The Weekly Wrap for Saturday, 10 June 2017

Welcome back... it has been a VERY big week. In the Wrap this week we dive deep into the shocking results of the British General Election, take stock of simmering tensions in the Gulf, and count the costs of a terrorist attack in the heart of Tehran. We give due coverage to James Comey's testimony and outline what has also been a huge week for US politics. One exciting announcement... inkl is over the moon to announce that we've brought the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Foreign Policy magazine and Reuters into our stable of publishers. We hope you enjoy the extraordinary work they produce as much as we do. And remember, if you enjoy the Wrap... please spread the word. DEEP DIVE When all was said and done, more was said than done. At least, that's the way it looks for Theresa May's Conservative Party who were dealt a ringing blow by voting Britons, falling short of the 326 votes required to form majority government. The Conservative lead, which May had hoped to shore up, was instead surrendered to a resurgent Labour Party raising the prospect that the 'unelectable' Jeremy Corbyn may yet rise to the top job.  As counting continued throughout the morning, the Tories had lost 13 seats while Labour had picked up at least 31. Corbyn has called on May to resign, a view shared by some within her own party. And Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, a survivor if there ever was one, is once again within reach of his party's leadership. We'll have to wait and see whether the knives come out for May.    Theresa May (left) won Maidenhead, but this picture captures the Tories' night. A few short weeks ago Theresa May had announced the snap election, looking to bolster her Conservative majority a full three years short of the 2020 vote. She was forgivably confident having bested all comers in the knife-fight following David Cameron's evacuation of 10 Downing Street. And Labour, entirely preoccupied with it's internal revolt against Jeremy Corbyn, appeared headed for a historic drubbing.  Instead, Labour achieved an extraordinary reversal of fortune, building support at a rate of knots. May's campaign slogan 'strong and stable leadership' and a focus on future Brexit negotiations paled in comparison to Corbyn's community-driven message.   As the vote-counters tallied tirelessly throughout the night, a sense of dismay and incredulity spread across the United Kingdom. Commentators and diehards who had stayed up all night took note of the sizeable swings against the Tories in marginal seats. Several Tory ministers were ousted from their seats and Home Secretary Amber Rudd suffered an almighty scare when on first count she appeared to have lost Hastings and Rye, only to win on a recount, by less than 400 votes. While they retained more than 30 seats, it was also a night to forget for the Scottish National Party. Their high-water mark of support after the first Scottish independence referendum is now a distant memory. As are the party's Westminster leader Angus Robertson and former First Minister Alex Salmond. The loss of two leaders to the Tories will sting SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, not least because she now faces a tougher climb to secure a second referendum. The Liberal Democrats enjoyed a marginal improvement but in the process were slugged with the loss of former deputy PM Nick Clegg. But the biggest loser of the evening was the far-right United Kingdom Independence Party. It suffered a wholesale collapse in support across the country and UKIP leader Paul Nuttall may well struggle to remain at the helm of the party after watching an average negative swing of 11%. The pound remains in a holding pattern after dropping sharply upon the release of the 10pm exit poll. Once again much of the world holds its breath as it wonders where to next for Britain. With the vacuum in leadership it will be near-on-impossible for Britain to negotiate confidently with the European Union. Indeed, Brexit Secretary David Davis has already signalled that concessions may have to be made. In a ray of positive news, overall voter turnout was a smidge below 69%, the most Britain has seen in two decades. WORLDLYWISE Construction has ground to a halt in Doha due to the blockade. Crisis in the Gulf - An extraordinary political drama is playing out within the Gulf Cooperation Council as we speak. Last week a group of hackers (who the FBI believe to be Russian freelancers) posted fake statements seemingly from the Qatari government. The pro-Iran and anti-Trump line put forward, although quickly discredited, was circulated ad nauseam by Saudi and Emirati media. Officials in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi lambasted Qatar for financing terrorism and were soon joined by Bahrain and Egypt. The US President Donald Trump has also joined the fray by tweeting in support of the Saudi position. On Monday the Saudi-led group turned the heat up on their neighbour, blockading its ports and placing restrictions on Qataris travelling by air. Caught by surprise, shippers are diverting tankers to nearby ports. The UAE and Bahrain have even taken the extreme measure of criminalising sympathy for Qatar (a historically close ally). For its part, Qatar has played a moderately defiant hand.  