Eric Van Rythoven

More fuel for skepticism over any quick rebound in Canada-US relations. Even if Trump were gone tomorrow, many elites now hold similar beliefs and these are increasingly shared among the American public.

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cnn.comTrump’s been lobbing insults at Canada’s leader for more than a year. Now Carney is hitting back | CNNMore than a year into Carney’s tenure, with trade talks once-again stalled and a flashy new alliance blooming with the European Union, the Canadian leader appears to be done taking the high road.

Happy to chat with CNN about mockery and the Canada-U.S. relationship for this article. www.cnn.com/2026/09/23/a...

academic.oup.comValidate User

The conversation drew on my article on mockery in Global Studies Quarterly (@gsqjournal.bsky.social) which is open access. academic.oup.com/isagsq/artic...

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

Dr Bohdana Kurylo

@bohdanakurylo.bsky.social

16 Sept

Not every call for #peace challenges the politics of violence; some reinforce it. Our new article starts here: ‘Colonial and Anti-Colonial Discourses of Peace in the Russo-Ukrainian War’, by me, @kseniyaoksamytna.bsky.social & @yuliaioffe.bsky.social in International Affairs (@iajournal.bsky.social)

14 Sept

One piece I would really like to read is why Canadian Conservatives and UK Reform have both settled on leaders with very high unfavourability numbers.

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social

69% of Britons now have an unfavourable opinion of Nigel Farage, the highest recorded by YouGov’s tracker in the decade it has run.

washingtonpost.comWhite South Africans could get $4,500 in aid if they come to U.S. as refugeesThe assistance, which helps pay for basic needs such as housing and food, would nearly double under a new policy.

28 Aug

It is very telling that just as this administration is revoking temporary protected status for Haitian nationals and threatening deportation, it is also increasing federal funds to support white South African refugees.

Ted Hesson@tedhesson.bsky.social

White South Africans who come to the United States as refugees could get up to $4,500 per person in initial federal support beginning Oct. 1, nearly double the current amount, four people familiar with the change in policy said www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

cbc.caLeBlanc welcomes U.S. decision 'withdrawing positions' on language, culture in trade negotiations | CBC NewsCanada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is hinting that a mutually beneficial trade agreement with our southern neighbours may still be possible after the U.S. rolled back its position on culture a...

27 Aug

www.cbc.ca/news/politic... Very interesting. If I had to speculate on the best possible outcome for Canada, it is that Trump becomes so rattled by the impact of the trade war on the midterms that he quickly walks his position back (similar to the Greenland climbdown), and creates space for a deal

wsj.comThe Connections That Turned a Precocious Teen Into the Fallen ‘Nostradamus of AI’A 24-year-old investor hailed as a visionary attracted billions—before turning into Wall Street’s latest cautionary tale.

27 Aug

My favorite example of this is the 24-year-old hedge fund AI investor who *literally* thought AI would enable people to buy *galaxies*. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/situ...

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theconversation.comMark Carney’s defiance: Canada shows the world how to respond to Donald Trump’s threatsCanada cannot match the U.S. economically, but it can make Donald Trump’s trade war politically costly as the U.S. heads toward midterm elections.

26 Aug

My latest on last weekend's trade talk blowup. theconversation.com/mark-carneys...

26 Aug

Extremely chuffed to be running a new course on the politics of disgust this fall.

23 Aug

I get the reasoning, but a 500% export tax on oil would be a nuclear level response to a relatively low level trade conflict. Any self defense should be proportionate to the level of aggression, which is why dollar-for-dollar makes sense. 1/

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23 Aug

Energy specific export taxes should be retained as a weapon of last resort. Finally, inflicting that much pain risks alienating the American public which is vital to countering the Trump admin.

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

theconversation.comDonald Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ means reneging on them. That’s why Canada cannot capitulateCountries that sign deals with the Trump administration are quickly finding out that the stability and certainty they hoped to purchase was an illusion.

I wanted to call this piece 'Trump's Dinky Deals', but my editor convinced me otherwise. /1 theconversation.com/donald-trump...

I wanted to call this piece 'Trump's Dinky Deals', but my editor convinced me otherwise. /1 theconversation.com/donald-trump...

The danger for Canada is in making costly concessions for a deal with an extremely short shelf life. And even if a deal is reached, Trump may simply open up new fronts of coercive behaviour (e.g. the EU deal). /3

Something that didn't make it into the article: There is a real interesting symmetry between Canada and Iran right now. Both countries desperately need a deal with the United States. But, because of an untrustworthy and impulsive executive, any lasting deal will be difficult to achieve. /end

I wanted to call this piece 'Trump's Dinky Deals', but my editor convinced me otherwise. /1 theconversation.com/donald-trump...

