Plus: Flag(s) of the day
IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ The G7’s four most intriguing quotes |
2️⃣ A $16B Excel spreadsheet in New Zealand |
3️⃣ Flag(s) of the day |
Hi Intriguer. There’s an ol’ joke that only the first 20 years of learning Arabic are the hardest. It’s a tough language. But if you’d like a window into just how tough (while also getting a sweet sweet excuse to indulge in some reality TV), consider the Arabic-language version of the dating show Love is Blind.
It’s set in the UAE but features would-be love-birds from across the Arabic-speaking world, bringing such a bewildering array of national dialects and vocabularies, they often have to switch to English, French, and beyond just to find a mutually comfortable tongue in which to declare that they might, you know, be starting to develop feelings.
Interestingly, to grapple with these linguistic idiosyncrasies, diplomatic services often used to send their Arabic language trainees to study in pre-war Damascus where (along with Egypt) folks speak one of the most widely understood dialects.
Anyway, speaking of impenetrable dialects (sorry), today’s briefing leads with Intrigue’s translation of the latest G7 joint statement, which contains some big surprises.
Russia almost clears Ukrainian troops from Kursk.
Amid a hasty retreat ahead of advancing Russian troops, Ukraine now holds barely a few pockets in Russia’s Kursk borderland, seven months after first capturing much of it in a lightning counter-offensive. Meanwhile, Putin has a call with Trump scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday), though we doubt he’ll agree to anything before retaking all of Kursk.
Netanyahu looks to dismiss Shin Bet chief.
Benjamin Netanyahu has said he’ll call a cabinet vote to dismiss Ronen Bar, the director of Israel’s internal security service, citing a lack of trust. The move comes after a Shin Bet report into the Hamas attacks of October 7 pinned some blame on Netanyahu himself. Bar has also overseen an investigation into several Netanyahu aides.
Deportees land in El Salvador despite US court order.
The US has deported to El Salvador some 200+ Venezuelans the White House says are members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang — the administration argues that a US court’s attempted freeze order came after the flight had already left.
Trump pulls Voice of America funding.
Donald Trump has signed an executive order cutting funding for Voice of America (the pro-democracy news outlet) after accusing it of being “anti-Trump”. The US originally launched the outlet in 1942 to counter Nazi and other propaganda — it’s since grown to reach hundreds of millions of people in undemocratic regions around the world.
59 dead in North Macedonia nightclub fire.
Authorities have made several arrests over the incident, including the club owner and local officials who might’ve been involved in granting the venue an invalid license.
TOP STORY
The G7’s four most intriguing quotes
The G7 foreign ministers (L-R): the EU’s Kaja Kallas, Japan’s Takeshi Iwaya, the UK’s David Lammy, France’s Jean-Noël Barrot, Canada’s Mélanie Joly, America’s Marco Rubio, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, and Italy’s Antonio Tajani. Credits: Canada’s G7 team.
G7 foreign ministers (🇪🇺, 🇯🇵, 🇬🇧, 🇫🇷, 🇨🇦, 🇺🇸, 🇩🇪, 🇮🇹) just gathered in Canada's beautiful river resort town of La Malbaie and ended up producing a veeeeery intriguing statement.
While these kinds of joint documents can be incredibly, remarkably, truly impressively dull, there are often spicy bits lurking within if you know where and how to look.
So… here are your top four quotes:
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"We remain concerned with […] the rapid increase in China’s nuclear weapons arsenal"
One reason why negotiations dragged on through the night was because the US wanted tougher language on China, like the line above. The latest G7 statement also adopts last month's new US-Japan language, directly dunking on China's "coercion" of others like Taiwan (which labelled China a "foreign hostile force" last week).
This latest G7 statement also ditches old G7 language, including traditional reassurances for China that there’s been no change to any G7 'One-China’ policies. Skipping those assurances will have spooked Beijing, because China’s modern ties with the West are based on capitals agreeing there's only one China (though the West stops short of endorsing Beijing's claims over Taiwan — check out our explainer). So no surprises here, but both China's embassy in Canada and state media have railed at the G7 statement.
Meanwhile, folks in the Middle East and elsewhere have focussed on…
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"A two-state solution, with Israel and a sovereign Palestinian state living side by side in peace and mutual safety"
The thing about the above line is it's not in the latest G7 — it’s from November. This time around, rather than a two-state solution (often seen as a precondition for peace), the G7 ministers agreed on the need for "a political horizon for the Palestinian people".
This new US-pushed language reflects what we’ve already seen out of Trump 2.0. But interestingly, while Palestinian leaders have pushed back, so have some Israeli hardliners, noting that this latest G7 statement also a) calls for resumed aid into Gaza (after Trump backed Israel's aid halt as a way to pressure Hamas), and b) flags concern over hostilities in the West Bank (just after Trump lifted sanctions on Israeli settlers there).
US diplomats have said these edits reflect not so much any softening in Trump's position, but rather standard horse-trading over other issues in the G7 statement, like…
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"G7 members reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to exist"
This is a standard G7 line, but America’s top envoy Marco Rubio made clear he’d block anything that complicates US efforts to bring Russia to the negotiating table.
Against that backdrop, plus Trump's idea that Putin should even re-join the broader G8 (he got booted after invading Crimea in 2014), it's interesting such a pro-Ukraine line plus warnings of more sanctions against Putin made the cut. It might be because the broader text doesn't really directly criticise Russia, and offers Ukraine only vague "assurances" rather than any meaningful security guarantees.
