Puppet show
Iran, NATO, Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and space.
Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
IRAN. Lacking a strategy, Trump tries to keep things in suspense.
NATO. The US goes to war again with its allies.
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. An Easter truce remains out of reach.
AFGHANISTAN. PAKISTAN. China attempts a test-run mediation.
SPACE. Artemis II completes the return to the 1970s.
This will be our last edition before a break over Easter. We will return on Tuesday, 7 April.
IRAN. Strings attached
Lacking a strategy, Trump tries to keep things in suspense.
Crude prices rose after Donald Trump said the US would escalate its strikes on Iran and said the campaign was an “investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future”. Trump did not mention Iran’s alleged requests for a truce.
INTELLIGENCE. Markets had hoped Trump would declare mission accomplished, or at least give a clearer timeline. But beyond promising again to end the war “very shortly”, his vow to send Iran “back to the stone ages” invited comparisons with forever wars past. It didn’t help either that Trump explicitly contrasted the 32-day “journey” with 18 years in Vietnam. Trump may want to string things along until he finds an offramp, but markets are losing patience.
FOR BUSINESS. Quoting Vietnam’s Curtis LeMay may have sounded tough (Pete Hegseth loyally repeated it), but markets just want TACO. And with Trump continuing to claim victory on sea and in the air, a fear is emerging that escalation means ground troops. There’s a chance this could land a coup de grâce, but more likely it will mean further quagmire. Iran has essentially been encouraging it to extend its asymmetric advantages and escalation dominance.
NATO. Push and pull
The US goes to war again with its allies.
Trump told Reuters he was “absolutely” considering “pulling out” of NATO, adding to the US’s mounting criticism on the “disgusting” alliance. NATO said Secretary-General Mark Rutte would hold “scheduled” talks with Trump next week.
INTELLIGENCE. Trump-whisperer Rutte, who walked the president off the ledge on