May 11-12
- Gaza families
- AI dancing Modi
- Duvet breakt
- … and much more!
⬇️ STARTER
The Israel-Hamas War Has Turned Into A Trap For Iran's Regional Ambitions
While the Palestinian cause is important for Iran and the Arab militias it backs, the return of this issue to the forefront may not benefit the resistance camp. And its tactic of strategic patience may not produce the intended results.
Across the Middle East, the Gaza war is considered an important moment in the conflict between two key regional camps. The first is known as the “Arab moderation camp,” which mainly includes Egypt and Arab Gulf states that believe in a solution based on the principle of the two-state solution.
The second is the “resistance camp,” which is made up of Iran and a number of Arab militias backed by Iran. Like Hamas, they all believe in the goal of eliminating Israel, and therefore reject the two-state solution and condemn any Arab effort to resolve the conflict peacefully.
The disagreement between the two camps, with its importance, is one of the manifestations of a deeper disagreement related to shaping the structure of the entire region.
The resistance camp is Islamic. It envisions the future of the region in the form of a sole imperial Islamic state. That state is by nature based on the ruins of the national idea, which is considered the foundation of the current Arab ruling regimes.
It is no coincidence that the resistance camp consists mainly of militias. Militias are the most important tool available to strike the principle of state sovereignty at its core, because the basis of any state’s sovereignty is the state’s monopoly on forming military organizations of armies and official security services.
Yet the contribution of a country, such as Iran, in establishing or financing militias also depends on the availability of appropriate conditions within the country in question. Destabilization turns a country into a failed state, providing the opportunity to form militias and extend their control over parts of the country’s territory.
The Arab region has a long history with militias, due to the weak national formation in a significant number of its countries. But the current active militias no longer carry a national liberation ideology or a leftist revolutionary ideology.
— Read the full article by Sherif Younis for Al Manassa, translated into English by Worldcrunch.
🎲 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ
What do you remember from the news this week?
1. Where did Chinese President Xi Jinping and American pop star Taylor Swift start their respective European tours?
2. Which foreign leader fired a senior personal security guard following a foiled assassination plot?
3. Apple has apologized after online backlash to a new iPad ad featuring a giant hydraulic press crushing a collection of what?
4. Which culinary Guinness World Record was reclaimed by the French? Biggest croissant / Smelliest cheese / Longest baguette / Tallest choux à la crème tower
[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]
#️⃣ TRENDING
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised a user on X, @Atheist_Krishna, for sharing an AI-generated video depicting him dancing. The video circulated during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. It shows Modi in an orange waistcoat, dancing on stage with the crowd cheering. Modi commended the creativity, calling it a "delight" with the hashtag #PollHumor.
🎭 5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW
• In Lagos, 4,000 tiny metal butterflies celebrate the “beauty of Black women”: Nigerian metal sculptor and visual artist Dotun Popoola has created a colorful 12-foot-tall, 882-pound piece composed of thousands of metal butterflies that depicts the decorated head and neck of an African woman, inspired by his wife. Displayed as a part of the Artmiabo International Art Festival in Lagos, “Irinkemi Asake”(which roughly translates to “metals have enhanced my life” in the Yoruba language) showcases the beauty of Black women around the world. It is set to be shipped to the Legacy Museum, in Alabama, which explores the history and legacy of slavery in America.
• A long-lost Caravaggio will be unveiled in Madrid: The Prado Museum in Madrid will display the Ecce Homo, a lost Caravaggio that was almost sold for €1,500 after having been misattributed. It was offered for sale at a Madrid auction house in April 2021 but its colors and light led experts in Spain and Italy to re-examine the work. As soon as it was correctly identified, the Madrid regional government speedily awarded the painting protected heritage status to keep it in the country. The 17th century painting will go on public view for the first time from May 28 until October.
• Happy 200th birthday, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony! To mark 200 years since German composer Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiered on May 7, 1824, Vienna is hosting a series of performances of the symphony. This challenging piece of music was revolutionary at the time, “it opened the door to the future,” says the musicologist Otto Biba. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by famed Italian Riccardo Muti, is the one in charge of this joyful honor.
• Pulitzer 2024, winners and logistics complications: This year’s Pulitzer winners, announced on Monday, revolved mostly around reports on the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and its aftermath, with The New York Times and Reuters being praised for their “wide-ranging and revelatory coverage.” The public service award honored the ProPublica reporters, whose stories prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt its first code of conduct. The Pulitzers are administered by Columbia University which was in the news for student demonstrations against the war in Gaza, forcing the Pulitzer board to meet in a different setting.
• Tasmanian women-only exhibit to be turned into a toilet: Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) will appeal a court ruling that its Ladies Lounge exhibit must allow male visitors under anti-discrimination laws. Meanwhile, Kirsha Kaechele, the artist who created the work, has decided she will challenge the ruling by making the space "compliant" with regulations: the Ladies Lounge will turn into a women's toilet and a church. This way it will continue to operate as a women-only space under legal exemptions.
