Joseph Wong

In most countries, politics is divided along a left-right spectrum. In #America it appears the major divide is between the morally and the immorally evil.

Airstrikes hit Iran-Iraq border as US and Israeli plan to mobilise Kurds gathers pace Experts say backing Iran’s ethnic communities could ‘open up a hornet’s nest’ and increase risk of chaotic civil war

3 questions: what is the goal of this war (i.e. what will end it); can it be contained or will it continue to spread rapidly; and where is Congress?
#Iran
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Wow, what a huge honor! Thanks Lev! I look forward to listening, having read your book and know it is timely, empirically rich and critically important as we work to ensure democratic resilience in Taiwan.

Opinion: Which regime? What change? Iran’s complexity means there are no magic bullets Iran, almost uniquely, has neither a single unified governing regime nor a single set of motives and aspirations among those seeking its ouster

An excellent take on why ending an autocracy does not necessarily mean starting a democracy. #Iran
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Why is the Canadian ambassador presenting his credentials to Trump in a thrift junk store?

Opinion | This Is How Canada Could Get Its Revenge

Was it just me or did it seem odd that in the run-up to the men's gold medal hockey game, American commentators, in describing the US Canada rivalry, kept alluding to the 1980 match between the US and the Soviets at the height of the cold war.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/o...

Poll: Most say the state of the union is not strong and the U.S. is worse off Ahead of the State of the Union address on Tuesday, evidence continues to mount that President Trump is facing political headwinds.

Ahead of the State of the Union address on Tuesday, evidence continues to mount that President Trump is facing political headwinds. n.pr/4s3mGQj

Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Would Have Global Scope but One Man in Charge

Talk about some ambitious post-retirement planning. #Trump #BoardOfPeace

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/u...

This is Canada's moment. Talking about global leadership with David Ossip, Joannah Lawson and Valerie Pringle at the Upper Canada College Founders Dinner. Leadership that addresses complexity, with empathy and with conviction to the promise of pluralism and inclusion in #Canada.

I cannot believe what is happening in Minnesota. There is no bottom to this. Trump has no incentive to concede as a lame duck president who is clearly out for himself right now. It is like a mob boss on the ropes.

As Dan Slater and I intimate in our book, development and demo do go hand-in-hand. The erosion of democracy today is a reflection of the failure of development, and specifically, I'm convinced, of inclusive development. The JD Vance-ification of politics reflects this.

Headlines like these just seem so wrong. #putin #trump #europeanunion

Reposting for Canada Day! Investing in a Canadian elbows-up strategy. My June op-ed in @thestar.com, on Canada's middle power moment on the global stage.
www.thestar.com/business/opi...

Congrats to all @uoft.bsky.social grads! It never rains on convocation day! #uoftgrad25

Rise of the middle powers. Here’s how Canada can wean itself off of U.S. dependence As Prime Minister Mark Carney hosts U.S. President Donald Trump and the rest of the G7 next week, leaders of middle powers like Canada can become less dependent on America

This is Canada's moment. My Toronto Star op-ed on what Canada needs to do to assert our global leadership amidst huge changes to the international order.
www.thestar.com/business/opi...

Trump's tariffs are hammering the industry he wants to save If the tariffs fail to bring a manufacturing revival, it would weaken the prospects of a GOP coalition that increasingly relies on working-class voters.

Strategy to bring back manufacturing to #America: by levying tariffs on #steel and aluminum, key manufacturing inputs, making them more expensive for American manufacturers. Makes total (non)sense. #MAGA
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Let me get this straight. Trump wants to reassert American dominance by turning away the best, most talented ppl in the world, because #Trump believes those in the #MAGA base who voted for him are the only ones who can make #America great again?

This piece in the NY Times correctly hones in on why international students are vital to US interests

Kicking them out will destroy the research & development pipeline that has propelled the US into global leadership in science & tech

Just came back from visiting Oliver, who's doing an internship in Accra, Ghana. I was his age when I went to Asia by myself. Changed my life: thought I was going to be a lawyer, then decided to devote my life to studying that part of the world. #impact #growingup

RFK Jr. Swims in Washington Creek That Flows With Sewage and Bacteria

Trump's health secretary, the guy who claims a worm burrowed into his brain, ate part of it and then died there. Explains alot. #rfk
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/u...

Call out anti-Asian racism – including microaggressions, Joseph Wong writes in the Globe and Mail Amid increasing reports of anti-Asian harassment and discrimination in Canada and around the world, Joseph Wong, the University of Toronto's interim vice-president, international, denounces the rising...

Four years ago I wrote a globeandmail op-ed on micro-aggressions and racism. Re-sharing it for #asianheritagemonth #AAPIHeritageMonth
www.utoronto.ca/news/call-ou...

My 83 yr old mom lookin' like she's running for the Liberal Party of Canada!

Guns n Roses over cocktails. @uoft.bsky.social

Don't poke the polar bear. #CanadaStrong

A meeting of minds (coauthors and friends), Dan Ziblatt, Dan Slater, and Rachel Riedl, in Boston, conspiring to strengthen global democracy.

I assign #PopeFrancis encyclical in my class b/c in it he makes the simple yet powerful point: unfair inequality and environmental degradation are morally wrong and we need to do something about it. Flawed as popes are, he was a rare one #RIPPopeFrancis

30 years ago we met as first-year PhD students @UWMadison. Spending this past weekend together at my cottage, reminiscing and realizing how our profs back then, who seemed so old, were younger than we are today! Grateful for these guys! #gradschool #phdlife

The notion that Trump defying the courts poses a constitutional crisis is misleading. The fact we have to contemplate that at all is the crisis. His defiance would be the death knell of democracy. #SCOTUS

China has been preparing for U.S. tariffs 'for years,' says expert | Hanomansing Tonight China has raised tariffs on U.S. imports to 125 per cent. Victor Shih, the director of 21st Century China Center, joins Hanomansing Tonight to break down how the trade war between U.S. and China conti...

I talked on @cbcnews-rss.bsky.social about the economic and political implications of the trade war which the U.S. started www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

It's so weird to find myself quietly cheering on #Harvard and #China these days.