Rob Palm, Jr.

[Rob Palm, Jr. @AllOverTheMed]

@CDR_GRIMES @GreekAnalyst What are the facts Dimes - what did she accomplish exactly?

[The Greek Analyst @GreekAnalyst]

Bye-bye, Miss American pie.

[Rob Palm, Jr. @AllOverTheMed]

@Mpolymer 💯 Mark - this moment calls for the real pros to guide this hard won relationship at this critical moment in regional politics and protect the mutual security posture with the Hellenic Republic.

[Marc Polymeropoulos @Mpolymer]

The embassy and Greek govt will welcome stability from an experienced FSO. I see no rush for an ambo to be nominated and confirmed, as now it’s just time to get back to critical work at hand. US-Greek ties have never been better, and still more room to grow in all sectors. More thoughts on this in the near future, but for now, there’s a huge sigh of relief for a beleaguered embassy staff. 🇺🇸🇬🇷

[Rohoza (Дев'ятий) Mykhailo 🇺🇦🇱🇹🇨🇦 @Oct7NeverForget]

The day before yesterday, during negotiations in the United States, an incident reportedly took place that left the American delegation literally speechless.

When the Ukrainian representatives learned that sanctions against Putin were being lifted and that Washington was demanding an end to strikes on Russian oil refineries, Budanov allegedly responded in extremely harsh terms.

At the very end of the meeting, when the participants had already risen from the table and were heading toward the exit, he threw these words straight in the Americans’ faces:

“Now we’re going to fucking burn every Russian oil refinery and port to the fucking ground. Every last one!”

According to reports, the Americans were so stunned by what they heard that they couldn't find anything to say in response.

No objections, no threats, no usual diplomatic language. Just silence.

Washington received an unmistakable message: Ukraine has no intention of asking permission to defend itself against Russian aggression.

[Marc Polymeropoulos @Mpolymer]

More is coming. The embarrassment will get worse. For the sake of the bilateral relationship, and to free the embassy staff from her clutches, she’s got to go. Let the DCM run the embassy. The Greek govt will welcome her removal. There’s so much good to do in the US-Greece space, she’s going to drag the whole ship down if she’s not jettisoned in short order. https://t.co/yOtO4rio8Q

[Dan Shapiro @DanielBShapiro]

Until the text of the US-Iran deal is signed and released, there is going to be a lot of spin on both sides. But here is my initial take.

This war was a mistake, and it needs to end. The President thought that the Iranian regime would collapse quickly, but it did not. In fact, it has been strengthened strategically by its survival against a heavy US-Israeli assault and carrying out some effective counterstrikes. Many countries in the region are now courting Iran and looking to deescalate and rebuild ties. A sign of which way the wind is blowing.

Getting the Strait of Hormuz open is the most important outcome of this MOU. Of course, the Strait was open before the war. Now we are paying to reopen it with sanctions relief. Iran has taken a theoretical point of leverage and turned it into a very real and powerful one, imposing costs across the global economy and rattling President Trump.

As for the nuclear issues, there really is no agreement, other than to negotiate over the HEU stockpile and an enrichment moratorium. Iran knows how to drag out those negotiations, and try to pocket concessions along the way. It is possible that no deal will every be reached, and very likely that if one is reached, it will be worse than what we could have achieved through diplomacy before the war.

Iran is not likely to take seriously that the US would return to war, certainly before the US midterms. So that means we will be conducting diplomacy without a credible threat of force.

If any agreement ultimately reached actually safely puts Iran's nuclear ambitions out of reach, I'll acknowledge it. It's just too early to make that judgment.

Trump is mainly focused on comparing his deal favorably to the JCPOA. But we are a long way from being able to make that comparison, and it may end up no better, or weaker than that deal.

But in some ways, Trump's deal and the JCPOA are already similar. Nothing on ballistic missiles, nothing on proxies, nothing on weakening the regime or helping the Iranian people. And plenty of sanctions relief that will strengthen the regime, and be poured into the missile program and proxy network. Honest critics of the JCPOA will not twist themselves into pretzels to defend Trump's approach.

Israelis are deeply disappointed in this outcome, but they should not be surprised. After some initial overlap of Trump's and Netanyahu's interests, there was a strong divergence. The United States needed this war to end. Netanyahu wanted to continue.

Trump's claim to include Lebanon in the ceasefire and his harsh shutting down Israeli attacks on Hezbollah is also a win for Iran. After the JCPOA was signed, Obama and Netanyahu worked together to strengthen Israel's campaign of strikes in Syria to intercept Iranian weapons shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

So let's hope we see the removal of Iran's enriched uranium and a long-term suspension of enrichment, with full verification. But to achieve those goals, Trump's team is going to need to engage in far more sophisticated diplomacy, backed by qualified experts, than they have to date. If it is a phase one splash with no follow-up on implementation of later phases, like in Gaza, we will be much worse off after, and because of, this war.

[The Greek Analyst @GreekAnalyst]

The amount of US soft power evaporating in Europe over the most unnecessary Greenland crisis is hard to fathom.

[Rob Palm, Jr. @AllOverTheMed]

After right-wing backlash, Cracker Barrel says it will get rid of its new logo - CNN https://t.co/EBsfJq4F0Z

[Rob Palm, Jr. @AllOverTheMed]

Shot of United’s full stable at Dulles airport. Taken yesterday from UA 989 pulling back from gate D 26 looking east. @united
#united #aviation

[Rob Palm, Jr. @AllOverTheMed]

Καλό μήνα από Ουάσιγκτον

[Rob Palm, Jr. @AllOverTheMed]

What a day at Kaki Thalassa