Mentioned in this edition: Bashar al-Assad, Donald Trump, Giorgia Meloni, Javier Milei, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Volodymyr Zelensky, Larry Fink, Ric Grenell, and more.

Good morning. When you think of major players in international politics, you usually think of countries, not investment companies. But the massive American multinational BlackRock has begun playing international politics, and it’s not clear if that’s a good thing. Plus, the Trump administration and Russia have engaged in secret negotiations to restart the destroyed Nord Stream pipelines.

🔎 WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

1. 🇸🇾 Violence in Syria escalates to its worst since Assad’s downfall. Pro-Assad fighters and security forces battled for the second day in Syria's coastal region, killing at least 130 people, including civilians, amid rising tensions after opposition fighters toppled the Bashar al-Assad regime. Christians, Kurds, and Druze have been increasingly targeted, with some reports indicating horrific violence against men, particularly in Alawite strongholds. Many who were skeptical of the mainstream media’s and left’s celebration of Bashar al-Assad’s downfall were right to be. Christians and pro-Western minorities are now being slaughtered by anti-Assad forces, who were previously safe under a stable government.

2. 🇪🇺 Europe kicked the can down the road on defense spending and Ukraine aid. A major meeting of all 27 European Union member states amounted to little more than a decision to consider spending more money on defense and to provide Ukraine with already-promised aid. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also rejected a proposal for Italian soldiers to participate in monitoring a ceasefire. The meeting underlined Europe’s inability to spend big on defense. Europeans, who have become accustomed to free healthcare and early retirements, are likely unwilling to suffer cuts to those services.

3. 🇨🇦 Canada is retaliating against America’s tariffs. Some Canadian provinces have begun removing American alcohol from their stores. The province of Ontario has gone further, with plans to end a $100 million contract with Starlink and to levy a surcharge of 25 percent of electricity, upon which 1.5 million Americans rely. While it is unclear whether these moves will continue in the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will pause tariffs on most goods, they demonstrate the double-sided edge of economic protectionism.

4. 🇨🇳 China said it's ready for war with America. President Trump’s decision to levy tariffs of 20 percent on certain Chinese goods has infuriated Beijing. The country’s embassy in Washington said, “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.” For all of China’s bluster, they likely are genuinely worried about the impact major tariffs could have on their economy. China’s economic growth has slowed down significantly in the past few years, and tariffs could further that slide.

🇪🇺 EUROPE

• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk critiqued Europe for relying on the United States for defense, saying, “500 million Europeans [are] begging 300 million Americans to defend them from 140 million Russians.”

• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggested Ukraine could receive NATO’s Article V protection — the mechanism that calls on member states to defend one another from attack — without formally joining NATO.

• French President Emmanuel Macron announced he was opening a debate on whether France should extend its nuclear umbrella to other European states.

• Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is attempting to change his country’s spending rules before the new parliament is sworn in later this month; in the new parliament, the AfD will be large enough to block such a change.

🌏 ASIA-PACIFIC

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Mentioned behind the paywall: Australia, Japan, the UN, China, the Philippines, Canada, the South China Sea, and North Korea.

🐪 MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

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Mentioned behind the paywall: Saudi Arabia, the US, Ukraine, Israel, Hamas, Turkey, Sudan, the International Criminal Court, and the UAE.

🚢 THE AMERICAS

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Mentioned behind the paywall: Mexico, the US, Argentina, Israel, Venezuela, Guyana, and Peru.

With new reconstruction projects, BlackRock expands its global power

The American investment firm BlackRock is becoming a major international player. In the past few years, its financial holdings have dramatically increased — and with more money has come more opportunity. The company recently announced it would be purchasing ports on both sides of the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong-based company. At the same time, it has taken an active interest in rebuilding Ukraine…

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The Trump administration’s secret plan to restart Nord Stream

Multiple media outlets are reporting that President Donald Trump is open to restarting work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which — if it had been completed — would have delivered Russian gas to major markets throughout Europe. Some outlets, such as the German Bild, went even further, reporting that Trump’s special envoy, Ric Grenell, traveled to Switzerland for secret talks with the Russians to actively pursue a restart of Nord Stream 2…

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