Cosmopolitics by Elise Labott

Cosmopolitics by Elise Labott

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Cosmopolitics by Elise Labott
Cosmopolitics by Elise Labott
The Cosmopolitics Edit: The accidential statesman edition

The Cosmopolitics Edit: The accidential statesman edition

What's next for Iran, Hungary's pride defiance and Trump's birthright fantasy

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Elise Labott
Jun 29, 2025
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Cosmopolitics by Elise Labott
Cosmopolitics by Elise Labott
The Cosmopolitics Edit: The accidential statesman edition
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Welcome to the Cosmopolitics. Each week, I provide my paid subscribers with my takes on the biggest stories, and a curated list of other stories around the world that you should know about.

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There's something almost poetic about watching Donald Trump chase the same prize that eluded him throughout his first presidency: global recognition as a peacemaker. His recent Truth Social lament—"I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do"—reads like the diary entry of a man whose ego might just accidentally save the world.

The irony is delicious. Here's a president whose foreign policy critics have branded him everything from reckless to unhinged, yet his very hunger for historical validation may be precisely what drives him, and what makes him effective, at breaking diplomatic deadlocks that have stymied more conventional leaders for decades.

Take his approach to the Iran-Israel conflict.

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