Elizabeth N. Saunders
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profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders
@profsaunders.bsky.social
28K followers 3.6K following 4.2K posts

Professor of Political Science, Columbia. New Book: The Insiders' Game: How Elites Make War and Peace https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691215808/the-insiders-game

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Environmental science 20%
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profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · Feb 5
Hard to think through problems when we are in a mode where the current problem gets eaten by a bigger problem within hours.

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 6h
Thanks! I’d say 9/11 and GWOT are key.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Aaron Sojourner, Julia Lynch , and 4 more

donmoyn.bsky.social
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 9h
Research units from across government have been gutted. More than 10,000 PhDs have left government. For example the research arm of the Department of Education lost 90% of their staff and the research office for the Secretary of Health and Human Services lost an estimated 60% of their staff.
figure shows dramatic cut in research staff

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Scott L. Greer, David W. Kerstetter , and 3 more

donmoyn.bsky.social
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 9h
New from Lauren Supplee at Can We Still Govern? The US government had gradually become better at producing and using evidence. This evidence-based infrastructure is largely invisible, important, and one more thing gutted by Trump.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-system...
The System for Using Evidence to Improve Federal Programs Has Been Gutted
Here’s How We Fix It
donmoynihan.substack.com

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 18h
They’re all different angles…love the Krepenevich too

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 19h
Best political account is Gelb and Betts, The Irony of Vietnam, which explains all the wars after too.

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 19h
And yet it’s actually all the architecture!

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 19h
And it’s not like it’s over, there are markets opening tomorrow and diesel price signs without more decimal places and many countries that were counting on our missiles. That are gone.

Reposted by Jason Lyall

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 19h
Takes my breath away every time I think about it. Not that the architecture was so great or would last forever. But the speed. Just non-believable except we all watched it live on truth social.
unavaleable.bsky.social Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · 19h
It's honestly impressive how this was has totally fucked the security architecture the U.S. has been building really since WW2, bunch functionally post 1979

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Jason Lyall

unavaleable.bsky.social
Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · 19h
It's honestly impressive how this was has totally fucked the security architecture the U.S. has been building really since WW2, bunch functionally post 1979

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 19h
But we still get the triumphal arch, right?

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Brendan Nyhan

jaylyall.bsky.social
Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 19h
Timeline of Strategic Genius:

Wednesday: Trump against helping Saudis fight Houthis

Thursday: Gets a call from Crown Prince Salman, decides to join the fight

Mid-day Sunday: Trump calls off airstrikes right as they were about to begin, declines to help Saudis (again)
Trump Gets Caught in a Dilemma Over a Saudi Plea for Military Help
The president vacillated but decided on Sunday not to join Saudi Arabia, for now, in joint strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. But he also needs the kingdom’s cooperation in his war against Iran.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Stuart Shapiro

physicsmatt.bsky.social
Matthew Buckley @physicsmatt.bsky.social · 1d
I'm but a simple country theoretical physicist, so I assume that modern military strategy involves placing all your defensive ordinance in a well-known prominent immobile structure. Now to take a big gulp of coffee and read this wikipedia page about the opening offensives of WWII.

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 1d
This was about the latest on the faux-triumphant arch but really could apply to anything.
profsaunders.bsky.social Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 1d
We’re completely numb to this but it’s horrifying on every possible level.

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 1d
We’re completely numb to this but it’s horrifying on every possible level.

profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 1d
Amid reports that the US is about to escalate its failed war again, to probably no effect except further depleting already-scarce munitions, further damaging what is left of US influence, and killing innocent civilians, this is what the commander in chief is up to.

Reposted by Marc Lynch, Elizabeth Saunders, Steve Peers , and 10 more

nickkodama.bsky.social
Nick Kodama @nickkodama.bsky.social · 1d
lol what
At the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes, I have agreed to convert the magnificent Triumphal Arch, planned since the Civil War Era many years ago, at the Receptive Circle adjoining the Arlington Memorial Bridge, into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage. There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World. Out of the 59 top cities and Capitals, Washington, D.C., IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, but it will now and, by far, the greatest of them all! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP 279 ReTruths 1.02k Likes 9/20/26, 7:34 AM