This week, tensions between Iran and the U.S. continued to rise despite ongoing negotiations, with Iran threatening repercussions if the U.S. were to attack and Israel threatening Lebanon with strikes against civilian infrastructure if Hezbollah acted in defense of Iran. In the Indo-Pacific, China restricted rare earth exports to Japan, and U.S. aerospace manufacturers warned of dwindling rare earth supplies, despite last year’s trade truce. The U.S. imposed a global 10% tariff following last week’s decision by the Supreme Court that invalidated IEEPA tariffs, and the Cuban Coast Guard killed four passengers of a U.S.-flagged speedboat that entered Cuban waters. In the Russia/Ukraine conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed optimism in upcoming trilateral negotiations with Russia and the U.S., while the U.S. held talks with Ukraine on post-conflict reconstruction.

This week, the U.S. continued its buildup of naval and air forces near Iran for a potential military operation, while Iranian officials reported progress in diplomatic talks. In the United States, the Supreme Court invalidated tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, dealing a major blow to the administration’s trade policy. In the Russia/Ukraine conflict, the latest round of peace negotiations ended with inconclusive results, while world leaders gathered in Germany for the Munich Security Conference. In the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. unveiled plans to deploy more missile systems to the Philippines, while China prepared to receive German Chancellor Friederich Merz. As the U.S. pressure campaign against Cuba continued, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Cuban government representatives. Meanwhile, U.S. forces intercepted another Venezuelan-linked tanker in the Indian Ocean.

Marxist Arrow by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of Crime Beat Conversations, Rafaella Lipschitz sat down with Stefano Ritondale again, to discuss the dynamics of the Sinaloa cartel civil war and emerging alliances between Los Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel, and CJNG, Sinaloa’s historic rival. Stefano breaks down how the Sinaloa civil war has reframed how we should understand Mexican cartel alliances. We examine some of the ways CJNG is providing support to Los Chapitos in their fights against the Mayitos, what this alliance means for other Mexican cartels, and how policymakers should go about understanding this complex landscape. Stay tuned for more from Crime Beat Conversations.

Find Stefano’s piece on cartel militarization for New Lines Institute here:

https://newlinesinstitute.org/people/stefano-ritondale/

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For more from Stefano, follow on X (https://x.com/All_Source_News) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefano-ritondale-1046b5345/)

A New Lines Institute Mafiacracies Project production: https://newlinesinstitute.org/initiative/mafiacracies-project/

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