Today's through-line: the tools of cheap control — munitions, unanimity, deterrence, firefighting capacity — hit their limits at once.

Around the world

  • The US paused its nightly bombing of Iran with no strikes reported overnight — likely because Washington is running low on Patriot interceptors, not because of any peace deal. more
  • Zelensky says Russia is preparing to send 30,000 more North Korean troops, but both reports of the claim trace back to him alone, with no independent confirmation attached. more
  • Wildfires in southwest France have burned 42,000 hectares and driven more than 300,000 from their homes as flames advance on Bordeaux — among France's largest forest fires since World War II. more

Europe

  • A van rammed Berlin's Christopher Street Day march, killing a woman and injuring 16 before fleeing; police are hunting a 21-year-old, Abdul B., investigated within the city's Islamist scene. more
  • The Council adopted the EU's 21st sanctions package against Russia, but proposed curbs on Russian LNG and tourism were stripped out to secure unanimity and simply are not law. more

The bigger picture

  • Our week-in-review argues the old tools of cheap control broke together: failed deterrence, a US pact letting Saudi Arabia enrich uranium, and Brent past $100 the ECB cannot touch. more
  • A second analysis reads three contested chokepoints — the Red Sea, the approaches to Hormuz and the South China Sea — as the quiet end of collective maritime security, each guarded by a single interested party. more