Emmanuel Valax
PhD researcher focusing on hydropolitics 💧 unpacking expert discourses, colonialities, and agency in West African water governance 🌍 while grappling with ethics, positionality, and reflexivity quandaries 💭 (views my own)
- The very “mainstream media” that Trump has spent years ruthlessly attacking has now become a pliant, subservient arm of the administration, adopting its language to carry water and give the White House room to get away with murder.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxWelcome to 2026 where imperialism is alive and kicking.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxL'an passé je publiais ce livre sur l'énergie, le climat et la géopolitique. Conclusion : la relative stabilité post-1945 reposait sur les énergies fossiles, et la crise climatique fait exploser cette paix de carbone en fragmentant l'espace mondial.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxOn a beaucoup commenté la nouvelle stratégie de sécurité nationale américaine. Retour à la doctrine Monroe, défense de l'aire d'influence continentale, rivalité affirmée avec l'UE : c'est la fin des bénéfices partagés de l'intégration économique, on le savait. legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2025/12/0...
- A literal wake-up call for Europe: the old alliance is over. Efforts to align the White House with the Kremlin’s strategy to destabilise the EU have now fully crystallised as policy. This guidance will likely change how U.S. embassies and CIA stations operate in the region.
- A few thoughts on the new US national security strategy that was released today. 🧵 www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
- Defacing the stolen headquarters of a congressionally mandated institution shows one thing: the regime loyalists will stop at nothing to appease their vain, petty tyrant. Try as they may, he will never go down in history as a peacemaker.
- Trump's name added to US Institute of Peace ahead of peace deal signing reut.rs/48iGjNp
- Still trying to process that my country might be invaded in a ‘wag the dog’ operation, bearing a thinly veiled juvenile phallic joke for a name. All to distract the U.S. public from the unseemly scandals plaguing the offender-in-chief.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxSome call it mass uncontrolled migration. Others call it the British empire.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxIf the Trump administration’s goal in Venezuela is to secure U.S. interests, it would be wiser for Washington “to return to the negotiating table than to gamble on the chaos that regime change would unleash,” argue Alexander Downes and Lindsey O’Rourke.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxIf you keep working hard at the art and craft of academic writing it can become a super power. So speaks a boy who barely passed English in school, still cant spell well and knows nothing of grammar beyond feel. Dont let AI close down your ability to become a great writer.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxTake a deep breath. Exhale. Repeat.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxDecolonisation and knowledges of decolonisation produced outside academia supersede the fraction of knowledge pooled in by academia on the topic. This realisation, not a hindrance in the labour of epistemic decolonisation, invites us to engage other formations of knowledge.
- Saying climate change won’t spell the end of “humanity” embraces the deeply uneven geographies of vulnerability. By centring the resilience of industrialised nations, it disavows the disposability of others. We must resist these efforts to normalise climate necropolitics.
- The U.S. has moved a destroyer to Trinidad and Tobago for an apparently unscheduled exercise just a few kilometres off Venezuela’s coast. I’m no military expert, but doesn’t it seem like a rather convenient target if a covert false-flag operation were underway? 🤷🏻♂️
- Venezuela condemns 'military provocation' by CIA and Trinidad and Tobago reut.rs/4nq1BNc
- Maybe the changes coming to the bad place will help convince a critical mass of folks from the Global South to come over and mix things up. It’s a nice platform and space, but the user base here is still missing the mark when it comes to regional diversity.
- I do wonder if we’ll ever be able to customise the trending topics here. It’s getting rather tiresome being stuck with endless sports and gaming “news” while the world collapses.
- Washington déplace la pièce maîtresse manquante dans son nouveau théâtre d’agression militaire au sud de la mer des Caraïbes. L’étau se resserre autour du régime de Caracas et les rouages de la guerre sont bel et bien en marche…
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxL’ONU a 80 ans. Et après ? Une organisation indispensable pour des millions de vies… mais aujourd’hui en pleine crise budgétaire et politique. Que reste-t-il de la promesse de 1945 ? 🧵
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxIt is striking to say the least that so many people who made huge efforts to decry and even organize around drone strikes under the Obama administration are basically silent about Trump deciding he has the right to drone any boat in the Caribbean without justification or proof.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxWe have just rejected our first submission where the use of Gen-AI to rewrite the article was acknowledged. Given the way that they commandeer public water resources and contribute to climate collapse, we do not think that there is an ethical way to use such tools.
