Happy Monday and a very Happy Labor Day, Everyone! Todayās newsletter: 1,200 wordsā¦4.5 mins
š Todayās Edition: The Dragon, The Bear And The Elephant, Afghanistan Earthquake, Israel Decapitates Houthis, Greta Sails Again, Viral CEO Apologizes, Anna Wintour's Heir At Vogue....& much more!
šTHE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Clockwise from top-left: World leaders at th summit group photo; THE viral moment: Putin, Modi and Xi in a huddle sharing laughs; Putin gives Modi a ride to their bilateral; Foreground: Modi tweets pictures of him meeting Putin. The caption is very telling.
šØš³ š·šŗ š®š³ The Dragon, The Bear And The Elephant: The SCO Summit That Made Washington Sweat
China pulled out all the stops. With countries representing approximately 50% of the worldās population and a quarter of the worldās GDP - the largest SCO summit in history just delivered a masterclass in geopolitical theaterāand America wasn't invited to the show.
The Viral Optics: Xi, Putin, and Modi didn't just shake hands in Tianjināthey orchestrated a full-blown friendship tour for the cameras.
Modi pulling both leaders closer for photos, holding hands, laughing like old college roommates, posting thank-you notes and carpool pics online.
This wasn't diplomacy; this was performance art with nuclear weapons and a clear signal to the United States - you donāt call the shots.
āThe current international situation is becoming chaotic and intertwinedā¦.We must adhere to fairness and justice, oppose Cold War mentality, camp confrontation, and bullying behavior.ā
Xi Jinping pledged $280M in aid + $1.4B in loans, pitched his new Global Governance Initiative focused on:
Adherence to international law
Rejection of double standards
True multilateralism
Equal participation in global governance
The leaders also touched on high-stakes domestic and regional issues:
Modi hit hard on terrorism, referencing the Pahalgam attack and thanked āa friendly nationā for standing by Indiaās side during those devastating times.
Widely read as a nod to Russia and a diss to President Trump, who cozied up to Pakistan and claimed multiple times that he stopped the Indo-Pak war.
Putin doubled down on the SCO as a Eurasian security bloc, while also praising āIndia and Chinaās efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine warā
But blamed NATO and āWestern interferenceā for the conflictās roots; with no mention of Trumpās mediation efforts.
The Trump nightmare: This summit broke every tool in DC's playbook:
Sanctions? SCO offers parallel systems.
Tariffs? China's providing $280M in aid with no strings attached.
Dollar Domination? Member nations are deepening trade settlement in regional currencies.
Implication for U.S. power: Washington still anchors NATO and the dollar system, but Tianjin shows a creeping shift in the balance. Multipolarity is no longer theoryāitās becoming infrastructure.
š” Why it matters: China is positioning itself as the counterweight or the more stable alternative to American hegemony, even going so far as asking the partner nations to challenge Western dominance.
Trumpās tariff guns may have accelerated the very multipolar order he fears. And the dragon, bear and elephant just staged a viral rehearsal of that world.
āļøTHE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
Scenes of devastation as Taliban crews engage in rescue efforts
š¦š« Afghanistan Quake Kills 800+
A 6.0 quake hit eastern Afghanistan near Jalalabad (Aug 31), flattening villages in Kunar and Nangarhar. Shallow depth (ā5 miles) amplified the damage:
800+ dead, 2,800 injured, thousands trapped.
Rescue ops face landslides, blocked roads, heavy rains.
Taliban units and helicopters are evacuating survivors; hospitals are overwhelmed.
The UN pledged aid, but logistics remain dire.
š” Bottom Line: With aftershocks (4.3ā5.2) rattling the region and winter looming, Afghanistan stares down one of its worst humanitarian crisesāin a country already starved of resources and international support.
š®š±š¾šŖ Israelās Decapitation Strike in Yemen
Israel launched a massive strike on Sanaa (Aug 29), killing Houthi PM Ahmed al-Rahawi and nearly the entire cabinetā9 ministers wiped in one hit.
