WPR Weekly Review

"Asia adapts to a new energy reality."

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March 28, 2026 Hi everyone, this is Elliot Waldman, WPR’s editor-in-chief. Welcome back to our Weekly Review, where we recap the highlights from our coverage this week and preview what’s on deck. If you have any comments or feedback, just hit reply to send them along. Top Stories The war in the Middle East continued to expand and intensify this week as the belligerents show no public signs of seeking de-escalation. In our Daily Review newsletter this week, we looked at some of the major developments in the conflict, as well as at a metastasizing war in the Horn of Africa. (If you don’t already receive the Daily Review, you can adjust your settings here.)     Trump Has No Good Options: Over the past week, U.S. President Donald Trump has twice postponed his stated deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or else see the country’s power plants and other energy infrastructure “obliterated.” Trump has claimed his administration is negotiating with Tehran, though Iranian officials have repeatedly denied this. Some have argued that Trump’s postponements of strikes … Read more here or purchase an all-access subscription to get the full Weekly Review each week.         Killing the Negotiators: Amid a U.S.-Israeli assassination campaign that has killed many of the Islamic Republic’s senior leaders, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is one of the few regime insiders left with substantial influence and clout in Tehran—particularly after the relatively pragmatic security chief Ali Larijani was killed in an air strike. Ghalibaf, a former mayor of Tehran and senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who currently serves as speaker of parliament, is reportedly even seen in the White House as a potential future leader of Iran that they can work with, akin to Venezuela’s Delcy Rodriguez. Yet for all the focus on Ghalibaf, analysts note that … Read more here or purchase an all-access subscription to get the full Weekly Review each week.         A Looming ‘Mega-War’ in the Horn of Africa: As the eyes of the world remain glued to the ongoing war in the Middle East, a different conflict—one of the world’s deadliest—continues to metastasize: The brutal three-year civil war in Sudan. The latest twist there came just a few days after the U.S. and Israel launched their opening salvo of airstrikes against Iran. On March 2, Sudan’s military-led government issued a statement accusing neighboring Ethiopia of … Read more here or purchase an all-access subscription to get the full Weekly Review each week.     This Week’s Highlights An aerial view of a coal terminal in Lianyungang City, China, May 25, 2025 (Costfoto/NurPhoto via AP) The Iran War Is Reshaping Asia’s Energy Security Strategies. On Wednesday, Joshua Kurlantzick and Annabel Richter looked at how the ongoing energy shock from the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is affecting Asia. The impact of the oil and LNG shock from the Iran war has been pronounced in Asia, where many leading economies produce limited amounts of nuclear energy and depend heavily on imported fossil fuels from the Middle East. Most Asian economies are only going to see their energy needs skyrocket in the next decade due to their young populations, the expansion of AI data centers and rapid economic growth. Studies conducted by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia suggest that most Southeast Asian countries have enough reserves of oil and LNG to last only 20 to 50 days. The region's governments are now … Purchase an all-access subscription to get the full Weekly Review each week. Nepal’s New Rapper-Turned-Prime Minister Faces Old Political Challenges. And on Thursday, Deepak Adhikari reported from Kathmandu on the sweeping election victory of the party led by Balendra Shah, a 35-year-old former rapper known as Balen. Shah is set to be sworn in as prime minister of Nepal after the victory of his Rastriya Swatantra Party, or RSP, in elections earlier this month. Shah first gained national political prominence by winning Kathmandu's mayoral race in 2022 as an independent. He subsequently emerged as an unlikely face of last year's Gen Z-led protests against corruption, nepotism and the dominance of Nepal's old-guard political elites. The RSP secured a near two-thirds majority in this month's elections, a rare mandate in Nepal's usually fragmented parliamentary system, delivering a major blow to the country's political establishment. In assuming the office of prime minister, Shah will take on … Purchase an all-access subscription to get the full Weekly Review each week. This Week’s Most-Read Story U.S. President Donald Trump signs a proclamation on countering cartel activity at the Shield of the Americas