🌍 Six questions from France’s dramatic parliamentary elections

Hi {{ First name | Intriguer }}. In between postings abroad, I snuck in a year at film school, where a 500-page brick on the history of humankind ('Sapiens' by Yuval Noah Harari) drove home just how often we humans use stories to shape our world.

I mention that because two big examples broke over the weekend: the first came out of Iran, with the news that folks elected a ‘reformist’ candidate as the country’s next president. But with Iran’s supreme leader still firmly in control, many would argue Iran’s whole ‘reformist vs hardliner’ choice was little more than a story the regime told to drive turnout and legitimise its power.

The other story came out of France, which produced yet another electoral upset in parliamentary elections yesterday (Sunday). Different voices are now telling different stories about who really won, who really lost, and why. So today’s briefing sifts through it all to get you what you need.

Scores dead in Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Authorities believe at least 20 have been killed in a series of Russian strikes against Ukrainian cities. Kyiv’s mayor said the attack damaged the city’s children's hospital, which is now being evacuated.

‘Reformist’ candidate wins Iranian election.
Masoud Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon, will become Iran’s next president after beating his hardline opponent. He’s vowed to oppose patrols by the so-called morality police and build a more constructive relationship with the West. But the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, still remains in control.

Pro-deal protests continue in Israel.
Marking nine months since the Hamas attacks, thousands of protesters took to the streets on Sunday, calling for the government to a) enter a deal with Hamas to return all hostages, and b) organise fresh elections. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has led foreign journalists into Rafah for the first time, to highlight Hamas infrastructure. A CBS crew described the city as “a wasteland”.

Hungarian PM meets Xi Jinping.
Viktor Orbán, Putin’s most sympathetic voice in the EU, met China’s leader Xi Jinping earlier today (Monday) to discuss the Russo-Ukraine war. Orbán also met Putin and Ukraine’s president (Zelensky) last week, describing the two as “still far apart” (we probably could’ve told him that). Meanwhile, a new report from The Economist has estimated Russia’s total losses at between 462,000 and 728,000 soldiers, eclipsing all its war-time casualties since WWII, combined.

Philippines and Japan sign defence pact.
The ‘reciprocal access agreement’, signed earlier today, allows the two to deploy their respective troops to the other’s territory for joint exercises. It carries significance that’s both symbolic (Japan occupied the Philippines during WWII), and practical (they’re seeking to balance China’s more confrontational approach).

Hollywood giants agree to $28B merger.
Media company Paramount Global, responsible for hits like The Godfather and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, has agreed to merge with independent studio Skydance Media. Paramount’s shares have fallen 75% in the last five years.

INTRIGUE’S TAKE

Now let's pin down some take-aways:

Meanwhile, France’s standing abroad will also be shaped by its fortunes back home. And the left’s platform (eg, a 90% top-end tax, and reversing Macron’s pension reform) is generating some debate: the IMF's former chief economist has described it as ignoring the ‘inequality v growth’ balance, saying it’ll "lead to an economic catastrophe".

And then of course, after such a heated campaign and such a divided result, it's hard to see any genuinely unifying or effective force emerging. And that might ultimately benefit the RN, which will watch on until its next shot in 2027.

Also worth noting:

A MESSAGE FROM MECO

Meco is a distraction-free space for reading and discovering newsletters, separate from the inbox. Add your newsletters in seconds and liberate your inbox today!

We promise a well-curated list of beverages is key to any successful diplomatic function. But we also promise that our embassy fridges were never stocked quite so robustly as a 1960s-era British mission.

With thanks to Rory Cormac, the above is apparently the inventory of booze that a British ambassador brought on posting in 1966. By our count, that’s… 150 bottles of whiskey alone? Did anyone ever see this ambassador again?