And speaking of assurances…
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"The president has made his argument as to why he thinks Canada would be better off joining the United States"
Rubio is now the most senior US official to visit Canada since Trump 2.0 slapped the US ally with tariffs and started musing about it becoming the 51st state. That's raw timing to visit a neighbour bubbling with outrage and betrayal. So how did Rubio play this one?
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In the above TV quote, he seemingly tried to reframe Trump's '51st state' rhetoric as a hypothetical rather than a threat
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He also deflected media questions about Trump's threats to rip up a US-Canada border treaty, noting flatly that the topic wasn't on the G7 agenda, and
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He also skipped the usual G7 social activities (marshmallow sandwiches this time!), presumably to avoid more of the same questions.
Still, his Canadian counterpart (Mélanie Joly) didn’t hold back reiterating in public what she reportedly told Rubio in private: "Canada's sovereignty is not up for debate."
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
This line from US historian Stephen Kotkin caught our eye recently:
"Trump plays good cop with all your strongmen… and he then has his staff play bad cop with them; and he plays bad cop with all of our allies… and he has his staff play good cop with them."
In that context, allies at the G7 have quietly described Rubio as a "good guy", no doubt hoping he manages to maintain a private (if any) moderating influence on Trump.
But Rubio is now at the centre of a historic balancing act here between:
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a) providing assurances to US allies without drawing the ire of his boss, and
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b) enticing Putin to negotiate without torching US allies.
Anyway, with a US president openly musing about taking turf from two G7 members (Canada, plus Greenland via the EU's Denmark), it's kinda noteworthy the G7 can still agree on much at all. But the alternative — a failure to produce any statement among long-time allies — would've been a historic gift to rivals everywhere.
Also worth noting:
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The statement also reiterates G7 views on Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Syria, Lebanon, Haiti, Venezuela, Sudan, and DRC/Rwanda.
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Canada holds the G7 presidency this year and is set to host G7 leaders (including Trump) in the Rockies this June.
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇨🇳 China: A government office in Beijing has published a second article criticising Hong Kong-based port operator Hutchison over its plans to sell two Panama Canal ports. Beijing’s move (🇨🇳) likely reflects irritation over the deal, which emerged after Trump pressured Panama to curb China’s local influence.
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🇬🇧 UK: The British economy contracted by 0.1% in January, surprising economists who had expected some growth. It’ll be bitter news for a government already planning to cut spending and raise taxes in an effort to stabilise national finances.
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🇲🇲 Myanmar: Russia appears to have struck a deal to provide Myanmar’s military junta with better satellite imagery as it loses ground to ethnic armed groups. The two initially (and implausibly) framed it all as a space exploration deal.
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🇨🇺 Cuba: Another nationwide power grid collapse has cut electricity to 10 million Cubans, with folks going most of the weekend without power. It’s Cuba’s fourth blackout since October, partly due to its ageing oil-fired plants.
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🇿🇦 South Africa: The US has declared South Africa’s ambassador “persona non grata”, hours after he suggested to a Johannesburg thinktank that Trump was motivated by fears of white Americans losing their demographic majority. It’s unusual for the US to boot ambassadors rather than more junior officials.
EXTRA INTRIGUE
🤣 Your weekly roundup of the world’s lighter news
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A Tennessee pit bull called Oreo has somehow shot his sleeping owner in the leg after getting his paw stuck in a firearm’s trigger (everyone’s fine!).
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A passenger jet halfway to Delhi has had to return to Chicago after 11 of its 12 toilets got clogged (the sole remaining loo was in business class).
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Brazil has cut down a chunk of the Amazon rainforest to build a new highway for this year’s UN COP climate summit.
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New Zealand’s national healthcare system has apparently been relying on a single Excel spreadsheet to manage $16B in public funds.
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And UK authorities have fired a civil servant for ‘polygamous working’, after an investigation found he was pulling three government salaries at once.
FLAG(S) OF THE DAY
This is not so much a flag as a collection of could-have-been flags.
And we’re sharing them now because Illinoisans recently headed to the polls to decide the fate of their current state flag dating from 1915 (top left), sometimes mocked as an ‘SOB’ (seal on a bedsheet) because of all that white.
Anyway, state officials invited folks to vote on ten flag finalists, and the results are in: the current flag won (though not with a simple majority).
In case you were wondering, the top-right flag submitted by high school students features the official state butterfly (the monarch); the one below it showcases the state’s agricultural heritage; and the one in the bottom-left rather nicely uses the side profile of Abraham Lincoln to help create an image of the Mississippi River.
DAILY POLL
What do you think was the main vibe out of this year's G7 summit of foreign ministers? |
Last Thursday’s poll: How do you feel about Trump 2.0's approach to energy?
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⚖️ It strikes a more realistic balance (30%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🔥 It speeds up an ecological disaster (68%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (2%)
Your two cents:
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🔥 B: “It’s the only thing scarier than his foreign policy.”
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⚖️ G.G: “Citing ecological disaster is a tired old phrase that offers nothing either positive or constructive to the conversation.”
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✍️ R.N: “It will maximise short-term revenue from gas, including via exports, while speeding up the energy transition to wind, solar, geothermal (via horizontal drilling) and batteries, including batteries on wheels. Just look at ‘red’ states like Texas and Florida where solar is king.”
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