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Timur Kuran
@timurkuran
Professor, Duke University. Economic and political development, social change, Islam, Middle East, Turkey.
Durham, NC
sites.duke.edu/timurkuran
Joined July 2016
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  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Aug 20, 2022
    Seven years ago, the archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad was beheaded by ISIS at the age of 83. He had been head of Antiquities at Palmyra for 40 years. His “crime” was to have hidden the artifacts in Palmyra’s museum. Tortured, he refused to disclose where he hid them. A modern hero.
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Jan 26, 2025
    Musk’s purchase of Twitter was a political game changer. Also important was his decision to hide people’s “likes” from other users. This diminished preference falsification on X. It also boosted the apparent popularity, and thus the circulation, of un- or anti-woke posts. (1/2)
    502K
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Nov 28, 2022
    Unanticipated consequence of World Cup: 1.4 billion Chinese learn that everywhere else life has returned to normal (mostly maskless). (1/3)
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Dec 25, 2020
    Twitter is a selective outrage machine. Here is something that should outrage practically all Its users.
    user avatar
    Hillel Neuer
    @HillelNeuer
    Dec 24, 2020
    One week from tomorrow, a man who herded 1 million Uighurs into camps, jails human rights activists, crushed Tibet, disappeared courageous men and women who sounded the alarm on the coronavirus, and suffocated freedom in Hong Kong will join the U.N.'s highest human rights body.
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Feb 26, 2022
    Don’t assume Russian soldiers and officers like what they are doing. Some—we can’t know many, because preference falsification is inherently invisible—must be willing to break ranks, if only they have options. Let EU and NATO countries offer asylum to Russian military defectors.
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    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Dec 8, 2023
    American universities lost their way when they started treating people as members of morally ranked identity groups. They will keep shocking the nation and continue losing legitimacy until they return to treating students and faculty as individuals enjoying equal rights.
    1M
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Jul 23, 2024
    Barely 12 hours ago, leading writers of the New York Times rated Kamala Harris as the least electable of 10 possible Democratic nominees. Yet the selection process is already over. If Harris loses, as appears likelier than not, the party’s leaders will have much to explain.
    932K
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    May 1, 2021
    80% of my US friends are on the left politically; many define themselves as progressive. 90% of my US friends are afraid to speak their minds even on policy matters in which they have expertise. On political expression, the US no longer seems like a free country.
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    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Feb 20, 2025
    All 5 are true: 1) DOGE has scrapped many stupid projects. 2) DOGE has axed many useful academic projects. 3) Universities lost their way, inviting the ongoing massive backlash. 4) The backlash is generally popular. 5) Universities have done little to regain the public’s trust.
    394K
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Jan 26, 2025
    Replying to @timurkuran
    When in June 2024 X added a layer of privacy to users’ “likes,” woke mobs instantly lost power. Un-woke and anti-woke posts started getting more likes from users who no longer risked being harassed, even canceled, for conveying their preferences truthfully. (2/2)
    50K
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    May 31, 2020
    A 56-second overview of the first 5 months of 2020.
    00:00
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    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    May 14, 2023
    The Anadolu Agency has stopped updating Turkey’s election returns. And Erdoğan’s party is objecting to results in hundreds of places where it is way behind. These are among the indications that the opposition is doing well—much better perhaps than AA has so far let on.
    1.5M
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    May 28, 2023
    Turkey’s new electoral map: yellow Erdoğan, red opposition. The red provinces produce 70-75% of Turkey’s GDP.
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    Orçun Selçuk
    @orcunselcuk
    May 28, 2023
    This is Turkey's new electoral map. The opposition is stronger in large metropolitan areas including İstanbul and Ankara. This is important ahead of the 2024 local elections. The opposition has to keep playing the long game after a period of analysis, discussion, and criticism.
    872K
  • user avatar
    Timur Kuran
    @timurkuran
    Nov 16, 2022
    Few fans are going to Qatar to cheer their national team competing at the World Cup. Qatar’s solution: each of the 32 teams will be cheered by “temporary fans” rented from Pakistan.