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IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ The most intriguing US bases in the Indo-Pacific |
2️⃣ An ambassador withdraws her nomination |
3️⃣ Treasure hunt of the day |
Hi Intriguer. Diplomats are meant to work out of embassies, but we do (in theory at least) work closely with spooks and generals too. For me, this once involved spending a bit of time on a military base, which in turn involved meeting people who – and I kid you not – seemed to speak almost exclusively in acronyms. Wild.
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Anyway, news broke overnight that the UK will cede sovereignty over (but still retain a joint US/UK base in) some key Indian Ocean islands. So let’s take a look.
THE HEADLINES
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Israel intensifies airstrikes in Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes, reportedly targeting presumptive Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine, have caused large explosions in Beirut. Meanwhile, a joint operation (involving US, Israeli, Jordanian, Iraqi, and UN officials) has rescued a Yazidi woman from Gaza, a decade after she was first taken as an ISIS child slave in Iraq.
US dockworkers suspend strike.
The main union representing thousands of striking East and Gulf Coast port workers says it’s reached a tentative deal on wages. The two sides have now extended their existing contract until January 15 while they negotiate all other “outstanding issues” (including the extent to which the union will support port automation). The strike, which started on Tuesday, was the first of its kind in half a century.
New NATO chief meets Zelensky.
Just days after commencing his term as NATO Secretary-General, Mark Rutte has conducted his first trip abroad to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. Rutte assured him that one of his goals as NATO chief is to see “Ukraine prevail”.
Food prices soar.
Global food prices rose at their fastest rate in 18 months in September, according to new data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Skyrocketing sugar prices led the charge, driven by falling Brazilian crop prospects amid dry weather and fires.
Tunisians to vote on Sunday.
Voters will head to the polls to elect their next leader in a contest that few would describe as free or fair. Incumbent Kais Saied is expected to win after overseeing the jailing or banning of his major opponents.
TOP STORY
The most intriguing US bases in the Indo-Pacific
Credits: US Congressional Research Service.
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Just as we smashed that ‘send’ button yesterday, London announced a new deal to cede sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands to Mauritius after 13 rounds of negotiations.
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Some backstory: the Chagos Archipelago is a group of around 60 islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, some 500km (310mi) south of the Maldives.
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The Brits constituted the archipelago as the British Indian Ocean Territory back in 1965, separating it from the UK’s Mauritius colony, which gained independence three years later. They then deported the small Chagossian population to Mauritius and elsewhere.
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Why? To make way for a joint UK-US military base on one of the bigger islands, Diego Garcia, as a strategic Western outpost in the Indian Ocean during the Cold War.
But this move remained an irritant with Mauritius which, in 2010, went full Erin Brockovich and took the UK to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ then handed down its opinion in 2019, agreeing with Mauritius that the UK should cede control of the islands “as rapidly as possible”.
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Of course, we then fell down a rabbit hole looking at the many US bases across the Indo-Pacific, and now present to you this fine Friday four of the most intriguing examples:
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Diego Garcia – 🇬🇧→🇲🇺 Chagos Islands
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One issue that stalled London’s decision was the fear that ceding sovereignty might benefit China, which has close ties with Mauritius. So the deal includes an initial 99-year lease with Mauritius for the UK and the US to retain their joint base on Diego Garcia. Joe Biden has applauded the deal, though it’s still triggered a debate within the UK:
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Some argue China could now establish bases on nearby islands, while others note Diego Garcia is really the only one that’s base-friendly (eg, with a natural harbour)
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Some argue this move erodes UK influence, while others say it expands it by blunting a common attack (‘you’re a UN Security Council member ignoring the ICJ’), and
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Some say this is a win for China, while others argue Mauritius only got closer to China in the first place because of slow progress in securing the Chagos. And so on.
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Who knows how our world will look when this initial lease concludes in 99 years, though Hong Kong has shown us how these deals can sometimes dismay future generations.
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Anyway, as for the Diego Garcia base itself? It’s as secretive as they get, but its deep water piers, long runways, and multiple radomes all imply various civilian (NASA), military, and intelligence activities for the 2,400 personnel stationed there (mostly Americans).
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In practice, it’s also a classic ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’, enabling (for example) airstrikes in Afghanistan and Iraq post 9/11. There are also rumours Diego Garcia was a CIA black site.
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Pine Gap – 🇦🇺 Australia
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In the middle of the outback, the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap is apparently operated jointly by intelligence agencies like the Australian Signals Directorate, the CIA, the NSA, and the US National Reconnaissance Office. It hosts ~40 radomes and reportedly provides the Five Eyes intel pact (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and US) with geolocation intelligence.
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Leaks suggest it’s become more military-focused over time, including to assist with unmanned drone targeting. Oh, and its remote outback location is no coincidence: it’s on prime real estate to communicate with satellites covering a third of the world, while still maintaining distance from rival spy ships hoping to intercept its signals.
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Wake Island Airfield – 🌊 Micronesia region
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Wake Island Airfield is owned and operated by the US Air Force, though it was first established by Panam Airways in the 1930s as a scheduled stop on transpacific flights.
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After a WWII stint of Japanese occupation, the airfield resumed its dual military-commercial operations until 1974, when the US military took exclusive control. It’s now a Navy resupply stop and hosts several US missile programs.