- Perhaps the next #NoKings 🇺🇸 protests should be a massive, peaceful March on Washington to rally against the blatant corruption embodied in the construction of a gilded “White Palace,” as people face cuts to healthcare, soaring costs of living, and an endless shutdown.
- The 90,000-square-foot ballroom will be 1.6x bigger than the White House itself. 😭 wapo.st/474paqa
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxThere’s no way to stop climate change without consuming less.
- Reposted by Emmanuel Valax[This post could not be retrieved]
- What fresh hell is this?
- 🧵 The #NoKings demonstrations in the 🇺🇸 seem to have all the right elements: a broad tent, decentralised structure, nonviolent discipline, joyful energy, and a simple message. The challenge is turning that momentum into political action, such as mass voter registration. 1/3
- For protests this large to sustain and grow their critical mass, they must remain peaceful. Autocratic regimes look for any excuse to justify a crackdown, and using infiltrators to incite chaos is a well-known tactic. Any violence risks driving away would-be participants. 2/3
- Preventing infiltration and clashes with police is crucial, but far from easy. Whether these demonstrations evolve into a lasting movement will depend on how well they manage such risks while staying focused on meaningful political action. It’s a marathon to 2028, not a sprint. 3/3
- Reposted by Emmanuel Valax🇮🇷 According to recent reporting from The Guardian, #Iran's water crisis has grown so severe in the Tehran region — where nearly a quarter of Iran’s water is consumed — that the Iranian president has led calls to move the capital. He has highlighted that this may be the only solution.
- Blessed be the courageous souls who still log in to LinkedIn and can brave the waves of self-congratulatory AI slop for more than five minutes at a time. I salute you.
- Opening this app and seeing my country trending gave me rather a sinking feeling. Doomscrolling has taken on a whole new dimension with these U.S. airstrikes. Somehow, it feels as though a fog of war has begun to drift over the Caribbean.
- D’autant plus que l’actuel secrétaire « à la guerre » des É.-U. revendique l’abandon des règles d'engagement, au nom d’une doctrine mortifère où la protection des populations civiles ne doit plus jamais freiner la létalité de ses soldats. En effet, ce serait un véritable cataclysme.
- A thoughtful thread that really resonates with me — especially as I'm being compelled to incorporate and encourage the use of AI entities in a graduate course this semester.
- A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.
- Didn't she also spend much of the past two decades lobbying both parties in Washington for harsher sanctions and trying to build support for U.S. military intervention in her own country? Oh well, at least they didn’t give it to the other guy.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxWe must accept that there are certain people and ideas that we cannot be in conversation with if our goal is human dignity, freedom, and flourishing futures.
- 🧵 The other day, someone tried to explain to me that AI is just a tool, like a calculator, and it’s our responsibility to teach students how to use it wisely. I didn’t know how to respond at the time, so here are some delayed thoughts for no reason. 1/5
- It’s wild how quickly some instructors seem to be embracing AI in their classrooms. Are we also supposed to endorse specific “tools”? ChatGPT? Grok? Deep/Seek? Should we advise students to get premium accounts even when most can’t afford it? 2/5
- The speed at which pro-AI discourse is gaining dominance is staggering. I’m willing to bet the same folks buying into the AI hype today will be sorry tomorrow when their own governments move to further slash budgets in academia in favour of shiny tech “partnerships.” 3/5
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View full threadMany of the supposed stewards of these institutions seem ready to capitulate and invite the demise of independent, critical thinking in knowledge transmission. Without any opposition, there is little doubt that universities and colleges will be hollowed out. 5/5
- Only one week into the semester here, and I’m already accepting thoughts, prayers, and setting up an emergency GoFundMe to finance my green tea supply in this tariff-ridden economy.
- I wonder if there’s any peer-reviewed work that questions how academic institutions are normalising generative AI as mere “tools” instead of treating them as non-sentient, privately-owned digital entities with social, political, and economic agendas.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxPosts about scientific research on Bluesky receive substantially more attention than similar posts on Twitter. More importantly, you're far less likely to get sexist or racist replies.
- A proper timeline cleanse after an evening spent admiring the works of Cézanne au Jas de Bouffan. I’ll miss these research trips to Aix! 🇫🇷
- Getting flagged as an AI bot by France's archival search systems was not on my bingo card today.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxThe continents are rapidly drying out and the earth’s vast freshwater resources are under threat, according to a recently released study based on 20+ years of NASA satellite data. Here are the report’s key findings and what they portend for humankind.
