Plus: Colours of the week
IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ 4 nations in the JFK files |
2️⃣ The Intrigue jobs board |
3️⃣ Colours of the day |
Hi Intriguer. A warm welcome to our new subscribers from the American Chamber of Commerce delegation!
Helen and I had the privilege of chatting with a great group of senior executives in Washington DC yesterday about all things geopolitics and media. Turns out folks have got lots of really interesting takes on the future of media!
Even more remarkably, my flight back to Boston was on time and half full — truly a day for the ages.
Anyway, what better way to kick off your new Intrigue reading routine than with an examination of the JFK files. No, we’re not conspiracy theorists, well not that conspiracy theory anyway, but there were some interesting geopolitical stories that emerged from the latest document release, so let’s dive in.
PS — Ever wondered what it’s like to be foreign minister for a NATO ally with no military? We’re thrilled to have Iceland’s Thordis Kolbrun Gylfadottir join us live for an unfiltered chat next week, 9.30am ET on Friday 28 March. It’ll be free and online, so be sure to keep reading each day for your chance to register!
Israel renews Gaza ground operation.
The Israeli military has launched what it’s calling a limited ground operation across Gaza’s Netzarim corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza. It comes a day after resuming heavy airstrikes across the strip, and follows two months of fragile ceasefire and weeks of talks with Hamas over further hostage releases.
Trump proposes to take over Ukraine power plants.
Donald Trump has held a call with his Ukrainian counterpart, suggesting future US ownership of Ukraine’s power plants would provide the “best protection”. Also during the call, Zelensky agreed to adhere to a limited energy ceasefire with Russia.
DoD mulls major military cuts.
The Pentagon is exploring whether to merge its European and African commands and halt the planned expansion of US Forces Japan as part of a cost-cutting drive. Reports also suggest DC is considering ceding the role of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, which a US four-star general has held since WWII.
Fed keeps rates unchanged.
The US Federal Reserve has opted to keep rates steady, while flagging it expects two more cuts later this year. The central bank has also cut its US growth forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%, partly in response to President Trump’s tariffs.
Colombian finance minister quits.
Diego Guevara has stepped down as finance minister amid a disagreement with President Petro over budget cuts. He’s the 13th minister to leave in recent times, highlighting continued instability within Petro’s government.
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TOP STORY
Four countries in the JFK files
While legions of experts, amateurs, and AI chatbots still duly comb through the ~60,000 pages of newly published JFK files, there’s nothing yet to upend the conclusions of the 1964 Warren Commission report which found that Lee Harvey Oswald, an oddball former marine with communist convictions, assassinated the president and acted alone.
Still, this new trove is making headlines around the world in some intriguing ways because of some of the international angles involved. Here are four examples:
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Australia
It turns out Australian and US intelligence agencies agonised in the 1960s over whether to declassify file ‘CD-971’ on crank calls to the US embassy about threats to JFK before and after his death. Believe us, embassies get crazy calls every day. So why the secrecy? Australia’s risk-averse spymaster at the time warned that, if CD-971 were released:
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a) "Questions could be raised” about Australia’s investigation into the calls (he seems to fear embarrassment over his agency wasting time investigating cranks, plus getting caught up in the whirlwind of global public interest), and
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b) Neither the local presence of CIA officers nor the existence of their Aussie counterparts (ASIS) had ever been acknowledged, but CD-971 could’ve revealed both.
In the end, the CIA director agreed not to publish the docs. But maybe if they just released them back in the 60s, we’d not still be talking about these crank calls six decades later?
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Mexico
Just months before JFK’s assassination, Oswald visited both the Soviet and Cuban missions in Mexico City seeking a visa for travel to the USSR (where he’d already defected and married a Russian national). Ultimately he came away empty-handed because he didn’t have the right paperwork. Sound familiar?
Anyway, it’s not Oswald’s visa woes that caught our eye, but how the US knew, including:
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a) Using tapped phones and double agents inside the embassies, all helped by
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b) Close ties between Mexico’s then-president and the CIA’s local station chief.
So naturally, the US was wary of revealing all this, lest a) foes learn US methods (like a special chemical to mark tapped phones), or b) Mexico’s government be publicly embarrassed into cracking down on local US intelligence activity.
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Cuba
There’s long been speculation Cuba might’ve been involved, and US intelligence spent years exploring that possibility, but these new files seemingly offer no new evidence.
