U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, who was appointed by Joe Biden, has departed her position in Moscow as U.S. Ambassador to Russia.  There has been no announced name for replacement. [¹Get the friggin’ BBB passed!]

Remember, in the last 20+ years, no American official has spent more face-to-face time with Vladimir Putin than U.S. Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff.  On behalf of President Trump Witkoff has held multiple meetings and discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin lasting more than 4 and 5 hours at a time.  U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy was not present.

Do not forget, nor overlook this baseline fact.

MOSCOW, June 27 (Reuters) – Lynne Tracy, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, is leaving Moscow, her embassy said on Friday, noting she had served through one of the most strained periods in relations between Moscow and Washington.

The departure of a career diplomat appointed under the administration of former president Joe Biden comes as Russia and the United States discuss a potential reset in their ties which sharply deteriorated after Moscow launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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Last night on CNBC Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff hinted that some stunning revelations around expansion of the Abraham Peace Accords would likely surface in the next week.   Immediately thereafter, President Trump sent a message of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against a judicial effort targeting the Prime Minister.

Today, we start to hear of some rather stunning developments in the region that might explain multiple background stories, including the above and the severity of response from President Trump when he felt that Israel was overreacting to the Iran missile fired during the early hours of the ceasefire.

In a stunning development, Israel Hayom is reporting on the outlines of a peace agreement and long-term solution for the Israel-Gaza conflict.  The report might explain why President Trump made bold moves in Syria recently, including the removal of all U.S./western sanctions and the close relationship between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MbS).

According to Israel Hayom, there was a 4-way call (Trump, Netanyahu, Rubio, Dermer) after the Iran strikes. President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to “fundamental principles in general terms” including:

♦ “Gaza hostilities will conclude within two weeks.” ♦ “Four Arab nations (including Egypt and the UAE) will administer the Gaza Strip, replacing the murderous Hamas terrorist organization.” ♦ “The remaining Hamas leadership will face exile to other countries (possibly Qatar and Turkey), while the hostages gain freedom.” ♦ “Multiple nations globally will accept numerous Gaza inhabitants seeking emigration.” ♦ “Abraham Accords expansion will bring Syria, Saudi Arabia, and additional Arab and Muslim countries to recognize Israel and establish official relationships.” ♦ “Israel will declare its willingness for future Palestinian conflict resolution under the ‘two states’ concept, contingent upon the Palestinian Authority reforms.” ♦ “The United States will acknowledge limited Israeli sovereignty implementation in Judea and Samaria.”

President Trump was reportedly angered by Israeli strikes after his Iran ceasefire announcement, because he feared further hostilities would derail this complicated deal.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

(more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff deserves a great deal of credit for what followed in the aftermath of President Trump’s final elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat.  Throughout the 12-day war, Witkoff maintained a diplomatic connection to the Iranian delegation in order to position a ceasefire upon conclusion.

The Trump administration is now taking a more firm stance toward who in Iran they will accept negotiations with.  As noted by Secretary Rubio, the use of intermediaries has exhausted its usefulness.  While Qatar may play a role as an interlocutor to bridge the two sides, the time has come for direct face-to-face discussions with Iranian officials.

With the potential of a peace agreement and increased stability throughout the region, there is an opportunity for an expanded investment and economic zone throughout the middle east, not just in Iran.  As CTH noted regarding the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, technically it is not the Iranian government who closes the strait, but rather the maritime insurance companies who refuse to underwrite an enlarged risk.  The same concept applies when the absence of conflict becomes the norm.  Steve Witkoff draws attention to this background context within his remarks.

An ancillary benefit in the Russia-Ukraine conflict comes from a very public display of FAFO outcomes.  None of the principle characters within NATO, the EU, the U.K nor Ukraine or Russia want to face the Godzilla FAFO strategy that President Trump is willing to deploy.

The reason why the NATO partners responded with great deference to President Trump in the Netherlands is no global observer wants to face Godzilla in FAFO mode, militarily or economically.  Even before the dust settled from 70 tons of massive ordnance detonation deep underground in Iran the leaders of the world knew things would be different now.

How different?  We saw the outcome at the Hague.

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I’m just going to outline this post as it is framed by Vice President JD Vance without anything…

JD Vance – “This is such a revealing clip. The American media is full of the least curious, least insightful people in our country.

To recap, an out of context, “low confidence” and incomplete intelligence report was selectively leaked to the media. The media reported on the findings without any real effort to figure out whether they represent any part of (much less the full) truth. The way the media has presented the report is contradicted by the IAEA, the Iranians themselves, and the administration’s political and defense leadership. More importantly, the media’s reports are contradicted by common sense.

[Vance, cont…] “To summarize: a dozen 30,000-pound bunker busters were dropped on Iran’s main nuclear site. (The other two sites that were targeted suffered heavy damage too). No one disputes they hit their targets. No one disputes the explosive or destructive power of the weapons. No one disputes that a week ago, Iran could have easily assembled a nuclear weapon and now they can’t.

The entire debate–even accepting the press’s dishonest framing–is not about whether Iran can now build a nuke. They can’t. It’s about how much rebuilding the Iranians would have to do in order to achieve a nuclear weapon. In other words, after a wildly successful military operation with no American casualties, the American media is trying to blame Donald Trump for the existence of facilities *that haven’t even been built yet.*

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If you assert the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan were taken exclusively to remove the capacity of Iran to create a nuclear weapon, you are likely missing a key point. However, if you recognize the strikes were not only about eliminating Iran’s nuclear capacity but also about taking Israel’s “Iran has nukes!” card off the table, then you begin to understand the after action message from the Trump administration.

Essentially, by removing the Iran nuclear threat, the overall influence from Israel on President Trump’s foreign policy objective is also lessened. Within that dynamic you will see why President Trump, Secretary/NSA Rubio and the inner national security circle are so strongly emphasizing the “totally destroyed” message. WATCH:

The inverse of the successful Iran strike narrative is also true. If the strikes against Iran are defined as not eliminating the nuclear threat, then a continuance of national security influence on behalf of Israel is maintained.

Unfortunately, for the deepest part of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, maintaining the usefulness of the Iran nuclear threat is aligned with their interests. Hence, we begin to see why the intelligence apparatus immediately began trying to diminish the effectiveness of the strikes with leaks to CNN [SEE HERE].

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President Trump and his national security team held a meeting with NATO Sec.-Gen. Mark Rutte during the 2025 NATO Summit in the Hague, Netherlands, and took questions from the media.

Interestingly, NATO Secretary Mark Rutte emphasizes the new commitment from Canada repeatedly.  As one of the worst offenders to adhere to their NATO obligations, and against the backdrop of tariffs and targeted trade negotiations, obviously Canada is trying to position themselves against the Trump economic agenda.

Secondly, the emphasis is again on the damage assessment from the U.S. bombing of the Iran nuclear facilities.  This is critical for President Trump to break free of the intelligence community control over U.S. foreign policy expanded in the next outline.  WATCH:

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