Today’s briefing:
— Fiery flamingos in Albania
— A dubious deal on Iran
— A solar stallion in China
Your Insider’s briefing:
— Fiery flamingos in Albania
— A dubious deal on Iran
— A solar stallion in China
Good morning {{first_name | Intriguer}}. If you saw ‘Albania’ in the news this week, maybe you thought “oh Dua Lipa and Callum are on their honeymoon, good for them”.
But today’s briefing is way more intriguing, way less Instagrammable, and somehow features way more flamingos. Flamingos, you ask? You heard me. Flamingos.
Not the millions of flamingos over Lake Natron, nor the high-altitude survivors atop the Bolivian salts, nor even the sunset miracles in the Yucatán.
Today we’re talking pink flamingos, and they’re trying to topple Albania’s government. Shall we read on?
 | Managing Editor Jeremy Dicker |
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Number of the day
5th
That’s SpaceX's new global market cap ranking now that a ~49% post-IPO rally has pushed its valuation to $2.65T. The post-IPO bounce has been more retail-driven.
Resort to violence
It's possible we've never devoted a full briefing to Albania, but when you get pink flamingos, Soviet bunkers, and shady investors potentially ousting a basketball-star-turned-artist from power, the situation is absolutely frothing for some Intrigue treatment.
So here are the six wild layers to this story, starting with...
💥 The spark
This all started back on May 30th, when security guards went viral roughing up a few protesters outside Albania's protected Vjosa-Narta wetlands. Everyone naturally wondered why the big biff, and it turned out locals were angry about all the bulldozers arriving at the region’s ecologically sensitive coastline.
It’s for a swanky new $1.6B resort complex on these wetlands and nearby uninhabited Sazan Island. Okay, so is this just about a few flamingos? Well partly, but there's also...
🤝 The owners
The official developer is Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, which is where things get a little more intriguing. It's registered in Qatar, and reportedly backed by...
Jared Kushner (President Trump's son-in-law / envoy)
the Al-Khayyat brothers (Qatar-based Syrian tycoons)
Shefqet Kastrati (Albania's most powerful oligarch), and
Other anonymous folks still avoiding the spotlight.
So okay, is this just about the rich getting richer in the shadows? Well partly, but there's also how they even got their hands on...
🏝️ The land
This whole area has for decades been protected not only as a biodiversity hotspot, but also a military exclusion zone (see below). But this all changed from late 2024, when Albania quietly downgraded some of those protections and granted the project 'strategic investor' status, ensuring fast-track permits, tax holidays, and no pesky normal tenders.
Meanwhile, villagers warn the above consortium bought the land from a Miami-based character called Artur Shehu, who allegedly relied on disputed post-communist titles.
So while everyone's denying any sin, Albania's anti-corruption team is now involved.
Then okay, is this just about local "Albania is not for sale" rage? Well yes, but there's also...
☭ The Soviets
Sazan Island was long a top-secret Soviet sub base, though not that secret because the CIA nicknamed it 'Red Gibraltar' for its key position controlling the mouth of the Adriatic.
Even after the 1961 Soviet-Albanian split, the country's dictator (Hoxha) turned the island into one of Europe’s most fortified spots, with 3,600 bunkers, tunnels, and arms depots.
These days, long after the Cold War, it's still technically under Albania's defence ministry.
So is this also outrage about Albania casually but quietly hocking off one of its most strategic assets? Well yes, but there's also...
🇪🇺 The Europeans
Turns out this project is right near the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (with the convenient acronym of TAP), delivering Azeri gas straight over to Italy and on to the rest of Europe.
So in a world of energy jitters, that's got Rome a little uneasy about Albania's sudden plans which are also right on the Strait of Otranto (Italy's southern maritime gateway).
And yet of course, Rome's opinion matters not just as a neighbour, but as a Brussels powerbroker deciding whether Albania eventually fulfils its dreams of joining the EU. And speaking of the EU, the bloc is already warning this project could harm Albania’s bid.
So okay, it's suddenly an EU expansion story too, and yet somehow there's also...
👉 The blame
As all the flamingo-investor-land-Soviet-Rome-Brussels intrigue morphs into growing daily anti-government protests that've now run for more than three weeks (!), PM Rama (the basketballer-turned-artist) isn't going down without a fight.
He's now flaming Iran for amplifying the anger, citing Tehran's grudge over Albania hosting Iran's exiled 'MEK' opposition movement. Others are also blaming a viral Ivanka Trump moment ("we discovered this private island") that's incensed locals.
And that’s before we highlight it’s now Gen Zers, in their baggy cargoes, chunky sneakers, and layered necklaces, leading the broader movement amid disillusionment at a lack of opportunity and 13 years of Rama rule.
So there you have it, Intriguer. You’ve got one ritzy resort. One angry movement calling itself the flamingos. And one increasingly nervous prime minister.
Intrigue’s Take
For the world’s cash-strapped and embattled governments in need of a quick win, maybe you can see the appeal of fast-tracking ‘strategic investor’ deals with a big name (like the Trump family) plus piles of Gulf cash in hopes of a concrete win. But…
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Sound even smarter:
Albania has been a NATO member since 2009.
It’s targeting EU membership by 2030, and just passed the critical ‘Interim Benchmark Assessment Report’ last month, meaning it’s technically in the final stages.
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Meanwhile, elsewhere…
🇮🇷 IRAN — The latest on the deal.
