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Hi there Intriguer.ย Counting to 10,000 takes about two hours (so weโve heard). Writing 10,000 in Roman numerals comes out as a tasty MMMMMMMMMM (or Xฬ for short). Andโฆ 10,000 is also how many new folks have joined the Intrigue family since just last week! Weโre chuffed to have each one of you on this adventure with us, helping to make sense of our world.
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Todayโs briefing is a 4.8 min read:
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๐น๐ทย Turkeyโs election goes to a run-off.
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๐ฟ๐ฆ The US accuses South Africa of selling arms to Russia.
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โ Plus: Some Eurovision stats, how the papers are covering the appointment of a new Twitter CEO, and some surprising vending machines now booming in Germany.
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๐ง Todayโs Intrigue Outloud: Greece has lost its marbles!
๐บ๏ธ AROUND THE WORLD
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๐น๐ญย Thailand: Voters rejected military rule in Thailandโs elections yesterday (Sunday), with military-backed parties winning only a fraction of seats in parliament. Lawmakers (including a Senate appointed by the military) will now convene in July to elect a new prime minister.
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๐ฑ๐ฎย Liechtenstein: Bitcoin will soon be accepted as payment for certain government services in Liechtenstein. Under the new policy, payments will be converted immediately into Swiss francs because of Bitcoinโs continued volatility.
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๐ต๐ฌย Papua New Guinea (PNG): Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko announced plans to resign on Friday (12 May) after public uproar over the cost and size of PNGโs delegation to King Charlesโ coronation.
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๐บ๐พย Uruguay: The capital city of Montevideo is subsidising water bottles for its residents amid an historic three-year drought. The country received 60% less rainfall over the last year than average.
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๐ฑ๐พย Libya: French prosecutors are re-opening a case against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for allegedly soliciting millions of dollars from then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Prosecutors say Sarkozy used the money to fund his victorious 2007 presidential campaign.
๐น๐ท TURKEY | ELECTION
Turkey heads to an election runoff
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Briefly: Turkeyโs highly anticipated presidential election will likely go to a run-off on 28 May, with initial results from the first round yesterday (Sunday) showing no candidate with the 50% of votes necessary to win outright.
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Some polls had hinted that incumbent strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdoฤan could lose, but he ended up with 49.2% of the vote, compared with 45% for opposition leader Kemal Kฤฑlฤฑรงdaroฤlu (pronounced kilitch-dah-rolu).
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Whyโs everyone so focused on Turkeyโs election?
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โ๏ธ Itโs got NATOโs second largest military
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๐งโ๐คโ๐ง Itโs home to more than 88 million people
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๐ It straddles Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and
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๐ฅพ This is the closest Erdoฤan has come to losing power
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And whyโs Erdoฤan faced such a tough election?
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๐ Erdoฤanโs unorthodox policies have contributed to a currency collapse and soaring inflation, with many Turks now struggling, and
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โ Erdoฤanโs critics say the populist leader has weakened Turkeyโs institutions and steered the country away from its secular roots
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Soโฆ any change in Ankara could be felt around the world. The thing is, we donโt really know how. The opposition contains nationalist, leftist and conservative parties, so its vision for Turkeyโs role in the world isnโt always entirely clear.
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Intrigueโs take: Erdoฤan has long been a tough and wily negotiator on the international stage (just ask Sweden, whose NATO membership heโs vetoed). So, several world leaders will have hoped to see the back of him at this election.
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But the opposition now has a tough slog to close that gap before 28 May. So betting markets are wagering Erdoฤanโs time on the world stage isnโt over yet.
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Also worth noting:
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Voter turnout came in at around 88% yesterday. That compares to 84% in the last Swedish election, and around 67% in the UK and the US.
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To go deeper on whatโs at stake in this election, we highly recommend this episode of One Decision with Julia Macfarlane, featuring Sir Richard Dearlove (former MI6 chief), David Satterfield (former US Ambassador to Turkey) and Gonul Tol (Turkish academic and author).
๐ฐ GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
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How different newspapers covered: The appointment of Linda Yaccarino as the next Twitter CEO.