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Wake Island is also contested ground: the Republic of the Marshall Islands (~1000km / 620mi away) claims sovereignty, but the territory is under de facto US control.
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Camp Humphreys – 🇰🇷 South Korea
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Army Garrison Humphries is the largest overseas US base, hosting a population of ~40,000 people. To feed that many folks, it has three Subways, two Taco Bells, two Starbucks, two Pizza Huts, two Smoothie Kings, a Freshens, a Popeye’s, an Anthony’s Pizza, an Auntie Anne’s, a Dunkin’s, a Charley’s, a Burger King, a Manchu Wok, an Arby’s, a Baskin-Robbins, a Hunt Brothers Pizza, a Paulie’s Pizza, and if you need to balance that out with a juice cleanse, there’s also a Bun-D Natural Food.
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Initially built by occupying Japanese forces, it’s located 65km (40mi) south of Seoul and around 90km (60 mi) from the famous demilitarised zone that separates South and North Korea (still technically at war).
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Oh, and there’s an advanced Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system nearby, which you might recall has irritated China (which once responded with economic coercion) as well as local melon farmers (who fear Thaad makes their region a target).
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
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Overseas military bases will always be a hot topic with divisions along familiar lines:
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Some fear bases erode sovereignty, while others feel having a superpower in the guest room deters regional bullies
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Some fear hosting a foreign base will make it more likely your country gets pulled into a conflict, while others say strong allies make a conflict less likely
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And some welcome the economic opportunities from having a buzzing base across the street, while others tire of the inevitable bad apples causing trouble
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But as the Indo-Pacific heats up, the region’s democracies seem to have made their calculations, whether in Canberra, Manila, Tokyo, Seoul, or elsewhere: whatever the costs, these bases still seem worth the security dividends right now.
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Also worth noting:
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The UK-Mauritius agreement is “subject to the finalisation of a treaty and supporting legal instruments”.
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Chagossians (descendants of those arriving from the late 1700s, including as French slaves) have criticised the UK-Mauritius announcement for not adequately consulting them.
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You might’ve noticed Intrigue’s website ends in “.io”, which is actually the internet domain nominally assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory. Nope, we don’t live on Diego Garcia – it’s just a common domain for start-ups.
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇧🇩 Bangladesh: Dhaka has recalled its top diplomats from Brussels, Canberra, Lisbon, Delhi and New York as the new interim administration clears out senior appointments made under the former government (which collapsed in August). Bangladesh also recently recalled its top diplomat from the UK, though there’s no word on when replacements might be announced.
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🇭🇺 Hungary: Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (he of jorts fame) has summoned Germany’s ambassador over a speech she gave saying Hungary is on a “path away from its friends” (NATO and the EU). Her speech had criticised Hungary’s solo ‘peace talks’ with Russia, and its “antics” in delaying NATO membership for Finland and Sweden.
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🇸🇬 Singapore: A court has now sentenced a former Singaporean minister to 12 months in prison for accepting gifts as a public servant and obstructing justice. The case has been a big deal given Singapore’s squeaky clean reputation, its high rankings on anti-corruption indices, and its sky-high salaries for top officials.
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🇺🇸 US: American career diplomat Jennifer Gavito has withdrawn her nomination to be US ambassador to Libya, slamming Washington’s glacial senate approvals process as “ceding space to Russia and China.” The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which reviews ambassadorships, has increasingly been caught in partisan politics, leaving many key diplomatic roles unfilled.
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🇸🇸 South Sudan: President Salva Kiir has replaced his long-time intelligence chief and instead made him governor of the president’s own troubled home state of Warrup. Locals are divided on whether this is a promotion or a demotion, with some speculating the president could be lining up the spook (Koor Kuc) to replace him in the top job.
EXTRA INTRIGUE
Some weekend recommendations from Team Intrigue
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Read: Check out this fascinating essay by art editor Rachel Ossip, who argues that at the heart of the AI art revolution you’ll find humans.
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Listen: Don’t miss the latest episode of Intrigue Outloud, featuring our very own John and Kristen reflecting on this week’s VP debate and how the Middle East escalation could impact next month’s US election.
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Watch: The commercial space revolution is underway, and this new HBO documentary captures both the new frontier’s exhilaration and dark side.
TREASURE HUNT OF THE DAY
The golden owl statuette. Credits: Michel Becker.
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One of the world’s longest-running treasure hunts has come to an end after someone finally found a golden owl statuette hidden somewhere in France for over 30 years.
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French writer and puzzle designer Régis Hauser first launched the challenge back in 1993, publishing a book with 11 arcane riddles – the answers would reveal the location of the statue, reportedly worth up to $300k.
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The treasure hunt has attracted quite a bit of controversy over the years, including legal battles that erupted after Hauser died in 2009. The creator of the statue and illustrator of the book, Michel Becker, ended up taking over as treasure hunt organiser in 2021. It was also Becker who announced the discovery yesterday (Thursday), but he’s not released any further info on who found the owl or how.
FRIDAY QUIZ
1. Which famous instrument was inspired by the Chinese sheng (a mouth-blown instrument)? |
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2. In 1995, archaeologists found a Neanderthal flute thought to be the oldest ever musical instrument. How old? |
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3. How many unique instruments helped break the world record for most instruments in a piece of music? |
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