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IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ Has Biden finally had enough of Bibi? |
2️⃣ Danish defence chief fired after frigate failure |
3️⃣ Botswana offers sending 20,000 elephants |
Hi Intriguer. Remember Tintin? I grew up adoring the comic books, and given the types of folks Intriguers are, I bet I’m not alone. (And yes, before I get emails, I’m well aware of Hergé’s controversial legacy.)
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Of all of Tintin’s adventures, Prisoners of the Sun is the one I remember most vividly because a well-timed total solar eclipse saves Tintin’s bacon from an Incan sacrificial pyre. It was probably the first time I’d heard of the Incas, the Andes, and the crazy idea that the sun could disappear behind the moon.
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Well, guess what – that’s precisely what’s going to happen across vast swathes of the US on Monday (a total solar eclipse, not a scrappy young reporter being ritualistically immolated, to be clear)! If you love eclipses as much as I do, check out Extra Intrigue below, where we’ve collated some intriguing links for your weekend enjoyment.
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Sadly, none of this has anything to do with our top story today, but I’m sure you’ll agree that the more escapism before we try to make sense of the genuinely awful details of Israel’s strike on World Central Kitchen aid workers, the better.
THE HEADLINES
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Yellen kicks off five-day China trip
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on China to address its manufacturing overcapacity or risk destabilising the global economy at a business event in Guangzhou on Friday. This is Yellen’s second China trip in less than a year, and makes good on President Biden’s promise to keep open lines of communication between the US and China.
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Germany announces major military restructuring
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced a set of reforms to overhaul Germany’s military yesterday (Thursday). The plan includes establishing a fourth armed forces branch specialising in cyber-warfare and unifying domestic and foreign operations under one central command. The changes are part of a wider effort to revitalise the German military following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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India goes after terrorists on foreign soil
The Indian government has reportedly carried out several assassinations in Pakistan as part of a broader strategy to hunt down terrorists abroad. The Guardian’s investigation, which cites Indian and Pakistani intelligence officers, reports that almost 20 killings have been carried out on Pakistani soil since 2020. India has dismissed the allegations as “false and malicious”.
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Samsung sees profits jump by 931%
South Korean giant Samsung Electronics expects its Q1 2024 profits to increase by more than tenfold compared to the previous year. Its stunning performance has been driven by a recovery in chip prices and increased demand for AI-related products.
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Tropical deforestation declined in 2023
The loss of tropical old-growth forests declined 9% last year compared to 2022, according to a new report by Global Forest Watch. However, deforestation across the board still remains stubbornly high: the planet lost an area of tropical forest the size of Switzerland in 2023.
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TOP STORY
Biden warns Netanyahu of “unacceptable” Israeli strike on aid convoy
Credits: Ismael Abu Dayyah / AP.
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US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke yesterday for the first time since an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers on Monday.
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It was a tense phone call. The bare-bones White House readout was dripping with unspoken tension, with Biden branding Monday’s strike and the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “unacceptable” while reiterating that “an immediate ceasefire is essential”.
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Biden seemed to warn Netanyahu that this was Israel’s last chance, saying, “U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”
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Here’s what we know about Monday’s attack:
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The Israeli military (IDF) struck an aid convoy from World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based NGO founded by celebrity chef José Andrés that provides food relief. The convoy had been dropping off aid at a warehouse in central Gaza.
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All seven aid workers (three UK citizens, one Australian, one Palestinian, one Polish, and one dual US-Canadian citizen) were killed.
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The aid convoy of two armoured cars and one ‘soft-skin’ vehicle appear to have been targeted in three separate strikes. Two experts questioned by the BBC believe the IDF used drone-launched weapons.
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An official statement on the WCK website said the convoy had alerted the IDF about its mission, was travelling in a deconflicted zone, and had branded its vehicles with the WCK logo.
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So, how could this have happened?
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José Andrés described the incident as a “direct attack” on aid workers and accused Israel of targeting the aid convoy “systematically, car by car.” “This looks like it’s not a war against terrorism anymore. It seems this is a war against humanity itself,” Andrés said.
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The IDF quickly issued an apology, calling the strike a “grave mistake” caused by “misidentification”, and was “not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers”. A Haaretz report said the strike was launched because a Hamas member was incorrectly suspected to be travelling within the aid convoy.
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The former head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, said the attack was “systematic of an approach to targeting that has on occasion bordered on the reckless.” “It is hard not to conclude that insufficient care is being paid to the collateral risk of these operations”, he added.
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What’s happened since?
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Shortly after yesterday’s Biden-Netanyahu call, Israel said it would allow more aid crossings into Gaza. It’s unknown whether that’s as a result of Biden’s pressure or because Israel’s highest court sharply questioned why the government wasn’t allowing more aid into Gaza.
