The ugliest possibility is a great unwinding where catastrophic economic damage causes countries to seek self-sufficiency, perhaps by building regional spheres of influence that provide resources and markets. This would be drastic, but not unprecedented: When interdependence collapsed during the Great Depression, aggressive powers conquered enormous empires in hopes of creating self-contained prosperity and security against their foes.

 

Wars Have Entered the Chokehold Era

By Hal Brands

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

One quarter of the Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 disapprove of his Iran policy, and this disapproval is especially high among groups who moved strongly toward him during that election: 56% among young adults, 62% for Hispanics and independents. These statistics signal more than a political threat for Mr. Trump and the Republicans who must face voters this fall. They represent a challenge to the democratic legitimacy of the most solemn decision that a nation can make. It’s up to the president to conclude this war in the way that does the least damage to our national interest—and to the people’s waning confidence in their public institutions.

 

Trump Loses the Home Front

Lesson of Iran: Don’t go to war without first selling the effort to American voters.

By 

William A. Galston

March 24, 2026 12:49 pm ET

Why John Mearsheimer believes America is Losing the War With Iran and that Trump can not disengage

 

Why America is Losing the War With Iran (w/ John Mearsheimer) | The Chris Hedges Report

It's time Markets reckon that Trump has a credibility gap.and that he is just pulling Iran peace talks out of his ass

 

Stocks Fall in Choppy Trading as War Drags On: Markets Wrap

Traders continue to juggle headlines around the US-Israeli war against Iran after Trump signaled a possible end to hostilities on Monday following what he described as productive talks. The positive sentiment from those comments faded after Iran denied substantive discussions, while the Wall Street Journal reported that US allies in the Persian Gulf may join the campaign against Tehran.

This time, the danger isn’t financial engineering. It’s that our financial system has attached itself to the vulnerabilities of our physical world — power grids, water, land, supply chains — and created hazards that markets have no framework to analyze. Our models for detecting risk look at prices, volatility and correlations. They have no instruments for reading a grid failure, a drought or a severed supply chain. By the time warning signs show up in market data, the damage will already have been done.

I Predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Is Coming May Be Worse.

By Richard Bookstaber

Mr. Bookstaber is the author of “A Demon of Our Own Design,” which in 2007 warned of the potential for a financial crisis.

The country in Europe that most seems to appreciate this is Ukraine, of all places. President Volodymyr Zelensky has dispatched his experts on drone defenses to the Gulf, and that could well save American lives. The military in Europe most threatened at home is the one most willing to help the U.S. abroad. Mr. Trump might keep this in mind before pressuring Ukraine into a bad peace with Russia.

 

The Allies Take a Pass on Iran

By 

The WSJ Editorial Board

March 17, 2026 6:02 pm ET

“We see little relief for the deepening energy crisis as more energy facilities come under fire,” RBC Capital Markets LLC analyst Helima Croft said in a note. “Administration officials have spent considerable manhours working to convey to market participants that the disruption will be short-lived as the war will soon wind down. Yet nothing points to a limited engagement at this juncture.”

 

The Oil Prices You See Don’t Tell the Market’s Real Story

By Alex Longley, Grant Smith, and Rong Wei Neo

March 20, 2026 at 1:41 PM EDT

Updated on 

March 21, 2026 at 7:00 AM EDT