Stephen Wertheim
@stephenwertheim.bsky.social
America in the world, past and present / Senior Fellow, American Statecraft Program, @carnegieendowment.org / Visiting Lecturer, Yale Law School / Historian and author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy / Views my own, obviously
No need for analysis when he's just saying it.
September 30, 2025 at 4:06 PM
No need for analysis when he's just saying it.
Trump gets way too much credit for talking about peace without delivering it. (And much of what he says — "peace through strength," no nation-building wars — is nothing new.)
Full podcast here: youtu.be/TvXCbfwQfKM?...
Full podcast here: youtu.be/TvXCbfwQfKM?...
July 24, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Trump gets way too much credit for talking about peace without delivering it. (And much of what he says — "peace through strength," no nation-building wars — is nothing new.)
Full podcast here: youtu.be/TvXCbfwQfKM?...
Full podcast here: youtu.be/TvXCbfwQfKM?...
I joined Morning Joe to discuss Trump's failure to end wars and avoid new ones — the standard he set for himself in his inaugural address.
July 23, 2025 at 11:10 PM
I joined Morning Joe to discuss Trump's failure to end wars and avoid new ones — the standard he set for himself in his inaugural address.
Our Middle East delusion, shared by Trump and the establishment: www.vox.com/world-politi...
June 25, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Our Middle East delusion, shared by Trump and the establishment: www.vox.com/world-politi...
June 24, 2025 at 1:05 AM
June 22, 2025 at 5:06 PM
If the United States joins Israel’s fight to try to finish Israel’s job, it will enter into a war of unknowable scope against a country of 90 million people in a region of marginal strategic significance.
My essay co-published this morning in the Guardian and The American Conservative:
My essay co-published this morning in the Guardian and The American Conservative:
June 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
If the United States joins Israel’s fight to try to finish Israel’s job, it will enter into a war of unknowable scope against a country of 90 million people in a region of marginal strategic significance.
My essay co-published this morning in the Guardian and The American Conservative:
My essay co-published this morning in the Guardian and The American Conservative:
I told @nytimes.com that the best evidence of Trump's pursuit of "spheres of influence" lies in his ambition to assert American power in the Western Hemisphere. But the evidence remains thin that he'd like to grant the same prerogatives to China or Russia in their regions.
May 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I told @nytimes.com that the best evidence of Trump's pursuit of "spheres of influence" lies in his ambition to assert American power in the Western Hemisphere. But the evidence remains thin that he'd like to grant the same prerogatives to China or Russia in their regions.
Trump should get credit for repudiating nation-building wars — but not too much credit. Avoiding wars in the Middle East ultimately requires backing away from the very Gulf autocrats Trump hailed. www.cbc.ca/news/world/f...
May 17, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Trump should get credit for repudiating nation-building wars — but not too much credit. Avoiding wars in the Middle East ultimately requires backing away from the very Gulf autocrats Trump hailed. www.cbc.ca/news/world/f...
I told @newsweek.com: “Between Trump's threats to annex territory hither and yonder, and his erratic moves on all manner of matters, Trump erodes the attractiveness of the United States as a partner for other countries."
May 5, 2025 at 11:27 AM
I told @newsweek.com: “Between Trump's threats to annex territory hither and yonder, and his erratic moves on all manner of matters, Trump erodes the attractiveness of the United States as a partner for other countries."
In Taiwan's CommonWealth Magazine, @jekavanagh.bsky.social and I write that if Taiwan doesn't became capable of fending off Chinese forces once they land on the island, it will be in big trouble — and America won't save it.
April 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
In Taiwan's CommonWealth Magazine, @jekavanagh.bsky.social and I write that if Taiwan doesn't became capable of fending off Chinese forces once they land on the island, it will be in big trouble — and America won't save it.
I told @washingtonpost.com: "Trump may think he's creating pressure on Beijing, but he’s imposed probably more pressure on himself than Xi Jinping feels." www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
April 27, 2025 at 12:23 PM
I told @washingtonpost.com: "Trump may think he's creating pressure on Beijing, but he’s imposed probably more pressure on himself than Xi Jinping feels." www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
I told Munk Debates that the United States should not strike Iran if this weekend's talks fail. It shouldn't consider strikes unless Iran decides to get nuclear weapons (it hasn't), diplomacy has been exhausted (hardly), and there's a viable post-strike political endgame (extremely difficult):
April 8, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I told Munk Debates that the United States should not strike Iran if this weekend's talks fail. It shouldn't consider strikes unless Iran decides to get nuclear weapons (it hasn't), diplomacy has been exhausted (hardly), and there's a viable post-strike political endgame (extremely difficult):
Why is America’s commitment to European security in jeopardy?
The responsibility lies mainly not with Trump, or other anti-establishment political currents, but rather with the mainstream foreign-policy consensus itself.
Thread and new article below:
The responsibility lies mainly not with Trump, or other anti-establishment political currents, but rather with the mainstream foreign-policy consensus itself.
Thread and new article below:
April 1, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Why is America’s commitment to European security in jeopardy?
The responsibility lies mainly not with Trump, or other anti-establishment political currents, but rather with the mainstream foreign-policy consensus itself.
Thread and new article below:
The responsibility lies mainly not with Trump, or other anti-establishment political currents, but rather with the mainstream foreign-policy consensus itself.
Thread and new article below:
I told @foreignpolicy.com that the United States should seek a middle ground between Biden's reluctance to spur peace talks and peace-at-any-price impatience. foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/07/u...
March 7, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I told @foreignpolicy.com that the United States should seek a middle ground between Biden's reluctance to spur peace talks and peace-at-any-price impatience. foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/07/u...
The more the Trump administration lifts up European populist parties and turns the screws on Europe economically, the riskier the transition to European leadership of European defense will become. carnegieendowment.org/posts/2025/0...
March 7, 2025 at 1:29 AM
The more the Trump administration lifts up European populist parties and turns the screws on Europe economically, the riskier the transition to European leadership of European defense will become. carnegieendowment.org/posts/2025/0...
Will the United States give strong backing for a European security guarantee in Ukraine?
No, but better options are still possible:
carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...
No, but better options are still possible:
carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...
March 6, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Will the United States give strong backing for a European security guarantee in Ukraine?
No, but better options are still possible:
carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...
No, but better options are still possible:
carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...
The sooner Ukraine and Europe stop fixating on a U.S. security guarantee, the sooner they could potentially coalesce — with the United States — around a viable plan to end the war and secure Ukraine.
March 3, 2025 at 1:41 PM
The sooner Ukraine and Europe stop fixating on a U.S. security guarantee, the sooner they could potentially coalesce — with the United States — around a viable plan to end the war and secure Ukraine.
European leaders keep trying to get Trump to make a major U.S. security guarantee to Ukraine. The problem: Trump has ruled that out.
If Europe persists, Trump could well throw up his hands and abandon Ukraine and perhaps much of NATO as well.
My thoughts in @theguardian.com:
If Europe persists, Trump could well throw up his hands and abandon Ukraine and perhaps much of NATO as well.
My thoughts in @theguardian.com:
March 3, 2025 at 1:41 PM
European leaders keep trying to get Trump to make a major U.S. security guarantee to Ukraine. The problem: Trump has ruled that out.
If Europe persists, Trump could well throw up his hands and abandon Ukraine and perhaps much of NATO as well.
My thoughts in @theguardian.com:
If Europe persists, Trump could well throw up his hands and abandon Ukraine and perhaps much of NATO as well.
My thoughts in @theguardian.com:
Thanks to JSTOR for highlighting my journal article on why the United States decided to create the United Nations during World War II. My argument:
February 9, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Thanks to JSTOR for highlighting my journal article on why the United States decided to create the United Nations during World War II. My argument:
Full interview: www.state.gov/secretary-ma...
February 2, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Full interview: www.state.gov/secretary-ma...
After invoking World War II as a cautionary lesson, Rubio states: "You have multiple countries now who have the capability to end life on Earth. And so we need to really work hard to avoid armed conflict as much as possible, but never at the expense of our national interest."
February 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
After invoking World War II as a cautionary lesson, Rubio states: "You have multiple countries now who have the capability to end life on Earth. And so we need to really work hard to avoid armed conflict as much as possible, but never at the expense of our national interest."
Remarkable statements by @secrubio.bsky.social: "It's not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power . . . eventually you were going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet."
February 2, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Remarkable statements by @secrubio.bsky.social: "It's not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power . . . eventually you were going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet."