Rob Rakove
@robrakove.bsky.social
Historian at Stanford University, author of "Kennedy, Johnson, and the Nonaligned World" and "Days of Opportunity: The United States and Afghanistan Before the Soviet Invasion." It's good to have options.
Pinned
Rob Rakove
@robrakove.bsky.social
· Jan 20
Some days you wrestle with big interpretive questions. Others, you try to determine when and how a few hundred tons of lambskin hides left Karachi.
Nor is it a deal. Laundering it is a dubious choice.
The Russia-Ukraine peace deal is not a loss. Nor is it a victory | Stephen Wertheim
The Russia-Ukraine peace deal is not a loss. Nor is it a victory | Stephen Wertheim
The conflict is neither a clear-cut defeat nor a feel-good victory, but an in-between outcome that contains profound elements of each
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Nor is it a deal. Laundering it is a dubious choice.
Dispensing with the entire sequel trilogy would be fine.
I would wipe Rise of Skywalker from continuity and make tony gilroy write the new end to the sequel trilogy. It can be as bleak as he wants it to be bsky.app/profile/benj...
If you were a despotic president, what movie would you force Hollywood to make? I want to see Quentin's Star Trek movie or maybe Kill Bill Vol 3.
November 25, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Dispensing with the entire sequel trilogy would be fine.
Reposted by Rob Rakove
30% off at Yale Press, including my book, Immigration + Apocalypse
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November 25, 2025 at 12:39 PM
30% off at Yale Press, including my book, Immigration + Apocalypse
Encountering the Peninsula Times Tribune in the archive:
a man with a beard says now that 's a name i ve not heard in a long time
ALT: a man with a beard says now that 's a name i ve not heard in a long time
media.tenor.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Encountering the Peninsula Times Tribune in the archive:
Biggest case since Mabo.
Australian murderer sues for right to Vegemite behind bars
Andre McKechnie argues the Vegemite ban in Victoria's jails denies him the right to "enjoy his culture".
www.bbc.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Biggest case since Mabo.
Reposted by Rob Rakove
So much of our current era can be explained by the fact that the national press is filled with idiots.
Press is doing a great job of basically doxxing potential jurors
Belatedly: Judge Merchan dismissed Juror #2 this morning (just before the press admonishment at the top of my thread) after she said that on reflection she didn't think she could "avoid outside pressures." She said friends and colleagues had been asking her if she was a juror.
April 18, 2024 at 4:14 PM
So much of our current era can be explained by the fact that the national press is filled with idiots.
Something priceless was lost when we stopped using abstract codenames.
(nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...)
(nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...)
November 23, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Something priceless was lost when we stopped using abstract codenames.
(nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...)
(nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...)
I have a strange hunch about his embassy of choice.
"Brazil’s former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been arrested at his villa in the capital, Brasília, amid suspicions he was poised to abscond to a foreign embassy to avoid going to prison for masterminding a military coup."
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Brazilian police arrest Bolsonaro amid suspicions he was about to flee
Politician reportedly taken from his villa into custody at a federal police base about 7 miles from presidential palace
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I have a strange hunch about his embassy of choice.
Legal limits on chapter length now
November 22, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Legal limits on chapter length now
Against all odds, Boebert is victorious.
November 22, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Against all odds, Boebert is victorious.
Reposted by Rob Rakove
Please take a few minutes to read this beautiful tribute to our friend and scholar Dr. Lloyd Ambrosius. Dr. Jeanette Eileen Jones, who authored the tribute, is hosting a panel on his legacy at the OAH in Philadelphia. More information can be found at the link.
blog.shgape.org/tribute-to-l...
blog.shgape.org/tribute-to-l...
Tribute to Lloyd Ambrosius - SHGAPE Blog
The following is a tribute to Lloyd Ambrosius (1941-2024) by Dr. Jeannette Eileen Jones, who will be chairing the panel "Lloyd Ambrosius and His Historical Legacies" at the 2026 meeting of the Organiz...
blog.shgape.org
November 11, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Please take a few minutes to read this beautiful tribute to our friend and scholar Dr. Lloyd Ambrosius. Dr. Jeanette Eileen Jones, who authored the tribute, is hosting a panel on his legacy at the OAH in Philadelphia. More information can be found at the link.
blog.shgape.org/tribute-to-l...
blog.shgape.org/tribute-to-l...
No one in grad school warns you about all the weird inquiries you'll get in this business.
November 19, 2025 at 2:18 AM
No one in grad school warns you about all the weird inquiries you'll get in this business.
"He had this crazy idea about breeding pine trees."
November 17, 2025 at 1:13 AM
"He had this crazy idea about breeding pine trees."
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. A curtained AHA barn-space filled with interviews and people talking over each other. Double-digit US/World listings. Acknowledgment letters. All lost in time, like tears in the rain.
November 16, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. A curtained AHA barn-space filled with interviews and people talking over each other. Double-digit US/World listings. Acknowledgment letters. All lost in time, like tears in the rain.
This is a disservice to Mac, Pete Thornton, and the Phoenix Foundation.
FYI Epstein document searchers: “McGyver” is a nickname for Trump.
