Maria Repnikova
14.2K posts
@MariaRepnikova
Assoc. Prof & Endowed Chair @GSUArtSci. Study #Chinese Media #SoftPower #ChinaAfrica, #ChinaRussia; Bylines @NYT @washingtonpost @Atlantic
Genova, i have no words what just happened. I saw people dancing from all ages. Everyone smiling and dancing to the beat. Honestly, the whole thing is making me a bit emotional. These are very powerful moments. I’m beyond honored to have been able to play for you today ❤️
I have a PhD in political science from Oxford, focused on US foreign policy; worked as a State Dept. official in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East; and wrote a celebrated foreign policy book taught at universities like Princeton. That's why I get geopolitical questions.
Thrilled to share that my new book Make China Great Again: Online Alt-History Fiction and Popular Authoritarianism (Columbia UP) has come out. This is the first book studying China's Internet literature, esp. alt-history fiction from the perspective of authoritarian legitimation.
Time for a grand announcement Ilya Budraitskis and me wrote a book. It's out in September 2026
Ladies, all those men telling you to smile—they were actually just being mega perceptive
You could launch a full-up newspaper from the 300 people laid off by the Washington Post 3 hours ago. Instantly. Business. Sports. Metro. Ukraine. China. AI & tech. They'd start writing this afternoon! A 300-person newsroom would cost about $80 million a year (running a little lean). Just saying. I hear there are some billionaires out there looking for places to invest.
Through it all, I kept my @washingtonpost subscription, mostly to support the brave and important work that its reporters—both my friends and people I'd never bet—were still doing. After today's unconscionable firings, I've canceled my subscription. Because fuck that.
Jeff Bezos wealth in 2024: $194 billion Jeff Bezos wealth in 2025: $215 billion Jeff Bezos wealth today: $249.4 billion Net increase in Bezos wealth since 2024: $55.4 billion Cost of Bezos’s 417-foot superyacht: $500 million Amazon investment in "Melania": $75 million Original Bezos purchase price of the Washington Post in 2013: $250 million Bezos net worth in 2013: $25.2 billion Net increase in Bezos wealth since buying the Post: $224.2 billion Last reported annual losses of Post: $100 million Number of years Bezos could absorb those losses with what he makes in a single week: 5 @JeffBezos
always bears repeating that this is NOT ultimately a financial decision. jeff bezos is worth over 250 billion dollars. he can afford to lose many millions and never even notice it. this is, at its core, a political and personal decision by bezos to destroy the post
The @WashPost has now laid off its Asia editor, its New Delhi bureau chief, its Sydney bureau chief, its Cairo bureau chief, the entire Middle East reporting team, China correspondents, Iran correspondents, Turkey correspondents, and many more. The world is becoming less America-centric by the minute while the United States is becoming more America-centric than ever. It is just a depressing yet somehow perfect summation of our current moment that one of the most important newspapers in the history of the country - one that has actually shaped the history of the United States - doesn't think reporting on the world is of any use anymore. What an utterly perfect encapsulation of where we have arrived.
