Happy Friday Everyone! Todayâs newsletter: 1,083 wordsâŚ4 mins
đ Todayâs Edition: Londonâs âCoalition of the Willingâ Reboots Ukraine Strategy, Zohran Swipes NY Knicks Logo, Washingtonâs Caribbean Power Play, Mystery Donor Pays Military Salaries, Nikeâs âPowered Footwearâ⌠& much more!
đ¨ Watch For:
President Trump will attend the ASEAN summit in Malaysia: Oct 26th - 28th
President Trump to meet President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea: Oct 31st - Nov 1st
đTHE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
đ´âď¸ Washingtonâs Caribbean Power Play
Fresh off yesterdayâs announcement authorizing land-strikes on narco networks, the U.S. just upped the ante with the biggest military presence in the Caribbean in decades â and everyone from Caracas to Port of Spain is watching nervously.
đşđ¸ Whatâs Actually Happening:
The USS Gravely and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are docking in Trinidad and Tobago (Oct 26â30) for âregional stabilityâ drills â timed awkwardly with the islandâs ongoing state of emergency.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is shifting from Europe to U.S. Southern Command under the orders of War Secretary Pete Hegseth
This follows a series of naval strikes on narco boats that already killed 40+ alleged cartel members in recent weeks.
The mission: Crush Tren de Aragua and other cross-border networks before they have a chance to step on U.S. soil.
đťđŞ The Response: Venezuelaâs Maduro just activated 5,000 Russian Igla-S air-defense systems and put Su-30 jets on standby, framing it as âdefending sovereignty.â
đŻ The Play: Washington calls it a counter-narco-terror push. Caracas interprets it as regime-change pressure. Caribbean leaders? Theyâre begging for calm before this escalates and spills over.
đĄBottom line: The Caribbean just became the newest square on the global chessboard â and the pieces are already in motion.
âď¸THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
Left-Right: Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, Netherlandâs PM Dick Schoof, PM Kier Starmer, NATO Chief Mark Rutte and President Zelensky in London. Source: X/@ZelenskyyUa
đşđŚ Londonâs âCoalition of the Willingâ Reboots Ukraine Strategy
At a London summit, Keir Starmer warmly greeted Zelensky and rallied 30+ allies behind a 12-point plan to end the Ukraine war.
Freeze the war at current Donetsk lines
Take Russian oil off global markets (backed by Trump's renewed sanctions)
And throw ÂŁ500M at Ukraine's winter power grid. Plus Patriots and SAMP/T air defense from France/Italy.
Zelensky expressed gratitude but urged faster weapons deliveries and additional guarantees against Russian missile escalation near Kharkiv.
âĄMeanwhile, Russiaâs senior envoy Kirill Dmitriev is currently in Washington D.C. for negotiations with the Trump administration.
đ¨đŚ đŹ Oh (no), Canada! Trump NUKES Trade Talks
President Trump just froze all U.S.âCanada trade negotiations after Ontarioâs Premier Doug Ford dropped a $75M (CAD) âReaganâ ad that spliced 1987 audio to make the late president sound anti-tariff.
Trump called it âfraudâ and âforeign interference,â accusing Canada of trying to sway the Supreme Courtâs upcoming tariff ruling.
PM Mark Carneyâs talks on steel and autos? Dead on arrival.
âŚThis decades-long process of an ever closer economic relationship with the United States is now over.
đĄBottom Line: Canada spent $75M to piss off a dead President's foundation and a living one. Now North American supply chains are collateral damage.
đ¨đ´ Trump Sanctions Colombiaâs President, Ending a 25-Year Alliance
In a stunning break, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family, and top ministers â accusing them of aiding the global drug trade.
Treasury froze U.S. assets, halted aid, and labeled Petro a ânarco-enabler.â
BogotĂĄ hit back, recalling its ambassador and calling it âpolitical persecution.â
The move collapses a 25-year security alliance, once the bedrock of Plan Colombia.
âĄBottom line: Todayâs decision is one of the most consequential U.S. sanctions ever imposed on a sitting Latin American leader and it follows Petroâs repeated suggestion in the last few weeks, for President Trump to be âtaken outâ.
đ˝THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Left: Clip from the video ad showing Zohranâs name on the Knicks logo; Right: The official Knicks account emphatically denying any endorsement with a picture showing another illegal use of their logo.
đKnicks Clap Back at Mamdaniâs Logo Play
The NY Knicks just hit mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani with a cease-and-desist, accusing him of shamefully swiping their logo for a campaign post captioned âThis is our year.â
MSG lawyers said the team âdoes not endorseâ Mamdani and vowed to âpursue all legal remedies.â
The ad, which aired during the Knicks' season opener, replaced "Knicks" with "Zohran" and has since been scrubbed.
⥠The postâs gone â but no apologies or acknowledgment of wrongdoing from the candidate.
đ° Mystery Billionaire Donates $130M for Troops' Pay
An anonymous Trump ally dropped $130 million to pay U.S. troops as the government shutdown drags on â but thereâs a catch: Congress controls the purse, meaning the cash canât legally be used yet.
Trump called the donor a âfriend who loves the military.â
Rumors swirl itâs Elon Musk or Jared Isaacman, but neitherâs confirmed.
Trump declined to reveal the identity of the gentleman unless he received permission to do so.
âĄBottom line: Patriot flex or legal mess? Congress decides.
đ¤ CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AIâs Black Mirror Moments
đ Nike Unveils E-Bike for Your Feet
Nikeâs Project Amplify is officially the first âpowered footwearâ system, using a robotic ankle brace to boost walking and jogging speed â think e-bike for your calves.
Not for pros shaving seconds, but everyday athletes craving effortless distance.
Motor, belt, and battery are sleekly integrated, with consumer rollout planned in the coming years.
đĄ Bonus: Itâs part of Nikeâs broader push into robotics + neuroscience footwear.
âď¸đ°Anthropic Locks in Massive Google Cloud Deal
Anthropic just inked a multi-billion-dollar deal with Google, securing access to up to 1M custom TPUs â enough to add 1 gigawatt of AI compute by 2026.
The move fuels Anthropicâs $7B run rate and cements Google as a key backend for its Claude models.
âĄQuiet flex: Anthropicâs multi-cloud strategy lets it dodge vendor lock-in while still stacking compute like a boss.
đş FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Original Barbie doll released in 1959
Barbieâs Origin Story
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. The name was inspired by the creator, Ruth Handler's daughter, Barbara.
Her middle name "Millicent" and last name "Roberts" were created as part of her fictional backstory in a series of tie-in novels published by Random House in the 1960s.
Ruth Handler created Barbie after noticing her daughter's interest in adult-looking paper dolls. Barbie was introduced to the world on March 9, 1959, by Mattel.