Stephen Wertheim

YouTube video by Carnegie Endowment Decoding Trump’s Foreign Policy Blueprint

I break down Trump's National Security Strategy: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the both bad and ugly. youtu.be/2CXMtCZEcag?...

Has the US turned in its sheriff badge? - ABC listen In its latest National Security Strategy, the Trump administration declares the days of the US propping up the world order, and playing sheriff, is over.

I joined @abcaustralia.bsky.social to ponder Trump’s new National Security Strategy: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

The Russia-Ukraine peace deal is not a loss. Nor is it a victory | Stephen Wertheim The conflict is neither a clear-cut defeat nor a feel-good victory, but an in-between outcome that contains profound elements of each

The Russia-Ukraine peace deal is not a loss. Nor is it a victory | Stephen Wertheim

The Russia-Ukraine peace deal is not a loss. Nor is it a victory | Stephen Wertheim The conflict is neither a clearcut defeat nor a feelgood victory, but an in-between outcome that contains profound elements of each

The Ukraine war offers neither a clear-cut defeat nor a feel-good victory: "Ukraine has achieved astonishing successes that must be retained; it has also suffered immense losses that will not be redeemed." Peace will come only in facing both sides of that verdict. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Russia-Ukraine peace deal is not a loss. Nor is it a victory | Stephen Wertheim The conflict is neither a clear-cut defeat nor a feel-good victory, but an in-between outcome that contains profound elements of each

Take the win, and the loss, in Ukraine.

Ukraine risks becoming the latest victim of America's chronic inability to see the outcomes of its wars for what they are.

My thoughts in @theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I write: “Trump should reject Xi’s request to support ‘peaceful reunification.’ Washington should not back only one particular outcome, and the term ‘reunification’ would implicitly endorse Beijing’s legal and historical claim on Taiwan. Adopting China’s position in this way would be a blunder.”

Curious for a journalist to mischaracterize my piece, which explicitly calls on the Trump admin to *reject* Beijing's requests for the United States to "support peaceful reunification" or "oppose Taiwan independence." There isn't a single Beijing "diktat" that I propose accepting.

Toward a Taiwan Truce How Trump and Xi can pull back from the brink.

To restore stability in the Taiwan Strait, Trump and Xi “should initiate working-level talks to formulate a new U.S.-Chinese joint communiqué or, failing that, a pair of parallel statements,” argues @stephenwertheim.bsky.social.

I write: “Trump should reject Xi’s request to support ‘peaceful reunification.’ Washington should not back only one particular outcome, and the term ‘reunification’ would implicitly endorse Beijing’s legal and historical claim on Taiwan. Adopting China’s position in this way would be a blunder...”

Curious for a journalist to mischaracterize this piece of mine, which explicitly calls on the Trump admin to *reject* Beijing's requests for the United States to "support peaceful reunification" or "oppose Taiwan independence." There isn't a single Beijing "diktat" that I propose accepting.

Toward a Taiwan Truce How Trump and Xi can pull back from the brink.

When Trump and Xi meet on Thursday, they should take bold action to the reduce the risk of war over Taiwan.

My proposal in @foreignaffairs.com (read for free at this gift link): www.foreignaffairs.com/guest-pass/r...

(2/2) . . . given the strategic importance it evidently now assigns to Taiwan, and US political support for Taiwan's democracy. And as long as that is the case, Beijing will not retreat from threatening the use of force.

(1/2) This is a great summary of the current situation, partly because it accepts that all three parties have played a role in fueling tensions. But here's the key sticking point: Washington may no longer be willing to accept the possibility of peaceful unification . . .

Toward a Taiwan Truce How Trump and Xi can pull back from the brink.

Trump and Xi should exchange assurances — ideally in a new U.S.-PRC joint communiqué — to stabilize cross-strait relations and reduce military activities around Taiwan. My proposal in @foreignaffairs.com: www.foreignaffairs.com/taiwan/towar...

“This is not liberal internationalism of the traditional variety, which realists would criticize for privileging support for democratic forces over America’s interests,” Wertheim said. “But it is a new, specifically Trumpian form of domestic interventionism.”

Forget putting America first. Trump treats the interests of a Persian Gulf emirate as equivalent to those of the United States:

"The United States shall regard any armed attack on the . . . State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States."

Assuring the Security of the State of Qatar By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in recognition of the enduring alliance

With this executive order, pledging to defend Qatar against any armed attack, Trump further entangles the United States in the conflicts, present and future, of the Middle East. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Live updates: Trump defends using troops to police U.S. cities in address to military leaders The gathering, at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, was ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and required some officers to fly thousands of miles.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

No need for analysis when he's just saying it.

How Trump Brought Home the Endless War Having come to power exploiting the fears spawned by perpetual war abroad, the President is defining the enemy of his war at home just as expansively.

Having come to power exploiting the fears spawned by perpetual war abroad, Trump is defining the enemy of his war at home just as expansively. www.newyorker.com/news/our-col...

YouTube video by Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Weatherhead Forum | From Victory to Uncertainty: The Postwar Order After Eighty Years

Watch the full event here, with thanks to @weatherheadcenter.bsky.social: youtu.be/nzZydcgbXc8?...

YouTube video by Stephen Wertheim The Post-World War II International Order is Not the Point: Remarks at Harvard's Weatherhead Forum

My remarks at Harvard's Weatherhead Forum: We have to come to grips with the errors of post-Cold War foreign policy — and not hide behind the post-1945 legacy — in order to understand the current moment and forge a better way forward. youtu.be/uGxZGIftNAE?...

I look forward to this conversation on Wednesday 9/17. Register now to join us:

Graphic shows event details next to a stylized and mirrored image of Winston Churchill with a giant red half-V, half-U overlaid.

Join us on September 17 @12pm ET for our first Weatherhead Forum of the year: "From Victory to Uncertainty: The Postwar Order After Eighty Years." This event is on Zoom and requires registration. For details, see our event listing: https://loom.ly/4cyzbws

Opinion | Trump Is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind

🪖The title says it all. In the meantime, U.S. military spending and globalization continue to grow. @stephenwertheim.bsky.social #EmpireOfLiberty Trump Is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

Trump 2 at 6 Months: Fury and Furor, But What’s Changed?

Looking for a report card on Trump's foreign policy after six months? I recommend this Christopher Chivvis interview of @stephenwertheim.bsky.social

carnegieendowment.org/podcasts/piv...

The Breaking Point Over the past few weeks as starvation in Gaza, long in the making and orchestrated by Israel, has reached unprecedented levels, politicians have finally risked criticism of the regime responsible, Sam Adler-Bell writes.

Over the past few weeks as starvation in Gaza, long in the making and orchestrated by Israel, has reached unprecedented levels, politicians have finally risked criticism of the regime responsible, Sam Adler-Bell writes.

The Gaza Breaking Point Political consensus is rapidly shifting as famine looms and Israel escalates. Will it matter?

I told @nymag.com: People have memory-holed numerous episodes in the course of the Israel-Gaza War in which there was a new swell of opposition to Israel’s conduct and then it just died out. So I worry that we’re back on that cycle. nymag.com/intelligence...

Why Everyone in Washington Is a ‘Realist’ Now What’s emerging is not yet a new consensus. But neither is it as incoherent as current rhetoric would have you believe.

I told @foreignpolicy.com: A foreign policy grounded in realism and restraint is still far from being the dominant position in either political party. There’s no question, however, that demand for it is rising, especially on the right, but also on the left, following a period of deference to Biden.

I joined ABC Australia's Radio National Hour to analyze Trump's penchant for deadline diplomacy — the hallmark of Trump the performer beating out Trump the realist. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...