Welcome to Between Giants, by Anna Fifield

A newsletter about how New Zealand navigates a rapidly changing world.

Nau mai haere mai and welcome to Between Giants, a newsletter exploring the global forces shaping New Zealand’s future.

The world is changing rapidly and old rules and norms no longer seem to apply. New alliances are forming and old ones are being sorely tested. We can’t sit on the sidelines or try to keep our head below the parapet: The intensifying rivalry between the world’s major powers affects us and the way we live our lives.

So today I’m starting this newsletter to bring you clear-eyed reporting, analysis and interviews with leading thinkers about what we, as a small country at the bottom of the world, can do to safeguard our values and our interests. And what we can do to make this world fairer and better for everyone. Because small states don’t get to sit history out.

Why I’m starting this newsletter now.

I love being a journalist. It’s all I’ve ever done and all I’ve ever wanted to do. As a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post and the Financial Times I reported from the world’s hot spots — including Tehran, Damascus, Pyongyang, Washington DC — and told stories for an international audience. It was incredible to travel the world and ask questions, especially when those in power didn’t want to answer them.

From my first reporting trip to Pyongyang, in 2005: Talking to an Army official at the enormous monument to North Korea’s “Eternal President” Kim Il Sung.

I spent the last five years as an editor rather than as a reporter, until February, when the Washington Post laid off almost all its international staff, in addition to several hundred other people across the paper.

It was devastating, but it also presented me with a challenge: What do I want to do with career? And how can I better contribute to my own country and the public discussion about our place in the world? This is my answer.

I’m writing for globally engaged New Zealanders.

The world — especially right now — can be a confounding place and it’s easy for us to take solace in the fact we’re small and far away, and think that it doesn’t really matter to us. It matters. US President Donald Trump, goaded by Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, launched a war of choice against Iran that is already having repercussions across New Zealand thanks to the impact on fuel and food prices. But it’s also shown the need for us to stand up for our values — we are a country that benefits from the international rules-based order.

I will be repeatedly be coming back to these questions, especially as democratic principles around the world continue to be eroded.

Most readers will be in New Zealand, but I’m also writing for New Zealanders abroad, companies that export or do business in this connected world, diplomats and officials posted to this region. I’d love to hear from you wherever you are.

Less is more.

I hope to post three times a week, and am planning on sharing analytical takes, explanatory journalism on complicated issues, and a video interview with an expert. Please bear with me in my early weeks as I figure out what works best. This is going to be an adventure. At this stage, everything is free to read and watch — although I have enabled paid subscriptions in case you want to show me how much you appreciate my work (thanks in advance to those of you who opt to contribute financially and help sustain my work.) You can read more about why I started this ony my About page.

I’ll have plenty of recommendations.

I’ll share links to stories I’ve enjoyed, including gift links to paywalled stories where I can. You can also expect podcast, book and movie recommendations, but I probably won’t share photos of my cat — although you can find him on the “about” page if you insist on pets with your posts.

I have to warn you though that I may talk about running a fair bit. I’ve become a crazy trail runner since returning to Wellington — and even recently wrote a story for the Washington Post about running my first ultramarathon a month before I turned 50. You can read it here if you want (gift link.)

Here’s what I’m watching this week:

This is another week dominated by the Iran debacle and the whims of one man.

• We are now in the fifth week of the conflict and things look set to escalate further. The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, U.S. officials told my former colleague Dan Lamothe at the Washington Post (gift link), with thousands of American soldiers and Marines arriving in the Middle East. Will they attempt to take control of an Iranian island? Trump wasn’t bluffing when he sent warships to the waters near Venezuela, but this is a very different scenario.

• Iran is watching and waiting. Parliamentary speaker and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran would “rain fire” on any US troops attempting to enter Iranian territory. This crisis is existential for Tehran — the regime is fighting for its survival and has already shown it will unleash maximum carnage in response. Plus, Yemen’s Houthis have joined the conflict.

• Diplomacy in Asia this week: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Japan and South Korea this week for meetings with his counterparts, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and President Lee Jae Myung respectively. This is Macron’s first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017 and comes amid efforts to bolster ties in Asia — even more urgent amid the current global instability. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will also be visiting Japan and South Korea this week. I can’t help but think we’re going to see more of these kinds of “middle power” efforts at cohesion as the superpowers rewrite the global rules.

One more thing: The New York Times (gift link) mapped the contours of an ecosystem of Trump trinkets with a worth estimated at more than US$300 million a year.

President Trump has built a merchandise behemoth unmatched by any other American politician. Mr. Trump and his family have made millions from the products — more than $1 million from guitars and at least another $2.8 million from the watches alone, according to annual disclosures from the president. And he misses few opportunities to market the wares. He shows off hats and T-shirts at his political rallies, his coins and colognes in advertisements and his cufflinks and candies to visiting dignitaries in a room next to the Oval Office.

I’ve seen an impressive array of Kim family trinkets in North Korea, but this is a whole nother level of personality cult — not to mention corruption.

Thanks for reading. It’s great to have you here.