Plus: Flag of the day
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Today’s briefing: |
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Good morning Intriguer. There’s something oddly curious about seeing world leaders not making speeches on podiums dressed in business attire, and instead doing normie activities – like working out in short shorts, for example.
On one end of the category, you’ve got footage of Obama sinking a three-pointer on the basketball court, or Modi’s morning yoga stretch over a boulder, or even the late Queen Elizabeth II walking in the countryside with her pack of corgis (my fave).
And on the other end, you’ve got the sweaty muscle displays, most recently flexed by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who squeezed in a workout with US troops in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue over the weekend.
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That’s up to how many new nuclear-powered attack submarines the UK is expected to build in an effort to modernise and upgrade its current fleet.
Summit season
It’s finally June, and you know what that means! Summer’s The Shangri-La Dialogue is finally back, bringing together generals, leaders, security folks, and academics from 47 countries.
Here are five of the most intriguing quotes from this year’s summit:
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“We are here to stay. As a matter of fact, we are here this morning, and somebody else is not.” – US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth
In keeping with the tone of Trump 2.0, Hegseth’s keynote speech was anything but low-key.
In this instance, he took a jab at China, which didn’t send a defence minister to the summit for the first time in three years. Folks wondered if China’s move was ceding important diplomatic space to DC, and it has left many (including us) puzzled.
In addition to this quip, Hegseth set analysts scrambling by suggesting “the threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent”, in reference to a potential invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese Embassy in Singapore hit back, accusing the US of deploying weapons in the region and “escalating tensions”.
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“It is hard to believe, […], that I am saying this, but thanks to President Trump, Asian allies should look to countries in Europe as a new-found example.” – US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth
Yeah, you read that correctly.
Hegseth’s comments are a far cry from his Signalgate messages describing Europe as “free-loading” and “pathetic”, and come ahead of a NATO summit later this month. Europe’s pledges to increase its defence spending seem to have pleased President Trump.
Hegseth appears to be suggesting that the US’s Indo-Pacific allies must make similar pledges, now that the region has officially become Washington’s “priority theatre”.
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“If China does not want NATO being involved in Southeast Asia or in Asia, they should prevent, clearly, the DPRK to be engaged on the European soil.” – French President Emmanuel Macron
Macron took to the stage on the summit’s opening day to deliver the first SLD keynote address by a European leader.
He kicked off his speech by reminding the audience that France is still an Indo-Pacific power, though “it is most of the time forgotten” (ooft). Having laid these doubts to rest, he dedicated a significant portion of his speech to addressing what he described as “double standards” on the world stage.
According to Macron, leaders are actively undermining the post-WWII order by declining to openly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, by failing to call out Israel’s latest assault in Gaza, or, in China’s case, by criticising NATO’s footprint in Asia while allowing North Korean soldiers to fight against Ukraine.
Inconsistency, he argued, will be the undoing of the rules-based global order. And what succeeds it will be much worse: a time of “division of the world and a division between the two superpowers”.
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“Like any critical system, [trade] must be protected not from competition, but from the onslaught of arbitrary imposition of trade restrictions” – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Why is the Malaysian PM talking about trade at a defence conference? Simple, when exports make up nearly 70% of your country’s GDP, trade becomes a matter of national security and prosperity.
You can be sure his apprehension is shared by many Southeast Asian leaders and is a key reminder that if the US wants to strengthen its strategic footprint in the region, it will have a hard time doing so while also undermining Southeast Asia’s lifeline: trade.
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“State-sponsored cyber attacks are on the rise, and repeated damage to undersea cables, suspected to involve certain countries, these have had serious implications in the field relevant to defence” – Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani
Cyber attacks and ‘grey zone’ tactics have become central to how nations engage in conflict, and Nakatani’s comment further proves this shift (while also throwing some serious shade at Russia and China). Most worryingly, Nakatani argues, these attacks “undermine the very foundations of our societies and economies” by targeting public infrastructure.
