Five Things That Mattered This Week | March 20, 2026

Global shipping in turmoil. Seafarers stranded in the Gulf. Brent is at $115. Mossad in Farsi. North Korea is helping fund Russia's war. JD Vance in Budapest. Art, music, graphs－let's get into it!

Good morning!
Friday came in swinging but don’t worry — we’ve got your six.

A slightly unhinged week that would leave anyone winded but we never choke on the headlines. We’ve been deep in the news, and you get the juice.

The week had a broad repricing of inflation, bonds, housing, and risk assets. About 20,000 seafarers are stranded in the Gulf. Brent is surging above $115. North Korea has been helping Russia fund their war in Ukraine. European bickering over Kyiv budget. Zelenskyy sent drone experts to assist on Iran war. Iraq is pushing to revive northern export routes to Türkiye to evade the Hormuz bottleneck. Iran struck Qatar’s oil infrastructure, with damage expected to take years to rebuild. Trump appears bored with war. Israeli military leaders reportedly called Trump “unreliable”. Israel is in Lebanon. Greek-Israeli partnership in the Eastern Med moves forward. The war in Iran has spilled over into Iraqi Kurdistan. The Horn of Africa, Houthis in Yemen and more are widening the theatre by the day.

It’s all at breakneck speed. We would never dump and run. We’ve got art and music, graphs, predictions, war notes and more.

The world feels frayed at the edges, and many of us do too. We’ve got a weekend ahead to mend and repair. We’ll meet here again for a brand new Monday. — Ali & Asli