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IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ The international intrigue of private jets |
2️⃣ A new dating trend in Spain |
3️⃣ Spy of the day |
Hi Intriguer. While our US readers scored a long weekend, the world kept churning out industrial quantities of intrigue.
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There were even rumours over the weekend that Russia’s foreign minister (Sergey Lavrov) had died, though Russian outlets are still quoting him, plus he appeared in public as recently as Thursday with his Senegalese counterpart.
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And yet… Russia did famously deny Lavrov (who choofs 50 cigarettes a day) had been hospitalised at the G20 in Bali two years ago, before Bali’s governor confirmed it himself.
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Anyway, today’s briefing leads with a fun one, looking at some of the international intrigue of private jets.
THE HEADLINES
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Israel goes on strike for hostage deal.
Hundreds of thousands joined a general strike yesterday (Monday) called by Israel’s biggest trade union, pushing for a hostage deal. The mass protests came after Israel recovered the bodies of six more hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
Hard-right party wins German local election.
The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won ~31% of the vote in the state of Thuringia, and seems almost tied for first place in nearby Saxony. Other parties have pledged not to work with the AfD. Meanwhile, Volkswagen has announced it’s considering closing one or more large auto manufacturing plants to save billions amid heavy competition from China.
Putin lands in Mongolia despite ICC arrest warrant.
Mongolia has declined to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival earlier today (Tuesday), defying an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest. It’s Putin’s first trip to an ICC member since the court issued an arrest warrant for Putin’s role in war crimes over a year ago.
Japan cut from iPhone supply chain amid OLED shift.
Apple will stop using Japan-made LCD displays for its cheaper iPhone models from 2025, switching instead to China and South Korea-made OLED screens for its entire range, according to Nikkei. A decade ago, 70% of iPhone LCD screens were manufactured in Japan.
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Pope embarks on Asia-Pacific trip.
Pope Francis has landed in Indonesia today (Tuesday), kicking off a 12-day trip focussed on topics like inter-religious dialogue and the environment. His other stops will include Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore.
TOP STORY
The international intrigue of private jets
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If we had to identify the one place with the highest per-square-inch density of raw and undiluted international intrigue, there’s a decent chance we’d end up pointing at a private jet. It’s where so much wealth and power can often intersect.
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So sit back, dear Intriguer, relax, and enjoy this guided tour of private jet intrigue.
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First, the latest: US authorities have now seized Venezuela’s air force one while it was in the Dominican Republic – Maduro is accusing the US of “piracy“, the US says Venezuela got the aircraft in breach of US sanctions, and the Dominicans say Venezuela never revealed the jet (in town for maintenance) was Maduro’s.
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Either way, this isn’t the first time the US has seized a Venezuelan jet. Heck, it’s not even the first this year: in February, the US seized another in Argentina after Iran tried to sell it to Venezuela (after years of using it to ship arms and fighters).
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Oh, and while we’re in South America: Elon Musk has just implied he’ll use foreign courts to seize Brazil’s presidential jet, as part of his ongoing feud over the country’s approach to Twitter/X.
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And let’s not forget tiny Guyana next door: a twin-engine Beechcraft landed on a remote runway there back in 2017, before its crew mysteriously fled. It was registered to one of Brazil’s top banks, but it’s unclear what exactly the aircraft was doing in the jungle. Either way, it’s now a Guyanese presidential aircraft.
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Oh, and then there’s the jet that landed in Brazil carrying $16M plus the vice president of Equatorial Guinea in 2018. His dad (the president) had made him veep in hopes the immunity would help, after various nations started seizing his Michael Jackson memorabilia and jets on corruption charges. To stop a prosecution, Guinea even tried to sue France at the ICJ!
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And while we’re in Africa, let’s swing by Nigeria, where a China-based firm is still pursuing Nigeria’s global assets over a complex dispute dating back to 2007. After seizing three presidential jets in France, the firm has now released one as a show of goodwill, but that’s just shone a light on the A330 jet itself, which once belonged to a mysterious sheikh before a German bank seized it over an unpaid loan.
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And if you look out your window, you’ll see this Thursday marks a decade since South Africa detained a mysterious Nigerian jet carrying $10M in cash. Nigeria’s intelligence services then memorably fessed up that it was all just for arms: “movement of cash for strategic purchase of security equipment by intelligence service is not new; it is a global trend. The FBI, KGB, Mossad and others do it.”
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Now let’s wrap this journey in Zambia, where folks are still investigating arguably the most intriguing private jet ever:
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It landed last year with arms, 127kg of fake gold, and $10M in cash, plus passengers from Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain, Egypt and Zambia.
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It was registered to tiny San Marino, operated out of Dubai, and had links to a rental firm in Belgium.
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Its mysterious owners asked FlightAware not to track it.
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And when an Egyptian journalist found links between passengers and the governments of Egypt and Zambia, he was detained.
