Gaza diplomacy crashes Bibi's victory lap
Trump thinks Iran strikes created leverage for a Gaza breakthrough. He plans to use it.
At the White House today, Netanyahu will find himself in the familiar but uncomfortable position of managing Trump's expectations, as the president who green-lit the Iran strikes now demands payment in the form of a Gaza ceasefire that could threaten the very coalition keeping Netanyahu in power.
07.07.2025 10:02 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
We were clearly talking about the regime and their calculations on a response. But fair point.
13.06.2025 04:43 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Trumpโs Ukraine Rorschach test
How Trump deals with Russia will determine whether he can lead his MAGA movement or must follow it
Ukraine has become the ultimate foreign policy test case for whether Donald Trump leads his MAGA movement or follows itโand whether his personal frustration with being outmaneuvered can override his base's ideological commitments.
open.substack.com/pub/labott/p...
04.06.2025 10:11 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
First Harvard. Then 378,000 American Jobs.
Itโs not just Ivy League politics โ itโs your local community
The State Department has halted ALL new student visa interviews nationwide while expanding social media vetting. When we systematically reject global talent, they don't being brilliant - they build competing companies elsewhere.
thepreamble.com/p/first-harv...
29.05.2025 12:34 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
A convenient truce
US-Houthi deal embodies President Trump's "America First" foreign policy
President Trumpโs deal with the Houthis couldn't more nakedly embody his America First foreign policy. The Houthis stop attacking American ships; the U.S. halts its bombing campaign. But missing from the deal? Any protections whatsoever for American allies
www.cosmopolitics.news/p/a-convenie...
08.05.2025 15:00 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
This White House statement is really telling:
โThis agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.โ
01.05.2025 18:23 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
LIVE SOON: Elise Labott on Substack
Starting May 1 at 5:30 PM EDT
Moscow Mules were sooo 1960s
Hot Tale Happy Hour TODAY at 5:30 with me and @Danielle Pletka on Substack Live
open.substack.com/live-stream/...
01.05.2025 18:10 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
For Kyiv, it's a diplomatic win. For Moscow, itโs a warning: Trump now has skin in the game. Undermining Ukraine means threatening American economic interests โ and his.
01.05.2025 02:40 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
The agreement creates a joint reconstruction fund, opening Ukraineโs vast mineral reserves to U.S. capital and, symbolically, to Trump's legacy. While it offers no military guarantees, it ties American prestige โ and profit โ to Ukraineโs postwar recovery.
01.05.2025 02:39 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
The U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, announced tonite, gives Trump something heโs long wanted: a financial stake in Ukraineโs future. It signals to Putin that Washington, under Trump, is no longer just cutting checks โ it's investing.
01.05.2025 02:39 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 1
A New State Department to Meet the Challenges of a New Era
Author: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
What's most striking about Rubio's State Department reorganization is political theater surrounding it.. Behind the fiery rhetoric about "draining the bloated,bureaucratic swamp" and eliminating "radical ideologues" is a plan far less apocalyptic than many feared
open.substack.com/pub/statedep...
23.04.2025 02:24 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Trump's revolutionary, recycled Iran deal
But Trump may succeed because he possesses what Obama lacked
We are watching a bizarre cycle of destruction and recreation. Trump tore up a functional, if imperfect,agreement that had Iran's nuclear program in check. Iran responded by accelerating toward weapons capability.Now, Trump must negotiate a new deal to solve the very crisis his actions helped create
17.04.2025 16:36 โ ๐ 4 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Tariffs are just the beginning
The Trump administration wants to rewrite the global economic system
Tariffs are just the beginning. The Trump administration is methodically dismantling the global economic architecture the United States itself built over 75 years and rewriting the rules of international commerce, finance, and monetary policy.
open.substack.com/pub/labott/p...
02.04.2025 15:43 โ ๐ 5 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Who is Viktor Orbรกn -- And Why Does the American Right Love Him?
When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbรกn visited Mar-a-Lago last year, he posted photos with Donald Trump and Elon Musk, captioning them: "The future has begun!" Few Americans might recognize this E...
Prime Minister Viktor Orbรกn has become something of a political cult hero on the right as a leader who has successfully quashed liberal influences.
