Plus: Flag of the day
IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ The 5 spiciest NATO summit moments |
2️⃣ Insects on the menu in Singapore? |
3️⃣ Flag of the day |
Hi Intriguer. One of the best things about living in Washington DC is the treasure trove of free museums around town. Of all the Smithsonians and galleries, the Library of Congress has got to be in the top three. It’s the world’s largest library, and carries some 164 million items in its inventory.
I ducked into the library today – not to read, of course, but to summer-soiree! This basically involved the library’s mezzanine area opening late for an evening of Bachata, cocktails, and numerous ‘candid’ Hinge profile photoshoots.
Downstairs, however, the vibe was much different. The library also hosted one of the closing dinners for the NATO summit, where participants gathered, anxiously amped, to round out the eventful week. We dive into the summit’s key takeaways in our top story today.
Assassination plots against Europe’s top defence executives
US intelligence reportedly helped foil a Russian plot earlier this year to assassinate Armin Papperger, the head of Europe’s largest defence firm (Rheinmetall in Germany). According to CNN, it was one of several similar plots to kill industry executives supporting Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
Biden’s shaky comeback.
US President Joe Biden struck a defiant tone last night (Thursday) during a highly-anticipated closing NATO press conference, reiterating his intention to stay in the race despite concerns around his age and acuity. But for many folks watching, his message was undermined by more gaffes (see below).
China’s exports beat expectations.
The June export figures grew at their fastest rate in 15 months, with some analysts hoping that’ll continue as producers and buyers frontload their shipments to avoid future tariffs. On the other hand, imports shrank unexpectedly, offering more evidence of weak domestic demand and fuelling assumptions that Beijing will roll out more stimulus.
Australian soldier accused of spying for Russia.
Australian officials have announced charges against army private Kira Korolev and her husband Igor Korolev for allegedly attempting to gain access to sensitive material with the intention of passing it to Russia. However, the authorities have found “no significant compromise” of Australia’s secrets.
China sends record number of warplanes over Taiwan median line.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said 56 People’s Liberation Army warplanes just crossed the unofficial boundary separating Taiwan and China in a 24 hour period. China’s Shandong aircraft carrier strike group is also conducting drills in waters to the southeast of the island. The moves come as the US and 28 allies hold the world’s largest maritime drills around Hawaii.
TOP STORY
The NATO summit’s five spiciest moments
The annual two-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit wrapped in Washington yesterday (Thursday), bringing together generals, world leaders, diplomats and spies from NATO’s 32 states (plus some non-Atlantic tagalongs).
This year’s edition was a doozy — between the local heatwave that left delegates schvitzing, the evening downpours that left air shows cancelled, and the electoral intrigue that left onlookers holding their breath, the mood was fidgety. So here are the top five spiciest moments that caught our eye, and why.
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China the “decisive enabler”?
As is customary, NATO leaders dropped their annual Summit Declaration (both in English and French, naturellement) calling out what they see as the top challenges to the alliance and beyond: Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China.
But tucked in that hefty text was a nervy addition, labelling China as a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine”. NATO also accused China of “posing systemic challenges” through a) disinformation, b) new “activities” in space, c) expanding its nuclear arsenal, and d) coercive efforts to divide the alliance.
For context, last year’s Vilnius Summit also had a bone to pick with China, but it was more of a nudge, urging China “to act responsibly and refrain” from getting too cosy with its “no limits” pals in Moscow. And speaking of pals…
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Viktor does Miami
It’s unclear if Hungary’s Viktor Orbán met one-on-one with the summit host and US president, Joe Biden. He did, however, pop down to Florida yesterday to meet Biden’s rival for the White House, Donald Trump. Their private chat came days after Orbán paid surprise visits to the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, and China, and all while Trump continues to say he’ll end the Russo-Ukraine war in a day.
Turkey’s Erdogan also made headlines in an interview with Newsweek, criticising the West’s approach to Russia and beyond.
And speaking of making headlines…
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Biden’s candidacy
Yes, behind the photo-ops and signing ceremonies, the whispers among NATO delegates were around Biden’s future as the Democratic Party’s nominee.
Despite a strong speech on Tuesday evening, Biden’s performance – whether referring to Ukraine’s leader yesterday as “President Putin”, or referring to his own veep as “Vice President Trump” – won’t have put those whispers to rest.
Rather, the emerging (if still private) view among our NATO contacts is that Biden will be replaced as nominee, as party heavyweights pull their support.
And aside from the distractive potential of all that, it’s also created uncertainty for an alliance already hedging against two very different US election outcomes.
And speaking of hedging…
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Floor or ceiling?
Everyone’s also been talking about NATO defence spending targets this week:
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Who’s not meeting the 2% GDP target? A third of NATO’s members aren’t there yet (eg Canada, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain).
