Elise Labott
@eliselabott.bsky.social
@CFR.org Edward R Murrow Press Fellow. Founder @zivvynews, @AmericanU, @CNN.com alum, truth seeker, proud Jersey girl. I write Cosmopolitics on Substack https://www.cosmopolitics.news
The @statedept sent urgent travel advisory urging Americans in 14 Middle Eastern countries to “depart now”using available commercial transportation, “due to serious safety risks.” check out travel.state.gov for the latest security information, including how to register w/ local embassy/consulate.
It’s a good day for Iran. But don’t expect a “ding dong the witch is dead” moment just yet. www.cosmopolitics.news/p/ding-dong-...
This is not the Wizard of Oz
The head of the snake is gone. What grows back is an open question
cosmopolitics.news
The antisemitic attack in Australia was not about Middle East policy. It’s about the oldest hatred finding a new disguise. The between “criticism of Israel” and “globalize the Intifada” is the difference between political discourse and incitement to murder www.cosmopolitics.news/p/when-the-l...
When the lights go out
Hanukkah, Bondi Beach, and the darkness we refuse to name
cosmopolitics.news
The Chosen: Crowdfunding, controversy, conversion stories — and the moment Dallas Jenkins stopped trying to feed the 5,000 himself. thepreamble.com/p/how-the-ch...
How The Chosen Became a Global Phenomenon
Crowdfunding, controversy, conversion stories — and the moment Dallas Jenkins stopped trying to feed the 5,000 himself.
thepreamble.com
The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy identifies real strategic challenges. But when Vladimir Putin’s spokesman praises it as “largely consistent with our vision” and “a positive step,” we should ask ourselves what America has given away. www.cosmopolitics.news/p/power-with...
Power without purpose
Trump's National Security Strategy identifies real problems, but ignores what made America power legitimate
cosmopolitics.news
There's suddenly a lot of backtracking on President Trump's 28-point plan for Ukraine. Now it's being called just a "framework" for negotiations. But even as a starting point, this isn't a peace plan. It's a surrender document www.cosmopolitics.news/p/ukraine-on...
Ukraine on a platter
This Thanksgiving, Putin is thankful for Trump and his plan for Ukraine's surrender.
cosmopolitics.news
The GOP is facing the same crisis with Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson that it did in the 1960s with the John Birch Society. You cannot build a coalition on extremism and expect moderation to prevail. thepreamble.com/p/the-birche...
The Bircher Playbook
Why the John Birch Society’s playbook outlasted its critics — and how it led to the crises now shaking the right.
thepreamble.com
MBS is trading w/ China, but his deals w/ Trump are betting Sadi’s economic future on American innovation. The partnerships being announced today across AI,advanced tech,and infrastructure could define the 21st century as profoundly as oil defined the 20th www.cosmopolitics.news/p/mbs-comes-...
The next Aramco
MBS is trading with China, but his deals with Trump are betting Saudi Arabia’s economic future on American innovation
cosmopolitics.news
Like me, have you ever waited weeks (or months!) for a doctor's appointment? This one's for you. Let me know if it resonates. thepreamble.com/p/the-doctor...
The Doctor Shortage We Designed
America’s two-tier system is here: concierge care for the few, crowded waiting rooms for everyone else
thepreamble.com
The test isn’t whether al-Sharaa’s journey from Abu Ghraib to the Oval offends our sensibilities. It’s whether this partnership advances US interests, stabilizes Syria, and constrains Iran & ISIS while preventing the humanitarian catastrophe from worsening www.cosmopolitics.news/p/trumps-syr...
Trump's Syria gambit
Whether the President's Syria policy is brilliant or just plain reckless depends entirely on execution
cosmopolitics.news
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.
Gaza diplomacy crashes Bibi's victory lap
Trump thinks Iran strikes created leverage for a Gaza breakthrough. He plans to use it.
cosmopolitics.news
Ukraine has become the ultimate foreign policy test case for whether Donald Trump leads his MAGA movement or follows it—and whether his personal frustration with being outmaneuvered can override his base's ideological commitments. open.substack.com/pub/labott/p...
