Happy Tuesday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,360 words…5.1 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: England’s Flag Wars, Russia Finds New Gas BFF, Ukraine’s AI Drone Swarms, Kim + Daughter In China, Trump Blasts Space Command Back To Alabama, MrBeast’s Phone Carrier Plan, Ilhan Omar’s A Millionaire… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
China’s Victory Day parade: Sep 3rd
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Images from social media: Flags going up across England
🇬🇧 England’s Flag Wars: Patriotism or Racism?
What started last month as a small grassroots campaign in Birmingham, England - has now turned into a national movement gaining international attention.
"Operation Raise the Colours" campaign, encourages the public display of St. George's Cross (England's flag) and Union Jack flags. Supporters tie them to lampposts, paint them on roundabouts, and hang them in public spaces.
Origins: Small grassroots neighborhood groups in Birmingham suburbs like Weoley Castle and Northfield, started putting up flags everywhere - sometimes even in the middle of the night. The called themselves the Weoley Warriors.
Used social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp to coordinate efforts.
Over £20,000 raised via crowdfunding for flags, poles, and cable ties.
Newer groups like Flag Force UK and Wythall Flaggers sprung up, with some creating live maps to track flag locations.
Supporters’ pitch: It’s a non-partisan effort to celebrate British and English identity, underscoring pride in its rich history and great achievements.
“Other countries fly their flags—why can’t we?” say supporters, adding they’re reclaiming their British identity.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage & Conservative Kemi Badenoch, have supported the campaign, framing it as a legitimate expression of national pride.
PM Starmer’s spokesperson offered general support but avoided commenting on specific cases.
Critics’ clapback: Anti-racism organizations like Hope Not Hate and Stand Up to Racism call it a Trojan horse for far-right groups who’ve donated flags and amplified the campaign.
Timing matters: It coincides with anti-immigration protests and riots, where flags doubled as rallying symbols outside asylum-seeker hotels.
In multicultural areas like Tower Hamlets and Birmingham, some residents, particularly minorities, reported feeling intimidated, fearing the flags signaled exclusion or xenophobia.
The Flashpoint: Councils are split. Birmingham started removing flags citing “safety concerns” while Kent and Nottinghamshire, have supported keeping flags up unless they pose clear dangers.
Accusations of “two-tier bias” fly after Palestinian flags have been allowed to allowed to stay up for nearly 2 years.
Public and Political Divide: The campaign has polarized opinions. A YouGov poll shows 57% of Britons support displaying English flags, while 27% view them negatively.
It has gained international attention with figures like Elon Musk tweeting their support for the campaign.
💡 Why it matters: “Operation Raise the Colours” isn’t just a flag campaign—it’s a lightning rod for Britain’s identity crisis. Supporters call it a proud revival of national spirit; critics call, it divisive and racist; perfectly timed to inflame tensions over immigration.
With the government silent and councils at war—some tearing flags down, others leaving them up—the real conflict isn’t about cloth, but a debate about the face of a modern Britain and what its future will look like.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
Kim Jong Un meets Chinese Foreign Minister (FM) Wang Yi; Arrow shows Kim’s 10 yr old daughter and heir Kim Ju; In the background, is the “Sunshine” train.
🇷🇺 🇨🇳 Russia Finds a New Gas BFF: China
Russia, China and Mongolia just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the long-awaited Power of Siberia 2 pipeline deal—designed to ship 50 bcm of gas annually from Siberia to China for the next 30 years.
With Europe slashing Russian imports after Ukraine, Moscow desperately needs Beijing as its replacement customer.
According to CNBC, Xi, knowing Russia’s weak hand, squeezed better pricing while signaling open defiance of U.S. pressure.
Analysts say the deal cements an energy axis inside the emerging “multipolar order,” where China bankrolls and Russia supplies.
💡 Translation: Europe’s loss = Beijing’s leverage.
🤖 🇺🇦 AI Drone Swarms: Ukraine’s Game-Changer
Ukraine has become the first country to routinely deploy AI-powered drone swarms in combat, using locally built software from Swarmer.
