Dan DePetris
@dandepetris.bsky.social
Syndicated foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
I think we need to stop referring to Gaza and Lebanon as actual ceasefires. A ceasefire means, well, a ceasing of fire. What we have in these two cases is Israel striking less than it used to, but still holding the power to act whenever it wants.
Israel insists that the strike that killed Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hizbullah’s military chief, did not breach the truce with Lebanon. But it is a reminder that ceasefires in the region remain shaky
The killing of a Hizbullah commander shows how fragile truces are
Israel’s ceasefire agreements in Gaza and Iran and are shaky, too
econ.st
November 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
I think we need to stop referring to Gaza and Lebanon as actual ceasefires. A ceasefire means, well, a ceasing of fire. What we have in these two cases is Israel striking less than it used to, but still holding the power to act whenever it wants.
To claim that Nicolas Maduro is the head of a grand conspiracy to weaken the United States by turning us all into cocaine users is about as stupid as claiming Saddam Hussein was going to give Al-Qaeda a nuclear bomb to drop on an American city.
November 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
To claim that Nicolas Maduro is the head of a grand conspiracy to weaken the United States by turning us all into cocaine users is about as stupid as claiming Saddam Hussein was going to give Al-Qaeda a nuclear bomb to drop on an American city.
So I guess we have similar values after all?
“instead of trying to separate from the Persian Gulf petrostates, Mr. Trump is reshaping America to look more like them: top-down, iron-fisted, resource-rich and more than willing to flash those resources as weapons.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/o...
Opinion | The Real Reason Trump Is Fawning Over Saudi Arabia’s Ruler
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:58 PM
So I guess we have similar values after all?
Reposted by Dan DePetris
“The idea that you’re going to be able to slot in a government and everything else will just fall into place, I think is just fantasy,” added Mr. Gunson, speaking from the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
And citations to our recent @crisisgroup.org statement.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
And citations to our recent @crisisgroup.org statement.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
U.S. Ran a War Game on Ousting Maduro. Venezuela Fell Into Chaos.
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:14 PM
“The idea that you’re going to be able to slot in a government and everything else will just fall into place, I think is just fantasy,” added Mr. Gunson, speaking from the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
And citations to our recent @crisisgroup.org statement.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
And citations to our recent @crisisgroup.org statement.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
Reposted by Dan DePetris
‘We don’t want the smoking gun to be a fentanyl mushroom cloud.’
November 14, 2025 at 9:04 PM
‘We don’t want the smoking gun to be a fentanyl mushroom cloud.’
I still think the BBC is better than any TV news network the U.S. has. Sue me.
November 14, 2025 at 4:17 PM
I still think the BBC is better than any TV news network the U.S. has. Sue me.
I’d surrender too.
November 11, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I’d surrender too.
Reposted by Dan DePetris
Amazing to see these recycled arguments about the magical attributes of air power. What in recent U.S. historical experience could lead someone to write this?
November 7, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Amazing to see these recycled arguments about the magical attributes of air power. What in recent U.S. historical experience could lead someone to write this?
It’s odd that terms like “socialist” and “communist” still get thrown around in 2025, as if we’re still living in the Red Scare era. Do people find these attacks even remotely convincing?
November 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
It’s odd that terms like “socialist” and “communist” still get thrown around in 2025, as if we’re still living in the Red Scare era. Do people find these attacks even remotely convincing?
Reposted by Dan DePetris
Reports say that the executive branch’s legal office is claiming that Trump's campaign in the Caribbean does not technically meet the definition of "hostilities" in the 1973 War Powers Resolution, @dandepetris.bsky.social writes on @chicagotribune.com
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/c...
Daniel DePetris: Is Donald Trump’s military campaign against drug traffickers in Venezuela legal?
The legal justification for the military campaign off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia is shoddy at best and embarrassingly myopic at worst.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reports say that the executive branch’s legal office is claiming that Trump's campaign in the Caribbean does not technically meet the definition of "hostilities" in the 1973 War Powers Resolution, @dandepetris.bsky.social writes on @chicagotribune.com
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/c...