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Several aid agencies, including WCK, have suspended their operations in Gaza, which will worsen what a UN-backed body has already classified as an impending famine.
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The US, Canada, Australia, the UK and others have called for a full investigation into the strike.
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Benny Gantz – Netanyahu’s main political rival – called for early elections in September to “renew trust” in the government. Netanyahu’s Likud party called the move “petty politics”.
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Meanwhile, a Hamas official told Reuters yesterday that ceasefire talks have made no progress. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said he didn’t expect the strikes on Monday to impact negotiations.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
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“This looks like it’s not a war against terrorism anymore. It seems this is a war against humanity itself.”
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You can agree or disagree with Chef, but it’s clear that Israel has lost control of the narrative around its military response to the October 7 Hamas attacks. The question is, does that matter?
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For Netanyahu, as long as the US continues to support Israel, then the answer is probably not. And while Biden personally can’t stand Netanyahu, it’s not clear how he can use his leverage over Netanyahu while maintaining US support for Israel.
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One potential option is to channel former president George Bush Snr, who in 1991 refused to give Israel $10B in aid funding unless it stopped expanding settlements on Palestinian land. Bush’s ultimatum outraged Israeli leaders at the time (a minister allegedly called Bush an antisemite), but it worked – a more moderate Israeli government was elected and acceded to US demands.
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You can bet Biden’s advisers have discussed (and perhaps fantasised about) pulling a similar move, but the situations are very different: Israel hadn’t been attacked and wasn’t at war in 1991, and the US wasn’t in an election year. For those reasons and more, we think it’s unlikely much will change in the near term.
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In the longer term, only historians will be able to fully account for the damage that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are causing to its international reputation, and whether that even matters.
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Also worth noting:
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At least 196 humanitarian workers have died since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to the UN.
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Israel is using AI systems collectively known as ‘Lavender’ to identify over 37,000 military targets, according to a joint investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call.
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇨🇳 China: The People’s Liberation Army has said it will boost its patrols along China’s border with Myanmar as fighting between rebel groups and the Myanmar military intensifies. China conducted its second live-fire drill along the border area in six months.
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🇩🇰 Denmark: The government has fired the Danish Chief of Defence General Flemming Lentfer after he failed to report a failure in a ship’s air defences whilst engaging Houthi militants. The frigate was deployed as part of a US-led operation to secure commercial vessels travelling through the Red Sea.
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🇱🇰 Sri Lanka: Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has said there is “no necessity to have further discussions” on the issue of an uninhabited island India ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974. His comments come after the ruling Indian BJP party reignited discussions around the controversial agreement as an electoral strategy.
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🇲🇽 Mexico: A mayoral candidate, Bertha Gisela Gaytán, was assassinated on the same day she started campaigning in the Mexican state of Guanajuato amid a wave of political violence. At least 14 political candidates for the upcoming June general election have been killed since the start of the year.
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🇿🇦 South Africa: The former speaker of parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, was arrested on corruption and money laundering charges after resigning from her post earlier this week. Her arrest is only the latest scandal plaguing the ruling ANC party ahead of general elections next month.
We’re giving away two VIP tickets to Tangle LIVE!
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Our friends over at Tangle News are hosting a live conversation on the 2024 US election at City Winery in NYC on 17 April. Don’t miss special guests Josh Hammer (Newsweek), Catherine Rampell (Washington Post) and Kmele Foster (The Fifth Column).
EXTRA INTRIGUE
🌒 Some weekend recommendations from Team Intrigue to prepare for Monday’s eclipse
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When it comes to eclipses, never settle for partial. Read a beautiful essay from 1982 about a solar eclipse in Washington State.
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Follow the eclipse’s path with NASA’s Eclipse Explorer map.
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For those outside the path of totality, here’s what it will look like.
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As always, only an xkcd cartoon can sum up ‘eclipse coolness’ in one image.
DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT OF THE DAY
Credits: Lerato Sejake.
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Botswana’s President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, is fed up with other countries telling Bostwana how to coexist with its wild animals.
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In his latest outburst, Masisi offered to send 20,000 elephants to Germany after the Green Party proposed banning the import of hunting trophies from Africa. Masisi has made similar threats in the past, offering to send 10,000 elephants to London, too.
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Botswana is home to the world’s largest elephant population, but the government now argues the numbers must be kept under control to reduce human-elephant contact to a minimum.
FRIDAY QUIZ
1) What’s the most spoken language in the world? |
2) How many known languages are at risk of disappearing by the end of the century? |
3) Which language holds the Guinness World Record for longest word? |
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