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The Mekong River is more than the sum of its nearly 3,000 miles. It’s one of the world’s most valuable waterways and has been vital to political power in Southeast Asia for centuries. As a prized strategic and financial asset, commerce and violence have marked the basin’s story. The French tried — and failed — to re-engineer the river to anchor their imperial rule. American soldiers fought fiercely in its delta, and the Khmer Rouge casually meted out atrocities not far from its banks.

Today, the river is again under siege. Dams may provide electric power to boost economic growth, but they extract a terrible toll on the flora and fauna that villages have depended upon for millennia. Statecraft is colliding with major power tensions and national development goals, and the Mekong is coming off worse. Rarely, if ever, has the river’s future been more embattled. Cooperation is in short supply, just as it’s needed most.

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The Supreme Court Just Gave DOGE the Keys to the Kingdom — Noah Feldman

Trump’s Birthday Parade Isn’t a Harmless Military Spectacle — Timothy L. O’Brien

Los Angeles Is Losing the War for Public Opinion — Erika D. Smith

America Has Plenty of Rare Earths. But Not for Long — David Fickling

Musk’s Act of Contrition Isn’t Enough for Tesla — Liam Denning

Netanyahu’s Big Gamble Risks a Quicker Iranian Bomb — Marc Champion

Negative Swiss Rates Send a Warning to Europe — Marcus Ashworth

New US Tariffs Are Working as Intended, Right? Wrong. — Bloomberg’s editorial board

Canada’s Last-Minute G-7 Invite to Modi Signals a Thaw — Karishma Vaswani

• CEOs like Jamie Dimon and David Solomon shouldn’t fear dissent within their ranks — they should embrace it, says Beth Kowitt.
• Why are today’s strongmen so obsessed with muscle? Adrian Wooldridge examines the growing global trend.
• The US-Japan alliance has never been more important. And rarely has it faced greater uncertainties or dangers. Hal Brands has takeaways from his trip to Tokyo.

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