South Africa power crisis becomes debacle
Plus, a sexy fine in Singapore and China brokers a peace deal
I am a bit of a sucker for the Oscars, even though I haven’t watched the show in years.
I prefer the run-up to the awards, and I like the discourse. I enjoy the intrigue and the manufactured pseudo-controversies. I LOVE that a well-connected actress can game the system and get nominated for a movie that made $31,543.
This year was particularly interesting for me because I had months to accept that a movie I had strong negative feelings toward would dominate. For people like me, who read the occasional article and listen to podcasts, it was so evident that Everything Everywhere All At Once would win big that it sucked a bit of drama out of the night.
But as the actual awards rolled around, I found that I was just happy for the people for whom that movie meant a lot. It will be remembered as a breakthrough moment.
At the end of the day, the thing I enjoy most about the Oscars is being pointed to movies I have never heard of. I went to see Everything Everywhere because it had Oscars buzz. It wasn’t for me. I went to see The Banshees of Inisherin because it had Oscars buzz. It was my favorite movie of the year.
I think it’s worth sitting through some unenjoyable movies if it means stumbling upon one that sticks with you for years.
The stories that are too big to ignore (but we will anyway)
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
A6 - Where the world happens
South Africa energy crisis creates a recession
For the past few months, the most significant controversy in South Africa has been the complete collapse of its utilities infrastructure.
The problem first became a global news story when Andre de Ruyter, the former CEO of Eksom holdings, the country’s largest utility, went public with accusations about widespread corruption within the company, including explosive allegations of cartels running major coal plants used for electricity.
The accusations themselves would be a significant controversy, but the fact that the CEO acted as the whistleblower immediately transformed it into the biggest domestic issue in South Africa. de Ruyter also believes he was the target of an assassination attempt via poison-laced coffee.
That scandal trained the microscope on the utilities themselves, and South Africa has found itself in a full-blown crisis. Many homes now go without electricity for 10 hours per day, and a new electricity minister was appointed to root out corruption. President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of emergency.
The problem is so massive that it will send South Africa into an economic recession because the power crisis not only impacts homes but has equally affected major industries like agriculture and mining.
At the moment, authorities have yet to find a clear solution to solve the problem.
China brokers detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran
The US-China conversations have become so toxic that it is easy to lose sight of the advantages of having alternative geopolitical superpowers.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced they would resume diplomatic ties, making the world slightly safer. The two countries will open embassies in each other’s borders for the first time in seven years and renew a lapsed regional security partnership.
China facilitated the talks and created a win-win-win situation for all three countries. Iran and Saudi Arabia will never be allies, but now they can operate more like rivals rather than enemies. China will receive some well-deserved diplomatic cachet and, one would imagine, stronger ties with both countries.
This deal represents a benefit of an assertive China because the US is incapable of brokering a similar deal. The US is far too close to Saudi Arabia (a major ally) and too antagonistic with Iran (a sworn enemy). It means there is a lack of trust, and any negotiations become almost impossible if Washington plays the middleman.
Pundits who fret over what this means for America’s role in the Middle East have missed the point. It is good for the world if Iran and Saudi Arabia stop their warmongering, and it removes a major headache for US foreign policy. This deal benefits Washington. They just have to accept that it benefits Beijing more.
Philippines politicians find themselves as assassination targets
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a police crackdown on illegal guns and militias after a provincial governor and five civilians were killed earlier this month. Three people were arrested in connection with the attack. Two of the three were ex-military that had been dishonorably discharged.
The assassination occurred just three weeks after another governor was wounded, and four of his bodyguards were killed. Additionally, in a separate attack, armed gunmen killed a vice mayor and five others when they fired a gun into his van.
The attacks were nominally unrelated. For example, the failed assassination attempt was likely part of a Muslim independence movement in the south of the country that has existed for decades. The most recent killing, however, happened in a region known for violent local political rivalries.
Taken together, they highlight the persistent danger of political assassinations in the Philippines.
The string of political violence presents a new challenge for Marcos, who rose to power partly because he vowed to tackle gun violence in the country.
Update: South Korea WWII forced labor plans officially announced
Readers of A6 will remember the coverage of South Korea’s plan to find common ground with Japan regarding imperial-era forced labor policies. That plan was officially announced last week, which should help improve relations with Japan. But, it has angered some survivors and their families.
The plan would compensate the families, but critics have been demanding a full apology from Tokyo and the money to come from the employers that engaged in the forced labor.
Growing threats from North Korea — such as ballistic missiles flying over Japan — have pushed the two countries closer together. Additionally, Japan and South Korea have grown wary of China’s growing influence and willingness to flex its muscles, as it did when it used economic coercion to try and deter Korea from installing a US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
That being said, the Japanese rule over South Korea from 1910-1945 was brutal, and its legacy still colors geopolitics in northeast Asia. Additionally, the latest agreement does not solve the issue of comfort women, which still hangs over both countries.
Erotic photos put sex-shy Singapore in the limelight
This story is a fascinating example of what happens when a non-traditional sexual relationship bumps up against an inflexible legal system.
The couple — a Singaporean man and a Vietnamese woman — were part of a group in Singapore that shared explicit images or videos of their partners with each other. In the video in question, the wife publicly pulled down her top to reveal her breast.
The couple uploaded the video to the group, where it was promptly stolen and passed through more public areas of the internet. When the husband tried to remove the video, it was a lost cause, the video was too widespread.
Two years after the incident, the couple was fined $17,000 for violating public nudity laws in Singapore. The husband lost his career because the case was so public it would be the first thing any employer would see during a job application.
The two have moved to Vietnam and say they will never return to Singapore. While $17,000 is a lot of money for a fine, the more significant issue is that this couple’s lives were ruined over a breast.
Beyond the facts of the case, the article gets into Singapore’s relationship with sex, and I suggest giving it a click and reading the story. It’s a good one.
Major breakthrough for protecting our oceans
Hopefully, the little-covered High Seas Treaty will be a breakthrough we discuss in the years and decades to come.
The United Nations agreed to work towards protecting 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030, which would be a huge improvement from the current number of 1.2 percent.
The plan would limit how much fishing can occur in certain areas, create shipping routes to avoid sensitive ecosystems, and build a system to monitor deep-sea exploration. Its goal is to increase regulations to ensure future economic activity in the open ocean is environmentally sustainable.
The treaty had to overcome issues such as financing the plan and building a framework for protecting fishing rights. It also will be a while before the treaty turns to action. The UN needs to meet once more to officially ratify the agreement, at which point it will take time to set up the infrastructure to make sure the treaty can make an impact.
If you have an idea for a story or topic worth mentioning in A6, do not hesitate to reply to this email and we can look into it.
I somehow missed that Singapore story! I've been cutting back on social media discovery lately and am finding a few things I missed/hadn't managed to get to in your recent round-ups. Thank you!