I’ve been thinking a lot about wars these days. Not just the ones that dominate the headlines—Ukraine 🇺🇦, Gaza 🇵🇸, the AI war 🤖, the tariff skirmishes 💰—but war as a concept.

Once upon a time, wars had endings. They were fought for conquest, for resources, for ideology. And when they ended, maps were redrawn, empires expanded or collapsed, and victors imposed their will on the defeated. The Peloponnesian War left Athens in ruins, Rome salted the earth of Carthage, the Napoleonic Wars reshaped Europe, and World War II redrew the entire geopolitical order. War was brutal, but it was, at least in theory, decisive.

But when was the last time a war was won? Not just declared over, but truly resolved? Korea ended in an armistice. Vietnam ended with helicopters fleeing rooftops. The War on Terror sprawled endlessly, each “victory” birthing a new conflict hydra-headed.

Today, even economic and technological wars—the battles fought with sanctions, tariffs, and semiconductor embargoes—seem to have no clear winners. The U.S. restricts China’s access to AI chips, and yet, within months, China unveils a frontier model. It slaps tariffs on European goods, only for Europe to retaliate. The pattern repeats, escalating rather than resolving.

If war was once about conquest, now it feels more like entropy. A slow, grinding stalemate where everyone loses, but no one knows how to stop playing.

🔥 In this week’s newsletter, we explore how economic wars mirror their military counterparts—escalating, entrenching, but never truly resolving.

From China’s AI lead 🚀 and tariff boomerangs 🔄 to Wall Street’s market carnage 📉 and Trump’s austerity play, the battle lines are drawn.

Who wins, and at what cost?