🇵🇸 SPLITTING UP FOR A BETTER CHANCE AT SURVIVAL
Entire Palestinian families have been wiped out over the past seven months in Gaza in Israel's bombing campaign. Many families resorted to dividing their family members to different places, so at least some of them survive if their houses are bombed. Mohamed Abu Shahma writes for Lebanon-based independent media Daraj.
Read the full story: "Annihilation Prevention" — Why Some Gaza Families Choose To Split Up
👗 MET MADNESS: WOMEN WEAR UNCOMFORTABLE ON THEIR SLEEVE
After seeing the 2024 Met Gala photos, the common denominator seems to be how uncomfortable most women appeared to be. Squeezed in tight dresses and high heels, and often in need of a man — who's always wearing a comfortable suit — to somehow achieve the perfect level of what we call "femininity." Carolina Capria writes for Italian daily La Stampa about the high demands society still has of women today.
Read the full story: Met Gala Women, Don't Move! Female Beauty Standards As Agonizing As Ever
⚽️ REDUCE, REUSE, REBOND
While Paris aims to host the greenest Olympics this summer, the French company Rebond is working to make soccer balls, typically pumped up with petrochemicals, more environmentally friendly by using bio-sourced and recyclable materials. For French daily Les Echos, Pierre Fortin describes the ins and outs of this sustainable initiative.
Read the full story:
Post-Leather, Post-Plastic? Kicking The Carbon Footprint Out Of Soccer Balls
🛌🏻 BRIGHT IDEA
Who has never been on the verge of a full breakdown while trying to change duvet covers? Enter Covette, the ultimate innovation in terms of bed making: with its invisible three-sided fastening system, this duvet cover allows you to change your bed linen effortlessly in just a few minutes. Joëlle and Philippe Billebault, the French founders of the Joe and Joy brand, presented their innovation at the world-famous Lépine competition currently taking place in Paris.
💬 🐋 SMILE OF THE WEEK
Whale hello there! After decades of trying to understand how sperm whales communicate, a study published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, describes the discovery of a complex “phonetic alphabet.” Using artificial intelligence, researchers were able to spot patterns in sperm whale vocalizations (rapid clicks resembling Morse code), that may be the “building blocks of whale language” that is far more nuanced than previously thought.
⏩ LOOKING AHEAD
• South Korea’s foreign minister Cho Tae-yul will visit China on Monday and Tuesday next week, in the first visit by a South Korean foreign minister in more than six years. Cho was invited to Beijing by his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The two will discuss issues including bilateral relations, a meeting with Japan, and the situation on the Korean peninsula. Cho will also meet South Korean business leaders and exchange views on how to boost economic exchange between the two countries.
• Cannes FIlm Festival will start on Tuesday, May 14, opening with the film Le Deuxième Acte from French absurdist Quentin Dupieux. The festival will see stars from around the world gather in the southern French city for film showings and awards, with Meryl Streep receiving an honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony. The festival may also face some potential issues, as a French labor group for freelance film festival workers has called for a strike, and French media speculates that new #MeToo allegations may be brought to light.
• The final of the Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Saturday, starting at 9 p.m. CEST. This year Malmö, Sweden is hosting the contest, which will see 26 countries compete in the Grand Final, including Sweden, Ukraine, the UK, France and Israel, which qualified despite more than 10,000 people gathering to protest against Israel’s participation.
WHAT THE WORLD
From space rock vodka to an Australian museum declared to be a toilet, take a quick world tour of the internationally weird!
News quiz answers:
1. Paris was the first stop for both Chinese President Xi Jinping and American pop star Taylor Swift, as they launched their respective European tours this week. Xi, who is in Europe for the first time in five years, arrived in the French capital on Monday. Swift kicked off the Europe leg of her Eras Tour in Paris on Thursday.
2. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed on Thursday the head of the unit that protects the country’s top officials following the arrest of two colonels who were allegedly involved in a Russian plot to assassinate him.
3. Apple apologized on Thursday for a commercial that depicts creative tools and objects such as a camera, guitar, piano and paint being destroyed by an industrial crusher and reveals a new iPad in their place. The company said it “missed the mark with this video.”
4. A team of 18 French bakers in Suresnes, west of Paris, set a new Guinness World Record on Sunday by baking a 143.53 meter (461 foot) baguette, successfully returning the title of world’s longest baguette to France. The previous record was held by a 132.62 meter (435 foot) baguette baked in the Italian city of Como in 2019.
✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch
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Photo: *[*Dotun Popoola*](https://www.facebook.com/dotun.popoola.35?__tn__=-UC*F)