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mister96.bsky.social
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Update on foreign fighters in Indonesia's revolution: It does seem like even the premier literature from Amsterdam press ultimately cites pro-Republican Indonesian news articles regarding alleged defectors. It's unfortunate but i think I should dedicate a section to inaccuracies and unknowns.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Having fun reading about foreign fighters in the Indonesian War for Independence. Biggest disconnect I've come across is that it's very popular to claim someone as a foreigner in the 1940s just because they're Chinese, even if they're born/raised in Indonesia. So, I have to be careful with that.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

This admin is explicitly why I just left my government job & am leaving the US for some low-paying gig overseas. I can't risk this insanity with my fiance. I've personally dealt with SIVs in the midst of the Afghan evac & that was enough of a shitshow. Now, permanent residency means little.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

A bit of an update on my foreign fighter book: Hardest thing is writing about how foreign born propagandists play a prominent role in whatever group they align to in the first half of the Cold War. For Indonesia's revolution I had to cut out Muriel Walker cause it's so clear she was a mentally

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Slowly but surely, I've been writing a book that I think actually has a chance of being published--On foreign fighters after WW2. A lot of them in the first decade after were stay-behinds from Axis Powers, and so I've been starting on Japanese soldiers in Indonesia.

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

One thing I really dislike about social media is the amount of current or former American officials with large internet followings that make passive aggressive and snarky comments regarding inoffensive business ventures of those who get out. Just email them that you think they're better

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

Rod Nordland was a generous host to me in Kabul years ago when he didn’t know me and didn’t need to be, in addition to being a great foreign and war correspondent. If you read the New York Times during the GWOT, you benefited from his work. Please consider donating. www.gofundme.com/f/ag658e-hel...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

Kingsley Wilson, the newly-appointed DoD Deputy Press Secretary, believes in a thoroughly-debunked antisemitic conspiracy theory. I've mostly only seen this theory promoted by mask-off neo-Nazis. archive.is/dPvse

submitted 17 days ago • 149 comments

How could that Trump voter have believed electing him would make IVF free? She must've been into fringey alternative media, maybe saw it from some influencer, professional media outlets would never oh no.

submitted 23 days ago • 158 comments

You might be interested in this, it's free online. digital-research-books-beta.nypl.org/work/0ef4725... It's from a General of the collapsed US-allied regime in Cambodia, Sak Sutsakhan. What's interesting is he wrote this for the US Army talking about the war after the fall before going back to

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

I beliege there's a rare inaccuracy in the @sipri.org arms database claiming in 1952-53, France sold five MH-1521 Broussards to Israel. The aircraft hadn't even gotten it's airworthiness certificate until '53 and didn't hit production lines until '54, per the 1958 Max Holste bulletin.

submitted 26 days ago • 1 comment

I'd love to write a bit about arms dealing in the 1950s, but it is a bit difficult to see a lot of information in one place. What I have read (and fun fact) is that there were really only 6 countries that totally swapped their main supplier--4 from the UK to USSR within the period of 1950-1973.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Ministry of Defence confirms UK special forces blocked resettlement of 2000 Afghans who worked with British forces - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 33 days ago • 13 comments

I don't think we're ever going to get a good news article on Myanmar outside of Nation Thailand and a few local outlets. On recent call center crackdowns, Reuters had an article were Saw Chit Thu was seemingly a nondescript local Karen warlord even though he still attends meetings as the leader

submitted 31 days ago • 1 comment

Once a day, commentators like Yashar post quips for a follower or two. Then they make a quip that interests someone with a brain, get retweeted and soon enough they start spreading insanity all over again. Parasitic conduits of bullshit, and they all sound the same. Maybe he's friendly in

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

It reminds me of the hype around early wearable tech in the 2010s where when you actually took a look, most of your health data was made up/inaccurate but everyone loved the narcissism of being told their steps, stress level, and VO2 max.

submitted 39 days ago • 1 comment

Overturning Sullivan has at least two votes on the Supreme Court — Thomas and Alito. Maybe more. I can’t overstate how catastrophic that would be for free expression in America in an environment where political and performative defamation litigation are common.

submitted 43 days ago • 120 comments

I've been hearing that Russia is actually having to retool both their internal and external propaganda about the United States due to the sudden swing in direction of our government.

submitted 43 days ago • 1 comment

dude I think I might be on my way to just straight up believing that one or both of them is literally taking orders from Moscow or Beijing

submitted 45 days ago • 53 comments

Look guys. It’s pretty simple. They said they were China hawks—they just never specified which China.

submitted 47 days ago • 12 comments

Looks like Paul Kagame is going to try to take over the DRC for a third time. I do wish that there was more of a willingness to call proxies exactly that, instead of just "rebels." There are some stories of 3rd SFG following Rwandan soldiers in early 1997 into then-Zaire to keep an eye on them.

submitted 53 days ago • 1 comment

TikTok’s constant bleating that “we are not a Chinese company” was aggravating, but news like this really underscores that the *much* more aggravating thing was how many people believed them

submitted 60 days ago • 1 comment

In my recent experiences, Americans have an opinion that Facebook is only for older Americans and conspiracies. Going to Asia, Africa and the ME, it's going strong with the newer generations. It and Tik Tok are the only streamlined news outlets for most young people in SE Asia, and FB is how a lot

submitted 67 days ago • 1 comment