Steven Pifer
@steven_pifer
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Affiliated with Stanford's CISAC & Brookings. Retired FSO; former US ambassador to Ukraine. Interests include nukes, Europe & mountains. Views are my own.
Morgan Hill, CA
Joined June 2013
Predictable and predicted.
Businesses are passing along tariff costs, Fed reports
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🙄.
The American ambassador to Malaysia folks.
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Looks like @SecRubio continues to weaken capacity of US diplomacy to protect American interests and compete with China and Russia. This will not turn out well.
Among the people fired from the State Department: the entire staff of the office assisting families of employees who die overseas, sources told CNN. More on the cuts & reorganization- and its impact - from me, @kylieatwood & @AnnieGrayerCNN .
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Your skepticism is justified. I fear “50 days” could be the new “in two weeks.”.
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This is absurd comment by Orban. When Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, #Ukraine’s borders were clearly defined and internationally recognized, including by #Russia and #Hungary.
First, we urgently need a ceasefire and peace❗️Then we must define Ukraine - its borders, its population. As of right now, we do not even know what or where Ukraine is ‼️ Finally, once peace and clarity have been restored, we can make lasting agreements with Russia and lay the
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Writes @lisamurkowski, who shrugged her shoulders and voted yes on BBB because White House wanted her to. 🙄.
We are lawmakers. Our responsibility is to legislate, not to shrug our shoulders and take direction from the White House.
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We taste bad?.
I honestly believe this is one of the biggest mysteries there is, Orcas are the most efficient predators on earth, yet they have never attacked us in the wild. They know something we don’t.
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Sure, @SecRubio, lay-off State Department #Russia and #Ukraine analysts. It’s not like much is going on in either of those countries or anything. 🙄.
nytimes.com
A former senior U.S. official said it was “shortsighted” to consolidate the department’s well-respected intelligence arm.
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Yes. Sounds a lot like “in two weeks” … only longer.
Trump's Russia announcement is being portrayed as toughening his stance, but in fact what he did was give Putin a 50-day free pass to do anything he likes in Ukraine without further US punishment as the Senate sanctions bill is now put on hold.
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Very much hope Trump has realized that Putin has played him and stalled so #Russia could continue its war against #Ukraine. But tariffs in 50 days sounds a lot like earlier threats this spring to take action against Russia in "two weeks.". Will Trump really act or #TACO again?.
On Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Russia if the country doesn't end its war with Ukraine in 50 days. “We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO
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So does Department of State.
@McFaul @StateDept SO, update us when he gets a job in the private sector - I'm betting that he will contribute to whatever company he works for in a big way, and enrich the nation; and he'll probably make more money than at his government job. American capitalists need workers with his level of.
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In diplomatic competition with China and Russia, @SecRubio is unilaterally disarming. Senator Rubio would have thought this crazy.
Cutting diplomats is penny wise but pound foolish. My old boss, SECDEF Bob Gates, used to point out that DOD has more people in military bands than the number of foreign service officers. They punch above their weight and deserve better than this.
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Yes, increasing taxes does help US government finances.
🚨 BREAKING: US Treasury SHOCKINGLY runs a SURPLUS in June 2025, per CNBC. $27 BILLION, following -$316B in May. thanks to TARIFFS. APOLOGIZE TO SCOTT BESSENT and PRESIDENT TRUMP. "Increasing tariff collections are helping shore up the government finances."
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Hope DOD is talking to Ukrainian military, which has been hugely innovative in drone production and use. Just ask the Russians.
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#Russia has escalated its missile and drone attacks on #Ukraine's cities. That's Putin's response to Trump. He's calling Trump's bluff. Time for Trump to show if he was bluffing (#TACO?) or is prepared to take real action to pressure Kremlin.
President Trump: "We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless."
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Huh?.
REPORTER: Yesterday you said you were not sure who ordered the munitions ordered to Ukraine. Have you figured it out?. TRUMP: I haven't though about it. REPORTER: What does it say that such a decision could be made without you knowing?. TRUMP: I would know. If a decision was made
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Last night, #Russia launched 740 missiles and drones against cities in #Ukraine. That hardly seems to "contribute to peace.".
The Kremlin complains about Trump’s decision to resume arms deliveries to Ukraine, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claiming it “does not contribute to peace.”. Get out of Ukraine, and here you have your peace, freak Dmitry.
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Now that's the way to score a walk-off win!.
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Amateur hour. 🙄.
Today we learned Hegseth stopped arms shipments to Ukraine without anyone at the WH knowing and Rubio and Grenell were working separate Venezuela negotiations at cross purposes with each other. Is anyone actually running national security policy?.
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