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"Mexico's security strategy and Africa' mineral infrastructure."

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March 8, 2025

Hi, everybody. I’m Judah Grunstein, WPR’s editor-in-chief, and this is a free preview of our Weekly Review newsletter, which recaps the highlights from our coverage this week and previews what we have planned for next week.

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Top Stories

This week, in our Daily Review newsletter, we took a look at the week’s major developments:

War in Ukraine: Three days after a disastrous White House meeting in which U.S. President Donald Trump publicly clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump suspended the delivery of all military aid to Ukraine. Officials reportedly said the freeze would remain in place until Trump determines that Zelenskyy has demonstrated a good-faith interest in peace negotiations with Russia. Both the meeting and the freeze come after weeks of developments that showed the Trump administration pivoting U.S. policy toward Russia, prompting many observers to call the shift an inflection point for the war in Ukraine—as well as trans-Atlantic relations more broadly. Still, as with many dramatic developments involving Trump, it is difficult to discern if these developments mark a true turning point or a mere bump in the road. (Read more here.) Germany: The party leaders of the country’s prospective governing coalition said Tuesday they had agreed to loosen the country’s limits on federal borrowing in order to further raise defense spending. They also said they plan to borrow $530 billion to finance the modernization of the country’s infrastructure, and that they would bring both proposals before the lame-duck parliament next week to increase the chances of them being passed. Given Germany’s political culture of pragmatism and slow-moving fiscal discipline, the proposals amount to a sea-change for Berlin. They also suggest that under the country’s presumptive next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, Germany is prepared to return to its leadership role in the EU, a shift that will undoubtedly be welcomed in Brussels. (Read more here.) Syria: Clashes broke out yesterday in several coastal cities in Syria after fighters loyal to ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad attacked security forces. The attacks, which appear to be coordinated, mark the first major security challenge to face the interim government led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. It remains unclear whether the Assad loyalists represent an organized insurgency capable of sustained operations, but for now the current fighting seems to have remained contained. For the interim government, the bigger concern is that the fighting may spark a cycle of violence, leading to a chain reaction in a country where ethnosectarian tensions remain complex and fragile. (Read more here.)

This Week’s Highlights

Trump Is Weakening Sheinbaum’s Hand Against Mexico’s Cartels. On Wednesday, Eduardo Arcos looked at the potential effects of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s efforts to crack down on criminal groups operating in the country.

Last month, Sheinbaum ordered the deployment of 10,000 members of the National Guard to patrol the country’s northern border with the United States, one of the key demands made by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to avoid, or at least postpone, the imposition of blanket tariffs on Mexican goods exported to the United States. The primary objective of the deployment is to reduce the number of migrants reaching the U.S. border as well as to combat drug trafficking, particularly of fentanyl. So far, the results of the National Guard’s deployment have been positive, albeit modest, with more than 500 arrests and the seizure of just under 7 tons of narcotics. Upgrade to a paid subscription to get the full bulleted breakdown of the stories we highlight each week.

In Africa, the Race for Critical Minerals Is Recreating Colonial Models. And on Friday, Duncan Money looked at how the exploitation of Africa’s critical minerals is resulting in economic arrangements that have much in common with those of the colonial era.

Large-scale infrastructure projects built and planned across the African continent, which have attracted billions of dollars in investment in recent years, are essentially replicating colonial models of infrastructure, in turn recreating economic and trade relations—and their associated inequities—from a bygone era. Most colonial economies in Africa were extractive. Raw materials like copper, gold, rubber and timber were extracted and shipped to Europe to support the economies of colonizing powers. Infrastructure was therefore built to connect mines and plantations to ports, rather than to other locations on the continent. Upgrade to a paid subscription to get the full bulleted breakdown of the stories we highlight each week.

This Week’s Most-Read Story

Merz Just Shifted Germany’s Defense Policy Into Warp Speed. And in this week’s top story by pageviews, columnist Ulrike Franke looked at the debates shaping the security and defense policy of Germany’s prospective new government:

Whether the prospective government will be able to manage the dramatic changes in trans-Atlantic relations skillfully, whether it will find compromises on common European defense funding and whether troops in Ukraine are an option remain unclear. What the past few days have shown, however, is that Germany’s new government and its likely leader are still good for some surprises, bold moves and clear statements, which is already an encouraging development.

What’s On Tap

And coming up next week, we’ve got:

A briefing by Miles Pomper and Yanliang Pan on how Trump’s tariffs could affect the U.S. nuclear energy revival. A briefing by Emil Avdaliani on Iran and Afghanistan’s deepening relations. And a briefing by Jon Hoffman on Saudi Arabia’s “peace push” diplomacy.

That’s it for this week. And if you have any comments or feedback, just hit reply to send them along, or contact me on BlueSky at @judah-grunstein.bksy.social.

—Judah Grunstein

This Week On WPR:

Africa

In Africa, the Race for Critical Minerals Is Recreating Colonial Models By Duncan Money Large-scale infrastructure projects across Africa are attracting billions of dollars in investment. They’re also replicating colonial models.

The Americas

U.S. Aid Is Crucial to Defending Democracy in Latin America By James Bosworth U.S. foreign aid had become a key part of promoting democracy in Latin America. Its freeze has created a sense of betrayal across the region. The U.S. Shouldn’t Abandon Anti-Corruption Efforts in Central America By Benjamin N. Gedan Under Trump, the U.S. is giving up on the fight against corruption in Central America. That will only make the goal of tackling migration more difficult. Trump Is Weakening Sheinbaum’s Hand Against Mexico’s Cartels By Eduardo Arcos President Sheinbaum was already making Mexico’s security strategy more confrontational. Trump’s demands are intensifying that shift.

Asia-Pacific

For Xi, China’s Growth Model Is a Problem Masquerading as a Solution By Mary Gallagher Instead of boosting consumption in the domestic economy, Xi is doubling down on China’s export-driven growth model.

Europe

Merz Just Shifted Germany’s Defense Policy Into Warp Speed By Ulrike Franke Security policy has become the most urgent challenge for Germany. Its prospective government isn’t backing away from it. The U.S. and Europe Are Linked by a Lot More Than an Alliance By Frida Ghitis The trans-Atlantic alliance is gravely wounded, but Europe and the U.S. are not about to march off on their separate ways.

Middle East & North Africa

The First Test for Syria’s Transition Will Be the Economy By Francisco Serrano Rebuilding Syria will take years and billions of dollars. The first step is stabilizing the economy and improving the living standards of Syria’s poorest.

Global

Welcome to the Era of Great Power Stupidity By Paul Poast The U.S. is throwing out all its goodwill while Russia and China seem determined to shoot themselves in the foot. The reason why is simple: stupidity. It’s Time to Hold States Responsible for the Climate Impact of War By Aryn Baker Military activity and conflicts make up a significant portion of the world’s carbon emissions but aren’t counted on any tallies. That isn’t a coincidence.

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