🏛️ BAGHDAD — New PM, no defense minister, active war on the border. 📌 LOOK CLOSER: Al-Zaidi takes office with security ministries still vacant — a structural gap as IRGC infiltration hits Kuwait and Hormuz stays shut. Iraq exports 10M barrels monthly through the contested strait. Without defense and interior confirmed, Baghdad can't coordinate border security or respond to US pressure to distance from Tehran.
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🧊 ARCTIC — Golden Dome goes north; non-NATO investors locked out. 📌 LOOK CLOSER: The deal's investment restriction clause — barring non-NATO, non-EU states from Greenland's critical minerals — is directed squarely at China and Russia. Beijing has quietly courted Greenland rare earths for years. Golden Dome basing
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🇫🇷 PARIS — Macron attacks Trump's Gaza record while the Iran deal still needs Europe. 📌 LOOK CLOSER: At UNGA, Macron calling Trump's Gaza moves a "spectacle of shame" fractures the Western front mid-negotiation. Any Iran framework needs EU sanctions coordination — Paris openly hostile raises the
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🎖️ BEIJING — Xi's purges weakened the PLA he may need most. 📌 LOOK CLOSER: PLA purges swapped warfighting experience for political loyalty. Xi meets Trump this week needing military credibility behind his Taiwan arms demand — a hollowed command undermines that leverage. For Tehran, a less capable PLA shrinks Beijing'
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🎖️ BEIJING — China's purges leave Washington unsure who actually controls PLA triggers. 📌 LOOK CLOSER: Three defense ministers fired in three years signals systemic rot, not isolated corruption. Beijing's implicit deterrence backing of Tehran loses credibility when PLA command is opaque even to Xi. Washington gains: PLA uncertainty