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Jeffrey Prescott

@jeffreyprescott.bsky.social
345 followers 400 following 22 posts

Senior fellow @carnegieendowment.org. Former US Ambassador to the UN in Rome, State, NSC, WH. Personal account.

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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
At a moment of intense risk on AI, Trump and Xi … held a dinner party. We have to get more serious about AI safety and guardrails. carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...
carnegieendowment.org
Trump Had the Chance to Address U.S.-China AI Safety. He Threw Xi a Party Instead.
The summit may be remembered as a fatal blunder, when Washington, Beijing, and the AI industry collectively chose ceremony over action.
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
“No other recent American president has talked so openly about committing potential war crimes…” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Revels in Threats to Commit War Crimes in Iran
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
“The consequences of the Iran conflict, which are already being felt in the region, will reverberate globally as an exacerbated food crisis swells.” www.cfr.org/articles/the...
cfr.org
The Iran War’s Hidden Front: Food, Water, and Fertilizer | Council on Foreign Relations
While world energy markets are in upheaval over the halt in fossil fuel shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, there is also a brewing crisis over a sharp cutback in food supplies that normally transi...
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
"The idea of making difficult trade-offs — sacrificing this for the greater good of that; denying instant gratification for larger future gain — is as foreign to Trump as Mongolian... Such a person gets bored very easily — bored of reading, bored of listening, bored of thinking and bored of peace."
ft.com
Bored of peace
The idea of making difficult trade-offs is alien to Trump
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
“Top Trump officials acknowledged to lawmakers during recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes…” www.cnn.com/2026/03/12/p...
cnn.com
Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz | CNN Politics
The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, accord...
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Who are “we”?
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Reposted by Jeffrey Prescott
Edward Wong @ewong.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
NEW: Before the Iran War, Trump ignored warnings that Iran could retaliate across the region and stop oil shipments. Now, with energy markets in chaos, some aides are pessimistic about the lack of a strategy to end the war. But they haven't told Trump. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/u...
nytimes.com
How Trump and His Advisers Miscalculated Iran’s Response to War
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
@colinkahl.bsky.social on Trump's utter lack of clarity of purpose in Iran: "Wars are not judged by how well they start. They are judged by how they end—and by whether the country that started the fight is stronger or weaker when the guns finally go quiet." www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/what-en...
foreignaffairs.com
What Is the Endgame in Iran?
Trump needs to figure out what he wants—and quickly.
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
"Vile as the Iranian regime is ... it did not pose an imminent danger to the American people. Mr. Trump’s war, however, does create immediate and acute risks to American civilians in the region."
nytimes.com
Opinion | How Trump Betrayed His First Duty to Americans
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
“Trump appears strangely uncertain about where the war is heading. ‘The worst case would be we do this and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person,’ Trump mused on Tuesday…seeming to be considering this very real possibility for the first time. ‘It would probably be the worst.’”
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
“The contrast between Washington’s near-unlimited willingness to compromise and demonstrate patience when it comes to persuading Russia to end its aggression against Ukraine and its unrealistic demands and lack of patience with Iran in the run-up to this war is as stark as it is telling.”
giftarticle.ft.com
America chose this war — and must now choose how to end it
However this conflict concludes, the US and Iran’s new leaders will have to revisit the same issues that sparked hostilities
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
“This war started at a time of our choosing,” said Yael Lempert, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Jordan in the Biden administration. “It should have come as no surprise that airspace would close, and commercial flight options would be curtailed.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/u...
nytimes.com
State Department Is Accused of Slow Assistance for Stranded Americans
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Trump’s plan for Iran, in two phone calls yesterday: NYT: [W]hen asked whom he wanted to lead Iran, he said, “I have three very good choices.” He added: “I won’t be revealing them now. Let’s get the job done first.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Says War Could Last Weeks and Offers Contradictory Visions of New Regime
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Reposted by Jeffrey Prescott
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 28/02/2026
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death at the hand of a nation he worked very hard to kill is a hinge moment in the history of Iran’s revolution, Karim Sadjadpour argues. theatln.tc/rGrjs2Wh
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
“Who wants this? Nobody wants this,” said [Aaron David] Miller at the @carnegieendowment.org “We’re sleepwalking towards a war, in search of a strategy.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... ‘Crisis of his own making’: Donald Trump weighs another war with Iran
giftarticle.ft.com
‘Crisis of his own making’: Donald Trump weighs another war with Iran
The US military build-up was designed to coerce Tehran — but has failed
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Thomas Wright: "What exactly has changed since June that justifies a more extreme course of action now? Until that question is addressed, the case for urgency, and for war, does not add up." www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
theatlantic.com
America Doesn’t Need a Deal or a War With Iran
Why the rush, when Washington has all the leverage?
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
“Military operations look quick and easy — right until they are not,” said @jkdemp.bsky.social. “What we did in Venezuela was such a unique operation, and a one-off. And even that — I’m not sure it will turn out fine.” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
Trump appears ready to attack Iran as U.S. strike force takes shape
Although the United States and ally Israel have a military advantage over Iranian forces, there are ways for Tehran to make any attack painful, officials said.
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Congratulations to @nancygoodman.bsky.social for all the hard work getting the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act over the finish line. If you are not familiar (and even if you are) this is worth a read: www.thebulwark.com/p/pediatric-...
thebulwark.com
Pediatric Cancer Bill Torpedoed by Elon, Rand, and Bernie Finally Passes
It had broad bipartisan support but passage still required years of heartbreaking lobbying by extraordinarily dedicated children.
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Reposted by Jeffrey Prescott
Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 20/01/2026
Major efforts in policy and diplomacy to address the fentanyl crisis in the United States have begun to see a remarkable decline in overdose cases. @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social discusses this milestone: carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...
carnegieendowment.org
Foreign Policy Outcomes Can Be Hard to Measure. This One Isn’t.
A new study found that a combination of policy and diplomatic focus contributed to a dramatic shift in fentanyl-related overdose deaths.
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
It is rare in foreign policy to find hard proof of success. Rarer still for diplomacy to save thousands of American lives in short order. I wrote about new research here: carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...
carnegieendowment.org
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
“Don’t ever leave the U.S. chair empty.” www.justsecurity.org/128658/unite...
justsecurity.org
The United States in Retreat
U.S. withdrawal from 66 international organizations marks a retreat from global leadership and an opportunity for adversaries ascend.
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Jeffrey Prescott @jeffreyprescott.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Americans now spend more on Halloween candy than Trump does on feeding the starving. Gross. Sam Vigersky on Trump and Rubio's great humanitarian aid recession: cfr.org/expert-brief...
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Reposted by Jeffrey Prescott
Rep. Jason Crow @crow.house.gov · 20/11/2025
The President of the United States just called for my arrest and execution. In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage:
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Reposted by Jeffrey Prescott
Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander @goodlander.house.gov · 20/11/2025
Joint Statement from Goodlander, Slotkin, Kelly, Crow, Deluzio, and Houlahan
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Reposted by Jeffrey Prescott
Foreign Affairs @foreignaffairs.com · 29/09/2025
“The international order that the United States built and maintained for decades is coming to an end, and what follows is up for grabs.” Read Jeffrey Prescott and Julian Gewirtz on China’s “new, more active diplomatic strategy”:
foreignaffairs.com
China Goes on Offense
Beijing’s plans to exploit American retreat.
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