So, in other interesting discoveries, Kathy Ruemmler nicknamed Trump "McGuyver" because he reminded her of mannerisms in the TV character.
This led to some coded conversations between her and Epstein about Trump.
Here is Epstein talking about a conversation he had with "Mcgiver" in 2016 (!!!).
This led to some coded conversations between her and Epstein about Trump.
Here is Epstein talking about a conversation he had with "Mcgiver" in 2016 (!!!).
November 15, 2025 at 2:04 AM
This is a disservice to Mac, Pete Thornton, and the Phoenix Foundation.
Reposted by Rob Rakove
I refuse to link to something like this, but the Olivia Nuzzi glam blonde puffery posing as journalism on the display page of the nation's leading newspaper is a self-indictment.
November 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM
I refuse to link to something like this, but the Olivia Nuzzi glam blonde puffery posing as journalism on the display page of the nation's leading newspaper is a self-indictment.
Leave MacGyver out of this.
![From: Kathy Ruemmler
Sent: 1/12/2017 2:02:04 AM
To: jeffrey E. [jeeyacation@gmail.com]
Importance: High
Not to disturb you, but I am struck by the similar mannerisms between Trump and McGyver
Sent from my iPad](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:getkrzt54j2dwublqcefwchp/bafkreih2af5gdr55r2sowojbscutxdt46eklpof3yf4qf6f4aqlea4cwgm@jpeg)
November 14, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Leave MacGyver out of this.
Reposted by Rob Rakove
I chart how 60s' liberals' frustration with House minority rule in their own party led us to a different kind of minority rule now, unintentionally accelerated by Pelosi's iron grip as Speaker. Johnson's turned the strong speaker model into a WH appendage, so we need a new one
Master of the House: The Pelosi Paradox
How the Strongest Speaker Made Congress Weak
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:12 PM
I chart how 60s' liberals' frustration with House minority rule in their own party led us to a different kind of minority rule now, unintentionally accelerated by Pelosi's iron grip as Speaker. Johnson's turned the strong speaker model into a WH appendage, so we need a new one
Reposted by Rob Rakove
Happy news: My new book -- Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction -- now has a cover and is available for preorder! The book is a concise history of humanitarianism in an international and global perspective, from the 18th century to the present. More info here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
November 10, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Happy news: My new book -- Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction -- now has a cover and is available for preorder! The book is a concise history of humanitarianism in an international and global perspective, from the 18th century to the present. More info here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
It would be lovely if Virginia reformed its board system entirely. Youngkin appointees have disgraced the Board of Visitors – I'm not just talking about Bert Ellis. One only need look at UNC to see how a board can sabotage a system.
"Bethany Letiecq, a professor at George Mason University...said she expected Ms. Spanberger, a former member of Congress, to defend the state’s university system against the White House [and] to rescind initiatives imposed in recent years by appointees of Glenn Youngkin [the outgoing governor]."
Democrat’s Win May Upend a Conservative Push in Virginia Universities
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:51 PM
It would be lovely if Virginia reformed its board system entirely. Youngkin appointees have disgraced the Board of Visitors – I'm not just talking about Bert Ellis. One only need look at UNC to see how a board can sabotage a system.
Reposted by Rob Rakove
When a party leader of any type cannot wrangle their caucus to do or not do things in the best interest of the whole, factions emerge & chart their own path, that is fine, but it is a failure of leadership & a failure of collective action. Plain & simple. Past, present, & future. For any party.🗃️
November 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM
When a party leader of any type cannot wrangle their caucus to do or not do things in the best interest of the whole, factions emerge & chart their own path, that is fine, but it is a failure of leadership & a failure of collective action. Plain & simple. Past, present, & future. For any party.🗃️
There's no Kool-Aid like Senate Kool-Aid
November 10, 2025 at 12:27 AM
There's no Kool-Aid like Senate Kool-Aid
Have we learned nothing from the 1919 World Series?
November 9, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Have we learned nothing from the 1919 World Series?
Reposted by Rob Rakove
Since Trump took office, the US has killed 70 people in its campaign to allegedly defend the border from narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean. Over 28 years, the Berlin Wall caused 140 deaths taking into account not just the shootings but also the accidents, drownings and borders guard deaths.
Updated: Our tracking guide with the Pentagon’s latest lethal strike on a boat suspected of drug trafficking. Three men were killed in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Hegseth posted last night, raising the toll to at least 70 killed in this bombing campaign. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Tracking U.S. Military Killings in Boat Attacks
In two months, the Trump administration has killed dozens of people it accused of smuggling drugs aboard boats. Here are the acknowledged strikes so far.
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Since Trump took office, the US has killed 70 people in its campaign to allegedly defend the border from narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean. Over 28 years, the Berlin Wall caused 140 deaths taking into account not just the shootings but also the accidents, drownings and borders guard deaths.
A casino is probably on the drawing board.
Mark Zuckerberg Opened an Illegal School at His Palo Alto Compound. His Neighbors Revolted
Neighbors complained about noise, security guards, and hordes of traffic. An unlicensed school named after the Zuckerbergs’ pet chicken tipped them over the edge.
www.wired.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
A casino is probably on the drawing board.