Reposted by Dan DePetris
The White House’s position on the Caribbean/Pacific boat strikes can be summed up as “the U.S. is at war with narcoterrorists but legally, we’re not technically in a war so we don’t have to follow the War Powers Resolution or get congressional authorization.”
Makes John Yoo look sane.
Makes John Yoo look sane.
November 2, 2025 at 8:31 PM
The White House’s position on the Caribbean/Pacific boat strikes can be summed up as “the U.S. is at war with narcoterrorists but legally, we’re not technically in a war so we don’t have to follow the War Powers Resolution or get congressional authorization.”
Makes John Yoo look sane.
Makes John Yoo look sane.
The White House’s position on the Caribbean/Pacific boat strikes can be summed up as “the U.S. is at war with narcoterrorists but legally, we’re not technically in a war so we don’t have to follow the War Powers Resolution or get congressional authorization.”
Makes John Yoo look sane.
Makes John Yoo look sane.
November 2, 2025 at 8:31 PM
The White House’s position on the Caribbean/Pacific boat strikes can be summed up as “the U.S. is at war with narcoterrorists but legally, we’re not technically in a war so we don’t have to follow the War Powers Resolution or get congressional authorization.”
Makes John Yoo look sane.
Makes John Yoo look sane.
*Throws cell phone in the East River*
October 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
*Throws cell phone in the East River*
And DoD would allow reporters to ask questions about that legal rationale…oh wait.
Sounds like today’s closed HASC briefing on the maritime strikes was underwhelming.
If the administration had a good story to tell on the law and the facts, they would be telling it.
But they don’t.
If the administration had a good story to tell on the law and the facts, they would be telling it.
But they don’t.
October 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
And DoD would allow reporters to ask questions about that legal rationale…oh wait.
Sports gambling app commercials every five seconds actually turn me off from using sports gambling apps.
October 26, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Sports gambling app commercials every five seconds actually turn me off from using sports gambling apps.
Reposted by Dan DePetris
At this point, I’m just waiting for Hegseth to refer to Maduro and Petro as the new “Axis of Evil.” We’re pretty much following the George W. Bush War on Terror framework (minus the the basic legality) so we might as well use a stupid phrase to be consistent.
October 24, 2025 at 9:37 PM
At this point, I’m just waiting for Hegseth to refer to Maduro and Petro as the new “Axis of Evil.” We’re pretty much following the George W. Bush War on Terror framework (minus the the basic legality) so we might as well use a stupid phrase to be consistent.
Let’s be brutally honest: most lawmakers are unprincipled charlatans who will always take the path of least resistance. Others will try to have it both ways: demand more oversight from Trump about what he’s actually bombing while doing nothing in practical terms. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...
Republicans Who Have Rarely Opposed Trump Raise Questions About His Drug War
www.nytimes.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Let’s be brutally honest: most lawmakers are unprincipled charlatans who will always take the path of least resistance. Others will try to have it both ways: demand more oversight from Trump about what he’s actually bombing while doing nothing in practical terms. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...
Reposted by Dan DePetris
Book review: An insider’s account of how the US dropped the ball on North Korea | NK News www.nknews.org/2025/10/book...
Book review: An insider’s account of how the US dropped the ball on North Korea | NK News
“Fallout: The Inside Story of America’s Failure to Disarm North Korea” is a book likely to dismay readers. The author Joel S. Wit, a distinguished fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center and a former S...
www.nknews.org
October 24, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Book review: An insider’s account of how the US dropped the ball on North Korea | NK News www.nknews.org/2025/10/book...
Reposted by Dan DePetris
Glad to see the comments in here from Curt Mills, Jennifer Kavanaugh, and Dan DePetris pushing back against US strikes in the Caribbean and regime change in Venezuela.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
Trump Supporters Are Uneasy About Military Actions Against Venezuela
www.nytimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Glad to see the comments in here from Curt Mills, Jennifer Kavanaugh, and Dan DePetris pushing back against US strikes in the Caribbean and regime change in Venezuela.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
Some thoughts in the NYT on Trump’s Venezuela policy and Rubio’s [nefarious] influence.
October 23, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Some thoughts in the NYT on Trump’s Venezuela policy and Rubio’s [nefarious] influence.