Tel Aviv framed it as payback for drone and missile attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping.
Israeli Defense Minister Gallant: āThis is just the beginning.ā
Houthi response: Immediate missile strike on Israeli tanker (they missed), UN office storming in Sanaa, and promises of "escalated retaliation."
š” Why it matters: This operation marks the first time the Israelis were able to successfully target and wipeout nearly all of the Houthiās leadership. While this is undoubtedly a major hit to Iran-backed proxies, analysts warn it could push Houthiās military generals into harder-line escalationāand widen the Iran-Israel shadow war.
āµ Gretaās Sails To Gaza
Greta sets sail to Gaza yet again, despite the humiliating fail last time around. Only this time, with a worse haircut.
Thunbergās Gaza flotilla ā hyped as the ālargest solidarity missionā ā embarked on a courageous journey into a warzone; but got owned by Barcelona winds and were forced to turn back.
The 22-year-old, joined by actor Liam Cunningham and backed by Susan Sarandon, vowed to return once the weather clears.
What's next: Flotilla plans to relaunch soon, joined by dozens more ships from Tunisia and Italy.
Israel vowed to treat activists as āterroristsā and seize their ships, mocking the effort as a āselfie yachtā stunt
š” Bottom line: Even the Mediterranean seems unimpressed with performative activism.
š½THE EMPIRE FILES
Drama From DC To NYC
Left: Polish CEO stealing the cap; Right: The tennis star with the kid
š¾ Hat-Gate at the U.S. Open: Polish CEO Eats Humble Pie
A Polish millionaire CEO went viral over the weekend when he was caught snatching a cap, just as tennis pro Kamil Majchrzak attempted to give it to a kid.
The boyās āWhat are you doing?ā broke the internet.
Global Backlash: At first, Szczerek insisted it was confusion in the chaos of Kamil Majchrzakās win.
The CEO was mocked online as a āthiefā and ājerk.ā
He then backtracked, calling it a āserious mistakeā and āa necessary lesson in humilityā and issued an apology.
Meanwhile, the tennis champ tracked the kid down, gifted him merch and took selfies - more than making up for the stolen cap.
š” The lesson: In the empire of tennis, social media justice moves faster than courts.
š Wintourās Heir at Vogue
Fashion queen Anna Wintour, 75, has tapped Chloe Malle, 39, as American Vogueās new head of editorial content, per Puck.
MalleāVogue.com editor and daughter of Candice Bergen + Louis Malleābeat out internal rivals, with an announcement expected Tuesday.
Wintour, still CondĆ© Nastās global editorial director, steps back after 36 years but keeps her grip on the Met Ball and brand power.
ā” Verdict: Vogueās future is Malleās runwayābut Wintourās shadow looms.
š¤ CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AIās Black Mirror Moments
š VCs Go Cosmic
Space is no longer rocket scientists only. Venture capital poured $4.5B into 48 space startups this yearā4x 2024.
Launch costs are crashing, AI is making satellite data gold, and defense dollars are chasing orbital infrastructure.
š” What it means: Silicon Valley sees space as the next trillion-dollar platformāsatellites, asteroid mining, even orbital logistics. Investors like Katelin Holloway (ex-Pixar ā now funding helium-3 mining) show you donāt need NASA stripes to play the game.
š Trump Token Tanks
Trumpās World Liberty token ($WLFI) slid 12% on debut, dropping to $0.246 after briefly topping $0.30.
Despite the slide, it still clocked a $7B market cap, ranking 31st in crypto.
Catch: early investors can only sell 20% of holdings.
The Trump family, set to take 75% of net revenue, has already banked $500M
ā” Bottom Line: Ethics hawks are screaming conflict of interest as the White House rewrites the rules of the crypto industry.
šŗ FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Albertaās majestic Lake Louise
Oh, Canada!
Canada has more lakes than any country on earthāwith a whopping 879,800 lakes larger than 0.1 km and countless smaller ones.
In a far second, comes Russia - with 201,200 lakes larger than 0.1 km.