🌍 Saudi’s new national airline

Hi there Intriguer. Welcome to the longest (or shortest) day of the year. The northern hemisphere has reached its maximum tilt towards the sun, so get out there and soak up those sweet sweet rays. In the southern hemisphere, this is your moment to rock that turtleneck.

Today’s briefing is a 4 min read:

• 🛬 Why Saudi Arabia is looking towards the skies.

• 🇲🇱 Mali asks UN peacekeepers to leave.

• ➕ Plus: Meeting Fareed, how the papers are covering the new UN high seas treaty, and why folks in Italy are tweeting about ‘isola’.

1. 🇨🇳 China: Authorities have cut lending rates in an attempt to kickstart China’s growth. Beijing announced other measures to lower borrowing costs for households and businesses last week.

2. 🇲🇩 Moldova: A top court dissolved Moldova’s pro-Russia Shor Party on Monday. Several of the party’s leaders are under EU sanctions for attempting to destabilise Moldova, which has pursued closer ties with the West since Russia invaded Ukraine.

3. 🇻🇳 Vietnam: Vietnamese markets are performing well this year after closing 2022 as the world’s worst-performing share market. Experts say interest rate cuts and government measures have helped bolster investor confidence.

4. 🇬🇹 Guatemala: Voters will head to the polls for Guatemala’s elections this Sunday. It’s a crowded race with 22 presidential candidates, and the run-up has been marred by accusations of government meddling and corruption.

5. 🇦🇪 UAE: Qatar and the UAE are reopening their respective embassies after six years of diplomatic deep freeze. The two severed ties in 2017 when the UAE and others in the region accused Qatar of supporting terrorist groups (claims Qatar has denied).

🛬 Saudi Arabia | Geo-economics

Saudi Arabia unveils second flag carrier airline

Saudi Arabia’s new airline, Riyadh Air, made its debut on Monday at the Paris Air Show with a passenger plane decked out in purple.

Despite not hitting the skies until 2025, Riyadh Air says it’s aiming to carry 100 million passengers between more than 100 destinations by 2030.

And the Saudis aren’t alone. These days, most countries have a national carrier:

• Dubai, with the help of its carrier Emirates, has become a global hub that’ll welcome 84 million passengers this year

• Qatar is following a similar path, with its own national carrier now one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines, and

• Nigeria unveiled its own new national carrier just last month (its predecessor collapsed in 2003)

So why do countries launch their own airlines?

1. 🎩 Prestige – what better way to brand yourself as a prosperous, advanced, and powerful country than with a fleet of high-end jets?

2. 🤑 Business – millions of stopovers can boost local tourism and investment, helping diversify an economy away from oil, and

3. 🆘 Emergencies – countries also use national carriers to rescue stranded citizens during times of crisis, whether pandemic or war

Intrigue's take: The aviation sector is such a tough business already: it’s sensitive to oil prices, labour shortages, downturns, airport capacity, climate change, safety and security issues, pandemics, and wars.

In addition to all that, the Saudis will need global travellers to overlook the country’s restrictions around women, speech, religion, alcohol and beyond. So having a bottomless bucket of cash won’t guarantee success.

Also worth noting:

• Saudi Arabia launched its first airline with a US plane, gifted to the Saudi king after a secret 1945 meeting with President Roosevelt.

• Global air travel is growing, but is still below pre-COVID levels.

• Several airlines are developing ultra-long-haul flights of up to 20 hours, removing the need for a stopover.

📰 How newspapers covered…

The UN adopting an international high seas treaty

*Vivian Balakrishnan is Singapore’s foreign minister

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🇲🇱 Mali | Defence & security

Mali wants the UN to leave “without delay”

The US said Monday (19 June) it “regrets” the decision by Mali’s ruling junta to revoke consent for a decade-long UN peacekeeping mission.

Troops from the UN’s Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (aka MINUSMA) were first deployed in 2013 after an insurgency there.

But coups in 2020 and 2021 brought a military government to power, and last Friday (16 June), Mali’s foreign minister asked the UN to withdraw “without delay”, citing the mission’s failure to bring peace.

Intrigue’s take: UN missions across the continent have long struggled to achieve their objectives; there’s often a mismatch between their lofty aims and the UN’s resources, capabilities and mandate.

So countries like Mali have started turning to mercenary groups like Wagner, that bring narrower objectives (kill insurgents), fewer limits (legal or ethical), and cost around $10M per month in cash and mining rights.

But will that bring peace?

Also worth noting:

• In February, the junta expelled MINUSMA’s human rights chief after he accused the Wagner Group of human rights violations.

• A recent poll claims 72% of Malians blame MINUSMA for failing to protect civilians, and 90% support Russian involvement.

🎧 Today on Intrigue Outloud

Was there a third country shaping this week’s US-China talks?

➕ Extra Intrigue

Here’s what people around the world were tweeting about yesterday, Tuesday 20 June:

• #Pilar was trending in 🇨🇷 Costa Rica after politician Pilar Cisneros was accused of plotting to close down a local newspaper.

• #Isola (island) was trending in 🇮🇹 Italy as netizens discussed the finale of the 17th season of a celebrity survival reality show, set in Honduras.

• #ThaboBester was trending in 🇿🇦 South Africa as folks tuned in for the convict’s latest court appearance after last year’s prison break.

🗳️ Poll time!

📸 Photo of the day

Geopolitics guru Fareed Zakaria has interviewed presidents, generals and CEOs. But last week, our very own co-founder Helen interviewed him! We hope she also asked for Fareed’s Osso Buco with saffron risotto recipe.

Thursday’s poll: Should rich countries and international financial institutions forgive developing countries' debt?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👍 Yes, debt forgiveness is necessary for growth, which is good for everyone (52%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 👎 No, it perpetuates bad policy and bad outcomes (43%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🖋️ Other (write in!) (5%)

Your two cents:

• 🖋️ M.M: “Innovative approaches like zero interest loans, pauses on repayments or debt for concession swaps (like protection of pristine environments or economic policy changes) should be considered more, to get the best of both worlds.”

• 👍 D.M: “Let poorer countries put their money towards something income generating & sustainable as opposed to flushing it down the drain to pay back debt.”