Happy Thursday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,096 words…4 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Paris Plays Kingmaker For Ukraine’s Future, Ukraine Makes Rocket Fuel In Denmark, Israel Bans Macron, Melania’s Star Studded AI Summit, Legendary Armani No More, JetBlue Ditches Musk For Bezos, OpenAI Takes On LinkedIn… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen to make a State of the Union address: Sep 10th
President Trump will address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA): Sep 23rd
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa, US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff. The rest attended virtually including non-European countries like Canada, Japan and New Zealand
🇺🇦 🇪🇺 🇫🇷 Paris Plays Kingmaker For Ukraine’s Future
The “Coalition of the Willing” summit in Paris brought 30+ nations to sketch Ukraine’s postwar security.
The Actual Business:
26 countries pledged troops, ships, or planes as a “reassurance force” once a ceasefire is signed. Strictly non-combat—but a major NATO flex.
Ukraine’s EU accession got top billing, cast as the only real long-term security guarantee.
The catch? No U.S. commitment yet—Macron says it’s coming “in days”
The Drama (Because Of Course):
Cue Trump, dialing in with some contradictions:
He demanded Europe stop buying Russian oil and asked them to hit China with economic sanctions for bankrolling Putin.
But… he’s mum on whether he’ll sanction China himself.
So Trump’s either metaphorically sending Europe’s canary into China’s coal mine to see what happens, OR he’s using Europe to tighten the screws on China, giving him leverage in the US-China trade deal.
Then Zelensky decided to throw a live grenade during a presser:
Spilling that Trump was furious at Hungary + Slovakia for buying Russian oil.
Which is… odd, given Viktor Orbán, literally got the Mar-a-Lago treatment and has Trump's blessing on Russian energy deals because - "economic viability".
So someone's playing both sides, and it's either Trump pulling a 4D chess move or Zelensky stirring the pot. Either way, awkward family dinner vibes.
Notable Moments:
Von der Leyen + Costa looped in Modi, nudging India toward a peace broker role. They also committed to finalizing a shiny EU–India free trade deal by year’s end.
💡 Bottom line: Paris produced hard pledges and brought momentum. But until Trump clarifies his sanctions strategy, Europe’s security guarantees are a house of cards. And the wild card? India emerges as the power broker nobody expected.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
Danish PM Mette Frederiksen and President Zelensky
🇺🇦 🇩🇰 Ukraine To Make Rocket Fuel In Denmark
Kyiv’s arms maker Fire Point will start producing long-range missile fuel in Denmark—the company’s first move abroad.
The plant sits near Denmark’s Skydstrup air base, home to F-16s headed to Ukraine.
PM Zelensky calls Fire Point’s Flamingo missile Ukraine’s “most successful weapon.”
Denmark has already sent $10B+ in aid and earmarked 500M crowns for Ukrainian defense firms.
💡 Bottom line: Copenhagen just turned into a launchpad for Ukraine’s weapons industry. But Russia accuses Denmark of escalating the war by facilitating deep strikes into its territory which could provoke retaliation.
🇬🇧 🇳🇴 UK + Norway Sign Historic Deal
London and Oslo sealed a £10B deal for Norway to buy 5 British Type 26 frigates, boosting NATO’s northern flank with a 13-ship fleet aimed at Russian subs in the North Sea, Baltic, and Arctic.
The pact: 4,000 UK jobs (2K in Scotland), 432 businesses, and deeper joint training. PM Starmer called it “a win for workers + deterrence.”
By the Numbers: Russia's Northern Fleet currently dominates the field with approximately 31–33 subs, 20–32 surface warships (including frigates) and 6-7 nuclear subs.
Outnumbers NATO’s combined fleet by a whopping margin of 1.5–2:1 in year-round Arctic numbers.
💡 Bottom line: NATO’s High North is getting a major boost, but still lacks the teeth to counter Moscow’s dominance in the field.
🇮🇱 ⚔🇫🇷 Israel Shuts The Door On Macron
Israel flatly denied French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit, saying he’s unwelcome “as long as France persists” in its plan to recognize Palestine at the UN.
PM Netanyahu and FM Gideon Saar linked Macron’s entry directly to France abandoning the initiative, calling it a threat to Israel’s security + regional stability.
Macron insists recognition is about ending Gaza hostilities.
France became the first country in the G7 to call for Palestine to be recognized as a state. This decision has be well received and commended directly by Hamas.
💡 Why it matters: This comes on the heels of the United States denying visas to the entire Palestinian delegation to attend the UNGA. A diplomatic cold war is brewing—right before leaders descend on New York for the UN.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
The late Giorgio Armani
🕊 Fashion Icon Giorgio Armani No More
Giorgio Armani, the Italian fashion titan, passed away at 91 on September 4, 2025 in his home in Milan, Italy.
An American icon, his soft-tailored suits reshaped style through Hollywood’s lens, with Richard Gere’s American Gigolo wardrobe (1980) cementing his U.S. fame.
💐 Armani’s designs, worn by stars like Julia Roberts and Zendaya, defined red-carpet elegance, blending Italian sophistication with American ambition, leaving an indelible mark on fashion and pop culture.
🇺🇸 Melania’s AI Moment At The White House
First Lady Melania Trump hosted a star-studded AI summit, pulling in Google’s Pichai, Meta’s Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Altman to talk AI education + “responsible guardianship.”
Announced a push to engage 25M learners in “AI hours” next year
Championed her Take It Down Act (criminalizing AI-generated revenge porn)
Launched a national “Presidential AI Challenge” for kids
👀 Tonight, Trump himself joins execs like Zuck + Tim Cook for part two. The tea? Elon said he can’t make it. He’ll be sending a representative.
💡 Bottom line: Melania’s carving her lane—as the White House’s AI czar with a mom-friendly vibe.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
🤖 OpenAI vs. LinkedIn
OpenAI just announced its AI-powered Jobs Platform, set to launch mid-2026.
The service will connect companies with workers—directly challenging LinkedIn (co-founded by early OpenAI investor Reid Hoffman, and owned by Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest backer 🤯).
⚡ OpenAI will also roll out AI fluency certifications via Walmart + its Academy, aiming to certify 10M Americans by 2030.
🛰 JetBlue Bets On Bezos’ Birds
JetBlue is ditching Musk’s Starlink for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, making it the first airline to use Bezos’ satellites for free Wi-Fi starting 2027.
Kuiper promises 1 Gbps speeds (4x Starlink’s max) but has just 3,226 satellites planned vs. SpaceX’s 8,000+.
Amazon’s on the clock: The FCC says half its fleet must be in orbit by mid-2026.
💡 Bottom line: Bezos just scored altitude on Musk.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Twist Dance Craze
Chubby Checker's "The Twist" (1960) sparked a global dance craze and became the only song to top the Billboard charts twice in different years (1960 and 1962).
💀 THE ROAST
Because World Leaders Beg To Be Dragged
