Substacks recommended by John Bruni | Dr. John Bruni's Substack

Recommended by John Bruni

Notes on economics and more

A former NATO Ambassador’s lens on a world in turmoil—and the strategy America needs to navigate it.

Ivo Daalder’s Substack offers clear, rigorous analysis of global security and U.S. foreign policy grounded in decades of real-world experience. Blending academic depth with practitioner insight, Daalder cuts through noise and jargon to explain how power, alliances, and strategy are evolving. Essential reading for anyone serious about international affairs.

- John Bruni

Robert Reich

Daily newsletter exposing where power lies — and how it's used and abused

Evan Ellis on Latin America and the Caribbean

By R. Evan Ellis

Latin America and its relationship to the US, China, and the rest of the world.

R. Evan Ellis is one of the clearest and most rigorous analysts of Latin America’s strategic landscape. His writing combines deep regional knowledge with sharp insight into security, governance, and great-power competition, particularly China’s expanding footprint. Essential reading for anyone serious about Western Hemisphere security and geopolitics.

- John Bruni

Dead Reckoning

By Missives

Independent analysis of Australian and Indo-Pacific national security, strategy, and statecraft. Named authorship, sourced argument, no institutional line.

Futura Doctrina

By Mick Ryan

A conversation about technology, ideas, people and their convergence in contemporary war and competition. Also covering issues related to the war in Ukraine, Chinese aggression against Taiwan and Indo-Pacific defence.

McFaul's World

By Michael McFaul

Explaining international politics, and especially the fight between autocrats and democrats in the world today.

History of the Present

By Timothy Garton Ash

Join a European 'historian of the present' to follow history as it happens

Michael Ignatieff

Professor CEU Vienna

Figs in Winter: a Community of Reason

By Massimo Pigliucci

By Massimo Pigliucci, a scientist, philosopher, and Professor at the City College of New York. Understanding how the world works, thinking more clearly, living more meaningfully.

Massimo Pigliucci offers a rare blend of philosophical rigour and humane wisdom. His writing on Stoicism, science, and public life is clear, grounded, and refreshingly honest, cutting through modern noise without retreating from complexity. Thoughtful, challenging, and deeply practical, his work rewards readers seeking clarity in an age of distraction.

- John Bruni

Thinking about...

By Timothy Snyder

Opening the future by understanding the past.