbaker.bsky.social is a pretty reasonable European political commentator on YouTube. His latest post called for a sort of Democratic version of Project 2025, but for 2029. It’s worth watching (or listening to, on Podcaster).

bsky.app/profile/mall...

Mallen Baker @mallenbaker.bsky.social · 1d

It seems a long way off, but if pro-democracy forces in the US should learn anything from Trump's Project 2025, it's that it pays to have spent the time working out what needs to be done, and how to go about doing it. Let's discuss.

What Happens To US Democracy If MAGA Loses In 2028?

YouTube video by Mallen Baker

www.youtube.com

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7h

It’s not about the policy. It’s about politics. I’m guessing he has learned from Trump and is wooing the crypto bros and tech billionaires.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7h

FOX News rn: #BREAKING Winnie-the-Pooh appeared at the site of the Broadview riot with orders straight from #ANTIFA Chicago headquarters to commit heinous acts of terror. Search underway for accomplices matching the descriptions of a piglet and a very bouncy tiger.

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 22h

"Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!"

Chicago Broadview

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 15h

This is beautiful. A mournful day for those who only receive the bodies of their loved ones of course, but beautiful that the remaining living hostages are returned to their families. No political or analytical caveats today, just congratulations.

Efter 738 dagar i fångenskap – gisslan är fri

Gisslan är fri. Efter 738 dagar av fångenskap har nu beskedet kommit att alla 20 överlevande gisslan överlämnats till Internationella Röda…

www.dn.se

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 3d

Angående ytterligare en förlust för svenska herrlandslaget och frågan om vi ska köra på precis som vanligt: Why change a losing concept?

Reposted by Paul T. Levin

László Szerencsés @szerlasz.bsky.social · 3d

Outrage one day, admiration the next.

Vučić’s reaction to Turkey's drone sales to Kosovo captures the fragile pragmatism holding Serbia–Turkey relations together.

✍️ My latest in Balkan Insight: balkaninsight.com/2025/10/10/t...

Turkey’s Drone Sales to Kosovo Test its Friendship with Serbia

A shipment of Turkish-made military drones to Kosovo reignited old tensions between Ankara and Belgrade. But after initially accusing Turkey of imperial ambitions, Serbia’s president backtracked, high...

balkaninsight.com

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 4d

This is a good reminder for IR and political science scholars (and many other social scientists too). I’m quite sure I slip and am guilty of making this error at times (even though I used to teach courses on nationalism).

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 4d

🧵 As an academic whose formative college and graduate experiences took place during the 'modernists' vs. 'neo-primordialist' debates about nationalism, I find the causal ideological & methodological nationalism of even left-wing social media shocking.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 4d

I still remember your lecture at the Arizona CQRM summer school back in 2004(?) where you showed a map of medieval “Germany” to highlight the problems of taking contemporary state boundaries as essentially continuous entities. It made an imprint!

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 4d

and keep our food down.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 5d

Bra Christoffer.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 5d

”A study published in The Lancet journal in June said the U.S. funding cuts could result in more than 14 million deaths, including more than 4.5 million children under age 5, by 2030.”

Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 5d

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7d

Viktiga frågor dessa tider.

Stockholm University @stockholm-uni.bsky.social · 7d

Vi måste titta på associationsformen - ska lärosäten vara myndigheter? Vi måste även ha trygga basanslag för att värna forskningens frihet.
Martin Jakobsson, vicerektor Stockholms universitet i samtal om hoten mot forskning och vetenskapliga genombrott på Nobelmuseet under #NobelCalling2025 #Nobel

Reposted by Paul T. Levin

Dr David R Brake @drbrake.bsky.social · 7d

It would be good to have independent verification of some of the more striking claims here but of course the Israeli military has been killing journalists in the region in droves which makes that pretty difficult!

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 9d

““They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.”+

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags

Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water

www.theguardian.com

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7d

Precisely.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7d

Skämtet om Folkpartisten som träffade en väljare och då glatt utbrast ”Jaså var det du?!” hörde jag iofs redan som ung. Men snart fastnar kanske skrattet i halsgropen.

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7d

To those who argue that violent protest in the USA is needed, look at the argument right now between the judge trying to stop Trump from deploying troops to Oregon & the GOP governor of Texas seeking a rationale to send his National Guard. Which side’s argument would violent protest strengthen?

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 7d

“Genom att gå samman med Oikos på det här sättet urholkar Timbro sitt syfte och undergräver sin trovärdighet som principfast och kompromisslös försvarare av fria marknader och fria individer.”

DN Debatt. ”Tankesmedjan Timbro har glömt varför den finns”

DN Debatt. Tidigare medarbetare om Timbros nya samarbete med Oikos och dess påverkan på den marknadsliberala profilen.

www.dn.se

Reposted by Paul T. Levin

Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 7d

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.

Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

Signal @signal.org · 10d

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

signal.org

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 8d

That’s great news.

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 8d

🎯. @jvl.bsky.social's latest rant on the Bulwark podcast makes a similar argument. Dems should not be saving Trump from doing things that will hurt him electorally. (Also, I'm sure ACA polls well, but you're in a once-in-a-generation fight to save democracy, and your ask is about healthcare?!?)

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 8d

She is still in an Israeli jail and has only spoken to the Swedish foreign ministry. Their account says that she was mistreated. Do you have a source for your claim?