Nor are they alone in doing so. Turkey has thrown its weight behind its Gulf ally and Kuwait too has kickstarted a mediation process. Some reports have suggested that the crisis was sparked by a payment of $1bn to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and an al-Qaeda affiliate, to secure the return of kidnapped Qatari royal family members. Time will tell. Chaotic scenes in downtown Manila. Terror in Tehran - On Wednesday Tehran suffered its first major terrorist attack in decades. Five assailants launched simultaneous assaults on the parliament building and the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini, killing 16 and injuring at least 40. Security forces battled for hours before retaking the seat of government. While their attack on the parliament inflicted greater damage, it was the audacity of bombing the mausoleum of Iran's founding islamic revolutionary that shocked the world. ISIS was quick to claim responsibility, issuing a claim that was verified by Iranian security forces. It is alleged that the five Iranian perpetrators had spent time in Mosul and Raqqa - news that could not have come at a worse time amid skyrocketing tensions in the Gulf over Iran's relationship with Qatar and its growing animosity with Saudi Arabia. Comey drags Trump's credibility into the spotlight. Comey speaks, America listens - The hype over former FBI Director James Comey's appearance before the Senate intelligence committee blanketed the US this week. There was a distinct sense among the media that a historic moment was at hand. On Wednesday excitement reached a fever pitch after Comey released his written notes on the nine meetings he'd had with President Trump. While those on the left and the right of American politics continue to be divided about the fallout, Comey's testimony certainly was compelling and direct as he labelled his former boss a liar and worse. Over the course of three hours, Comey made a series of extraordinary allegations of coercion by Trump aimed at pressuring him to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn. According to Comey when this failed, Trump removed him from office and began a smear campaign to discredit him. Meanwhile, the President's surrogates and lawyer flatly denied some of Comey's aspersions, and opted instead to retread a familiar line of attack: that the testimony constituted an illegal leak. Comey's admission that he was the source of the leak, and the revelation that he had also previously been pressured by Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch with regard to the Hillary email investigation, only served to muddy waters even further.   TRUMPETER - WEEK 20 It hasn't been a kind week for Donald J. Trump. Comey accused Trump of lying and obstructing justice. Trump's surrogates responded by going on the attack. Trump also nominated Christopher Wray to replace Comey. Attorney General Jeff Sessions allegedly offered to resign. Trump said the ISIS attack in Tehran was a comeuppance. He was accused by Germany of stirring conflict in the Gulf. UN ambassador Haley sided with Israel, saying the UN bullies it. Steel stocks rallied after Trump promised to block cheap imports. The #2 US diplomat in China quit over Trump's Paris withdrawal. Eric Trump denied any wrongdoing in fundraising for St. Jude's. THE BEST OF TIMES... Don't look down. I am El Capitan - Some of our readers may take issue with this being classified as 'good news' but we think it's an astonishing tale of bravery and skill. American climber Alex Honnold has completed the first ever ropeless climb of the famous El Capitan cliff in Yosemite National Park. That's right, ROPELESS. In four hours to boot! Not Blade Runner - Also this week, a team of Japanese engineers (and we assume crazy scientists) demonstrated their flying car prototype. Let that sink in for a moment. The flying car prototype that they are building (funded in large part by Toyota) may in fact be used to light the Olympic torch at the 2020 Tokyo Games.  THE WORST OF TIMES... Climate insecure. Vulnerability list - A new survey has found that the country most susceptible to climate change is Chad. While much of the world's attention is focused on at-risk islands in the Pacific, central Africa is often overlooked. A deadly combination of droughts, poverty, and conflict mean that Chad will be devastated by warming temperatures and declining rainfall.  Myanmar air tragedy - The wreckage of a military plane has been found in the Andaman Sea by rescuers. The plane disappeared from radar two days ago and is believed to have gone down with 120 people on board. This latest crash continues a dark history of plane accidents in the South East Asian country.  P.S. Your weekend long read... Brazil's Car Wash anti-graft investigation has uncovered corruption in just about every strata of the business and political classes. It's toppled a president and may well be on the path to topple another. But that pales in comparison to the machinations of the Odebrecht scandals.