Foreign Policy

The Art of the Hemisphere, Part III

Reclaiming the Caribbean: The Cuban Cascade Three weeks after detailing how Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández turned Honduras into a strategic ally and intensified pressure on Nicolás Maduro, and just a day after Part II outlined the escalating actions of Operation Southern Spear—targeting strikes, seizures, and a shadow-fleet blockade—the Wall Street Journal delivers a stark report: Cuba on the edge of economic collapse, driven by the same Venezuelan oil restrictions. This development underscores the broader implications of Trump's strategy, not as unintended fallout, but as a deliberate ripple effect designed to dismantle the Havana-Caracas alliance and compel both regimes toward…

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The Art of the Hemisphere, Part II

Trump's Corollary in Action: Choking the Narco-Nexus Three weeks ago, I laid out how President Trump's pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH)-a man convicted of turning his country into a cocaine superhighway-was no act of mercy, but a stroke of asymmetric genius. Low domestic cost, high strategic yield: Flip Honduras, isolate Nicolás Maduro, and dangle a "golden bridge" of exile and asset unfreezing in exchange for Venezuelan oil concessions, base closures, and a clean break from his narco-terror cronies. Critics howled hypocrisy; I called it the biggest real-estate deal since Manhattan, with 300 billion barrels of Orinoco heavy…

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Breaking down the 2025 NSS

Analysis of the 2025 National Security Strategy Analysis of the 2025 National Security Strategy The 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) represents a pragmatic, America First-oriented framework under the Trump administration, emphasizing national sovereignty, domestic revitalization, and selective global engagement. It critiques past U.S. strategies for overreach and elite-driven globalism, pivoting toward restraint, burden-sharing, and economic security as pillars of strength. Below is a structured breakdown based on the document's content. 1. Executive Summary of Key Objectives The NSS’s overarching mission is to guarantee the long-term survival, safety, prosperity, and independence of the United States as a sovereign constitutional republic. It articulates…

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The Art of the Hemisphere

How Trump Just Turned a Narco-Pardon into the Biggest Real-Estate Deal Since Manhattan In 1987 Donald Trump bragged that the best deals are the ones where you risk almost nothing but can win everything. Thirty-eight years later, with one signature freeing a convicted cocaine-trafficking ex-president, he just proved he still closes exactly that way; only now the asset isn’t a casino, a hotel, or a Manhattan skyscraper. It’s an entire continent’s balance of power. On November 28, 2025-Thanksgiving weekend, when half of Washington was still carving turkey-Trump quietly issued a full and unconditional pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), the former…

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Trump’s Realpolitik Strategy

Using Venezuela as Leverage Against Putin The Big Chess Board Donald Trump’s foreign policy maneuvers in Venezuela exemplify a distinctive application of realpolitik, the pragmatic pursuit of national interest over ideological ideals. This approach, historically shaped by figures like Otto von Bismarck with his shifting alliances and Henry Kissinger with his Cold War détente, finds a contemporary expression in Trump’s “America First” doctrine. This philosophy emphasizes power, economic leverage, and strategic deals over moral or democratic crusades, contrasting with predecessors like George W. Bush’s nation-building in Iraq or Barack Obama’s reliance on multilateral institutions. It’s worth noting that Venezuela is a…

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You Can Just Do Things

Lightning in a Bottle: How a City Journal Exposé Became Presidential Policy in Under 48 Hours On November 20, 2025, City Journal published an article by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo titled “The Largest Funder of Al-Shabaab Is the Minnesota Taxpayer.” By the evening of November 21, 2025 - less than 48 hours later - President-elect Donald Trump posted this on Truth Social: Let that sink in. A single magazine article → conservative internet explosion → direct presidential policy announcement → all inside of two days. I have never - not once - seen a story move this fast or this…

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The Triumph of Trump’s Moral Compass

Outthinking and Outworking Western Leaders in the Gaza Peace Deal President Trump leading the wo The Middle East stands at a historic juncture, with the release of all 20 living hostages held by Hamas marking a decisive victory in the Gaza conflict. This achievement, cemented by the implementation of Phase One of President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza Peace Plan, stands as a testament to his unparalleled leadership and moral clarity. Unlike the Western leaders at Monday’s Peace in the Middle East summit in Sharm El Sheikh, who offered muted applause and pushed for excessive Israeli concessions, Trump, alongside his formidable team-Marco…

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The Iran Conundrum

The Iran Conundrum: A Tale of Three Presidents and a Regime on the Brink As the Middle East teeters on the edge of seismic change in June 2025, the escalating Israel-Iran conflict and the specter of a collapsing Iranian regime have thrust U.S. foreign policy into sharp focus. The actions of Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden toward Iran-spanning the Green Revolution, nuclear diplomacy, financial dealings, and the current crisis-reveal starkly different approaches to a regime that has defied easy solutions for decades. With Israel’s relentless strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure, President Trump’s bold moves at the…

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