The system lets up to 8 drones autonomously scout, bomb, and coordinate—missions once needing 9 humans now run with just 3.
Over 100 ops have hit Russian troops, gear, and infrastructure.
Kyiv sees scale as the future (it built 1.5M drones last year), but risks loom: cost overruns and network overloads from excessive drone communication.
The nation has also emerged as one of the world's leading manufacturers and experts in drone technology, producing innovative, battle-tested drones with minimal funding, attracting interest from countries across the world.
💡 Bottom Line: We've officially entered the "robots deciding who dies" era. Wall Street defense stocks just found their new growth sector.
🚄 Kim, His Daughter, and China’s Big Show
Kim Jong Un + 10-year-old heir Kim Ju Ae rolled into Beijing for the massive Victory Day parade via luxury armored train (named Sunshine) - complete with French wine and lobster; because even tyranny has standards.
Kim’s daughter, tipped by Seoul as heir, adds dynastic symbolism to the optics.
He’ll join Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and 20+ world leaders as Beijing flexes military power and solidarity with Russia.
💡 Why it matters: For Xi, the parade marks 80 years since Japan’s WWII surrender and a chance to showcase weapons and alliances. For Kim, rare travel signals alignment with China’s push to rival the U.S.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
🚀 Trump Blasts Space Command Back to Alabama
Trump ordered U.S. Space Command HQ moved from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama, reviving his 2021 plan scrapped by Biden.
Flanked by VP JD Vance and Alabama lawmakers, Trump touted Huntsville’s “Rocket City” chops and forecast tens of thousands of jobs.
The fight isn’t new: Biden kept the HQ in Colorado, citing readiness risks.
Critics see Trump’s reversal as politics—rewarding deep-red Alabama, punishing purple Colorado. For Huntsville, it’s billions in potential economic windfall.
💡 Bottom line: Space Command is supposed to fight wars in orbit—but its real battlefield is American swing-state politics.
🤑 Omar's "I'm Not a Millionaire" Aged Like Milk
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) reported a net worth of up to $30M in her May disclosure — a 3,500% jump from last year. Just months ago, she blasted millionaire rumors as “ridiculous.”
The cash surge comes from her husband Tim Mynett’s ventures —a Cali winery and DC venture capital firm—that somehow went from <$1K to $25M overnight.
Sus factor: Rose Lake Capital claims $60B assets under management (AUM) while generating zero income in 2024. The firm also boasts “expertise in structuring legislation” (hmm…nothing fishy there at all)
💡 Bottom line: "Working mom with student loans" just became the Squad's newest venture capitalist.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
📞 MrBeast Wants To Be Your Phone Carrier.
The 27-year-old YouTube king (430M subs) is reportedly launching a mobile service next year, per a leaked investor deck seen by Business Insider.
The play: an MVNO model (think Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile) that rides on big networks like AT&T or T-Mobile.
💡 Why it matters: Beast’s media empire bleeds cash (-$80M last year), while side hustles like Feastables ($250M sales) print money. A phone service could flip his brand from viral stunts to long-term profitable infrastructure.
📱 Instagram's PiP Play: The Attention Economy Goes Nuclear
Instagram's testing Picture-in-Picture for Reels—floating video windows while you scroll other apps. Translation? TikTok copycatting reaches peak shamelessness.
The strategy: Embrace shrinking attention spans by letting users multitask. Watch a cooking reel while texting your frenemy? Now possible.
Longer watch times = more ad revenue.
TikTok and YouTube have had this for years. Instagram head Adam Mosseri basically admitted they're playing catch-up after user complaints.
💡 Bottom Line: We're officially in the era of weaponized multitasking. Your focus never stood a chance.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Packages arrive for the Havasupai Tribe at the “U.S. Mail Delivery Zone”
Grand Canyon Mail Delivery
The Native American Supai Village, located at the base of the Grand Canyon, is the only town in the continental U.S. where mail is still delivered by pack mule.
The village is inaccessible by road and requires a grueling 16 mile round trip up and down Grand Canyon for food and supplies.