They do, however, refer to various US plans to topple Fidel Castro, including through:
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CIA recruits disguised as students
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Inducing crop failure, “particularly rice”, and
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Even offering the Mafia a cool $100k to kill the Cuban strongman.
The files suggest many of these plans never went anywhere, both due to the White House’s doubts around the CIA’s competence after the Bay of Pigs debacle, plus related resistance from the president’s younger brother and attorney-general, RFK.
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India
The files also include entire lists of offshore CIA stations (gleefully retweeted by Russian state media), plus internal debate from as recently as 1995 on the risks of their exposure.
So media outlets around the world are now duly reporting on any apparent local CIA presence, often confirming what’s already public knowledge — India, for example, has a long history of cooperation with the CIA, including to monitor neighbouring Soviets and China, plus even helping the CIA facilitate the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet.
The problem, however, is that formally acknowledging this CIA presence often puts host governments in an awkward position, bringing public pressure to stop what local agencies often long quietly value: open channels with the CIA.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
None of this so far changes any meaningful conclusion around who shot JFK. Rather, it offers further proof for a few things Intriguers will recall we’ve explored previously:
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Intelligence agencies and foreign ministries often over-classify stuff. This unnecessary secrecy creates a void that’s filled by cranks and exploited by foes to erode public trust, a key precondition for effective intelligence.
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And yes, it’s valid to keep things secret to protect sources and methods. But some of the secrecy on display here is more about protecting agencies from embarrassment, creating a void that’s likewise easily exploited by foes.
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The solution, however, is not necessarily declassifying and dumping everything online. Thousands of folks are today waking up to see their names, social security numbers, and former secret lives being blasted out into the public: “You mean grandma Mavis was a spy?!”
Meanwhile, will any of this satisfy or silence the conspiracy theorists? Unlikely. From our perspective, conspiracy theories are often about folks taking the easy option, which is to believe in some crack group out there controlling world events, rather than confront the more disconcerting reality that yes, a single lost soul can alter history.
Also worth noting:
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Most of the documents released this week had already been made public, but their redactions (protecting names and details) have now been removed.
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇯🇵 Japan: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has weighed in on controversy surrounding the latest in Canada’s Assassin's Creed games, which shows the possible destruction of a revered shrine in Japan. Responding to questions, the PM warned that “respecting the culture and religion of a country is fundamental”.
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🇩🇪 Germany: Berlin has sharpened its travel advice for Germans visiting the US, warning Trump 2.0’s tougher immigration stance could lead to detention or deportation. French outlets are also reporting the case of a scientist denied US entry after border officials searched his phone and found criticism of Trump.
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🇮🇩 Indonesia: The main stock index in Southeast Asia’s largest economy has tumbled this week as investors seemingly get cold feet over slowing consumption and the new president’s big spending plans. In response, Indonesia’s central bank has moved to put a floor under the weakening rupiah.
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🇧🇷 Brazil: Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian lawmaker and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has said he’ll seek political asylum in the US. He argues he’s facing persecution for defending his father’s right-populist movement.
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🇳🇬 Nigeria: President Bola Tinubu has declared a state of emergency in the country’s oil-rich Rivers state and suspended the local governor, citing reports of key pipelines getting sabotaged. Critics are questioning the move’s legality, instead suggesting it’s part of a broader power grab.
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EXTRA INTRIGUE
The Intrigue jobs board is back!
COLOURS OF THE DAY
Credits: Naver.
American lawmakers are famous for their filibustering, whether reading aloud the entire back catalogue of Doctor Seuss, hundreds of tasty Louisiana recipes, or even the local phone book, all in a bid to slow down a law they dislike.
But South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-mok (pictured above) might’ve come up with a new improved move, getting a personalised colour analysis (a popular new beauty trend) while the opposition waits for him to appoint a ninth judge to the country’s constitutional court that’ll decide the fate of impeached President Yoon.
Whatcha think — has Choi found the glow he needs to really make that smile pop?
DAILY POLL
Do you think intelligence agencies should release unredacted documents? |
Yesterday’s poll: What do you think about the latest Trump-Putin call?
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🕊️ A step closer to peace (10%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ✊ Putin wants power, not peace (89%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write us!) (1%)
Your two cents:
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✊ C.W.F: “Putin wants peace as long as he wins.”
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🕊️ G: “I really fear Europeans would like to torpedo this treaty.”
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✍️ M.T.A: “The real test will be in the follow-through — who is included in negotiations, what concessions are made, and whether any agreement truly prioritizes Ukraine’s sovereignty and stability.”
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