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The Economist
March 19th 2026
The Economist This Week
Highlights from the latest issue
Robert Guest
Deputy editor
A few years ago, when giving a talk in London, I accused Iran of destabilising its neighbour, Iraq, by backing Shia militias there. “Oh, no,” objected an Iraqi official in the audience; those militias are a force for peace. Really? At the time, someone had just tried to assassinate the Iraqi prime minister in his home with drones, and everyone assumed the pro-Iran militias were behind it. My first thought was that the Iraqi official was a stooge, but she came up to me afterwards and explained. She completely agreed with me, she said, but was so scared of the militias that she felt obliged to praise them in public.
The Iranian regime is a menace. Donald Trump is right about that. However, it is a complex, many-tentacled menace that
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cannot simply be flattened
with a few days’ bombing. It has spent decades building a network of proxies across the Middle East and years honing its drone technology. So when Mr Trump says that
“
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nobody expected ”
Iran to hit its Gulf neighbours when attacked, he is not merely wrong. He reveals how dangerously heedless he is of the consequences of his actions.
Our
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cover leader this week
explores how Mr Trump’s war has weakened him. The resulting energy shock is roiling the world economy. America is
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Russia is laughing .
The chances of Democrats recapturing both arms of Congress
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have sharply increased .
Some Republicans—the ones who took his “no new wars” promise seriously—are furious, as our editor-in-chief’s
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interview with Tucker Carlson
for the Insider illuminates. Mr Trump could still surprise us with a diplomatic triumph,
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perhaps in Cuba .
But for now, his fury seems not so much “epic” as blind.
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Editor’s picks
A selection of must-read articles
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War in Iran is making Donald Trump weaker—and angrier
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By diminishing the president’s political superpowers, his reckless campaign may make him more dangerous
→
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There is plenty of scope for the Iran war to intensify
→
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The war could sap American military power for years
→
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The assassination of senior leaders harms Iran—but at a cost
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Which country is the biggest loser from the energy shock?
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We rank the poor world’s exposure and buffers
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An unpopular conflict and costly fuel could hobble his presidency
→
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Does Donald Trump even care about the midterms?
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Africa’s richest man has ambitious plans for the continent
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The World Happiness Report shows it diverging from the rest of the world
Podcast
Video
One of MAGA’s biggest stars claims that the conflict in Iran will prove catastrophic for Donald Trump’s movement—and for America. The president says that his onetime ally has lost his way.
