Steven A. Cook
@stevenacook
Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for MENA @CFR_org. Big NY sports & pizza guy. Goofy dad. I'd rather be skiing. My own opinions. RTs ≠endorsement.
Coming June 3, 2024. Available for pre-order now: amazon.com/End-Ambition-A…
ICYMI: My latest @ForeignPolicy on what a Trump plan for Syria should look like... foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/22/syr…
Crazy, but that's how it goes Millions of people living as foes Maybe it's not too late To learn how to love and forget how to hate --Ozzy Osbourne
Retweeted by @USEmbassyJLMPal, but, interestingly, without any parallel statement (yet?) from @USAmbIsrael - who may not be looking to give the meeting much play.
I met with the United States Ambassador, Mr. Huckabee, today at my office in Ramallah. @GovMikeHuckabee Discussions were held regarding support for efforts to stop the war in the Gaza Strip, release the hostages, and deliver urgent aid to the Palestinian people there. The…
A friend just texted - doesn’t seem real. 😢 RIP legend
*OZZY OSBOURNE HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 76: PA
Trump must set limits on Syria’s neighbors and incentivize them to provide Syria with a pathway for reconstruction, development, and reintegration in the region, columnist @stevenacook writes. foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/22/syr…
I mean Ozzy. Nooooo!!!!!
Nooooooooooooooooooo! Ozzie! Noooooooooo!
New from Me @ForeignPolicy Trump Has Leverage With Syria’s Neighbors—Here’s How He Should Use It foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/22/syr…
Not necessarily a new position for Israel's Right, but the idea is attractive to more and more people for taht very reason.
The Israeli right-wingers are on board. They're tired of a lack of strategic autonomy. tabletmag.com/sections/news/…
🎧 On this episode of The President's Inbox, @williamhenagan sits down with @JamesMLindsay to discuss whether a return to great power spheres of influence is practical in the twenty-first century. Listen below ⬇️ cfr.org/podcasts/tpi/f…
Feels like yesterday
On this day in 1987, Guns N' Roses released Appetite For Destruction.
This is an idea that is getting more traction. I wrote about it in "The End of Ambition" cfr.org/book/end-ambit…. Victoria Coates and Rob Greenway from @Heritage have also advocated for this kind of change heritage.org/sites/default/… Some Israelis are also attracted to the idea.
Israel is a rich country that doesn’t need American aid. America is far from the Middle East with limited resources there and doesn’t need to be telling Israel what to do. It’s past time for a more normal relationship. slowboring.com/p/america-shou…
🚨U.S. and Israeli officials involved in the negotiations tell me that the U.S., Israel, Qatar and Egypt are still waiting for Hamas' response to the latest Gaza ceasefore deal proposal that was delivered last week 🚨Hamas officials in Doha are inclined to support the proposal,…
Helpful from @WarOnTheRocks warontherocks.com/2025/07/lesson…
What is so odd about this is that I read everything I could from the so-called restraint camp for my book, "The End of Ambition." amazon.com/End-Ambition-A…. It was basically the same argument. This qualifies as "engagement," I think.
The "so-called restrainers"? I mean, come on, you're making @EmmaMAshford's point for her here. There are plenty of serious restraint-oriented policy proposals for a range of problems, if you're willing to engage seriously with them.
Fair enough, but it would be helpful if the so-called restrainers offered more than the same policy prescription for every global challenge.
More seriously, though, this argument would be extremely persuasive -- if not for the fact that Aspen and forums like it have been notoriously hostile to heterodox views on foreign policy!
"The Qataris pulled together all of the progress made over the last 10 days into a new proposal, which was presented jointly with the U.S. and Egypt to make clear to the parties that all three back it." @BarakRavid axios.com/2025/07/17/gaz…
Turkey occupies about 10 percent of Syria.
Erdogan: “Israel is a lawless, rule-breaking, unprincipled, spoiled, pampered, and bloodthirsty terrorist state” • “We won’t consent to the partition of Syria”
Accurate.
Intervening to protect the Druze minority from massacre in Syria makes moral and strategic sense. Ostentatious and symbolic attacks on an Arab capital, less than a month after the common threat that had brought Arab states closer to Israel was forcefully blunted, makes no sense.
I did not know who this man was when I started listening to his commentary about Israel and Syria. I stopped listening when he said quite idiotically that the Druze are Muslims. Then I checked to see who he was and it turns out that he was the head of MI6.