Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
IRAN. The actors multiply as a new play begins.
EGYPT. CHINA. Xi Jinping enters the chat.
NEPAL. Floods are the least of Shah’s challenges.
INDONESIA. On a protest’s anniversary, the kids are back.
TECHNOLOGY. Two faces are found under one hood.
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IRAN. Balls in the air
The actors multiply as a new play begins.
Qatar’s prime minister visited Tehran Thursday as the IRGC claimed to have reached a revenue-sharing deal with Oman on tolls. Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby travelled to Brussels for meetings with Mark Rutte and allied ambassadors.
INTELLIGENCE. Colby is expected to brief allies on plans for an ongoing European presence, but the spectre of his nuclear strategy review, revealed earlier in the month, hangs over Iran, with concerns it may be the US – not Russia – that uses a tactical nuclear bomb to end an otherwise unwinnable war. This, of course, would be an extreme option, but amid Donald Trump’s claims of “mission accomplished”, it’s one that’s increasingly within the Overton window.
FOR BUSINESS. Six months ago, Hormuz tolls would have seemed absurd, as would the idea of a close ally engaging an enemy just declared “completely isolated”. Likewise, the idea that oil would keep falling (even as a Kuwaiti tanker being escorted by the US was hit inside the strait) would have also seemed absurd. Amid reports the USS Theodore Roosevelt is preparing for a long-term Gulf deployment, it’s hard to know what will seem normal in another six months.
EGYPT. CHINA. Chip Suez
Xi Jinping enters the chat.
Xi Jinping would visit Egypt for the first time in a decade, Beijing said Wednesday, as joint air force drills wrapped up and Huawei submitted a bid to provide 1,400 high-end chips for an Egyptian government data centre, spurring US warnings.
INTELLIGENCE. Egypt is a close US ally but will be mindful of the increased