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When might they hit it? Not soon. Canada’s PM just promised to reach 2% by 2032. Belgium is saying 2035. And so on.
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How will they get there? Estonia’s prime minister spelled out the question some NATO leaders are now asking: “Where can I spend? … Nobody’s selling to me now because they don’t have anything.”
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And is that 2% target even enough anymore? The most-spooked NATO members along Russia’s borders say ‘nope’ – Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and others want 2.5% or even 3% of GDP.
So NATO’s outgoing chief (Stoltenberg) declared this week that the 2% target is now the alliance’s “floor” not “ceiling”. But the final declaration ultimately fudged it: “in many cases, expenditure beyond 2% of GDP will be needed”.
And speaking of fudging…
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Ukraine’s “irreversible path”
This week’s NATO declaration says “Ukraine’s future is in NATO” and it’s on an “irreversible path” to membership. But as bold as that sounds, it’s functionally similar to last year’s declaration, which in turn just reiterated a commitment NATO made to Ukraine back in 2008: one day, it’ll be allowed to join the alliance.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
A smug thing you can do at parties is to slip a French word into conversation, so here’s a good one: ‘denouement’ (pronounced ‘day-new-mon’).
It’s often translated as ‘resolution’ or ‘outcome’, and you might hear it used in English to describe the final act of a play or film, where all the plot strands finally come together to give that ending where everything makes sense.
The French word literally means ‘un-knotting’, and we mention that because this week’s NATO summit reveals the opposite – a world knotted up with unresolved questions:
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Will Biden be the nominee? If not, then who?
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Will a new nominee fare better? If not, then what’ll Trump 2.0 be like?
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Will the US sustain its global role? If not, then what’ll fill the void?
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Will Russia last in Ukraine? And how much more will China help?
And so on. When a world is knotted up like that, it tries to hedge for every outcome, and you can see this in each of today’s five NATO moments. Then, when the third act comes along, sometimes you get a relatively peaceful denouement, like we got at the end of the Cold War. But sometimes, you don’t.
Also worth noting:
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇯🇵 Japan: A Japanese destroyer apparently sailed into China’s territorial waters earlier this month, despite warnings from China’s vessels nearby. Tokyo’s defence ministry has launched an investigation into the incident. And speaking of ships misbehaving…
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🇺🇦 Ukraine: Local authorities have seized a ship and its captain sailing up the Danube River on suspicion of transporting looted Ukrainian grain. Ukraine has accused Russia of illegally exporting Ukrainian grain from occupied areas and selling it on international markets.
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🇸🇬 Singapore: The city-state’s food regulator has just approved 16 species of insects for human consumption. Singapore imports 90% of its food and is vulnerable to supply shocks, so has periodically pioneered new pro-supply regulations, like legalising synthetic meats.
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🇺🇸 US: More folks are forecasting the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September after the latest inflation figures showed a 3% rate, its lowest level in a year and its first monthly drop since May 2020. Inflation peaked above 9% back in June 2022, prompting the most aggressive US tightening cycle in decades.
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🇰🇪 Kenya: President William Ruto has dismissed almost his entire cabinet after weeks of anti-government protests triggered by a tax reform bill. He’s since withdrawn the bill, and says he’ll now “engage in extensive consultations… with the aim of setting up a broad-based government.”
EXTRA INTRIGUE
Here are four other big stories we couldn’t cram in this week
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An Iranian stealth warship has now completely sunk in port after accidentally capsizing during repairs (it was only just launched in 2018).
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The US has blocked a British court case (brought by detained migrants) from proceeding on a remote Indian Ocean island, citing concerns that visiting lawyers and journalists could compromise security at the secretive US-UK base located there.
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China’s leading EV-maker ‘BYD’ has announced a $1B investment to build a manufacturing plant in Turkey (cars made in Turkey can generally be exported to the EU tariff-free).
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And an Iraqi court has sentenced to death one of the widows of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, citing her role in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by ISIS.
TODAY IN HISTORY X FLAG OF THE DAY
The island nation of Sao Tome and Principe (off the western coast of Central Africa) won its independence from Portugal on this day in 1975. It then adopted a bangin’ new flag.
The red triangle on the left represents the independence movement, and the two green stripes represent the nation’s forests, while the single yellow stripe calls us all back to that sweet, sweet tropical sun.
As for those two black stars featured on the flag? They represent the local population living on the two main islands (guess what they’re called).
Extra fun fact: The Santomean flag is one of the few created by a country’s first president.
FRIDAY QUIZ
1) Which of the following dishes is recognised as the Italian national dish? |
2) Which country's former dictator had a direct involvement in the creation of a national dish? |
3) South Africa's national dish, Bobotie, reportedly has roots in which cuisine?(though debate continues)
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