Neil Renic
Researcher at the Centre for Military Studies, in Copenhagen. Working on ethics, politics, technology, Just War, drones, and autonomous weapons.
- 🚨 Read my new article, where I share some concerns about AI in war and the endless pursuit of optimisation. Open Access! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
- 2024: "I'm voting for Trump to lower the cost of eggs" 2026: "your son died a hero in the Greenlandic liberation wars"
- I miss the evil billionaires who'd try to buy their way into heaven by funding massive public libraries
- If you wrote a book 10 years ago that started with, "...the year is 2026, European leaders scramble to prevent a US invasion of Greenland", the editor would tell you to calm down.
- Academics are far too relaxed about writing for two years and having three people read it
- Reposted by Neil RenicEngaging and insightful analysis: "The gross imbalance between the emphasis on perpetrators’ moral character, suffering, and interests, on the one hand, and the devastating moral and physical injuries suffered by the victims of war crimes, on the other, is typically erased by war crime apologia."
- 🚨 My article, with Jessica Wolfendale and Chris Elliott, is now available (open access) with @risjnl.bsky.social. We systematically detail and critique war crime apologism - efforts to excuse, downplay, or even celebrate battlefield atrocity. Give it a read! cup.org/49gmlUi
- I wrote some articles this year that i'm proud of - on the themes of war, violence, and technology. Compiled below for your reading convenience:
- "Dirty Hands, Savage Enemies, and Bad Apples", with @risjnl.bsky.social. We systematically detailed and critiqued war crime apologism - efforts to excuse, downplay, or even celebrate battlefield atrocity. t.co/bl2kAqifBY
- "A Matter of Time: The Role of Timing in Regulating Military Weapons”, with International Affairs. Drawing on historical cases, we detail the frequently overlooked value of acting early to control emerging military technologies. t.co/UPYE4Mr27M
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View full threadFor ABC News, Chris Elliot and I argued that it’s past time for the Australian War Memorial to update its Ben Robert’s-Smith exhibits to give a full, unvarnished accounting of his battlefield crimes and their impact on victims. www.abc.net.au/religion/aus...
- “What if we made the most morally demented man in America President twice?”
- The best thing about American culture war exporters is their literal inability to find places outside the U.S on a map
- Morning
- Paid fellowship in awesome Hamburg in the field of ethics in international security. Fantastic opportunity for a PhD or new graduate - APPLY!
- Just finished - brilliant! A fantastic book, highlighting the powerful, and often dark, work done by terms such as “pre-history”, “civilisation”, and “barbarism” throughout history.
- Historians: “in this opening volume, I consider British cavalry innovation from 1817 (January) to 1817 (May)” Economists: “in this blog post, I explain human origins, progress, and decline”
- The review process
- For a small fee, I will unfairly attack your PhD online, increasing your readership in the resulting backlash
- Reposted by Neil Renic🚨New First View Article🚨 "Dirty hands, savage enemies, and bad apples: A taxonomy of war crimes apologia" by Christopher Elliott, @ncrenic.bsky.social & Jessica Wolfendale is now available #OpenAccess! Check it out here 📄 ➡️ buff.ly/i8OUoL1
- Methodology
- From mid-November on, before you send an email ask yourself if this is really a 2025 problem
- 'The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what "works," but art opens up what is possible' - Pope Leo
- Enjoying this immensely, especially Cherniss's plea to resist the embrace of cruelty and ruthlessness in politics. "Many political evils, of course, stem from garden variety villainy – ambition, venality, the appetite for domination or longing for submission. But..."
- "...righteous ruthlessness is particularly troubling, insofar as it can transform apparent virtues into terrible vices."
- "Liberals do not, like conservatives, stand athwart history shouting “stop”. At their best, they stand between vulnerable individuals and the predations of power, and insist on limits"
- Reposted by Neil RenicHow do states keep getting away with war crimes? Check out my new paper with @ncrenic.bsky.social and Christopher Elliot on apologist narratives for war crimes - and it's open access! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
- Australia is stunning
- Reposted by Neil RenicMore reading to do!
- 🚨 My article, with Jessica Wolfendale and Chris Elliott, is now available (open access) with @risjnl.bsky.social. We systematically detail and critique war crime apologism - efforts to excuse, downplay, or even celebrate battlefield atrocity. Give it a read! cup.org/49gmlUi
- 🚨 My article, with Jessica Wolfendale and Chris Elliott, is now available (open access) with @risjnl.bsky.social. We systematically detail and critique war crime apologism - efforts to excuse, downplay, or even celebrate battlefield atrocity. Give it a read! cup.org/49gmlUi
- Maybe we can agree that whatever else it does, ChatGPT shouldn’t be telling people who are about to kill themselves, “awesome idea!!!”
- New arrivals
- 🚨 Delighted to share that I’ve just signed with Oxford University Press to write my next book: looking at how ideas about Western civilisation shape (and are shaped by) the design and use of military technology.
- Chris Elliot and I argue that it’s past time for the Australian War Memorial to update its Ben Roberts-Smith exhibits to give a full, unvarnished accounting of his crimes and their impact on victims. www.abc.net.au/religion/aus...
- Trump: “DEATH TO MY ENEMIES” New York Times: “questions raised over Trump’s commitment to national unity”
- Merimbula, NSW
- 11/10 graffiti
- Disastrous
- you should be able to take off work because your book is getting to the good part
- "The termination is the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
- No wonder Musk is impressed, the London march stretched all the way to the Arc de Triomphe
- Sunday sunrise
- Bleak
- Reposted by Neil RenicEffects of the Ukraine War, including the 2025 EU White Paper on European Defence, have transformed the political economy of European defence production are examined in a new @jei-publication.bsky.social article written with @brunoomartins.bsky.social and @jocelynmawdsley.bsky.social
- Happy Sundays
- We need to discuss the utter social bleakness these new technologies are responding to and in many cases worsening
- Marching against the deliberate starvation of Palestinians
- Universities: “AI will revolutionise education and enhance student learnings” Student prompts: “select my research topic, give me an argument, write the essay, add references, and hide all evidence of your crimes”
- The ever excellent @elkeschwarz.bsky.social and Caroline Holmqvist on AI, nuclear weapons, algorithmic thinking, and the centrality of imagination to ethics journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
- Important things to consider before we outsource the research and writing process to machine proxies
- Stunning Sydney
- My first conference since returning to Oz and it was fantastic! Discussing AI and the resort to force with an amazing set of co-panelists
- Personally, I was hoping for a future with slightly less billionaire-controlled Hitlerbots
- The trick to reading lots of books is to not read lots of books