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Links: Times of India, The Guardian, Vanguard.
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Todayโs briefing is sponsored byย The Daily Upside
Itโs time to rethink your media diet.
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Most financial media businesses are built with one singular goal โ convert financial insecurity and fear into clicks. And the headlines do just that โ โ9%+ inflation is eating away at your savings,โ โSoaring interest rates have wiped $4 trillion from equity markets.โ
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None of it is designed to make you a smarter investor or sharper business person. Fortunately, we have The Daily Upside. This free newsletter is a veritable goldmine of deep insights, unbiased reporting, and is packed with color. Founded by a team of wall street insiders, bankers, and scholars, The Daily Upside delivers industry-level analysis with absolutely zero BS. Join over 900,000 subscribers โ including the team at International Intrigue โ who trust The Daily Upside every day. We couldnโt recommend it enough.
๐ฟ๐ฆ SOUTH AFRICA | GEOPOLITICS
US ambassador accuses South Africa of arming Russia
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Briefly: The US ambassador to South Africa has said heโs โconfidentโ the country has sold weapons and ammunition to Russia, despite its pledged neutrality. The arms were allegedly loaded onto a sanctioned Russian ship in December.
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Curiously, South African officials claim the ambassador has since apologised for his remarks, while the ambassador says he only corrected โmisimpressionsโ.
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And interestingly, South Africa says it never โapprovedโ, nor has โany record ofโ, an arms sale to Russia. We donโt want to get all Ally McBeal on you here, but thatโs not quite the same as saying the sale never happened.
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Intrigueโs take: In the end, this might be one of those situations where the truth lands somewhere in the middle: e.g., perhaps an unauthorised arms sale occurred without Pretoriaโs knowledge, such as via a rogue element of the military.
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In the meantime, both sides agree on one thing: a sanctioned Russian ship was docked at a South African military port in December. And a retired judge is now leading South Africaโs investigation into what exactly it was doing there.
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Also worth noting:
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After the allegations surfaced, South Africaโs president spoke with the presidents of both Russia and Ukraine.
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An arms sale to Russia would likely breach South Africaโs own Arms Control Act, which bans arms sales to “states engaged inโฆ aggression”.
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The South African Rand plunged to a record low against the dollar after the US ambassador made the allegations.
๐ EXTRA INTRIGUE
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Your weekly roundup of the funniest news from the four corners of the internet!
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An Australian woman managed to survive five days in the bush on only some candy and a bottle of wineย
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Two French police were despatched to resolve a neighbourly quarrel about noisy frogs
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Ukraineโs first lady received her coronation invitation complete with a โUkaineโ typoย
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US police responded to a call for help only to find out it was just a goat bleatingย
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Sausage vending machines are booming in Germany (and next door, Switzerland has cheese vending machines that do pretty well too)
๐ CHART OF THE DAY
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Congratulations Sweden!
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Here at Intrigue Media we love the Eurovision song contest and weโre not alone: at its peak, 11 million people tuned into Saturdayโs final, making Eurovision one of the most watched non-sporting events worldwide.
๐ณ๏ธ POLL TIME!
Who was your favourite act at this year’s Eurovision? |
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Thursdayโs poll: Which country has the best food in the world?
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โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐จ๐ณ China ๐ฅ (4%)
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๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ซ๐ท France ๐ฅ (15%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฎ๐ณ India ๐ (11%)
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๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉย ๐ฎ๐น Italy ๐ (33%)
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โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ต๐ช Peru ๐ (3%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฏ๐ต Japan ๐ฃ (11%)
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โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ช๐น Ethiopia ๐ฒ (1%)
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๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฒ๐ฝ Mexico ๐ฎ (12%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ โ๏ธ Other (write in!) (11%)
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Your two cents:
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โ๏ธ G.S: โThe world has gotten so much smaller, so much so that โinternational cuisineโ, high quality I might add, is available everywhere. Iโve been all over the world and have found fantastic food in every corner.โ
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Honourable mentions: Thailand, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, the US, and many more!
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This was one of our biggest ever polls. Do yโall need to take more lunch breaks?
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