Trump's latest tariff threat has reignited debates in Canada over a 'deal' with the United States, and what concessions Canada should make. The problem is that Trump's deals have a tendency to rapid collapse, sometimes lasting only weeks or days (or sometimes even only hours!). /2

21 July

One consistent feature of the Trump administration is that they love trade actions that *sound* devastating, but they often later qualify it because they don't want to pay the costs of said policy.

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16 June

One of the paradoxes of American politics is that they spend more on elections than any where else--by an enormous margin!--but still consistently suffer from low-quality leaders.

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In my last article I made the argument that Musk uses X to portray liberal democracies as 'ugly' in order to sensitive audiences to ideological alternatives. One of the ways he does this is by casting countries like the UK as divided and on the precipice of a race war 1/

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social

Keir Starmer's spokesman tells me there has been "no change" to the Government's policy on using X, despite Elon Musk helping to incite the hateful scenes we saw in Belfast last night. Also no new plans to take action against X for its role in the violence

The Trump admin has repeatedly threatened to retaliate against any government that regulates U.S. tech companies. The UK could certainly ban, or sharply regulate X, but this would almost certainly trigger American retaliation. And, without the protection of the EU, the UK is far more vulnerable 4/

For what its worth, I think many state leaders are increasingly wise to the dangers of X and Musk in particular. But leaving right now risks a fight with a U.S. government whose entire brand is vindictive retribution. Canada is in a similar boat. End/

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social

This is what I wrote about Musk's use of X, and its impact on UK politics in 2025. The strategy today is almost identical, including the involvement of Tommy Robinson. 2/

thewalrus.caCan Alberta Still Separate? Experts Clash over the Landmark Court Decision | The WalrusA cross-country panel debates one of the most consequential rulings in years

The standard response is that Starmer is just a feckless leader who is unable to take decisive action to ban X, and won't stop using the platform. This is certainly true, but there is another factor: U.S. retaliation. 3/

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

Jared Wesley

@jaredwesley.ca

20 May

Eight of us weigh in on the court's separatist petition ruling. thewalrus.ca/alberta-sepa...

thestar.comU.S. says it’s pausing long-standing military board with CanadaThe U.S. undersecretary of defence for policy said Monday

19 May

This seems especially silly given that the Canada hit 2% of GDP defence spending this year, spent a record amount in absolute dollars, and tabled budget with the largest increase in defence spending in recent memory.

policyoptions.irpp.orgThe threat of Trump retaliation: how Canada should respondU.S. leverage is real but uneven. Three guideposts help policymakers assess risk, timing and strategic trade-offs.

I have a short piece on how Canada should think about retaliation in the age of Trump. TLDR: the threat of retaliation is increasingly driving Canadian policy decisions, but we think about retaliation in overly simplistic ways. I offer some correctives. 1/ policyoptions.irpp.org/2026/04/cana...

I suggest 3 guideposts for managing retaliation. 1) Danger of retaliation is not constant. It's high when it touches on core interests, low when it forces unpopular positions. 2) Some policies are worth the risk of retaliation (e.g. diversifying trade with China). 8/

3) Finally, if you are going to run the risk of retaliation, do it when the Trump admin is weak and distracted by crisis and scandal. End/

policyoptions.irpp.orgThe threat of Trump retaliation: how Canada should respondU.S. leverage is real but uneven. Three guideposts help policymakers assess risk, timing and strategic trade-offs.

There are serious costs to reflexively letting retaliation drive Canadian foreign policy. Carney initially supported Trump's war with Iran, likely because of fears over retaliation. This turned out to be mistake triggering an embarrassing course change 6/

The Trump admin's capacity for retaliation is weakening. Any act of retaliation (such as tariffs) requires political capital. Trump's stock is rapidly depleting. His polling is abysmal and mired in scandal. The Iran war is deeply unpopular. Losing the midterms could be an inflection point. 7/

policyoptions.irpp.orgThe threat of Trump retaliation: how Canada should respondU.S. leverage is real but uneven. Three guideposts help policymakers assess risk, timing and strategic trade-offs.

Trump admin is commonly seen as all-powerful colossus capable of retaliating at will. This is a mistake. The admin's capacity for retaliation is unevenly distributed. On some things, their capacity for retaliation is v. high. E.g. confronting China still enjoy broad support and legitimacy. 4/

On other things their capacity is v. low. Several states took legal action against Grok after the non-consensual sexual images of women and children. The admin threatened retaliation, but didn't follow through. Why? Doing so would amounted to a de facto defense of child pornography. 5/

policyoptions.irpp.orgThe threat of Trump retaliation: how Canada should respondU.S. leverage is real but uneven. Three guideposts help policymakers assess risk, timing and strategic trade-offs.

