Phil Gordon (@PhilGordonDC) / X

Phil Gordon

875 posts

Phil Gordon

@PhilGordonDC

Sydney Stein, Jr. , Scholar, Brookings. White House, NSC, and State in Biden, Obama and Clinton admins. Author, Losing the Long Game.

brookings.edu/people/philip-…

Joined January 2025

Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Sep 8, 2025
China would happily spend billions to turn the populations of India and South Korea against the United States and Trump is doing that for them for free.
Gideon Rachman
@gideonrachman
Sep 8, 2025
I think Asian allies of the US increasingly believe they are dealing with a fundamentally racist administration. Can't imagine how they got that impression. But I've heard similar from Indians
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
May 27, 2025
State Dept now officially disseminating calls for “civilizational allies” in Europe based on “common culture, faith, familial ties” and “cultural heritage.” Defends AfD, Marine Le Pen, and “Christian nations like Hungary” and questions very basis of EU. open.substack.com/pub/statedept/…
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Aug 9, 2025
Trump is managing to halt India’s divorce from Russia and 25 years of deepening ties with US. Modi is also going to China next month for first time in 7 years after period of deep freeze in relationship w Beijing. Big price to pay for tariffs and trash talk.
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
Aug 8, 2025
Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Aug 29, 2025
US and Israel doing everything possible to weaken and de-legitimize PA--even as it maintains commitment to nonviolence and security cooperation with Israel--and then use lack of Palestinian alternative to Hamas in Gaza as argument for continued war.
Barak Ravid
@BarakRavid
Aug 29, 2025
U.S. denies Palestinian officials visas to attend UN General Assembly. My report on @axios axios.com/2025/08/29/us-…
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Jun 13, 2025
Trump now portraying Iran strikes as him not “chickening out” but opposite seems to be the case. He desperately wanted a deal with Iran and publicly and privately told Israel not to strike. A confident Netanyahu called his bluff, told him Israel needed to act, and Trump felt no
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Jul 26, 2025
Even if this leads to meaningful change--still obviously TBD--the Israeli government's decision in March to break the ceasefire, blockade Gaza, and escalate militarily will prove to have been catastrophic. It made no real difference against Hamas, led to immeasurable additional
Barak Ravid
@BarakRavid
Jul 26, 2025
🚨🚨🚨The IDF is going to implement humanitarian pauses in the fighting in several population centers in Gaza starting Sunday morning and until Sunday evening to allow the UN and other aid organizations safe access for the delivery of aid, Israeli official tells me
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Mar 9, 2025
Of course negotiated settlements require painful compromise but that is different from blaming Ukraine for the war, undermining its leader, cutting off defense and intel support, refusing security guarantees, and doing all that publicly and in advance of the negotiation.
Daniel DePetris
@DanDePetris
Mar 9, 2025
We need to stop obsessing about Trump every five seconds (which too many commentators do) and start looking at the big picture: any negotiated agreement will require Ukraine to cede some territory. Distasteful, yes. But the facts on the ground don’t care about your feelings.
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Mar 23, 2025
Also does not seem to know that majorities in all those regions voted for independence from Russia in 1991, that Russia tried to conquer the whole country in 2022, and that what is really at stake here is the principle of not taking even contested territory by force.
Yaroslav Trofimov
@yarotrof
Mar 23, 2025
The depth of ignorance is something. Not only Steve Witkoff cannot name the five Ukrainian regions he’s ready to sign away to Russia, he also thinks they had been handed over to Ukraine by Khrushchev. (Crimea is the only one of the five that was transferred in 1954 to Ukraine
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Jul 30, 2025
In past 48 hrs Trump insults and punishes India; cancels Taiwan president transit; calls into question Australia nuclear sub deal, and hits EU with 15% unilateral tariffs. It takes years to build allies' trust and confidence but little time to destroy it (which China must love.)
Rush Doshi
@RushDoshi
Jul 30, 2025
This threat to India just a day after Trump extends a trade truce with China and thanks them for selling us rare earth magnets. The Trump doctrine is to be tougher on allies and partners than on adversaries.
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Jun 27, 2025
This missing stockpile of HEU would not even exist had Trump not withdrawn from JCPOA which banned it til 2031. Yet by June 2025 Iran’s stockpile of 60% HEU (400kg) was bigger than the amount of allowable 3.67% LEU (300kg) under the deal. nytimes.com/2025/06/26/us/… via @NYTimes
Fate of Iran’s Enriched Uranium Is a Mystery
From nytimes.com
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Mar 5, 2025
Case for Europe transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine was always strong. As Trump abandons Ukraine it has become far stronger. My new FT piece with Daleep Singh. on.ft.com/43pCYdq
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Aug 16, 2025
Wouldn’t hold my breath for the constructive details of agreement to be revealed. Trump couldn’t agree to what Putin demanded but also couldn’t admit summit was a failure so agreed to pretend progress was made. And now all he has to offer is advice that Ukraine “make a deal.”
Samuel Charap
@scharap
Aug 15, 2025
Since a deal to end the war was never going to have been finalized today, by definition the lack of a deal doesn’t make this meeting a failure. Whether it was a success is impossible to say until we know the details. And the leaders revealed none today-clearly by mutual agreement
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
Aug 28, 2025
This makes Witkoff's "only one" wish that Trump win the Nobel Prize all the more insulting. Since Trump embraced Putin's positions in Alaska, Russia has only stepped up its attacks, secure in the conviction there will be no consequences and confident that time is on its side.
Christopher Miller
@ChristopherJM
Aug 28, 2025
Less than two weeks after Trump rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin on US soil, the Russian leader targeted central Kyiv — a European city of 4 million residents — with 32 missiles and 598 attack drones. This security camera footage shows 2 missiles striking Zhylianska
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Phil Gordon
@PhilGordonDC
May 15, 2025
For all the talk of Trump breaking with Netanyahu (on Houthis, Iran, Qatar, hostage talks, etc.), he has yet to do anything meaningful to get Israel to lift ongoing blockade of Gaza. Senators right to call on him to do so urgently.
Senator Peter Welch
@SenPeterWelch
May 15, 2025
It's been over two months since the Israeli government has allowed food and medicine into Gaza. That's why I've introduced a resolution with my colleagues urging the Trump Administration to use every tool at their disposal to stop the blockade and allow aid to enter Gaza.
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