Happy Holidays from Team Intrigue!

Plus: Green Bean Casserole's links to Iran

Hi Intriguer! Happy Thanksgiving to our American Intriguers, who I trust celebrated by individually consuming the yearly caloric needs of the entire Massachusetts Bay Colony circa 1620 in a single sitting. They nibbled so we could gorge.

And to our non-American readers, enjoy that smug feeling of waking up without having traded your dignity for a third helping of pie. Some of us made different choices, and we're dealing with the consequences horizontally.

To tide you over while I recover, the team has compiled a few Intrigue highlights to keep you entertained until Monday. Our European correspondent Valentina has even devised a devilishly difficult mini crossword about world leaders that I scored humbly 0/5 on.

See you Monday!

🗓️ INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE EVENTS - The Recap

On 12 November, Intrigue hosted a webinar with Asia Society’s Neil Thomas and International Crisis Groups’ Ali Vaez, following Donald Trump’s November 5th win, cementing his second term and beginning sitting President Joe Biden’s lame duck period.

Here are some highlights from our discussion:

  • Return to isolationism? Trump's isolationist tendencies are in line with pre-WW2 US foreign policy. Sceptical of international alliances and multilateral organizations, a Trump 2.0 era might see the US steering clear of "permanent alliances."

  • Iran tensions will escalate: With Trump's possible reinstatement of "maximum pressure" sanctions on Iran, Ali Vaez warned of increased tensions that could inch toward military confrontation. Iran's likely response would be to ramp up its nuclear program and regional activities.

  • How China will deal with Trump 2.0: Neil Thomas highlighted that China's leadership may attempt to exploit Trump's deal-making persona, possibly seeking relief from tariffs that have strained its economy. However, Trump's focus on economic policies and tariffs is expected to persist, potentially intensifying US-China trade tensions.

  • Personnel is policy: Trump's new cabinet picks all have at least two things in common: They are sceptical of the political establishment and have shown unyielding loyalty to the former and future president (with the arguable exception of Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Treasury pick Scott Bessent).

Our November webinar kicks off a series of digital events Intrigue has on the calendar, aiming to make sure our audience can get insights from experts wherever they may be! Earlier this year, we also hosted an event at the Australian Embassy in DC which can be rewatched here.

📽️ FULL RECORDING

🗳️ ELECTION INTRIGUE WRAPS UP

Election Intrigue hosted its final podcast this week, marking the end of the election season in the US and nearly the close of elections for 2024. In this week’s ultimate episode, John debates whether Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s proposed DOGE agency will see the light of day, and what that’ll mean for Washington and the country at large. Plus,

  • Trump’s cabinet picks

  • The mood in Washington

  • Are government workers next on the chopping block?

Feel free to listen to the final episode and catch up on any others here!

🇮🇹 DISPATCH FROM ROME

Intrigue has been in Rome this week attending the Mediterranean Dialogue, a summit that attracted foreign ministers from Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, North Macedonia, and Croatia, UN Envoys for Syria and the Western Sahara and even Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni.

The timing was crucial as the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire hung in the balance. Lebanon’s Foreign Minister was in high demand Tuesday morning, when he told a panel that he was hopeful for a deal. Just hours later, the news arrived confirming that the two warring parties had agreed to an initial 60-day truce in an deal facilitated by the US and France.

While the mood in Rome was buoyed by the recent diplomatic breakthrough, on Wednesday the conversation turned to even tougher questions, including how to end the war in Gaza and what role Europe and the international community can play after seeing diplomatic efforts prevail in Lebanon.

Want to dive deeper? Check out our coverage of the MED, including:

If you’re attending any upcoming conferences or events in DC, we might just be there too! Send us a note so we can get a coffee on the sidelines ☕️

💵 ICYMI DIPLOMAT PAY

Diplomats have faced a rollercoaster of pay changes this year, with Argentinian and Brazilian diplomats striking and American diplomats nearly seeing an average salary cut of 22%.

Now, nobody gets into diplomacy for the money. At least, they shouldn’t. Or at least, we didn’t. But earning a living wage should be the baseline for public servants on the frontlines of global crises.

So, how much do diplomats actually earn? We dug into it, compiling the first-ever comparison of diplomat salaries across the G20 earlier this year. The response? Intriguers loved it—many wrote in with stories from their own countries, and the South China Morning Post even reported our research. Thank you 🦃!

🍽️ THANKSGIVING DISH OF THE DAY

That green bean casserole our American readers just devoured? Turns out they might just have the former Empress of Iran and Shah to thank for its appearance on the Thanksgiving table.

If legend holds true, the Empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi was visiting the US on an official trip with the Shah when they were served something akin to the green bean dish. Fascinated by its contents, the Empress kept inquiring about the recipe. Fascinated by the foreign guest’s curiosity, an AP news reporter took the ingredient list to Campbell Soup Company and asked their team to create something similar.

Within a few years, the recipe was a smash hit and found its home in American Thanksgiving cuisine.

👀 EXTRA INTRIGUE

Crossword answers

  1. Lula - Brazilian President Lula da Silva lost a finger whilst working at a factory.

  2. von der Leyen - EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen got her doctor’s license in 1987.

  3. Ramaphosa - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was involved in a corruption scandal involving over $500,000 stuffed into his sofa.

  4. Scholz - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has the same name as a famous Disney character from Frozen.

  5. Yoon - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was plagued by a scandal involving his wife’s Dior bag.

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