Summit, in Doral, Fla., March 7, 2026. (AP photo by Rebecca Blackwell) The Holes in Trump’s ‘Shield of the Americas’. And in this week’s top story by page views, James Bosworth examined a summit hosted by the Trump administration upon the launch of an effort to form a coalition of countries committed to defeating the hemisphere’s various violent transnational criminal organizations, and found that the diplomacy surrounding the initiative has come up short so far. There can be no Shield of the Americas without the participation of Latin America’s three most populous countries—Brazil, Mexico and Colombia—which also happen to be where many of the most dangerous criminal structures exist. And none of those states’ leaders joined the summit. Even the leaders who did attend were not treated with much respect. In fact, not one of them was even invited to speak. Instead, all of the speeches at the gathering and statements that emerged from it came from U.S. officials. Furthermore, according to Bloomberg, all the leaders in attendance had been promised a four-minute bilateral meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the summit, but Trump even reneged on that promise, giving them each just a brief public handshake before leaving. In other words, the summit was a U.S.-sponsored event in which the U.S. dictated the talking points and nobody else was given the chance to get a word in edgewise. What’s On Tap And coming up next week, we’ve got: A briefing by John Boyce on the revival of nuclear power in Europe. A briefing by Francisco Serrano on the troubling rise of the far-right Chega party in Portugal. A briefing by Nithin Coca on China’s rise as a natural gas superpower. To get access to all of these pieces when they are published and much more, purchase an all-access subscription. That’s it for now. Until next week, —Elliot Waldman This Week On WPR Africa   A Looming ‘Mega-War’ in the Horn of Africa As the eyes of the world remain on the ongoing war in the Middle East, the brutal three-year civil war in Sudan continues to metastasize. Americas   With Guatemala’s Democracy at Stake, Arévalo’s Reformist Push Enters a Critical Phase Bernardo Arévalo was elected president of Guatemala to tackle elite impunity. After two years on the job, it’s still an uphill climb.   The Holes in Trump’s ‘Shield of the Americas’ Military operations won’t produce real security for Latin America if there is no strategy beyond targeting cartel leaders with lethal force. Asia-Pacific   Nepal’s New Rapper-Turned-Prime Minister Faces Old Political Challenges After a sweeping victory in elections earlier this month, Balendra Shah will confront the task of fixing the system he once denounced.   Will Trump Save Denmark’s Social Dems? For some of the West’s established center-left parties, U.S. President Donald Trump is proving to be a convenient foil.   In Vietnam, To Lam’s Loyalist Team Could Hamper His Economic Agenda The personnel decisions that emerged from the Communist Party’s congress may be at odds with To Lam’s ambitious economic targets. Europe   Will Trump Save Denmark’s Social Dems? For some of the West’s established center-left parties, U.S. President Donald Trump is proving to be a convenient foil. Middle East & North Africa   Iraq’s Kurds Are Caught in the Crossfire of a War They Didn’t Start Iraqi Kurdistan, once an oasis of hard-won stability, must navigate complex security challenges stemming from the war in the Middle East.   The Iran War Is a Textbook Case of the Security Dilemma The current conflict demonstrates that, in arming itself to deter war, a state often creates the conditions that could spark it.   Iran’s Rope-a-Dope Strategy Has Given It the Upper Hand Tehran’s strategy in its war against the U.S. and Israel has taken a page from Muhammad Ali. So far, it’s paying off.   Killing the Negotiators The U.S.-Israeli strategy of decapitation is working at cross-purposes with Trump's stated objective to reach a negotiated settlement.   Will the Norm Against Cluster Munitions Survive the Iran War? A closer look at the legal reality and political rhetoric suggests that Iran’s use of cluster munitions won’t necessarily weaken the norm against them. United States   Prediction Markets Are Now Pricing Trump’s ‘America First’ Wars The rise of betting platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket has spawned a murky world of gambling on unilateral U.S. actions.   Trump Has No Good Options Trump has no good options. The problem is that he seems unable or unwilling to recognize it, so the war continues. Global   Oil Isn’t the Only Crucial Commodity Stuck in the Persian Gulf A global fertilizer shortage due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz could trigger not just economic but also social and political upheaval.

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