The US has begun circulating a draft of its 14-point deal with Iran. Shared among allies at the G7 in France, it appears to confirm that most of the pre-war sticking points we flagged (nukes, missiles, sanctions, proxies) get kicked down the road to an eventual “final agreement“. The draft does stipulate an immediate ceasefire along all fronts (“including Lebanon”), US waivers on Iranian oil exports, and unspecified private “financing of at least $300 billion” for Iran’s economic development. (Bloomberg $)
🇺🇸 UNITED STATES — Mixed messages.
DC is reportedly declining to blacklist China’s DeepSeek AI startup, chipmaker CXMT, and more than 100 other firms first flagged as security risks last year. It’s reportedly all about avoiding further escalation with Beijing. (Reuters)
Comment: There are valid debates at each fork in America’s China road, but the issue here is how awkwardly this latest move sits alongside several others this month: DC has now closed one AI loophole (for China’s offshore subsidiaries), left open another (for China to instead buy via third-country intermediaries), and slapped shock new export controls on its own AI pioneer (Anthropic). It risks looking less like strategy, and more like a DC getting torn between its hawks and doves.
🇧🇹 BHUTAN — Real recognises real.
The mountain kingdom has officially recognised Croatia, a chill 34 years after Croatia’s independence from Yugoslavia. Niger and Tonga are now the only two nations left on Zagreb’s list. (CroatiaWeek)
Comment: If you were wondering, the delay doesn’t reflect any longstanding beef, but just a “never got around to it” vibe between two distant smaller nations.
🇪🇺 EUROPEAN UNION - At last?
After delays linked to Trump’s Greenland threats, EU lawmakers have finally approved the EU-US trade truce hammered out last summer — this removes most European tariffs on US industrial imports in exchange for a ✌️preferential✌️ 15% US tariff on Europe. The same week, the bloc has also finally started membership talks with Ukraine some two years after giving the greenlight, now that Hungary’s new government has lifted its veto. (EuroNews)
🇨🇺 CUBA - Capitalism with Cuban characteristics?
Cuba’s communist leaders are reportedly mulling a China-style economic overhaul, which would liberalise the economy without relinquishing their one-party control. (Diaz Canel via X)
Comment: Coming after years of Beijing’s own communists urging their Cuban comrades to try being less communist, this kind of ‘market-Leninism’ might (if the Cubans can execute) enable Trump 2.0 to claim a victory and Cuba’s administration to stave off collapse, all while avoiding a direct confrontation. But we have our doubts whether even that’d be enough for DC’s Cuba hardliners like Rubio.
🇮🇳 INDIA - Telegram banned.
Delhi has temporarily banned the Telegram messaging app for India’s 150 million users, alleging it was the main platform used to spread and sell last month’s leaked med-school entrance exam (taken by ~2.3 million student hopefuls). (Economic Times)
Comment: We already flagged this scandal’s role in the Cockroach People’s Party recently rattling local politics, but Telegram’s founder is weighing in with his own allegations: he’s saying Indian telecom Reliance is also cutting Telegram access for Indian nationals abroad. Why? Reliance is controlled by the powerful Ambani family, with backing from America’s Meta (which owns rival messaging platform WhatsApp).
🇮🇱 ISRAEL - New embassy just dropped.
The de facto self-governing territory of Somaliland has opened an embassy in Jerusalem, months after Israel became the first to recognise the territory as an independent country. (AfricaNews)
Comment: It’s a rare diplomatic win for Somaliland (getting its first embassy), but also for Israel, getting more access along the strategic Red Sea’s south to counter Iran/Houthi influence — this is also now only the eighth foreign embassy to choose not Tel Aviv but Jerusalem, the capital claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians.
Extra Intrigue
What people around the world are googling…
🇨🇱 Folks in Chile searched for ‘El niño’ after NOAA confirmed the weather phenomenon has now indeed developed over the Pacific. We foreshadowed what this means for the world here.
🇻🇳 Vietnamese sports fans searched for ‘Vozinha’, Cape Verde’s 40-year-old star goalkeeper who helped his team upset FIFA favourites Spain in a 0-0 draw.
🇺🇸 And US netizens googled ‘B52 bomber’ after a horror crash took the lives of at least eight servicemembers and civilians.
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Record of the day
Credits: Huawei.
Humans have a real passion for big drawings. Huge drawings, even. Think Peru’s Nazca Lines, the UK’s Uffington White Horse, or Australia’s Marree Man.
So it seems China channelled its own FOMO into a giant horse galloping across Inner Mongolia, all drawn using a casual 196,000 solar panels. The project even got its Guinness World Record certification in 2019.
The horse choice isn’t random. Called ‘Junma’ (‘fine horse’ in Mandarin), the project is a nod to the steppe’s reverence for horses as companions, transport, status, and beyond.
It’s not just for show, either — the broader station generates ~2 billion kWh per year, which is enough to power a medium-sized city (300,000 to 400,000 homes).
Today’s poll
Do you think this Albania resort will happen?
Yesterday’s poll: Would you support an age limit for world leaders?
🧑🦳 Yes, there are risks in being too young or too old (68%)
💪 No, fitness for office is bigger than age (30%)
✍️ Other (write in!) (1%)
Your two cents:
🧑🦳 M.F: “You need to keep up to date with your citizens. Outdated ideas lead to outdated nations.”
💪 C.O.N: “By imposing an age cap you get dangerously close to limiting political office by ‘competency’ which then gives autocrats another ground to use against their opponents.”
✍️ M.M.D: “I don't think age is automatically disqualifying as every leader has a team around them. It would be nice to have a choice though — the trend of older and older candidates is a bit depressing”
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