🌍 Israel’s deadly hostage rescue operation

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Hi Intriguer. In amongst all the elections this year, you might’ve missed an obscure ballot that still has the ability to shape our world: last Thursday’s election of five new members to the UN Security Council.

Who won, you ask? That’s revealed a little further below.

But… there was an even more obscure UN ballot the same day. Per tradition, the UN chief pulled a random country’s name out of a box to determine the seating order in the UN General Assembly. This year’s country getting front row privileges? Yemen. Its UN seat is held by the internationally-recognised government based in the port of Aden (ie, not the Houthis).

Anyway, let’s get into today’s briefing, which leads with an update on Israel’s rescue raid, triggering jubilation back home, but anger and mourning in Gaza.

Macron calls snap parliamentary elections.
The French president has dissolved national parliament after the populist National Rally (led by long-time rival Marine Le Pen) won nearly double his own party’s vote in the European Parliament elections. He’s hoping a snap election will blunt criticism that he’s lost a popular mandate before his term ends in 2027. Other eurosceptic and populist parties also made inroads across Europe, though the centre-right European People’s Party remains the largest player.

Israeli war cabinet member Gantz resigns.
Benny Gantz has withdrawn his party from Israel’s unity government after criticising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war. The move by Gantz, who’s seen as Netanyahu’s main political rival, won’t topple the government because Netanyahu still holds a majority in the Knesset. Gantz was, however, seen as a counterbalance to more hard-line figures in the government.

Putin preps for North Korea and Vietnam visits.
Local media reports are emerging that Russia’s president will visit North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks. Vietnam has refrained from backing or criticising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while North Korea has cheered it on and provided material support.

IMF official warns (again) of growing US debt. 
Gita Gopinath, the fund’s second-in-command, has warned that high fiscal deficits in the US and China threaten the world economy, suggesting Washington has ample scope to rein in spending and increase taxes.

Iran approves six presidential candidates. 
80 presidential hopefuls threw their hat in the ring, but the Supreme Leader’s hand-picked council only approved six of them to run later this month. Only one of them comes from the reformist camp. The candidates are hoping to replace Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.

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INTRIGUE’S TAKE

So zooming out a little, what does all this mean?

• Hamas still holds ~120 hostages (a third of whom are presumed dead) and will now inevitably take measures to prevent similar raids, while hardening its own negotiating position (the group said "your captives won’t be released unless our prisoners are freed").

• Israel is celebrating what one opposition figure described as “a great light in the terrible darkness”, though its own military concedes it can’t release all remaining 120 hostages the same way – one way or another, that’ll embolden Netanyahu, not push him back to negotiate.

• And Netanyahu’s unity government has now split, with minister Benny Gantz exiting overnight. Plus, critics have noted Netanyahu’s availability for Shabbat-breaching photo ops with the rescued hostages, but not to meet the many angry families still awaiting news. Still, we don’t see this dislodging him from power any time soon.

So to answer our own question – what does this latest development mean? In a geopolitical sense, not a lot. We continue to see more of the same ahead.

Also worth noting:

• Netanyahu drew comparisons with the Entebbe raid of 1976, when Israeli commandos rescued 102 hostages being held by Palestinian and German hijackers on a tarmac in Uganda. Netanyahu’s older brother died in that raid, which inspired a dozen subsequent films.

• Israel’s Western partners – like the US, France, and Germany – have welcomed the release of the hostages. Others – like Egypt, Lebanon, and Kuwait – have condemned the high human cost involved.

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MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…

1. 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan: The leaders of China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have remotely signed a pact to transform “a vision into reality” for a railway connecting the three. They released little detail on the project, which has been mooted for decades but has gone nowhere due to high costs.

2. 🇺🇦 Ukraine: US authorities have said Russia’s surprise offensive to seize Ukraine’s second-largest city (Kharkiv) has now “stalled”, after weeks of heavy losses. The update came as President Biden was in France over the weekend, finalising plans to use profits from $280B in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine defend itself.

3. 🇻🇳 Vietnam: According to a Washington-based thinktank, Vietnam has increased the pace of its island-building in the South China Sea, which China mostly (and controversially) claims as its own. Vietnam has created 692 new acres of land since November, double what it created in all of 2022.

4. 🇨🇴 Colombia: President Gustavo Petro has announced he’s halting the export of coal to Israel, in protest at Israel’s actions in Gaza. Israel generates around 20% of its electricity with coal, and it sources around half of its coal from Colombia.

5. 🇾🇪 Yemen: The UN has confirmed that 11 of its personnel have been detained by the Houthis in Yemen, alongside employees from other international organisations. It’s unclear why the Houthis targeted these humanitarian workers, though the group sees itself as part of an Iranian-led “axis of resistance” against Israel and the wider West. 

EXTRA INTRIGUE

🤣 Your weekly roundup of the world’s lighter news

• An Italian village with a grand total of 46 residents has still somehow had 30 candidates run in local elections.

• An Ohio woman has surprised her father with a Guinness Record after secretly counting his collection of 1,041 pinball machines.

• A hiker has discovered that China’s tallest waterfall is actually being fed by a secret water pipe.

• A thick silver chain necklace has somehow saved the life of a Colorado man after it stopped a bullet.

• And Australia has reached peaked Australianess, after scientists found a tiger shark that regurgitated a whole echidna.

TWEET OF THE DAY

The world just elected the five next members of the UN Security Council: Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia. But ‘elected’ doesn’t quite capture the vibe – each country was running unopposed this year, per arrangements they made with their home regions. That’s known as a ‘clean slate’, and it doesn’t always work out that way.

Anyway, these five new countries will kick off their two-year term on the Council in January, joining the Council’s five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the UK and US) plus five other temporary members heading into their second and final year (Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and South Korea).

DAILY POLL

Last Thursday’s poll: Will you be following the EU parliamentary election?

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🙋 Yep, I live in Europe (21%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📰 Yep, I'm not an EU citizen but it's important (52%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👊 Nope, it's irrelevant (23%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (3%)

Your two cents:

• 📰 J.M.A: “I’m interested in politics and what’s going on in major regions of the world. Europe’s elections will have an impact on economic, environmental and social trends in other countries.”

• 📰 M.M: “It's the second most important vote in Europe this year after Eurovision!”

• 🙋 M: “I’m in Hungary – we also have local elections on the same day so it’s even more interesting here.”

• ✍️ R.H: “It's summer where I live. I'm going to the beach.”