🌍 Macron promises a reset in Africa relations

Hi there Intriguer. Tuesdays really deserve more credit. Allied forces stormed Nazi beaches on a Tuesday. Harry Potter was released on a Tuesday. Heck, we even discovered Uranus on a Tuesday. So get out there and take that beach, publish that novel, and discover that amusingly named planet. It's Tuesday!

Today’s briefing is a 4.4 min read:

• 🌍 French President Macron asks Africa for a reset.

• 🌊 The UN reaches historic high seas protection agreement.

• ➕ Plus: Sticky Euro Area inflation, how the papers are covering Greek protests following a deadly train crash, and an economic miracle in jeopardy.

🚀 PS: Our all-time record (last month) was 1,411 new subscribers in a day. If you feel we're worth sharing with just one friend today, we could smash that record 🙏

– Valentina, Ethan & Jeremy

🗺️ AROUND THE WORLD

1. 🇬🇪 Georgia: MPs brawled during a debate on Monday over a bill requiring foreign-funded NGOs and media outlets to register as “foreign influence agents." Opponents say the law is designed to derail Georgia’s EU bid, which 80% of Georgians support.

2. 🇪🇪 Estonia: The pro-EU and pro-NATO Reform Party of Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday. Kallas has been among Ukraine’s most vocal supporters since the war began last year.

3. 🇵🇰 Pakistan: Police in Lahore attempted to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges that he accepted and attempted to resell gifts from foreign dignitaries while in office. Khan has evaded arrest and says his life may be threatened if he enters custody.

4. 🇪🇨 Ecuador: A judge in Ecuador has approved corruption charges against Lenin Moreno. Prosecutors say Moreno, who served as president from 2017-2021, accepted millions in bribes from a Chinese dam-building company while vice president from 2013-2017.

5. 🇿🇦 South Africa: President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his promised cabinet reshuffle late on Monday. In addition to replacing his deputy president, Ramaphosa appointed an inaugural minister of electricity to address the country’s unprecedented blackouts.

🇫🇷 FRANCE | DIPLOMACY

Macron faces an uphill climb in Africa

Briefly: French President Emmanuel Macron wrapped up a four day trip to Africa on Sunday, after visits to Gabon, Angola, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was his 18th visit to the continent, and culminated in a promise by Macron to reset relations with France’s former colonies there.

Last year alone, Burkina Faso and Mali expelled French forces, and France withdrew its troops from the Central African Republic. So Macron's offer to reset relations is a little like offering to go to jail after the judge has already banged her gavel: i.e., merci for the offer Monsieur President, but it's happening anyway.

Still, Macron says he'll end the age of French intervention known as Franceafrique and work with the continent on Africa's terms. For now, this means further reducing troop numbers and co-managing French bases in Africa with host governments.

Intrigue’s take: Geopolitics abhors a vacuum, and recent US, Russian and Chinese high-level visits to Africa have sought to fill the vacuum left there by France last year.

But while Macron says he has “no nostalgia about France-in-Africa” (he's the first French president born after the country's colonial era), his trip suggests he has no intention of ceding French influence any further.

As Macron himself said: “Africa is a theatre of competition… We have our role to play, no more, no less.”

Also worth noting:

• Macron attended the One Forest Summit during his time in Gabon and pledged $53M to conservation initiatives.

• In a sign of Russia’s growing influence, some protestors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo called on Macron to offer "help to Mr Putin."

📰 GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

How different newspapers covered: Anti-government protests in Greece after a deadly train crash.

Links: Kathimerini, BBC, DW.

Sponsored by Power Corridor

The Intersection of Wall Street and DC, where money collides with power — it’s where elections are decided, corporate dynasties are born (or die), and the decisions that shape the future of our country are made.

Meet Power Corridor, a new newsletter brought to you by The Daily Upside. Written by Leah McGrath Goodman, an investigative journalist with a long track record of disruptive journalism, Power Corridor is your key to understanding the people and forces shaping our world. Join Leah for no holds barred coverage of the stories that matter.

🌊 UN | ENVIRONMENT

Countries agree to sign historic ocean protection treaty

Briefly: After nearly two decades of on-and-off negotiations, UN member states finally agreed to protect the high seas. The UN High Seas Treaty agreed in New York on Saturday sets out the legal framework to establish marine protected areas in international waters (also known as high seas).

Two thirds of the world's oceans are high seas, and only 1% of those are protected. Without protection, it's been an environmental ship-show out there.

Intrigue’s take: This weekend’s historic treaty is a massive step towards achieving the UN’s 30×30 commitment, which promises to designate 30% of land and sea as protected areas by 2030. The agreement is also much-needed proof that the UN can still get things done (albeit 20 years late).

Oh yeah, and Jane Fonda was there to help nudge exhausted diplomats over the line.

Also worth noting:

• All eyes are now on whether this year’s Dubai COP28 climate conference (30 November -12 December) can keep the momentum going.

• Overfishing has reduced the population of large ocean fish to 10% of their pre-industrial numbers.

📊 CHART OF THE DAY

Stickier than expected…

Inflation in the Euro Area (aka 'Eurozone': the 20 countries that use the Euro) decreased to 8.5% in February, but the figure was still above expectations. Lingering inflation will put pressure on the European Central Bank to keep raising interest rates and cool the economy down.

👀 EXTRA INTRIGUE

We’re very online, so you don’t have to be.

• How Russian journalists in exile are covering the War in Ukraine

• How ASEAN survives – and thrives – amid great-power competition

• How Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro outfoxed the west

• Bangladesh’s economic miracle is in jeopardy

• What caused ‘Havana Syndrome’?

🗳️ POLL TIME!

Yesterday's poll: Has the G20 become too politicised for an economic forum?

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤔 Yes, focusing on politics takes away from economic talk (32%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🙅 No, economics *is* politics (68%)

Your two cents:

• 🙅 M: "Particularly at the international level, both are indissociable."

• 🤔 J.D: "Politics may *impact* economics, but they are not the same. While rare, it is possible to have an economic policy that meets approval of multiple political viewpoints."