- Struggling to come up with effective ways to AI-proof assignments for the graduate courses I'll be assisting this Fall. Haven't found much in the way of tried-and-true guidance so far. Any tips welcome!
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxThe rapid decline of American science has few precedents in history, argues @rossandersen.bsky.social. We are witnessing an unparalleled act of self-sabotage: theatln.tc/d40fABTK
- Off to somewhere e-mails won’t find me for the next few weeks.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxIs this what people from abroad felt when they watched the Nazis destroying Germany in the 1930s?
- What do we say to the August scaries trying to kill the vibes for us late summer vacationers?
- I’m sorry—how is this not an article from @theonion.com?
- UN report finds United Nations reports are not widely read reut.rs/4oiJUAV
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxThe genocide in Gaza has been so revealing of the narrow imagined geographies of past atrocities among some. The ignorance of how different forms of genocidal intent and practice were deployed across a whole range of colonial contexts has been central to the effort to dismiss the use of the term.
- Spent two weeks reflecting on ways to embrace a more transformative water diplomacy and how to decolonise my own research. In these dark times, it was refreshing to find community among those committed to the cause. Grateful to IHE Delft for the opportunity! 💧🕊️
- Reposted by Emmanuel Valax💧Les plus grandes métropoles d’Asie, d’Europe, d’Amérique et d’Afrique sont confrontées au problème de la raréfaction de l’eau potable. Tour du monde des pistes évoquées dans la presse internationale pour faire face à la menace croissante d’un monde sans eau.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxA lot of media are covering Europe’s heatwave 🔥 but few are connecting it to the climate crisis. Tools like the Climate Shift Index show this heatwave is up to 5x 😱 more likely because of climate change. That context matters. csi.climatecentral.org/climate-shif...
- Heading to the Netherlands 🇳🇱 next month to wrap up the Young Water Diplomats programme, then join an exciting Decolonising Science PhD course at IHE Delft with @amitangshu.bsky.social and a fantastic teaching team. Any suggestions for things to do are most welcome!
- Reposted by Emmanuel Valax“The American people are facing one of the great challenges of the 21st century, as great as that confronting the French in 1940, when they had to decide whether to join the Resistance or not.”
- You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you?
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxNew research shows the depletion of groundwater in the Colorado River Basin far exceeds losses from the river’s reservoirs. Scientists say overpumping is leading to alarmingly rapid declines at a time when climate change is putting growing strains on water supplies. www.latimes.com/environment/...
- Reposted by Emmanuel Valax🇮🇳🇵🇰💧Après quatre jours d’une confrontation militaire qui a fait quelque 70 morts dans les deux pays, l’Inde et le Pakistan ont convenu d’un cessez-le-feu. Derrière cette confrontation se joue un autre conflit encore non résolu : celui de l’accès aux eaux de l’Indus. Explications en vidéo.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxLooking at what's happening in Palestine and what's happening at the White House and remembering all those commentators and scholars who dismissed settler colonialism as a category of analysis...
- Reposted by Emmanuel Valax
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxAttention spans are shrinking, with research showing the average person's has declined from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds now.
- How are we still prioritising climate issues while fascism and genocide stage the comeback of the century? Do we seriously think science will sway the “great leaders” who are lighting torches under our ivory towers? Isn’t that beyond absurd?
- A plan to commit crimes against humanity on a mass scale? Apparently not front-page material for either @reuters.com or @apnews.com. Luckily their coverage of Cannes is on point.
- Reposted by Emmanuel ValaxNew York University said it would withhold the diploma of a student who used a graduation speech to condemn Israel's attacks on Palestinians.
- By carrying on with our business as usual, we embody Arendt’s banality of evil. Western governments are not mere bystanders—they are actively aiding and abetting the extreme violence and crimes against humanity unfolding in Palestine. 🇵🇸
- Heartening to see more European scholars breaking their silence as millions of civilians in Palestine suffer unspeakable atrocities. What else needs to happen for academia everywhere to take a stance? 🇵🇸
- I am one of over 700 (and counting) faculty and staff from Swedish universities who have signed the Uppsala declaration, made public today, calling for a boycott of complicit Israeli institutions of higher education. Read more: uppsaladeclaration.se