"We didn't just talk about defeating the progressives and liberals," he told CPAC in 2023. "We actually did it."
thepreamble.com/p/who-is-vik...
02.04.2025 01:54 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 1
My first Substack Live! We will talk about how China is swooping into exploit the US retreat and government cuts Hope you will tune in TOMORROW at 12:30p. Donโt forget to download the Substack app subscribe to Cosmopolitics so you get a notification when we start.
27.03.2025 13:48 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
โLike a Landlord Seeking Rentโ
America was once seen as a force for moral legitimacy. The world thinks that has changed.
America's withdrawal has created a strategic vacuum that China is rushing to fill. The question is no longer whether America's retreat will create opportunities for China, but how quickly Beijing will seize them โ and at what cost to the global order
thepreamble.com/p/like-a-lan...
27.03.2025 00:01 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Russiaโs Endgame
Putin wants total control of Ukraine. His recent diplomatic moves show it.
European leaders, former officials, and Russia expertsโvirtually everyone except President Trumpโrecognizes Putin's strategy: prolong negotiations while advancing militarily,exhaust Western resolve, and force Ukraine into a ceasefire that leaves it permanently vulnerable
substack.com/home/post/p-...
18.03.2025 15:16 โ ๐ 6 ๐ 3 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
The muzzling of US-funded global media
Silencing America's voice to the world speaks volumes about what America is becoming.
Nothing says "America First" quite like pink-slipping 1,300 journalists who literally export American values for a living.
open.substack.com/pub/labott/p...
17.03.2025 16:08 โ ๐ 4 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 1
Cutting โForeign Wasteโ Sounds Good. Until You See the Cost
From famine warnings to countering extremism, hereโs what America is really losing by gutting USAID
Here is what's missing from this conversation on USAID: It's a strategic instrument of American foreign policy, developed with bi-partisan support as a cost-effective way to advance our national interests without deploying troops or imposing sanctions. thepreamble.com/p/cutting-fo...
12.03.2025 04:09 โ ๐ 4 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Ukraine's peace trap
Talks on ending the war are following troubling historical patterns
Nobody is naive enough to think peace bought at the cost of Ukraine's sovereignty would put an end to Putin's revisionist ambitions. Precisely the same warnings were issued about North Vietnam and the Taliban. We ignored them then. We should heed them now
www.cosmopoliticsbyelise.com/p/ukraines-p...
06.03.2025 19:34 โ ๐ 5 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Trump's Pivot to Putin
America has switched sides. What now?
The irony is that Donald Trump's "America First" approach may accomplish what decades of gentle EU encouragement never could: forcing Europe to develop genuine strategic autonomy. Is this a gift, a wake-up call, or a burden for Europe? In many ways, it's all three.
thepreamble.com/p/trumps-piv...
26.02.2025 13:06 โ ๐ 8 ๐ 5 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 1
Elise Labott on Substack
When the combat experience of military leaders matters less than political enthusiasm, we're crossing a line that America's allies and adversaries are watching closely.
When competent officers are dismissed not for military disagreements but for insufficient personal loyalty, when combat experience matters less than political enthusiasm, we're crossing a line that America's allies and adversaries are watching closely.
substack.com/@eliselabott...
24.02.2025 02:54 โ ๐ 3 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
Trump's allergy to Europe's 'yes'
The President isn't wrong about the strategic picture but his approach is a case study in how to alienate potential partners.
The truth is that while Trump's instincts aren't wrong, his method of getting there is actively undermining his own goals. You can't bully your way to lasting cooperation, especially when your negotiating partners are already inclined to work with you.
www.cosmopoliticsbyelise.com/p/trumps-all...
17.02.2025 04:47 โ ๐ 1 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Is Bibi ready for Trumpโs diplomatic hammer?
What the Middle East needs is tough love, not unconditional enabling.
Recent polling that shows 60% of Israelis prefer Trump's vision of Saudi normalization with a path to Palestinian statehood over the annexation dreams of the far right creates an opening for Trump
open.substack.com/pub/labott/p...
04.02.2025 16:23 โ ๐ 3 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
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