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"U.N. peacekeeping, North Korea, India's 'new normal' with Pakistan."

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May 24, 2025

Hi, everybody. 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:

At a summit in London on Monday, the United Kingdom and European Union unveiled new deals on food exports and agreed to a defense and security pact. (Subscribe to WPR to read our analysis of the agreements.) On Wednesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. (Subscribe to WPR to read our analysis of the meeting.)

This Week’s Highlights

U.N. Peacekeeping Can Help Trump Advance His ‘Back to Basics’ Agenda. On Tuesday, Charli Carpenter argued that a U.S. recommitment to U.N. peacekeeping would be consistent with the stated foreign policy goals of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council renewed the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. In voting for the renewal, the U.S. acting ambassador to the U.N., Dorothy Shea, stated that “the United States is committed to the U.N. returning to its foundational purpose of maintaining international peace and security.” But for all the U.S. rhetoric about the value of peacekeeping, only two weeks prior it had withdrawn its own small contingent of military officers from the U.N. force in South Sudan, known as UNMISS. A week before that, a memo that leaked to the press included a plan to freeze U.S. contributions to peacekeeping missions altogether. Upgrade to a paid subscription to get the full bulleted breakdown of this article or listen to it in audio form.

Trump Is Dealing With a Very Different North Korea Than Before. And on Friday, Theresa Lou looked at how the strategic context of potential U.S. engagement with North Korea is much different than during the first Trump administration.

Since the multinational body established to report on the implementation of sanctions on North Korea was disbanded more than a year ago, thanks to a Russian veto in the U.N. Security Council, the international community’s ability to constrain the North Korean nuclear threat has been severely limited. The panel’s demise is a stark reminder of how much the strategic environment has shifted since U.S. President Donald Trump’s diplomatic engagements with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018. Upgrade to a paid subscription to get the full bulleted breakdown of this article or listen to it in audio form.

This Week’s Most-Read Story

India’s Militarized ‘New Normal’ With Pakistan Is a Dead End. And in this week’s top story by pageviews, Bilal Ahmad Tantray and Rishabh Yadav looked at why India’s policy of responding to terrorist attacks with conventional warfare is unlikely to stop the cross-border terrorism:

The limitations of India’s approach are visible in the recurrent need to resort to military force. New Delhi’s military objectives, both in 2016 and 2019, were to establish deterrence against terrorism originating from Pakistan. Each time, however, deterrence failed, forcing New Delhi to retaliate with greater force than it had previously. In other words, not only have the conventional attacks meant to stop cross-border terrorism repeatedly failed, but each successive crisis has stepped up the escalation ladder between the two countries. Military strikes, combined with domestic political rhetoric, have created a built-in commitment trap requiring New Delhi to respond with greater force, making military engagement—and by extension, future India-Pakistan confrontations—inevitable.

What’s On Tap

WPR will not be publishing on Monday in recognition of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. The Daily Review newsletter will resume on Tuesday, and we’ll have a briefing that day by Cristina Guevara on how Panama’s fugitive ex-president is testing the country’s democracy. Next week we’ll also have new columns from Ulrike Franke, Frida Ghitis and Paul Poast.

This Week On WPR:

Africa

The U.S. Should Aim Higher in Its ‘Minerals for Peace’ Deal With Congo

By Laura Kupe The U.S. is pushing for a deal aimed at stabilizing eastern Congo while securing access to the region’s minerals. Washington should think bigger.

The Americas

South America’s Illicit Gold Mining Is a Global Problem

By James Bosworth Many different international actors contribute to the global trade in illegally mined gold, which is causing a surge in violence across South America.

Asia-Pacific

India’s Militarized ‘New Normal’ With Pakistan Is a Dead End

By Bilal Ahmad Tantray and Rishabh Yadav India's default response to terrorist attacks is now military action. Not only will that raise the risk of war with Pakistan, it also won’t work.

Trump Is Dealing With a Very Different North Korea Than Before

By Theresa Lou The conditions that enabled U.S. diplomacy with North Korea in 2018 no longer exist. The Trump administration needs to reckon with that.

In Sri Lanka, Dissanayake’s Honeymoon Period Might Be Running Out

By Jeevan Ravindran Sri Lanka’s leftist president swept to power last year riding a wave of discontent. His honeymoon period may already be nearing its end.

Europe

Europe Does Face a Threat From Within. Vance Just Misidentified It

By Nathalie Tocci On the rise across Europe, nationalist far-right movements are seeking the erosion of liberal democracy and the end of European integration.

Middle East & North Africa

Trump’s Middle East Trip Was Quietly About Resetting U.S. Regional Policy

By Paul Poast Besides making business deals and accepting lavish gifts, Trump also promised a reset in U.S.-Middle East relations. The question is if he’ll follow through.

The UAE’s Growing Footprint in North Africa Is Making Algeria Nervous

By Elfadil Ibrahim As new alliances reshape regional dynamics in North Africa, Algeria is confronting an increasingly unfamiliar and adversarial environment.

Aoun Needs to Move Fast to Seize Lebanon’s Opportunity

By Frida Ghitis With the Middle East in the midst of a historic shift in its balance of power, Lebanon is hoping to emerge from a seemingly endless downward spiral.

Global

U.N. Peacekeeping Can Help Trump Advance His ‘Back to Basics’ Agenda

By Charli Carpenter The U.S. under Trump is undercutting U.N. peacekeeping while saying it values those missions. It should step up its involvement instead.

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