Trump’s Ukraine Rorschach test
How Trump deals with Russia will determine whether he can lead his MAGA movement or must follow it
open.substack.com
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...
First Harvard. Then 378,000 American Jobs.
It’s not just Ivy League politics — it’s your local community
thepreamble.com
Apparently human rights and war crimes are passé in America. thepreamble.com/p/us-signals...
US Signals it No Longer Cares About Human Rights
After Russia invaded Ukraine, it kidnapped thousands of children and forcibly relocated them to more than 100 different locations around the massive country.
thepreamble.com
President Trump’s 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...
A convenient truce
US-Houthi deal embodies President Trump's "America First" foreign policy
cosmopolitics.news
This White House statement is really telling: “This 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.”
Elise Labott@eliselabott.bsky.social · last yr.The U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, announced tonite, gives Trump something he’s long wanted: a financial stake in Ukraine’s future. It signals to Putin that Washington, under Trump, is no longer just cutting checks — it's investing.
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/...
LIVE SOON: Elise Labott on Substack
Starting May 1 at 5:30 PM EDT
open.substack.com
The U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, announced tonite, gives Trump something he’s long wanted: a financial stake in Ukraine’s future. It signals to Putin that Washington, under Trump, is no longer just cutting checks — it's investing.
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...
A New State Department to Meet the Challenges of a New Era
Author: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
open.substack.com
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
Trump's revolutionary, recycled Iran deal
But Trump may succeed because he possesses what Obama lacked
open.substack.com
When the world loses faith in America's financial foundation, we all pay the price. open.substack.com/pub/sharonmc...
Gold Is Soaring, Treasury Bonds Are Crashing — What Does It All Mean?
One of the safest bets in the world is no longer safe — and it’s costing you.
open.substack.com
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...
Tariffs are just the beginning
The Trump administration wants to rewrite the global economic system
open.substack.com
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán 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...
Who is Viktor Orbán -- And Why Does the American Right Love Him?
When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán 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...
thepreamble.com
Few Americans might recognize him, but Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has become something of a political cult hero on the right as a leader who has successfully resisted liberal influences. thepreamble.com/p/who-is-vik...
Who is Viktor Orbán -- And Why Does the American Right Love Him?
When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán 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...
thepreamble.com
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. Don’t forget to download the Substack app subscribe to Cosmopolitics so you get a notification when we start.
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 – and at what cost to the global order thepreamble.com/p/like-a-lan...
“Like a Landlord Seeking Rent”
America was once seen as a force for moral legitimacy. The world thinks that has changed.
thepreamble.com
There's an unmistakable culture of casualness permeating this administration that tracesdirectly to the top. President Trump, who has made no secret of his disdain for traditional guardrails, redefined presidential technology norms from day one. x.com/eliselabott/...
Elise Labott on X: "There's an unmistakable culture of casualness permeating this administration that tracesdirectly to the top. President Trump, who has made no secret of his disdain for traditional guardrails, redefined presidential technology norms from day one. https://t.co/kJccqfDySp" / X
There's an unmistakable culture of casualness permeating this administration that tracesdirectly to the top. President Trump, who has made no secret of his disdain for traditional guardrails, redefined presidential technology norms from day one. https://t.co/kJccqfDySp
x.com
European leaders, former officials, and Russia experts—virtually everyone except President Trump—recognizes 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-...
Russia’s Endgame
Putin wants total control of Ukraine. His recent diplomatic moves show it.
substack.com
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...
The muzzling of US-funded global media
Silencing America's voice to the world speaks volumes about what America is becoming.
open.substack.com
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...
Cutting “Foreign Waste” Sounds Good. Until You See the Cost
From famine warnings to countering extremism, here’s what America is really losing by gutting USAID
thepreamble.com