Dr Emma Salisbury

Pros of being a professional America understander: lots of work, in demand Cons of being a professional America understander:

Seems to be able to pronounce "Iran"

Rewarding myself for finishing my tasks by catching up on the midterm polls

I feel very inadequate when reading about the Great Game period because some of the spies are intimidatingly smart. Just casually like: "The journey to Kabul took three weeks on horseback. During the evenings he took the opportunity to become fluent in Dari."

Just recorded an interview for BBC Radio Scotland on reports of Russia using fishing trawlers to map British undersea infrastructure

When you were partying, I studied the blade. When you were having premarital sex, I mastered the blockchain. While you wasted your days at the gym in pursuit of vanity, I cultivated inner strength.

I'm not sure if Americans are aware of how much Europeans are following the midterms, but my mum - who hasn't been to the US for like 40 years - just asked me about the Kansas Senate race. She almost immediately regretted it, but still.

I wanted to share one American prisoner's rules for himself that helped him survive the Bataan death march in 1942. Rule 1: take one more step forward Rule 2: if you think you can't take one more step forward, refer back to Rule 1

Sometimes I use the phrase "according to paragraph 6.2 of the guidance" but what I actually mean is

Wait til he hears about New York

The DM is also impugning here most of those Brits who actually fought in WWII, who would think these people quoted are absolute arseholes. My grandpa Ron, for example, fought his way through North Africa and Italy, then served every member of his Midlands community until he passed in his 90s.

What is hitting me most while reading about the Pacific theatre of WWII is that every Allied ship sunk has two survivor tallies - how many survived the battle to be picked up by the IJN, and how many of those survived being picked up by the IJN.

Finished book 1. Realised I am escaping from the reality of constant war crimes by reading about magical constant war crimes. Both of my favourite characters so far have done war crimes. My least favourite characters have... also done war crimes. Anyway, on to book 2.

Anthony Scaramucci lasted two Zacharias

I talked with France24 about the Starshield debacle. Ce "constitue une attitude outrageante envers un allié de Washington." www.france24.com/fr/%C3%A9co-...

Now imagining the queen bee of the base wives demanding one be installed on her SUV so she can stop that bitch Sarah from parking in her favourite spot outside the PX www.twz.com/news-feature...

I'm on the curriculum at GW 🤩🥹

Apparently I, a Brit who has never been to Texas, know more about Texan history than the Republican Senate candidate for Texas

Me sowing (submitting a pitch): Haha fuck yeah!! Yes!! Me reaping (pitch accepted and now I have to write the article): Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

Six Russian Su-34 fighters on the ground in Voronezh taken out in a Neptune strike by the Ukrainian Navy. That'll buff out.

Doing an interview for French media on Hegseth, unrelatedly does anyone know the best translation for "douchecanoe"

Aside from the sheer ignorance of the modern militaries of many African nations, an African continental alliance could wipe out invading 1939 European armies with their technical fleet alone. "Hiluxes, sir. Thousands of 'em."

No "sugar, spice, and everything nice" - we are salty, defiant, and very non-compliant

I'm reading, for the first time, a properly detailed exposition of the attack on Pearl Harbor and - aside from the poor few heroic bastards doing their best - I hadn't appreciated the sheer amount of high-level idiocy on both sides, I've never been so stressed in my life

Happy Columbus Day, America - enjoy your traditional celebration, which I understand involves going to your local Walmart and ceremonially getting lost in the spice aisle

Don't tell me what to do, Amazon, I'll go to an overhead powerline and use this *checks notes* paperback book if I goddamn want

My friend has been on at me for ages to read the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I'm 50 pages in and completely hooked. It's a 10 book series. They're thicc. See you all next year, maybe?

Once again, the task I have been putting off finishing for days while still being anxious about it the entire time took me less than an hour

Today I learned that my visceral dislike of jargon, instilled by years in the military space, has gone full circle into an instant desk reject of anyone using the word Weltanschauung. My undergrad philosophy degree sympathises but you can just say "worldview" I promise it's ok bro

I recommend this smart conversation about how AI is going to change the think tank space and affect knowledge workers. Tl;Dr - it will be human judgement and expert intuition that will remain valuable, even if AI can do basic research faster and write decently. open.spotify.com/episode/6a8N...

Strategic knowledge of how Germany could have won WWII is literally just "don't invade the USSR" and any self-respecting woman knows that already

The fact that this isn't a formation run has four possible causes: - His PR staff are dumb - His PR staff hate him - The milPR staff hate him - He genuinely thought he could keep up (More than one can be true)

I always have a history audiobook on while driving but in hindsight the chapter of Tower of Skulls on the Rape of Nanjing was not a good commute choice

"Super Intelligence Force" is the name of the club your little brother had with his two mates when they were 7 years old that you weren't allowed to join because it was a SECRET and NO GIRLS

So much of the Trump administration's approach to this war has been "if only the adversary would stop fighting back, this would all be fine." In the words of my favourite film: "People should know when they're conquered." "Would you, Quintus? Would I?"

Every time I have to do a big but menial admin task for work, I'm reminded of the time my colleague's husband wandered into the office while I was stuffing a load of envelopes and casually said: "Glad you did that PhD, Em?"

I have achieved peak Saturday: Walk dog Two hours of gardening Pot of tea Read the Economist Slow-cook gigantic curry Audiobook on WWII

"Project Meridian recommends weaponizing Grok and a Cybertruck for every GOFO."

Someone has described this as the ultimate dad thread - I'd like to clarify that as a childfree woman in her late 30s I am proud to display an intense amount of dad energy and I am also good at grilling