INTRIGUE’S LATEST
The global affairs briefing you’ll actually look forward to reading.
Another coup in Thailand?
You’re chatting away on the phone after a crappy few weeks at work: yep, Jenny from accounts is at it again, and don’t even get us started on Barry from marketing. So you vent, throw a little shade, maybe sprinkle in some spice — it’s a private call. You do you, right? Wrong. Thailand’s prime […]
What’s in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill?
As DC slogs through the dog days of summer, we’re hearing foreign diplomats are still glued to the news on President Trump’s 940-page Big, Beautiful Bill now in the Senate. But stifle that yawn, dear Intriguer. Here’s why the embassies are firing off those cables: Sure, capitals are interested in the big picture (what kind […]
Labubu, geopolitics and culture
It’s time to take a quick break from all the trade wars and actual wars, and go back in time to pitch you a few quirky business ideas. But they all lean into culture, so bring your thick-rimmed glasses, turtle-neck, and beret, okay? As for the first pitch, we’re taking you to… Hear us out. […]
Latest Articles
New York City’s election is global
Millions of New Yorkers head to the polls today (Tuesday) for Democratic primaries that’ll shape who ends up helming America’s biggest city and the world’s financial capital. The frontrunners include… Given the city’s heavily Democratic vibes, today’s primary winner typically goes on to beat the Republican nominee to become New York’s next mayor. But… why […]
Did Trump make the right call?
With the US now hitting Iran directly for the first time, we’re all left with two big questions. Backers argue the ayatollah runs a fascist, expansionist regime openly calling for Israel’s destruction and sponsoring like-minded terrorist groups, all while stringing a naïve world along with talks, yet still stockpiling uranium enriched to 60% (way beyond […]
Can the US actually destroy Iran’s Fordow base?
Now that the US president has indicated he’ll allow another two weeks for negotiations with Iran to continue, we can also reflect a little more on some of the underlying assumptions at play: eg, can the US actually punch through Iran’s Fordow mountain? So with thanks to an anonymous Intriguer, we connected with one of […]
The UK’s new top spy emerges from the shadows
Every now and then, the public gets a glimpse beyond the veil. Take this week, with news the UK’s new foreign intelligence agency (MI6) spymaster will be Blaise Metreweli. In his big reveal, PM Starmer endorsed her “excellent leadership” and noted she’s being promoted to ‘C’ (chief, though the ‘C’ derives from the surname of the original […]
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Geopolitics
Labubu, geopolitics and culture
It’s time to take a quick break from all the trade wars and actual wars, and go back in time to pitch you a few quirky business ideas. But they all lean into culture, so bring your thick-rimmed glasses, turtle-neck, and beret, okay? As for the first pitch, we’re taking you to… Hear us out. […]
More Articles
Why the world is having fewer babies
Why are a bunch of ex-diplomats talking about babies and birth rates? Sure, it’s like a mango sorbet palate-cleanser amid all the war and rumours of war. But natality is also one of those slow-moving forces that can completely transform our world. How? Last century, the dominant narrative was that populations were too big, with leaders in China, Vietnam […]
Xi and Trump talk for the first time
Sometimes, the shortest press releases generate the most headlines. Take Thursday’s press release from China’s state broadcaster: “Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday held phone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the latter’s request.” As you’d expect, given the feverish geopolitical climate of today, those 18 words were enough to trigger a visceral reaction in any US-China […]
The five spiciest quotes from this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue
It’s finally June, and you know what that means! Summer’s The Shangri-La Dialogue is finally back, bringing together generals, leaders, security folks, and academics from 47 countries. Here are five of the most intriguing quotes from this year’s summit: In keeping with the tone of Trump 2.0, Hegseth’s keynote speech was anything but low-key. In this instance, […]
Help! The world is impacting our bottom line
When Wall Street woke up to check its Bloomberg terminals yesterday, they’ll have seen a headline that JP Morgan Chase now has its own ‘Center for Geopolitics’. That’s America’s biggest bank launching something that sounds like a tweed-clad think-tank, led by Derek Chollet — a former Pentagon, State, and White House official. And for anyone who’s been […]
ECONOMICS
Did Trump just trigger Black Monday 2.0?
While you might’ve spent your Sunday night watching an epic finale of The White Lotus, traders were glued to something just as wild playing out on their terminals: S&P 500, Nasdaq, and commodity futures allplunged again while folks traded a record 100 million options contracts (a classic hedge), spooking markets across Asia and Europe. That’s all because whether […]
More Articles
The world digests Trump’s tariff reveal
In a packed Rose Garden, Donald Trump has unveiled his long-awaited reciprocal tariffs, which the 47th president is dubbing “kind reciprocal”, because they work out at roughly half what he says the world is charging the US. Here’s a quick snapshot of the new tariffs, including: That “virtually” is doing some heavy lifting, as a few names are missing from Trump’s list: One […]
Shots fired! The ‘Great Trade War’ is back
And so The Great Trade War™ is on. You’ve probably already heard endless hot takes from folks dressed in shirts with collars more rigid than your uncle Rob on the dance floor, so let’s keep this one short (and our collars in an effortless kind of linen ruffle). Here’s what you need to know. Trump’s […]
Is China’s communist party getting business-friendly?
After China’s Deepseek AI bot rocked the world’s markets and capitals last month, China’s private sector is now throwing the kind of party you just can’t ignore. How big? A $1.3 trillion rally. Big enough to attract the VVVVVVVIP himself, China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Xi hosted China’s top business leaders at a forum in Beijing yesterday (Monday), and the […]
Trump’s latest tariffs, from four cities
Brave that deja vu, because Donald Trump has now signed another executive order imposing 25% levies on all aluminium and steel imports, effective 12 March. So to make tariffs seem not-boring, let’s take a quick musical tour of four capitals… Notwithstanding the buzz or shock, these US tariffs aren’t new. The president imposed broadly similar levies back during Trump 1.0, before […]
Technology
Will Jensen Huang re-shape our world?
In the upper wings of the Taipei Music Center yesterday (Monday), two elderly locals watched as their son, Nvidia’s founder Jensen Huang, announced he’s doubling down on Taiwan. And while folks were there for the Computex trade show, they saw something else: Huang emerging as the kind of 21st century CEO with more clout than many world leaders. […]
More Articles
Here’s what’s next for TikTok
As markets stubbed their toe on Trump’s high-stakes tariff reveal this week, it was almost possible to forget about that pesky April 5 (tomorrow) deadline for TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell up or face a painful US ban. And while Trump extended that deadline on his first day back in office, it now looks […]
The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite frenzy is here
We’re not a finance newsletter (we don’t own enough Patagucci vests to qualify), but we do enjoy scrolling through stock tickers. That’s how we noticed some recent movements around Eutelsat, a Franco-British Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operator that’s in talks with the EU to ramp up its presence in Ukraine. Over the past four days, the […]
Paris AI Summit hangs in the balance
Shrugging off some winter showers, France’s Emmanuel Macron (co-hosting with India’s Narendra Modi) has rolled out the red carpet for heads of state, executives (hi Jamie Dimon), and AI power players at the latest AI Action Summit, which wraps today (Tuesday). And a quick glance at the headlines might suggest that oh, Macron is announcing $110B in […]
Congo conflict flares amid critical minerals race
As we foreshadowed yesterday, Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have now seized the eastern Congolese trade hub of Goma in a lightning advance. It’s a conflict with ties to Big Tech, world history, and Western unease, so let’s take a look: A quick glance at a map might make you wonder how Rwanda could possibly be a […]
