From Local to Global Threat: The Sudan Conflict's Growing Danger

🍜 Intriguing Restaurant Phone Ban Poll Result

Hello again, Global Recap readers! Thank you to everyone who took part in the poll last week where we asked whether the Japanese ramen eatery owner was right to ban phones from his restaurant.

The majority of you picked yes - his restaurant, his rules. But while reading, one peculiar observation was made - two different comments written for yes and no yielded the same outcome for customers:

• In the case of yes, the responder is talking about a free market system, where prices for goods and services are determined by supply/demand. In abstract, if customers don’t like the restaurant’s phone ban they can choose not to go. With lowering demand, the eatery will be forced to lower prices, get rid of the ban, or close down. But if it can stay open - or even attract more customers for whatever reason - they have no reason to reverse their ban. This is in principle a democratic system.

• In the case of no, consumer rights take precedence. But it potentially ends up creating a similar outcome, with the consumer making the owner make decisions to stay afloat:

  1. People waiting may be discouraged to come back because of people using their phones,

  2. People being asked to leave may be discouraged to come back due to the time limit on eating.

So in the end, under a free market system (with various laws and regulations attached to it), the owner will be forced to make decisions best for business and consumers. This is a very complex issue one can spend years discussing, but here’s a snippet of what this market dynamic provides.

*Paraphrased for brevity.

📈 Top News of This Week

• French protesters stormed the Euronext building, demanding that large companies pay for their pensions. This comes after Macron signed the pension reform bill into law, following the French Constitutional Court's ruling that the bill's enactment is constitutional.

• China readies a supersonic spy drone unit that travels at least 3X the speed of sound, according to a leaked document from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

• China revises its conscription policy to prioritize educated college students and veterans. Experts are pointing out that the timing of the change is worrying. It will come into effect on May 1.

• Brooklyn federal prosecutors on Monday arrested 2 alleged CCP agents for allegedly operating an “undeclared overseas police station” in lower Manhattan.

• Brazilian President Lula criticizes the US dollar and IMF during his state visit to China, raising concerns that many share about a potential shift away from the dollar and the search for alternative currencies to challenge its dominance.

• The US Senate Committee investigating the origins of COVID-19 released a report concluding that an “unintentional research-related incident” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology most likely caused the pandemic. Here’s the full breakdown of it on our Twitter (full report link provided in the thread):

🇸🇩 Sudan Conflict: What’s Going On

What happened: Sudan has been facing a governance crisis since a military coup in October 2021. Recently, violence has erupted between the country's two rival armed forces: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Background: The two forces had formed closer ties under a power-sharing agreement after the 2021 coup, but tensions arose during negotiations about integrating the RSF into the regular armed forces.

Current situation: The RSF has announced a 72-hour ceasefire starting at 04:00 GMT on Friday after both forces declared a ceasefire earlier, but resumed fighting.

Widespread power and water outages caused by the fighting have left residents struggling during the final days of Ramadan, with most hospitals out of service. The conflict has led to the deaths of more than 350 people and left more than 2,000 wounded.

Diplomacy: Foreign powers are urging a ceasefire in Sudan to provide relief and supplies to residents. UN agencies suspended many of their programs across the country. Japan has started preparing to evacuate about 60 of its nationals, including embassy staff, while India is working with other countries and international organizations to ensure the safety of its citizens in Sudan.