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Some of the passengers have now been released, while others are awaiting trial. The main theory is it was all a fake gold scam, but uffff, so much intrigue.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
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Private jets are a neat, visible, and tangible display of what makes our world go ‘round, and they touch on a few angles worthy of your consideration. Eg:
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Politics: Why is Maduro maintaining a luxury jet after driving so many of his own people into poverty, if not exile? Meanwhile, part of the thinking behind mass Western seizures of Russian jets was to drive a wedge between Putin and the elites that perpetuate his rule.
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Geopolitics: These asset seizures, for example, have taken some shine off China’s reputation in Africa; embarrassed Nigeria; and dragged France into distant disputes it’d rather avoid – Congo Brazzaville even threatened to revoke local French oil licences after a French court sold off Congo’s presidential jet last year. And speaking of which…
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Law: Is a presidential jet a sovereign asset, immune from seizure? Is seizing a presidential jet a violation of the Vienna Convention, or a valid way to repay a jilted investor? Oh, and are investor-state dispute tribunals part of the solution here, or more of the problem? (the above China/Nigeria feud escalated via their investment treaty)
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Interestingly, some of these issues have reached US courts lately: just last month, a US court sided with the same China-based firm against Nigeria, effectively rejecting Nigeria’s claim of sovereign immunity. And a decade ago, the US supreme court sided with a US billionaire against Argentina, effectively limiting Argentina’s own claims of sovereign immunity, too.
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Also worth noting:
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A bonus jet story: Somali intelligence seized $10M from a royal UAE jet landing in Mogadishu in 2018. Later, a new Somali PM then returned the cash personally with an apology, after concluding that the cash was for Somali soldiers fighting an Islamist insurgency.
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: The ruling party has secured a slim majority in Sunday’s snap election, as voter turnout dropped to its lowest ever (37%). Meanwhile, the prime minister of neighbouring Armenia (Nikol Pashinyan) has suggested the two rivals are close to a peace deal that could end decades of animosity between them.
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🇬🇧 UK: Following a post-election review, the UK has announced it’ll restrict the sale of some weapons to Israel, citing concerns they could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. The ban includes parts for fighter planes, helicopters, and drones.
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🇮🇩 Indonesia: Jakarta is hoping to sign $3.5B in trade deals with various African countries and companies this week, according to Bloomberg. The aim is to announce the agreements at the second Indonesia-Africa Forum, which wraps in Bali today (Tuesday).
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🇻🇪 Venezuela: A top court has now issued an arrest warrant against opposition figure Edmundo González, who is widely believed to have beaten Nicolás Maduro in July’s presidential election. González is accused of “usurpation”, conspiracy, and falsification of public records.
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🇹🇳 Tunisia: The country’s electoral commission has ignored an order from Tunisia’s top court to reinstate three opposition candidates in next month’s presidential election. President Kais Saied has concentrated power in his hands since taking power in 2019.
EXTRA INTRIGUE
🤣 Your weekly roundup of the world’s lighter news
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Authorities have suspended an Austrian surgeon’s licence after allegations emerged she let her 13-year-old daughter help out (quite a bit) during an operation.
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A curious four-year-old has accidentally smashed a bronze-age clay jar housed in a Haifa museum.
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Single folks in Spain are apparently ditching dating apps in favour of a new trend: heading to supermarkets.
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Authorities in Rome have caught a thief after he got distracted mid break-and-enter, sitting down to read a book on the Iliad.
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And a British woman has met some long-lost family members after a postcard ended up getting delivered over 100 years late.
SPY OF THE DAY
Hvaldimir in 2019. Photograph: Jorgen Ree Wiig/Norwegian directorate of fisheries.
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Remember Hvaldimir? He was the beluga whale Norwegian fishermen spotted back in 2019 wearing a small camera and a harness marked with a mysterious ‘Equipment St Petersburg’ inscription. Some claimed he was a Russian spy whale, while others suggested his chill demeanour might’ve been because he was a former therapy whale.
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Whatever his LinkedIn profile, Hvaldimir has now sadly passed away. Btw, he got the name ‘Hvaldimir’ from a Norwegian newspaper: it’s a play on Vladimir (Putin) and hval, which is Norwegian for whale. There was also a push to name him ‘Agent James Beluga’, which would’ve been cool.
DAILY POLL
What do you think about foreign courts seizing presidential jets? |
Last Thursday’s poll: What do you think about all these billionaires?
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🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 😊 Good for them, business is business (26%)
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⛔ Eeek, too much concentrated wealth (71%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (3%)
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Your two cents:
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⛔ T.K.G: “Concentrated wealth often equals power, and too much power is always dangerous.”
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😊 L.K: “Without the possibility of someone getting rich providing a good or service, I probably wouldn’t be holding a smartphone in my hands right now.”
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⛔ J: “No one gets rich by themselves. So why do they get to hoard the results?”
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✍️ C.R: “I don’t think about them at all.”
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✍️ Corrections corner
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Our thanks to Matt for pointing out that the last visit to China by a US national security advisor was seven (not eight) years ago.