Erik Sperling

@ErikSperling • 9,763 subscribers

Executive Director @JustFP. Past: Policy Adviser/Counsel @RepRoKhanna @RepJohnConyers @HouseForeign. JD @GeorgetownLaw LatAm @UWM (Bucks/Pack/Sk8/Snow)

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Erik Sperling

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The @StateDeptSpox must tell DG ISPR that US law requires suspending security cooperation and training with Pakistan's military if their repression against the pro-democracy movement (representing the vast majority of voters) continues:

After meeting the military dictator, Rep. Jack Bergman says Pakistan's brutal regime "believe[s] in freedom" and also "good policy" In reality, authoritarian Pakistan is widely seen as among the corrupt military regimes that is the LEAST competent at implementing good policy

Speaker Johnson still making the case to his Caucus He clearly isn't positive that he has the votes to defeat Massie-Khanna

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Iran War Powers vote was about to pass, so House GOP cancelled the vote "Are we not voting on [the Iran War Powers Resolution] because the American people are sick and tired of this illegal war ... you guys don't have the guts — or the balls — to vote on this!" -Rep. Jim McGovern

Booker debuts Democrat neocon talking points on Iran deal, exclusively hitting Trump from the right "[T]his war is wrong" because it has allowed Iran to "fuel their terrorist proxies" Goal is clearly to reduce political space for a deal and raise cost for Trump to end the war

Pelosi joins Bessent in openly calling for US to harm Iran's civilians with indiscriminate sanctions: "Cripple their economy" to "weaken the support they do have... in the rural areas" "We have to make them feel the pain as well"

As US starves Cuba of energy &amp; food, neocon Cotton wants DOD to be ready for a "humanitarian crisis," "flow of refugees," or "civil disorder" in Cuba Southcom is "prepared to support DHS in a mass migration event" including a "camp to deal with those migrants" at Gitmo, he says

"The War Department will not be distracted by democracy building, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change... and feckless nation-building." Far-right Venezuelan elites trying to drag US into an unpopular regime change war won't be thrilled by Hegseth's comments yesterday

With the cypher published, revisit when Lu told Congress it was all a "conspiracy theory" Lu falsely claimed to support democracy as Biden admin gave diplomatic cover for Asim Munir to steal 2024 election Joe Wilson: "your response is so good"

Pakistan military regime had the domestic tools it needed to remove Imran Khan But Lu signaled US-Europe political &amp; economic backing — the critical missing piece This is how US claims it wasn't involved, even though US approval was THE decisive factor

Fox News: US naval blockade will cause "crisis" for Venezuelan civilians They'll "immediately have further crisis — it's already a fragile government system for the Venezuelan people — they're going to feel that pressure even more" "And they're gonna blame Maduro!"

"Who's getting this discounted oil? Guess what, China!" Someone tell @Kilmeade that US sanctions are the sole reason that China gets a discount US could immediately end that discount by lifting sanctions — but that would allow Venezuela's economy to recover and reduce poverty

***NO PLAN for US and Iran to hold any talks — their trips to Pakistan will NOT overlap CNN &amp; Axios both report that there are no plans for any US-Iran talks, nor any time that both parties will be in the same country US won't arrive until well after @Araghchi departs Pakistan

"Stop it NOW.. negotiate the best possible ceasefire" House Armed Services Democrats' Rep. Adam Smith is right — urgent diplomacy "is crucial to getting us to some sort of mitigated damages outcome" "I don't buy into the sunk cost fallacy... the longer this goes on, the more we will lose"

🆕 Leading Dem foreign policy voices seek to create political space for Trump to do negotiated offramp Ro Khanna &amp; Tim Kaine — the top anti-war voices of House/Senate — go on Meet the Press to urge Trump to make a deal to stop bombing first, then open Hormuz with diplomacy later

Total consensus now across all global media: Iran never requested, nor agreed to talks with US US-Pakistani claim of talks was made without any evidence of any interest from Iran Going forward, US media should be more skeptical of US-Pakistani claims

Trump easily wins FL, which means "Biden immiserated the Cuban people for nothing" "Drove a migration crisis greater than anything in Cuban history, people who then wound up at the southern border, causing Biden political problems" "Be done with the frickin' embargo" -Ryan Grim

Architect of Biden's Gaza policy Brett McGurk criticizes Trump admin's ongoing diplomacy with Iran, calls for US attack on Iran "You gotta put some teeth on this. Every negotiation has to have a deadline. Trump said two months ago 'it'll be two months.' We're at that point."

Ryan Berg, PhD Newsweek Ryan, when does your new gig at Department of War 🇺🇸 The Joint Staff 🇺🇸 start? "I will be joining the Department of War, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I will actually be working [...] probably on Venezuela" -@RyanBergPhd, 9-18-25

As Trump prepares to meet Xi, Hegseth's War Dept. raises US-China tensions with unprecedented test of Tomahawk missile that can hit Chinese mainland "the Typhon system had been flown 8,000 miles from... Washington State to Luzon in the Philippines"

Sad to see Chris Murphy 🟧 echoing false neocon narratives about Iran's threat to US "The minute they stop bombing... It will only take a handful of months to reconstitute that threat" This closes space for a diplomatic deal to end the war and bolsters case for war in future

Top House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems Dem endorses far-right Venezuelan leader. She says US 2020 election was rigged against Trump — by Maduro. She supports the boat executions, indiscriminate sanctions on civilians, and an illegal US war — all things Meeks says he opposes.

"Cutting off money will further hurt the already impoverished people of Venezuela. Isn't that a risk?" asks @MargBrennan of Face The Nation. Machado effectively says she's okay with causing greater civilian suffering because it's "for the well-being of the Venezuelan people"

As US starves Cuba of energy & food, neocon Cotton wants DOD to be ready for a "humanitarian crisis," "flow of refugees," or "civil disorder" in Cuba Southcom is "prepared to support DHS in a mass migration event" including a "camp to deal with those migrants" at Gitmo, he says

Pakistan military regime had the domestic tools it needed to remove Imran Khan But Lu signaled US-Europe political & economic backing — the critical missing piece This is how US claims it wasn't involved, even though US approval was THE decisive factor

***NO PLAN for US and Iran to hold any talks — their trips to Pakistan will NOT overlap CNN & Axios both report that there are no plans for any US-Iran talks, nor any time that both parties will be in the same country US won't arrive until well after @Araghchi departs Pakistan

🆕 Leading Dem foreign policy voices seek to create political space for Trump to do negotiated offramp Ro Khanna & Tim Kaine — the top anti-war voices of House/Senate — go on Meet the Press to urge Trump to make a deal to stop bombing first, then open Hormuz with diplomacy later