Paul Poast

Time to get back to posting on social media! It's been a productive summer so far, from reading and writing, to starting up research projects, to public engagement and running summer programs. I'm looking forward sharing what I've been up to, which I'll be doing over the next week!

In light of the Russian casualty leak, seems appropriate to re-up my recent column on why precise war casualty figures are so difficult to acquire

worldpoliticsreview.com/iran-war-dead-…

Republicans weren't harmed by the War in Iran.

Republicans were harmed by the HUBRIS Trump showed in initiating the War in Iran.

Let's break it down. 🧵

The Iran war was the decisive factor in the US mid-term Elections. But more fundamentally, the outcome was the result of Trump and the Republicans thinking the 2024 elections gave him a mandate to do whatever he wants.

I explain why in my latest for @WPReview.

worldpoliticsreview.com/us-midterms-el…

IR Book of the Week! "The Undersea War" by Elisabeth Braw.

Though many speak of "the cloud" as key to computing, it's more accurately described as "the lake". In other words, the internet is highly dependent on the undersea cables that crisscross the globe. That is just one of many examples and issues over which control of the ocean floor is critical to the operation of the global system and, hence, are arenas for great power competition. To learn even more, including how that competition leads to direct militarized conflict, read this book!

amazon.com/dp/B0FZL6MRWC