“President Trump called Elon Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on a military-grade version of Starlink in Ukraine that the SpaceX chief had throttled,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The system was working more normally Thursday, shortly after their conversation, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said. Some Ukrainian officials said the system wasn’t restored to full functionality but was working at higher speeds than under the cap.”
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday night that the Iranian regime must be overthrown once and for all,” the Washington Post reports.
Netanyahu said that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei “decided to follow in his father’s footsteps” and attempt “once again to develop the bombs of death.”
Said Netanyahu: “Therefore, there is only one way to remove this threat once and for all: overthrow the regime in Iran. And that is my directive to the IDF, the Mossad, and the security branches.”
“Canadian diplomats working in the U.S. have been directed to stay away from candidates running in the midterm elections, and to keep a low profile to avoid allegations by the Trump administration of political interference,” Bloomberg reports.
“As drones fill the skies over the war zone, the fighting in Ukraine has moved into a network of gas pipelines deep belowground,” The Atlantic reports.
“Last October, President Trump imposed significant sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, complaining that negotiations with President Vladimir V. Putin over ending the war in Ukraine ‘just don’t go anywhere,'” the New York Times reports.
“A red-carpet welcome for the Russian leader in Alaska had done nothing to bring peace. A planned summit in Budapest had fallen apart. Mr. Trump had started to acknowledge that Mr. Putin might just be playing him, with no intention of making peace. Faint Ukrainian hopes glimmered of a Trump-Putin break.”
“But the Russian president was playing a longer game.”
“Now, exactly a year after the oil sanctions, Mr. Putin has never been so close to his goal of normalizing relations with Washington without having to make any compromises on Ukraine.”
“French President Emmanuel Macron has criticized ‘unacceptable’ and ‘stupid’ comments made by foreign leaders and others after the country saw mass protests and its worst rioting in years,” CNBC reports.
Said Macron: “There was foreign disinformation in the aftermath, which prompted comments that were as unacceptable as they were stupid from many people, including foreign leaders.”
“Top Trump administration officials are starting to point fingers squarely at SpaceX founder Elon Musk for the decision to slow down his company’s Starlink satellite internet services and its military counterpart Starshield for Ukraine, which has been muddled in uncertainty over the culprit,” The Hill reports.
“Looking to deflect the controversial move — which was swiftly admonished by powerful congressional Republicans and Democrats — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said Ukraine’s access to Starlink was up to Musk and not the White House.”
“And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, suggested Starlink’s slowdown was a commercial matter and not a result of any orders from the White House.”
Nahal Toosi: “This month, the original Trump — the one who fawns over Russian leader Vladimir Putin and despises Zelensky — roared back. He waived many of the legislation’s penalties on Russia, moved to buy Russian diesel and signaled he’s more interested in doing business with Moscow than seeking justice for Kyiv. Ukrainians suspect the U.S. has pressured them by throttling its satellite connections and intelligence-sharing…”
“The lesson, foreign officials and others steeped in diplomacy tell me, is that you cannot truly change Trump’s mind or stop his overall trajectory. Even if Trump seems briefly chastened or stages a tactical retreat, he will eventually return in new, often-surprising modes to push his original views and goals. He will try to exhaust you into submission.”
Paul Krugman: “No private individual should, or indeed even have the capability to, make national security policy. Slowing down Starlink was, in effect, a U.S. intervention in a foreign conflict. It helped Russia, our long-time adversary, and hobbled Ukraine, during a very critical time in this war. It also helped Russia at a time when Putin is increasingly emboldened to menace Europe through acts of sabotage, intimidation and support of the extreme right such as the AfD in Germany.”
CNBC: “Few states have been as vulnerable in the U.S.-Canada trade war as Maine, which sends more than 40% of its exports to the U.S.’s northern neighbor. Those challenges are also piling on top of cost-of-living issues that were already spiraling, especially relating to things like home heating oil, on which Maine depends more than any other state.”
“As a result, tariffs specifically — and affordability concerns more broadly — are center stage in this year’s ‘toss up’ Senate race between GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate.”
“The U.S. and Israeli militaries have developed specific plans for renewed strikes against Iran after the American midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.
“As planning for a short but intensive operation progresses, the U.S. and Israeli militaries have stepped up exercises, flying planes over Iraq to practice strike maneuvers. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week to discuss new strikes.”
“The targets would likely include Iran’s energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenal. Some officials say one more big round of attacks could push Iran’s economy over the brink and force the country to make diplomatic concessions after nearly eight months of conflict.”
“Russian attacks on Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles and drones overnight into Thursday killed one person and wounded 22, Ukrainian authorities said. The strikes in Kyiv came hours after the Kremlin agreed to restart U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war,” MS NOW reports.
“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.”
“For most of the war, Iran had an invaluable cushion: dozens of oil tankers holding millions of barrels of crude sitting safely in waters in Asia. Tehran steadily sold the oil to China, bringing in billions of much-needed cash,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Now, that floating storage is gone. By mid-October, the reserves were fully depleted, according to analysts at Kpler, as a U.S. naval blockade prevented Iran from replacing the crude it normally sells to Chinese refineries.”
“The drop in oil revenue is a further blow to Iran’s struggling economy, already facing runaway inflation and widespread shortages.”
“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 Pentagon is looking to build a more robust deep-cover spying program to conduct economic warfare against China and other U.S. competitors,” the Washington Post reports.
“This new next-generation spying program — in which U.S. operatives would go undercover as businesspeople or other private-sector personnel, without any overt U.S. government affiliation — is intended to be a covert prong of the Pentagon’s larger economic warfare campaign.”
“The U.S. military has quietly been scaling back its troop presence at bases across the Middle East in recent days, and the State Department is ordering a further reduction in staff at multiple diplomatic posts in the region,” NBC News reports.
“The reduction of American forces and diplomatic personnel is similar to drawdowns at bases and embassies that the Pentagon and State Department initiated around the start of the war with Iran in February, the sources said. They said the moves are in response to ongoing threats in the region, including from Iran.”
Mediaite: Trump to order families home from Gulf embassies amid war worries.
“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.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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