“Billionaire technology investor Peter Thiel said he’s skeptical of the U.S. war with Iran and does not believe the United States should have launched it, putting the major Republican donor at odds with President Donald Trump over one of the administration’s defining foreign policy decisions,” Politico reports.

Said Thiel: “I’m skeptical of the war, I think we should not have done it. There were a lot of mistakes that were made.”

“President Donald Trump on Wednesday insisted that he had nothing to do with a slowdown of SpaceX’s Starlink in Ukraine, and does not know if Elon Musk was responsible for speed-capping the critical satellite service,” CNBC reports.

Said Trump: “I wasn’t involved.”

Bloomberg: How Musk’s Starlink and U.S. spy satellites support Ukraine’s defense.

“The rules of the road when it comes to President Trump’s relations with foreign leaders are clear: He may trash you. But woe unto you if you whack back,” the New York Times reports.

“No one knows that better than President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has been through this particular diplomatic wringer more than once. But he got a pointed reminder during a closed-door meeting in Oslo this week with Mr. Trump’s negotiators.”

“Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, reproached Mr. Zelensky on Tuesday for his sharp comments responding to Mr. Trump’s sharp comments about him, telling the Ukrainian leader that the way he had conducted himself had infuriated the president.”

Bloomberg: Zelensky’s feud with Trump endangers his plan to defend Ukraine.

The Atlantic: “Trump’s war in Iran has appeared to throttle Republicans’ chances in the midterms; the unending conflict, and the resulting surge in oil and gas prices, has eroded the GOP’s poll numbers and fueled Democrats’ hopes of taking both chambers of Congress.”

“Stymied in his efforts to bring that war to a close, Trump recently shifted his focus to resolving the Ukraine conflict, in part to bring fuel prices down. But the way he’s chosen to try to do that has provided his fellow Republicans with a nasty October surprise. In a first for a U.S. president, Trump has sided with a traditional adversary, Russia, over a democracy that is not only fighting for its existence but also acting as a bulwark against a wider war. Trump’s diesel deal with Putin will have a negligible impact on American energy prices, but it’s a financial lifeline for Moscow.”

“Trump has demanded an energy cease-fire—he even announced one earlier this month that had no basis in reality—yet has focused his ire entirely on Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries. He blames those strikes for the rise in energy prices while ignoring the real culprit, Iran’s ability to defy the United States and close the Strait of Hormuz. He’s convinced himself, three people close to him have told us, that Ukraine’s attacks on the refineries are, in part, meant to undermine Republicans’ chances next month—and, by extension, Trump.”

“Praising President Vladimir Putin as a ‘humanitarian,’ the Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday thanked the Russian leader in St. Petersburg for releasing an American man held for over four years on what the State Department called fabricated charges,” the New York Times reports.

“Russia on Wednesday released an American man who was held for four years on what the State Department called fabricated charges that he was a Ukrainian mercenary,” the New York Times reports.

”The release came after President Trump made a direct appeal to President Vladimir V. Putin to let the 74-year-old teacher, Stephen James Hubbard, return to the United States.”

“President Trump said on Tuesday that he had asked President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to release Stephen James Hubbard, a Michigan teacher who was seized from his home in Ukraine months after Russia invaded that country in February 2022,” the New York Times reports.

“The United States has maintained that the charges against Mr. Hubbard are fabricated. Accused of being a mercenary, he was sentenced to more than six years in a penal colony.”

“Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, a decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Both Musk and President Trump have expressed anger at Ukraine for attacking Russian diesel refineries in recent weeks, which the president blames for high energy prices. Last week, Musk capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the satellite-based network, rendering some offensive drones and interceptor drones virtually useless.”

“Musk and Trump discussed the Starlink decision in a call soon after the slowdown became public, while the president was campaigning last week.”

The Atlantic: “Trump Jr. has repeatedly voiced his opposition to the ongoing Iran war in private conversations… The president’s son opposed the war from its outset and made his opposition known to his father. He has long been skeptical of foreign intervention and believed the U.S. should not enter another Middle East war.”

Said a person close to the president’s son: “Don has kept his views on the subject private, as he would never publicly break with his dad on an issue like this, but I can’t imagine anyone who knows Don would be surprised by his personal views on the subject.”