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nicholasdanfort.bsky.social
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Losers always whine about their maps… foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/28/t...

Losers always whine about their maps… foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/28/t...

In this week’s Midafternoon Map: Plotting politics on the Palestine-Ukraine matrix warontherocks.com/2025/02/mid-...

Just because this might/probably/definitely shouldn’t happen, doesn’t means pundits have the luxury of treating it like it isn’t real. US policy is now ethnic cleansing on a massive scale. That has consequences regardless of what comes next.

Fascinating to see Ocalan reject things like federation and autonomy, which were generally thought of as post-national solutions, on the grounds that they represent nationalist deviations

So Turkey 1) still isn't that relevant, 2) is helping launder Russian talking points, 3) nonetheless somehow has a more principled position on the conflict than Trump www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...

The outlook for US-Turkish relations is grim. Progressive policymakers can still salvage incremental wins, like securing the best possible settlement for the SDF in Syria. New commentary by @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social

Assaults on respectful academic exchange—be they from the right, in terms of illogically censoring discussion on Palestine, or from the left, in terms of boycotting academic exchanges w/ Israelis—sit very poorly w/ me. I’ve seen both within the academy, and they make us dumber.

Whether Trump and Erdogan find antidemocratic common ground or devolve into confrontation, there’s little to look forward to for U.S.–Turkish relations, writes @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social in a new commentary.

Very cheery piece on USA-Turkey relations: “Good ties will almost certainly be weaponized against democratic core values, while worsening ties could all too easily raise the risk of violent conflict in the region.” @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social @centuryintl.bsky.social tcf.org/content/comm...

Trump & Erdogan — emblematic case study of international politics as game of megalomaniac authoritarian personalities. However the relationship turns, it won't be good for the world. @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social for @centuryintl.bsky.social tcf.org/content/comm...

I don't think anyone who claims to believe in democracy or NATO should be advocating improved U.S.-Turkish relations at a moment when the leaders of both countries firmly oppose these values tcf.org/content/comm...

Rare disagreement with @nilsgilman.bsky.social here. Huntington was definitely right about the clashing. But civilization is still too hopelessly muddy of a concept to explain the faultlines of contemporary conflicts foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/21/s...

With his renewed threats to annex Greenland, Trump has revived a niche cartographic debate about the Mercator projection.

And wait till you hear how badly he pissed off Putin

Missed this morning's event on the future of Gaza? Catch the recording of @dahliasc.bsky.social and @mwhanna.crisisgroup.org‬ in conversation with Century International director @tcambanis.bsky.social

Grateful to @foreignpolicy.com for the chance to express my outrage at Trump's foreign policy and critics of the Mercator projection foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/14/t...

Really remarkable after all these years to see people insisting that somehow Trump, Erdogan and Netanyahu don't represent the actual political aims of their countries.

We answer the question on everyone's minds. foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/14/t...

This is a uniquely bad argument even by its own standards. It chides the AP for inconsistently while seemingly not understanding the AP's entirely consistent position.

In touching off another round of Mercator debate, Trump has also rendered the whole subject moot. Whether or not the Mercator projection implicitly fosters imperialist attitudes doesn’t really matter when the president is explicitly fostering them himself. foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/14/t...

Don’t even have to click to know this is @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social

the academic fixation on contrarianism via counterintuitive findings or arguments really helps burnish some fundamentally underbaked perspectives on the world

I formally apologize for ever suggesting Turks were too sensitive about maps...

America has a long tradition of cartographic cartoons gently mocking the parochial outlook of different regions. Not surprisingly, the tradition began in Boston, which produced the most boring and pretentious version of the joke possible: warontherocks.com/2025/02/the-...

For fuck sake Trump has even succeeded in making Devlet Bahceli sound like the voice of reason

Allow me to point out this is one of the worst arguments you could possibly make

There have been many times in history where populations have been forcibly moved. (Greeks, Armenians, Chechens, Native Americans, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, etc...). Not once was it a humane activity. It is cruel, violent, traumatizing, and often involves mass death.

Reposting this piece from last year: warontherocks.com/2024/01/expe...

America didn’t need to engage in map revanchism because America was a massive historical winner that basically had nowhere to be revanchist about! Before MAGA loser shit, that is

With Trump doubling down on ethnic cleansing, it seems like folks in Ankara have finally accepted he's really not their guy www.sabah.com.tr/yazarlar/bab... www.sabah.com.tr/yazarlar/sal...

Whether it's Musk and the US bureaucracy or Israeli targeting policy in Gaza, AI works "best" precisely in those places were people don't actually care if it gets things wrong

Nationalists love to flex by forcing us to change the how we refer to place names: Modi wants us to call India, "Bharat." Erdogan wants us to call Turkey, "Türkiye." Now Trump wants us to call the Gulf of Mexico, "The Gulf of America." It has always looked stupid and petty to me. It still does.

Outrageous to suggest Turkey has done anything bad to feel good about not feeling bad about.