Dan DePetris
@dandepetris.bsky.social
Syndicated foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
The ongoing “war” against drug traffickers in the Southern Caribbean could very well be the most secret military campaign in my life so far. It makes Nixon’s 1969-1970 air war in Cambodia look like an exercise in transparency.
December 13, 2025 at 2:59 PM
The ongoing “war” against drug traffickers in the Southern Caribbean could very well be the most secret military campaign in my life so far. It makes Nixon’s 1969-1970 air war in Cambodia look like an exercise in transparency.
Congress is really good at oversight.
Mike Johnson on video of the second September 2 strike: "My admission here is I was not in the Gang of 8 briefing yesterday because we were working on the healthcare stuff"
December 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Congress is really good at oversight.
More fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border. More fighting in the Eastern DRC. Daily Israeli strikes in Gaza. Maybe it’s time for Trump to stop bragging about “solving” so many wars?
December 9, 2025 at 5:09 PM
More fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border. More fighting in the Eastern DRC. Daily Israeli strikes in Gaza. Maybe it’s time for Trump to stop bragging about “solving” so many wars?
Dick Cheney would be proud.
Pete Hegseth compares the illicit drugs trafficked into America to Weapons of Mass Destruction.
"These narco terrorists are the Al-Qaeda of our hemisphere ... they're poisoning our people with narcotics so lethal that they're tantamount to chemical weapons."
"These narco terrorists are the Al-Qaeda of our hemisphere ... they're poisoning our people with narcotics so lethal that they're tantamount to chemical weapons."
December 7, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Dick Cheney would be proud.
Seems totally legit.
December 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Seems totally legit.
The boat strikes are not only congressionally unauthorized, legally questionable and morally disturbing—they’re also ineffective. It’s all performative. The strikes don’t solve anything.
December 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
The boat strikes are not only congressionally unauthorized, legally questionable and morally disturbing—they’re also ineffective. It’s all performative. The strikes don’t solve anything.
Reposted by Dan DePetris
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has got plenty right over the past twelve months. But cracks in his leadership are beginning to show
Syria uneasily celebrates a year of liberation
The flaws of Ahmed al-Sharaa’s rule are beginning to show
econ.st
December 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has got plenty right over the past twelve months. But cracks in his leadership are beginning to show
Just got the Oura Ring. I need to sit down and relax.
December 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Just got the Oura Ring. I need to sit down and relax.
Reposted by Dan DePetris
First of all, one of the reporters on that story was in the Army infantry in Iraq
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
First of all, one of the reporters on that story was in the Army infantry in Iraq
Reposted by Dan DePetris
The lack of progress on setting up an international police force in Palestine suggests that Donald Trump’s claims of peace are misplaced, writes Daniel DePetris.
Daniel DePetris: Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza is on life support
The lack of progress on setting up an international police force in Palestine suggests that Donald Trump’s claims of peace are misplaced.
trib.al
December 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
The lack of progress on setting up an international police force in Palestine suggests that Donald Trump’s claims of peace are misplaced, writes Daniel DePetris.
Matt Gaetz actually asked a pretty good question though: are there any day-after plans in Venezuela if Maduro leaves?
Matt Gaetz, James O’Keefe, and Laura Loomer have replaced the Pentagon press corps.
I am not kidding. Look at the thread below.
One of the military’s most critical lines of accountability is now a closed-circuit conspiracy carousel.
I am not kidding. Look at the thread below.
One of the military’s most critical lines of accountability is now a closed-circuit conspiracy carousel.
moments after Matt Gaetz asks a question at the Pentagon press briefing, Laura Loomer gets her turn
December 2, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Matt Gaetz actually asked a pretty good question though: are there any day-after plans in Venezuela if Maduro leaves?
The same people who were rooting for Ukraine to pursue a failed counteroffensive are now enraged that it will have to swallow bad terms in order to get a peace deal. And they have the gall to blame everybody else for Ukraine’s predicament. Total lack of self-awareness.
December 1, 2025 at 7:34 PM
The same people who were rooting for Ukraine to pursue a failed counteroffensive are now enraged that it will have to swallow bad terms in order to get a peace deal. And they have the gall to blame everybody else for Ukraine’s predicament. Total lack of self-awareness.
How many times does Pete Hegseth have to f— up before he gets the boot?
December 1, 2025 at 3:14 AM
How many times does Pete Hegseth have to f— up before he gets the boot?
Whenever the Ukrainians are satisfied with peace terms, the Russians move back. And Vice-versa. Rinse and repeat.
US Secretary of State Rubio emerged from talks with Ukrainian officials in Florida to say that there was still "much work to do" on a proposal to end the war with Russia. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11/...
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Whenever the Ukrainians are satisfied with peace terms, the Russians move back. And Vice-versa. Rinse and repeat.
On this issue, Hegseth is just operationalizing the babble he preached on Fox News all those years.
Has he ever met Hegseth
GOP Rep. Don Bacon: "I don't think Secretary Hegseth would be foolish enough to make this decision to say, 'Kill everybody. Kill the survivors,' because that's a clear violation of the law of war."
November 30, 2025 at 8:06 PM
On this issue, Hegseth is just operationalizing the babble he preached on Fox News all those years.
Reposted by Dan DePetris
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.
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.