Scribbler, editor, wanderer. Wrote ‘Beyond the Sand and Sea.’ Ex- Hanoi bureau chief for @AFP and Africa editor for @foreignpolicy. Ex @foreignaffairs.
Nairobi, Kenya
Joined June 2011
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Biden rescinded the travel ban, but Trump’s life-altering legacy will reverberate for generations of refugees.
I wrote about one young man whose bright star was snuffed out during America's hour of darkness.
nytimes.com/2021/01/23/opini…
Ty McCormick retweeted
The most fundamental reason why China cannot disavow Mao, despite the many many horrors under Maoist rule, is because he is the founding father of the modern Chinese state. All nations are founded on origin stories that mix history with myth; disavowing the founder can feel like disavowing the nation itself. But for those who think Mao was simply a well-intentioned leader with misguided policies or bad advisors, I would invite you to read Ning Zhang's work on Mao's campaign against counterrevolutionaries. The sheer indifference to loss of human life and suffering was an outlier even for the time.
Ty McCormick retweeted
Things are looking bleak
The head of the philosophy department at Williams College downplays the pedagogical value of writing:
“What if we are mistaken in treating writing as the highest cultivation of thought? The evidence that supports this belief is thin at best. Writing can be useful cognitive scaffolding for memory and self-regulated learning, but the notion that it is the best process for developing thinking skills is a fairly recent idea, traceable to the 1970s writing-across-the-curriculum movement.”
Ty McCormick retweeted
former chief scientist of uk ai security institute gives us a coin flip.
upside: elon’s “money won’t matter by 2036” fits nicely into this scenario.
Ty McCormick retweeted
JOB: I'm looking for a Thai-speaking journalist to join my @AFP team in Bangkok. This is a great opportunity for a dynamic reporter in Thailand to join an international news organisation. Details here: welcometothejungle.com/en/co…
Ty McCormick retweeted
I was supposed to be in Uganda last week but… Ebola. So here’s a dispatch from Kenya, about how the USAID shutdown has let this latest Ebola outbreak spiral so quickly, and why Trump admin recklessness may turn it into the worst Ebola epidemic ever:
slate.com/news-and-politics/…
Ty McCormick retweeted
My reflection on To Lam’s regional tour and his Shangri-La keynote speech - which look like a bid to move VN from a quiet hedger to a selective rule-shaper. Whether the deeds match the words is another matter.
fulcrum.sg/to-lams-regional-…
Ty McCormick retweeted
Title X is a superb US program, traditionally bipartisan, to support contraception, cervical cancer screenings etc. But as @JillFilipovic writes in @nytopinion, Trump is now trying to redirect it to address things like erectile dysfunction. nytimes.com/2026/04/20/opini…
Why is the Trump administration signaling it will use Title X funds, which used to pay for birth control, for things like increasing sperm motility, addressing erectile dysfunction, and encouraging women to use "natural family planning" instead of IUDs?
nytimes.com/2026/04/20/opini…
“America should negotiate with China a global pact on AI safety, which would impose universal limits on a technology that can do much good — but, in the wrong hands, would do much harm.”
@scmallaby on what to do now the toothpaste is out of the tube.
nytimes.com/2026/04/13/opini…
Ty McCormick retweeted
I feel like in the last week we’ve moved from “everybody is using AI in their writing, just get over it” to “using AI to write is a gross violation of trust and an affront to the very idea of writing and thinking” and frankly I am glad we’re all finally coming to our senses
Ty McCormick retweeted
JOB: We're looking for a Burmese-language digital investigation editor to join my @AFP team in Bangkok. This is a great opportunity for a fluent Burmese-speaking journalist (with good English) to join an international news agency welcometothejungle.com/en/co…
Ty McCormick retweeted
It’s okay for hard things to be hard. On the subject of AI and writing, I like the way George Saunders puts it:
Ty McCormick retweeted
A good opportunity for newly liberated Post journalists! linkedin.com/posts/council-o…
Ty McCormick retweeted
to @wapo international journalists:
@eurasiagroup is hiring and committed to understanding global affairs without fear or favor.
Ty McCormick retweeted
Quoted via @AFP on the big week ahead for Hanoi and its 14th party congress. If General Secretary To Lam acquires the presidency, then “Vietnam will become more like China and North Korea rather than maintaining a separation of powers".
scmp.com/news/asia/southeast…
Ty McCormick retweeted
Here is the incredible moment @evangershkovich reunited with his mother 🥹 Welcome home Evan, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva.
Can’t wait to dive into my advance copy of @RobLalka ‘s new book The Venture Alchemists, which finally made its way to Hong Kong (and which I’ve had the pleasure of reading in drips and drabs since at least 2020). Congrats, Rob! What an enormous achievement.
Ty McCormick retweeted
For years, the people seeking asylum at the US-Mexican border have been diversifying -- then 2023 happened.
13,000 or so Africans crossed in 2022 -- then more than 15,000 from Mauritania alone came in 2023. I spoke to them for @AFP sg.news.yahoo.com/us-souther…
All that Xi wants, is another baby
reuters.com/world/china/chin…
Ty McCormick retweeted
Japan's hand-forged knives a slice of samurai metallurgy france24.com/en/live-news/20…
