Profile avatar
paultlevin.bsky.social
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.
1,527 posts 2,522 followers 600 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
Posts 29 Comments 21

It seems to me the Musk-Trump fallout could have the effect of allowing some centrist Republican lawmakers to dare to defect in higher numbers. The threat of Musk bankrolling primary challengers was likely a factor in keeping everyone following the party line.

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

must be incredibly frustrating and disheartening to have federal funding that was promised to you for important work suddenly and arbitrarily ripped away

submitted 1 day ago • 640 comments

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

🚨BREAKING: Convoy of Cybertrucks filled with Muskites heading for Washington D.C.

submitted 1 day ago • 46 comments

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

submitted 5 days ago • 5 comments

Hoppas det dras lärdomar även i 🇸🇪 av Ukrainas attack mot flygfält i 🇷🇺. Tex: istället för att förlöjliga de som varnar vid drönarspaningar nära svenska flygplatser bör fokus ligga på att skapa ett starkt försvar mot liknande attacker. Där gissar jag som lekman att allmänheten kan hjälpa.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

I have it in my calendar to remind @scottaukerman.bsky.social and @pftompkins.bsky.social to record new numbers today. This is no joke. There need to be new numbers. @cbbworld.bsky.social

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

Jag har länge stört mig på att nyheter om vetenskap och hälsa så sällan skiljer på orsakssamband och statistisk korrelation så det här är bra. Det är alltså tydligt att gruppen som har bra kondition lever längre. Det är långt mindre klart om det är just konditionen som ger längre liv.+

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Today, we adopt a new Strategy for the Black Sea – a region of great importance to the EU. We’re stepping up work on security with: 🔹A new Maritime Security Hub 🔹Improved military mobility 🔹Stronger cooperation against hybrid threats My press conference ↓

submitted 9 days ago • 14 comments

Has Trump invented a whole new form of insulation against corruption? Forget norms & rules. Just open the floodgates fully & no single actor can really have any decisive influence because their bribes are always dwarfed by the sheer scale of the tsunami of money coming from all directions.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Sounds like some officials within the administration are trying to slow walk POTUS’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria. Reminiscent of how Trump’s team in his first term walked back the total withdrawal of troops from Syria. Erdogan & MBS may need to keep pressure on. apnews.com/article/syri...

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Is Trump’s Big Budget Bomb the worst budget ever proposed? Probably. It will likely add $5 TRILLION to the deficit. 13 MILLION people will lose health insurance. $1.1 TRILLION in tax cuts for those making over $500,000. $1.1 TRILLION in cuts to Medicaid & food stamps.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

Rasmus Canbäcks scoop i Blankspot ger ringar på vattnet.

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

open.substack.com/pub/borowitz...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

This is great news. Is the new regime likely to be a pluralistic liberal democracy? Hardly. Are there risks? Yes. But failing to support the govt is riskier: US Sec of State: it is “maybe weeks - not many months - away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions.”+

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

The UN says that 14,000 infants may die from starvation in the next 48 hours in a surprising result of 🇮🇱’s policy of denying food to the population of Gaza. Western countries react sternly, saying that they may have to contemplate discussing a possible future halt in sale of weapons to 🇮🇱. Maybe.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

Oj. Scoop från @canbackrasmus.bsky.social om kopplingen mellan fallet Joakim Medin och Säpotillslagen omni.se/kalla-till-b...

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

Läsvärt och med mycket information och sammanhang av Rasmus Canbäck, som avslutar med ett citat från en intervju jag gjorde i P1 Morgon för några dagar sedan.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Yesterday in Jerusalem, Israelis gathered to protest their government’s atrocities w/ signs that said “resist genocide” & “Palestinian lives matter.” Yes, they are a distinct minority. But they very much exist. Never listen to anyone, be they pro-🇮🇱 or pro-🇵🇸, who claims “all Israelis” support this.

submitted 19 days ago • 5 comments

There are many administrators & managers in US higher education who should cower in deep shame right now. Or better yet step down & let others, who won’t let themselves be hoodwinked into becoming unwitting agents of a Right wing crackdown on free speech in academia, take their place.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Tänk om det var så att Ryssland inte gillade att Thyberg tillsattes som nationell säkerhetsrådgivare & därför lät bilderna läckas. Han var ambassadör i Ukraina vid krigsutbrottet och vad jag förstår mycket skicklig. Om det stämmer har vi låtit oss påverkas av en påverkansoperation.

submitted 19 days ago • 2 comments

Just read this sentence. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/o...

submitted 20 days ago • 165 comments

The administration working hard to make school shoutings more efficient.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

NSF just cancelled ALL grants to Harvard researchers. That’s right - physics, astronomy, bio, CAREER - ALL. Professors won’t get paid. Postdocs won’t get paid. PhD students won’t get paid. This is insane! If they can do this to Harvard, they can do this to your school.

submitted 21 days ago • 20 comments

Jag vill bara korrigera min felsägning i Ekots livesändning tidigare: Jag menade att Ali Gharavi och de andra MR-aktivisterna satt i häkte några månader, inte år. Den som suttit längst av liknande fall är amerikanska pastorn Andrew Brunson som släpptes efter 2 år. sverigesradio.se/play/artikel...

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Swedish journalist Joakim Medin is released from Turkish jail and is on a flight back home to Sweden. He will now be able to attend his child’s birth this summer. Swedish PM credits silent diplomacy and assistance from European partners.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

🧶 In a longer-than-usual column, Ô.Müderrisoğlu (Sabah, pro-government) summarises the 5 stages of the ‘Terrorism-free Turkey’ project. What is striking, is that the clarity of the text is mixed with uncertainty/opacity (this is a characteristic of the process).👇 m.sabah.com.tr/galeri/haber...

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Another New York university turns out to be a real bastion of free speech. Is veering off the script of his graduation speech to express an opinion a common reason for universities to deny a (presumably stellar) student his diploma?

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments