The hottest Foreign Policy Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top World Politics Topics

World's Most Tyrannical Government Wants To Free Venezuela From Tyranny

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 2132 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The United States talks about "liberating" other countries while repeatedly using military force, coups, sanctions, and global bases to impose its will, which makes its claims hypocritical.
  2. The US government is considering military regime-change action in Venezuela even though a clear majority of Americans oppose such intervention.
  3. If the US truly wanted to reduce global tyranny it should stop its imperial practices or dismantle its empire, because it has no moral standing to claim it can "liberate" other nations.

Why Venezuela Is Not Iraq

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 2023 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Venezuela is politically different from Iraq or Libya because it had democratic traditions and was more of a competitive authoritarian system until recently, so regime change there isn’t the same kind of gamble.
  2. There are Western Hemisphere examples, like the 1983 Grenada intervention, where outside intervention helped restore democracy and stability, showing regime change can sometimes work.
  3. Venezuela lacks the Islamist extremism and sectarian divides that made Middle Eastern interventions chaotic, and Venezuelans still hold elections and mobilize, so post-Maduro politics could be less violent and more manageable.

The Iran Thing

eugyppius: a plague chronicle • 122 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Don't rush to publish hot takes; it's better to be cautious and aim for analysis that will age well rather than quick, strident opinions you might regret.
  2. Public debate is dominated by predictable tribes that cling to single narratives and defend them no matter what, which makes honest assessment harder.
  3. Avoid binary thinking and the just-world fallacy; multiple things can be true at once and outcomes rarely boil down to total catastrophe or total success.

The Empire Is Scrambling To Fully Dominate Latin America, And Other Notes

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1792 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The U.S. is stepping up aggressive pressure in Latin America, using actions like seizing Venezuelan oil to weaken Venezuela and Cuba and push for regime change.
  2. U.S. institutions are preparing for bigger wars by making draft registration automatic and pushing expanded military technology and autonomous weapons, signaling readiness to mobilize people and industry for large-scale conflict.
  3. Mainstream media and political elites are defending imperial positions and using propaganda or unverified claims to silence dissent, creating hypocrisy around issues like Israel/Palestine and justifying intervention.

America is a Gangster State

The Chris Hedges Report • 1070 implied HN points • 03 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. U.S. actions like kidnapping foreign leaders show it behaving as a gangster state that tramples international and humanitarian law.
  2. Violent interventions and regime change do not bring peace; they create more violence, failed states, warlords, and lasting chaos as seen in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya.
  3. When local militaries and security forces resist imposed leadership, interventions backfire and create long-term instability that harms everyone, including the intervening country.
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March 12, 2026

Letters from an American • 28 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. A small number of billionaires are spending huge sums on campaigns and political groups, which tilts elections and policymaking toward tax cuts, deregulation, and rules that favor the wealthy.
  2. That concentrated influence has real costs: it helps elect officials who push policies that increase deficits, cut the social safety net, and can contribute to risky, expensive decisions like war and economic instability.
  3. There is another choice — governments can ask the wealthy to pay more in times of crisis (as happened during the Civil War) so the burden is shared and public programs can be preserved instead of being cut.

Is this what catastrophic success feels like?

The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (of Vooza) | Sent every Tuesday • 570 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Recent actions by the administration are alienating allies and creating international embarrassment, suggesting an erratic, ego-driven foreign policy.
  2. Proposed redevelopment plans for Gaza are tone-deaf and focus on flashy luxury projects while ignoring worker safety, local needs, and the human cost.
  3. Heavy-handed domestic enforcement, like the ICE actions in Minnesota, has provoked strong community resistance and shows how surveillance and force can backfire, highlighting rising polarization and authoritarian tendencies.

Top Links 988 How Trump is victimizing America's petty bourgeoisie. The Sino-US investment reversal & Post-Russia.

Chartbook • 615 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Trump’s actions and rhetoric are hurting small business owners and the petty bourgeoisie, weakening their economic stability and social standing.
  2. Investment between the US and China is reversing, pointing toward decoupling and big changes in cross-border capital flows.
  3. The world is entering a post‑Russia phase that is reshaping geopolitics and markets, forcing countries to rethink alliances and economic ties.

Trump's Henchmen Keep Calling Their War Slut President A Peacemaker

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1844 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Top officials are calling him a 'President of Peace,' but that label is largely rhetorical and politically promoted.
  2. The administration has escalated U.S. military involvement worldwide — carrying out airstrikes, arming proxies, and risking interventions in places like Somalia, Yemen, Gaza/Israel, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Iran.
  3. If you oppose war, supporting him because you think he’s making peace is misguided, since his actions contradict his peacemaker claims.

American Far-right Fairy Tales About Russia

Erik Examines • 1209 implied HN points • 30 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The American far right romanticizes Russia as a defender of white Christian identity, but that image is driven more by macho symbolism and political fantasy than by reality.
  2. Military success depends on training, organization, and practiced skills rather than on tough-guy looks or propaganda, so smaller well-prepared forces can beat larger showy ones.
  3. Russia’s ethnic, religious, and demographic trends—rising Muslim shares, low fertility, and low regular religious practice—undermine the idea that it’s a stable white Christian bastion.

THE SHAME OF DROPPING BOMBS

Seymour Hersh • 45 implied HN points • 12 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Unopposed air wars have no real glory and are morally hollow; striking pre-selected, unprotected targets is essentially a 'turkey shoot.'
  2. US and Israeli air campaigns against Iran and Gaza, after defenses were degraded, are striking largely unchallenged targets and have caused large-scale civilian death and injury.
  3. Political leaders and media are celebrating these unopposed strikes with wartime rhetoric, echoing old propaganda and helping to normalize and glorify mass violence.

From Plato to NATO to MAGA: Marco Rubio’s Myths & the Real "Western Alliance"

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 192 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The idea of a continuous "West" stretching from Plato to NATO is mostly a post‑WWII political invention, and mythmaking can inspire good aims but also hide inconvenient truths or enable authoritarian projects.
  2. Cold War actions like the Marshall Plan were not primarily about creating markets for American goods; economic arguments were secondary to strategic, security, and ideological goals aimed at containing the Soviet Union.
  3. The American "city upon a hill" story emphasizes breaking with the Old World, and the U.S. played a decisive rescuing and restructuring role in Europe after WWII, though Britain and other European actors also had important agency in shaping that outcome.

TGIF: Piddly, Stupid Stuff

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1905 implied HN points • 05 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. U.S. forces reportedly struck an alleged Venezuelan drug boat and then hit survivors clinging to the wreckage, and a defense official saying he wasn’t present and calling it ‘the fog of war’ has raised questions about accountability.
  2. The United States Institute of Peace was renamed for Donald Trump, a move that comes off as self-aggrandizing and invites comparisons to past presidential honors.
  3. A weekly news roundup mixes snarky coverage of both trivial and serious stories—celebrity spats, tech vs. human driving, campus disability trends—and has added a new advice column called Tough Love.

How China Courted Iran

ChinaTalk • 756 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. China and Iran have a pragmatic, interest-driven partnership: China buys most of Iran’s oil and provides investment and cheap goods through barter and sanctions-evasion, which keeps Iran afloat but also hurts local industry and stokes public resentment.
  2. Beijing manages problems with propaganda, diplomatic support, and material help, and it supplies surveillance and riot-control technologies that strengthen the Iranian regime even as its popularity falls among ordinary Iranians.
  3. China’s leverage is limited and conditional — it will pressure Tehran when Chinese interests are directly threatened (like attacks on Chinese shipping) but it won’t reliably force Iran to change its broader regional behavior, so the tie is one of convenience, not deep trust.

CROSSPOST: JOSH MARSHALL: Thinking Clearly About the Global Authoritarian Movement

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 246 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. A global authoritarian movement—anchored by wealthy elites, petro‑states, tech moguls, and right‑wing networks—exists beyond any single politician and aims to weaken democratic accountability.
  2. Small, membership‑funded newsrooms that treat readers as partners in reporting offer a healthier, reality‑based alternative to ad‑driven, outrage‑maximizing media.
  3. Human brains evolved for small social groups struggle inside billion‑person online feeds, producing strong parasocial ties that fuel manipulation and anger, so protecting democracy means repairing the mediasphere and supporting civic information spaces.

The Worst Argument Possible

Phillips’s Newsletter • 356 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Europe can and should defend itself without depending on the United States. Saying otherwise becomes a self-fulfilling excuse that delays needed change.
  2. Assuming the U.S. will always come to Europe’s rescue—especially under leaders who may not be committed—is dangerous and misleading; claiming helplessness can make allied support less likely and misinform citizens.
  3. Europe has the economic and demographic capacity to build credible defenses and threats like Russia are smaller than often portrayed; the real barrier is political will and a mindset among leaders unwilling to admit and fix past failures.

China did NOT move "quickly to condemn the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran"

Pekingnology • 124 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. China’s response to the U.S. and Israeli strikes was surprisingly mild and not rapid; Beijing rarely used the word "condemn" and only did so clearly after Khamenei’s killing and in response to civilian casualties.
  2. China repeatedly expressed concern, called for an immediate stop to military actions, urged respect for sovereignty and de‑escalation, and pursued diplomatic moves like a UN Security Council meeting and phone calls between Wang Yi and other foreign ministers.
  3. Beijing also condemned attacks on Gulf countries and strikes on civilians, but its overall wording and timing were more restrained than in some past cases (for example, a much stronger, quicker condemnation of an earlier U.S. attack on Venezuela), showing selective intensity.

The Predatory Hegemon (w/ Stephen Walt) | The Chris Hedges Report

The Chris Hedges Report • 134 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. U.S. foreign policy that prioritizes short-term extraction and personal gain over alliances and norms pushes other countries to "de-risk" and build alternatives, which will shrink American influence, wealth, and security over time.
  2. A leadership style that demands flattery, sidelines experienced diplomats, and weaponizes economic tools erodes soft power and international trust, making the U.S. an unreliable partner.
  3. The likely result is a more fragmented, competitive, and unstable world order — with Europe and others acting more independently, weaker global cooperation on climate and health, and greater space for authoritarian powers to grow.

New Painting Video: The Monroe Doctrine Is Bullshit

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1001 implied HN points • 04 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The Monroe Doctrine is presented as a hypocritical justification for US intervention in Latin America.
  2. A painting of Nicolas Maduro is used to humanize him and to push back against narratives that justify external pressure on Venezuela.
  3. The newsletter is reader-supported and asks for subscriptions or donations, while freely allowing reuse and republication of its content.

hard limits to soft power

bad cattitude • 206 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Soft power — persuasion, institutions, and rights — creates the best kind of society, but it only survives if backed by hard power that can deter and punish coercion.
  2. If elites repudiate the need for hard power and become overly permissive, criminals or external aggressors can exploit that weakness and soft systems can collapse into violence or warlord rule.
  3. The world is shifting from a soft‑power consensus to harder realpolitik, so institutions built on persuasion are losing influence while more forceful actors reassert control to guarantee order.

Gallipoli II

John’s Substack • 19 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The US president appears desperate and is pushing for China and other allies to join the Iran war while openly considering force to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and seize Kharg Island.
  2. Trying to force open the Strait or mount an amphibious assault on Kharg Island would be highly risky, likely to fail, and would make other countries reluctant to join a war seen as losing.
  3. Close ties to Israeli leaders and their advisers have pulled the US deeper into the conflict, a move that looks like a major strategic mistake.

Kristi Noem’s Reckless Lies. Plus. . .

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 533 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. After the Minneapolis killing of Alex Pretti, senior officials quickly labeled him a terrorist and described a plot, but eyewitness videos contradicted those claims and exposed a coordinated spread of misleading information.
  2. A proposed one‑time wealth tax in California has prompted many billionaires to plan to leave, sparking a notable exodus of superrich residents.
  3. Sharp policy moves and political fights—like big tariff threats, a proposed cap on credit‑card interest, and legal battles over sanctuary cities—are creating widespread instability and unintended consequences for consumers, lobbyists, and local governments.

Trump dĂŠjĂ  vu: It's always about him

Today's Edition Newsletter • 8019 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. During Trump's presidency, actions were often evaluated based on advancing his personal interests.
  2. President Biden is taking a measured approach against Iran-backed militias to avoid widening a war in the Middle East.
  3. House Republicans seem focused on political maneuvers, such as risking a government shutdown, rather than addressing significant issues like immigration reform.

The Great Entertainment

Kyla’s Newsletter • 472 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Politics is turning into nonstop spectacle, with leaders treating governance like reality TV; that showmanship erodes trust, breaks alliances, and makes policy unpredictable.
  2. Financial markets are already punishing the drama: foreign selling, unwind of carry trades, and tariff threats are pushing yields up and could sharply raise U.S. borrowing costs.
  3. The durable path forward is material reality, not nostalgia or performance — energy, industry, and truthful institutions matter for the AI race and for rebuilding global trust.

Don't Let The Empire Gaslight You Into Believing You Are Powerless

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1941 implied HN points • 27 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Don’t accept the lie that you’re powerless; take concrete actions like community organizing, creating dissident media, and having conversations to help wake people up.
  2. Take responsibility for your inner life by doing real trauma healing and spiritual or psychological work, because personal transformation improves your quality of life even under oppressive systems.
  3. Small, consistent daily actions matter — reject learned helplessness and stop waiting for a miracle, since believing you’re helpless only serves the powerful.

Humilitism

In My Tribe • 1184 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Humilitism is the view that no one can have a highly accurate understanding of complex social systems, so people should be humble about their political knowledge and judgments.
  2. It rejects confident technocratic elites and crisis-driven politics, preferring to treat social issues as problems with trade-offs rather than urgent calls for sweeping solutions.
  3. Humilitism is distinct from labels like conservative, libertarian, or populist — you can hold strong opinions yet still accept fallibility and worry about the fragility of social order.

Resistance101: Forging a New Movement for Palestine in Italy DOCUMENTARY

The Chris Hedges Report • 144 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Italian dockworkers have organized strikes and mass demonstrations to halt arms shipments to Israel in response to the ongoing violence in Gaza.
  2. These actions are a direct challenge to the inaction of governments and international institutions, showing grassroots workers stepping in where authorities refuse to act.
  3. The port disruptions are framed as a model of industrial resistance that could spread to other countries and potentially shape efforts to stop the violence.

Some useful Trump-Hitler comparisons (in light of Minneapolis and Venezuela)

Nonzero Newsletter • 892 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The use of aggressive, masked enforcement agents and the targeting of political opponents can create a vicious cycle of protests and heavier government responses that pushes democratic norms toward authoritarian practices, even if it isn’t the same as historical totalitarianism.
  2. A pattern of low-commitment military strikes and an open rejection of the norm against transborder aggression weakens international law and raises the chance that repeated interventions will escalate into bigger, more dangerous conflicts.
  3. Weak job growth alongside continued economic growth may signal AI-driven hidden productivity gains that could hurt workers and spark political backlash, and large language models differ wildly in how much copyrighted text they can reproduce, which matters for publishers and courts.

Our Year in Review

ChinaTalk • 607 implied HN points • 15 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. A small, independent media project carved out an underserved niche covering US–China tech and AI, growing rapidly to about 65k subscribers and large podcast audiences.
  2. They prioritize timely, substantive podcasts and newsletters over long, funder-driven reports. Relying on unrestricted funding preserves editorial independence but limits resources for hiring and scaling the team.
  3. Coverage centers on tech and AI, export controls and chips, defense and elite politics and history. The project also curates big-picture lists and predictions to shape debate about US–China relations.

Trump Can’t Win Greenland Without Losing Europe

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 607 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🌐 International Foreign Policy
  1. The European right is winning by promising sovereignty and dignity, and aggressive U.S. moves over Greenland would undercut those political messages.
  2. Using tariffs to pressure countries into selling Greenland is a petulant, coercive tactic that risks alienating conservative allies in Europe.
  3. Even if Greenland is strategically important, trying to seize it through extortion will likely damage U.S.–European relations and turn any gain into a costly loss.

Good Trump-related News!

Nonzero Newsletter • 485 implied HN points • 31 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Grassroots protest and bipartisan political pushback forced a pullback from aggressive federal tactics, showing that popular feedback can check a slide toward authoritarian escalation.
  2. That de-escalation looks partly cosmetic and contingent—leaders often back down only after real blowback, and future incidents could produce very different outcomes.
  3. Workplace AI adoption is rising and may already be boosting productivity, which could help explain the mix of low inflation, weak hiring, and solid GDP growth, so watching those metrics and AI-use surveys matters.

March 10, 2026

Letters from an American • 32 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Senators are furious that classified briefings left them with more questions than answers about the Iran campaign, including unclear goals, rising costs, and the real risk of U.S. troops being put in harm's way and the conflict widening.
  2. The government is prioritizing massive war and Pentagon spending while cutting or threatening domestic programs, with troubling examples of wasteful 'use-it-or-lose-it' purchases amid people losing food and health benefits.
  3. A longer view warns that militarization diverts resources from schools, healthcare, and basic needs, and that investing in prosperity at home and abroad is a smarter way to prevent extremism and sustain peace.

‘Russians hungry but not starving’

Wrong Side of History • 460 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
📰 News Foreign Policy
  1. Journalists and media pundits often make attention-grabbing predictions and are frequently wrong because they have no skin in the game and have strong ideological biases.
  2. Predicting foreign policy is especially hard since it depends on culture, personalities, and many interacting factors, so disciplined non-specialists (superforecasters) can sometimes outperform supposed experts.
  3. Even respected newspapers and intellectuals can badly misjudge major events — for example, influential commentators once praised Ayatollah Khomeini and underestimated the dangers of the Iranian revolution.

The Davos Crowd Is Wrong About Globalization

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 561 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
🌐 International Foreign Policy
  1. Elites at Davos claim globalization is retreating, but broader trends suggest it's still accelerating. Outside of elite circles, countries and markets keep integrating and trading more.
  2. Protectionist moves can have unintended effects, pushing other countries to open their markets instead. For example, U.S. tariffs helped nudge Canada to allow Chinese-made electric cars.
  3. Wider access to foreign goods like cheaper electric cars brings clear consumer benefits while security worries are real but likely limited and manageable. Local bans or safeguards can address specific risks without stopping overall trade gains.

A crime and a tragedy: the Iran war

World Game • 21 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. The attack came when Iran posed little immediate threat and aimed to topple the regime without a plan, but destroying a state will create a vacuum and unpredictable, likely hostile consequences.
  2. The violence spread quickly across the region, hitting Gulf states and energy infrastructure, driving oil prices up and helping rivals while hurting Europe.
  3. The US approach favored spectacle over strategy, lacking a roadmap or understanding of the fallout, so the chaos could spiral out of control and backfire politically.

Former CIA Venezuela chief is raiding clients from Rubio-affiliated lobbying firm while the US continues seizing oil tankers

All-Source Intelligence Fusion • 996 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Enrique de la Torre, a former CIA station chief for Venezuela, left the Rubio-linked Continental Strategy to start Tower Strategy and brought four clients with him.
  2. Tower Strategy’s initial clients include Odyssey Marine (which has a history of international legal scandals), Bitdeer, T1 Energy, and UGT Renewables/Sun Africa, so the firm represents a mix of controversial and strategic energy/tech interests.
  3. De la Torre and his partner James Story openly back aggressive U.S. action to oust Maduro while U.S. forces have been seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, and their career moves reflect a broader pattern of ex-intelligence officials moving into lobbying and foreign-agent work that can carry legal risks.

Sudan, Venezuela, And Other Notes

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1504 implied HN points • 07 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces have reportedly carried out massive massacres in places like El Fasher, and the UAE is accused of arming them while Western powers largely ignore it.
  2. Calls for US military intervention in Venezuela are often suspicious and dangerous, and history shows US regime-change actions tend to make things worse rather than help civilians.
  3. People claiming emotional relationships with chatbots point to deep loneliness and emotional disconnection, since a real relationship requires genuine curiosity about another person’s inner experience.

US Regime Change Interventionism Is Reliably Disastrous, And Other Notes

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1671 implied HN points • 30 Nov 25
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. US regime‑change interventionism reliably causes disaster and is often sold with dishonest pretexts; current US moves on Venezuela look driven more by geopolitical interests like oil than by genuine drug‑control concerns.
  2. Serving in or working for the US military/intelligence apparatus can increase the risk of violent behavior back home, and US policy shows hypocrisy by pardoning allies and labeling convenient enemies while ignoring root causes.
  3. Public radicalization and moral double standards are widespread — examples include celebration of extremist leaders and calls to 'deradicalize' victims instead of aggressors — and generative AI is simultaneously destroying creative careers and making it harder to tell what’s real online.

Wang Yi signals China's welcome to Trump's visit soon

Pekingnology • 75 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Foreign Policy
  1. China has signaled it welcomes and expects President Trump’s upcoming visit and wants both sides to make thorough preparations.
  2. Wang Yi urged mutual respect, managing differences, and removing unnecessary distractions so the two countries can pursue win‑win cooperation and keep relations stable.
  3. There are concerns that summit planning — particularly on the U.S. side — is inadequate, which worries Beijing and could undermine the visit’s outcomes.