What Caught My Eye (no. 36)

Some interesting articles and podcasts that caught my eye this week

Here’s this week’s edition of articles I thought worth reading and sharing. Don’t hesitate to recommend your own reads; I may include some as well.

• Peter Foster, Attracta Mooney, and Kaye Wiggins, “US accused of ‘bully-boy’ tactics to sink climate deal,” The Financial Times, November 2, 2025. A huge scoop on how the Trump administration officials used threats and intimidation to block a UN-backed Net Zero Framework for global shipping that would have imposed a carbon levy. Diplomats said U.S. delegates warned smaller nations of tariffs, visa bans, and port fees if they backed the deal, shattering diplomatic norms. “It was like the New York street,” one diplomat said. “They went from delegation to delegation . . . threatening them. Telling them to go back and speak to their capitals, warning what would happen if they didn’t change their minds.”

• Courtney Kube, Dan De Luce, and Gordon Lubold, “Trump administration is planning new mission in Mexico against cartels,” NBC News, November 3, 2025. Kube, De Luce, and Lubold report that the Trump administration is preparing a covert mission to deploy U.S. troops and intelligence officers inside Mexico to strike drug cartels directly in a major escalation in its “war on cartels.” The plan, still under discussion, envisions U.S. special operations forces to conduct drone strikes on drug labs and cartel leaders. The move follows Trump’s designation of several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, as critics warn it risks violating Mexican sovereignty and further eroding diplomatic and legal norms.

• Missy Ryan, Vivian Salama, Michael Scherer, and Nancy A. Youssef, “Why Venezuela?” The Atlantic, November 6, 2025. The magazine’s staff writers detail the Trump administration’s escalating confrontation with Venezuela, where a massive U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean has raised fears of war. The standoff stems from a power struggle inside Trump’s circle: envoy Richard Grenell has sought a negotiated deal with President Nicolás Maduro to reopen Venezuela’s oil sector to U.S. companies, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pressed for regime change, framing Maduro as a narco-terrorist allied with China, Russia, and Cuba.

• “How a Little Chinese Island Rose to Global Chemical Dominance,” The Economist, November 3, 2025. This report uses Changxing Island in northeast China as an example of the country’s industrial ascendancy. Once farmland, Changxing became a state-backed petrochemical hub after 2010, when the private firm Hengli built what is now the world’s largest plant for purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a key polyester ingredient. The island is a case study in how China fuses state planning, industrial policy, and entrepreneurial drive to dominate global manufacturing.

• Robert D. McFadden, “Dick Cheney, Powerful Vice President and Washington Insider, Dies at 84,” The New York Times, November 4, 2025. McFadden, a Pulitzer-prize winning Times reporter for 63 years prior to his retirement, writes a sweeping obituary that portrays Dick Cheney as the most powerful vice president in U.S. history; a master strategist who reshaped the modern presidency and steered America through war and upheaval. Cheney drove the response to the 9/11 attacks, championing expansive executive powers, surveillance, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. A former Secretary of Defense and Congressman, he wielded unmatched influence over national security, tax, and energy policy, earning both reverence and revulsion.

• Greg Ip, “Trump’s Tariffs Are a Massive Money Grab. That’s Why They Are in Trouble,” The Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2025. The Journal’s chief economics commentator, explains that the Supreme Court appears poised to curb Trump’s use of national security power to levy sweeping tariffs—effectively a giant tax—without Congress. Justices across the spectrum signaled that unlimited, revenue-raising tariffs implicate Congress’s taxing power and run afoul of the major-questions and nondelegation doctrines. A ruling against Trump would claw back some executive authority and check the “imperial presidency” trend of financing and policymaking by emergency fiat.

• Ilan Goldenberg, “Hamas and Netanyahu Are Working Together Again,” Word on the Street, Substack, November 6, 2025. Goldenberg, Chief Policy Officer at J Street, argues that Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas are once again locked in a mutually reinforcing cycle that sustains both their power while dooming peace efforts. Three weeks into a fragile ceasefire, both are undermining implementation of the U.S.-backed 20-point Gaza plan, which would replace Hamas with a reformed Palestinian Authority and international stabilization force. Netanyahu’s strategy, to empower Hamas while weakening Palestinian moderates, mirrors his long-term pattern since 2009, ensuring division between Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas, meanwhile, exploits chaos to reassert control. Goldenberg contends that Arab states and the U.S. could still break this cycle by coordinating pressure on both sides to implement the plan and rebuild legitimate Palestinian governance.

Finally, in case you missed it here are links to some of the things I did and wrote this week.

• I wrote about Trump’s desire to dominate the Western Hemisphere, much like his late 19th century predecessors sought to do in my regular column in Politico Europe.

• This week’s World Review focused on the growing crises in Africa and how far right in Europe.

Happy reading, watching, and listening!