First, retaliation is a form of coercive diplomacy where a state responds to an action by by imposing painful costs. Retaliation can change behaviour, but so too can the threat of retaliation. Right now, the threat of American retaliation is increasingly shaping Canadian policy debates 2/

@kandidapurnell.bsky.social

Retaliation in Canadian-U.S. policy used to be incredibly rare. What changed? 1) Rise of the Imperial Presidency and absence of checks on Exec. 2) Weakening of transnational coalitions (businesses averse to standing up to Trump) 3) Decline of shared diplo culture (diplomats gone in purges) 3/

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

Kandida Purnell

10 Apr

'Contested Body Counts, a Missing Airman, and the (Necro)Politics of America's War in Iran' - a new blog from me now published by @ecprtheloop.bsky.social ! theloop.ecpr.eu/contested-bo...

theloop.ecpr.euContested body counts, a missing airman, and the (necro)politics of America’s war in IranThe recent rescue of a US airman from Iranian soil obscures a deeper truth. As contested casualty figures emerge from America’s war, Kandida Purnell argues that what we see, count, and mourn in war is never neutral. Rather, it is carefully governed through a longstanding necropolitical logic that shapes public perception and sustains conflict

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

lauren

@lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com

26 Mar

war_iran_final-blow_v1.pdf war_iran_final-final-blow-v2.pdf war_iran_final-blow-no edits.pdf war_iran_final-blow-no edits (1).pdf war_iran_final-blow-no edits (1) APPROVED.pdf IRANWARPLANSFINALFINALFINAL.pdf IRANWARPLANSFINALFINALFINAL (1).pdf

Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول@faredalmahlool.bsky.social

BREAKING NEWS: The U.S. is preparing possible “final blow” options against Iran if talks fail like seizing key islands (e.g. Kharg, Abu Musa), blockading oil routes, or launching massive airstrikes (and potentially ground ops). Forces are being deployed, but no decision yet. Source: Axios

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

Felix Rösch

@felixroesch.bsky.social

13 Mar

Thank you @hist-isanet.bsky.social! 🙏 @harokarkour.bsky.social and my paper on racial justice and the national interest in classical #realism won the Merze Tate Prize for the Best Article in Historical IR @sussexfss.bsky.social Find the article here (OA) 👇 academic.oup.com/isr/article/...

academic.oup.comToward IR’s “Fifth Debate”: Racial Justice and the National Interest in Classical RealismAbstract. This article addresses growing calls for a fifth debate on international relations’ (IR) “race amnesia.” The central argument is two-fold. First,

Historical IR Section (ISA)@hist-isanet.bsky.social

🏅 Merze Tate Prize for Best Article in Historical International Relations Committee: Justin Rosenberg (Chair), Jaakko Heiskanen, Andrea Paras The award goes to ... 🥁 Haro Karkour and Felix Rösch (2024) "Towards IR’s “Fifth Debate”: Racial Justice and the National Interest in Classical Realism"

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

Patricia Treble

@patriciatreble.bsky.social

11 Mar

Notable audience by the King, amid talk of Alberta separation. Treaty Six and other First Nations are in court fighting the constitutionality of any separation referendum in Alberta. They are arguing that their treaties are with the Crown, not the provincial government

Eric Van Rythoven reposted

Hilde Eliassen Restad

@herestad.bsky.social

4 Mar

The Mark Carney moment of hope for a reformed somewhat rules-based order is already over. The "West" has lost all credibility. You cannot condemn illegal aggression against Greenland and Ukraine on principle, then support illegal aggression against Gaza, Venezuela, and Iran.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

NATO Secretary Mark Rutte: "The commander in chief, the leader of the free world, President Donald J Trump -- I really commend what is happening here."

3 Mar

I guess my question is "where is it?" You think AI can write a publishable political theory article in 2 hours? Great. Show me. Send me the pdf of the published article. Based on this logic, we should have 100,000s of new high quality AI articles being published? Where are they?

Ben Rosher@benrosher.bsky.social

Even *if* machines could do these jobs better than humans, why would we want them to? If we outsource intellectual curiosity and critical thinking to machines, what is left of the human? As one of my students frequently tells me, “unbridled convenience rots the soul”

2 Mar

Hot take: The Carney government put out a statement supporting the United States without knowing what it was doing. Now that the US/Israel have assassinated a state leader, and Hegseth has declared "no stupid rules of engagement", supporting the U.S. looks a lot more difficult.

Steven Chase@stevenchase.bsky.social

Prime Minister Mark Carney cancelled what would have been his first press conference since his India trip began 5 days ago with his office citing lengthy meetings in New Delhi that have strained his schedule. So far he has not taken 1 question from Canadian journalists on a trip that began Feb. 26.