Intrigue’s Take
There’s been a pretty significant vibe shift in the past few months, and it was ever more evident at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue: China and the US have gone from ‘strategic competitors’ to pretty outright open rivals. The gloves and muzzles are off. And secondly, defence and security are atop everyone’s agendas.
And this is worrying the rest of the world: Macron’s insistence on the rules-based order, Anwar’s jitters around trade, Nakatani’s unease at the use of grey zone tactics—everyone’s sensing the world is shifting beneath their feet, without knowing what’s around the corner and how to navigate it.
Intrigue presents
Tune in TODAY @ 12.00 PM ET!
Join International Intrigue and Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum for a candid chat on her latest book, ‘Autocracy Inc.’. We will dive into the strategies and tactics of modern autocrats, their interconnected networks for spreading disinformation, and the global fight for democracies to push back against this tide.
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
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🇺🇦 UKRAINE – Kyiv hits 40 warplanes inside Russia. Comment: Official accounts may vary on the details, but the Ukrainians’ use of drone warfare at scale throughout the war represents a revolution in military operations. |
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🇺🇸 UNITED STATES — Eight hurt in fire attack at Israeli hostage event. Comment: This is a grave and worrying development coming only days after a gunman killed two Israeli embassy staff in DC on 22 May. |
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🇵🇱 POLAND – Nationalist Karol Nawrocki wins presidential election. |
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🇮🇳 INDIA – New Delhi admits fighter jets lost. Comment: A high-ranking French official had previously said a Rafale fighter jet, sold to New Delhi, was downed in May’s clashes, but India appears to have waited for the attention to dissipate before confirming significant losses. |
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🇭🇰 HONG KONG – Beijing appoints new liaison chief. |
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🇵🇦 PANAMA – Mining loophole. |
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🇬🇦 GABON – Manganese given a deadline. |
Extra Intrigue
🤣 Your roundup of the world’s lighter news
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Japan is introducing legislation to outlaw ‘shiny or glittery’ baby names.
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Ostriches in Canada’s British Columbia, facing a culling order due to previous cases of avian flu, are getting help from Trump administration officials to stay alive.
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Haribo Happy Cola F!ZZ was recalled in the Netherlands after a few packages were found to be contaminated with cannabis.
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Two humanoid robots duked it out on a ring during China’s world robot competition.
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Over 250 million honeybees escaped a truck in Washington state after the vehicle carrying them rolled into a ditch.
Flag of the day
For many of our readers, today’s flag is obvious: New Zealand! Recognisable with a Union Jack in the upper left corner, opposite four stars to symbolise the Southern Cross constellation over the South Pacific Ocean.
The flag has caused a bit of debate recently when a Māori artist wrote ‘Please Walk On Me’ on a New Zealand flag and displayed it in art gallery exhibit, meant to stay for five months. The art piece only lasted 19 days, after facing significant public backlash. The artwork ignited an age old debate over patriotism, artistic expression and where the line is between the two.
Today’s poll
Do you think the rules-based international order will survive the next few years? |
Last Thursday’s poll: Which company do you think will have the most impact this decade?
📟 Nvidia (25%)
🚗 BYD (13%)
🤳 TikTok (4%)
🚀 SpaceX (8%)
🤖 OpenAI (47%)
✍️ Other (write us!) (3%)
Your two cents:
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🤖 D.S: At some point, the system's effect of AI will need to be thought through. If there are fewer jobs available because of AI, what happens to the tax base, what happens to unemployed or underemployed people seeking meaning?
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🚀 C.D: “The space frontier is heating up, commercially, militarily, and politically. Terrestrial societies are critically dependent on space assets. SpaceX is dominating launch and employment in the West.”
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📟 A.P: “Chips run everything, and that puts the best chipmaker in the world in an extremely dominant position.”
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✍️ R.O: “10 years is forever. None of these were known in 2015. I bet the most impactful company of 2035 is just a drawing on a napkin today.”