Happy Monday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,164 words…4.4 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: TikTok Deal This Friday, China-Russia Barter Bros, EU’s Basmati Wars, Russia-Belarus War Games, Indian Man Beheaded In Dallas, NY Gov Endorses Mamdani… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
President Trump visits the UK: Sep 16th - 19th
TikTok deal formal announcement: Friday, Sep 19th
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
⏱ TikTok Deal: The Final Gambit
A framework deal just saved TikTok from a U.S. ban—at least for now.
Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent announced in Madrid that Washington and Beijing hammered out terms to shift TikTok’s U.S. ops under American control.
A deal was also reached on a “certain” company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy!
ByteDance has until Sept. 17 to hand the keys over or face the Supreme Court-backed ban law. Trump has extended deadlines before, but this time the guillotine’s set to fall.
The players: Trump and Xi will hop on a Friday call to iron out the specifics and lock it down. Trump gets a political win (looking tough on China while saving the app) and Xi gets to save face by "choosing" to restructure rather than getting banned outright.
The devilish details—who exactly controls the coveted algorithm and the identity of the US investors—were left ominously vague.
What we know: U.S. oversight = the price of keeping TikTok alive stateside.
💡 Bottom line: The platform lives—if ByteDance surrenders. But the bigger fight? Digital sovereignty and national security. TikTok’s fate is just Act I in a longer U.S.-China tech drama. Think Black Mirror meets Succession, with Trump in the Logan Roy role.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
Top and Bottom left: The Zapad Drills; Top-Right: Polsih forces install barbed wire at border entry points; Bottom-Right: Americans meet Belarusians to watch the war games.
🎪 Russia-Belarus War Games Get Unexpected American Audience
Russia and Belarus just kicked off their Zapad-2025 drills with 13K troops and nuclear-capable toys whilst practicing “defensive” maneuvers.
Plot twist: US military attachés made a surprise visit to Belarus to watch the war games firsthand. Belarus gave them the red carpet treatment, offering front row seats and “full transparency".
But NATO neighbors aren’t buying it—Poland shut every Belarus border crossing with barbed wire and mobilized 40K troops, its biggest peacetime move in decades.
💡 Why it matters: This is diplomatic theater with live ammunition. US gets intelligence, Belarus gets sanctions relief talks, and Putin gets to flex while pretending he's not planning anything sketchy.
🌾 Basmati Wars: EU Stuck Between Rice and a Hard Place
The EU’s trade talks with India are on the brink—over Basmati rice; and a multi-billion dollar free trade agreement hangs in the balance.
India wants exclusive EU rights to trademark its world renowned “Basmati” rice label, while Pakistan filed a rival claim in 2023 that includes the Kashmir territorial dispute (cue geopolitical fireworks).
Endorsing India risks a blow-up with Pakistan; siding with Pakistan looks like recognizing disputed territory.
EU’s choice: Align with an economic superpower - one that counterbalances Russia and China; or break bread with a geopolitical beggar-state whose chief global export is terrorism.
💡 Bottom Line: This is the diplomatic equivalent of choosing between a power lunch at Cipriani and a sad desk salad that’s past its expiration date. Some decisions are harder than others. This isn't one of them.
🌾 🚗 Barter Bros: Russia & China’s Sanctions Workaround
Forget dollars—Moscow and Beijing are swapping wheat for cars to dodge Western sanctions.
Barter deals now cover grain, flax, metals for Chinese vehicles, appliances, etc. Some even sneak Western goods into Russia through the backdoor.
This isn't your grandpa's swap meet—it's a state-sanctioned shadow economy creating a $7 billion black hole in trade data.
Russia’s Economic Ministry even dropped a “how-to” barter guide in 2024, and new clearing platforms help settle trades off the grid.
💡 Why it matters: The barter boom signals de-dollarization in action—a shadow trade network that’s harder to track (and break), making sanctions moot.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Main: The Dallas motel; Top inset: Chandra Nagamallaiah; Bottom inset: Yordanis Cobos-Martinez The images and surveillance footage are far too graphic and gruesome to include in the newsletter. Please visit X for the full footage.
🕯 Dallas Beheading Sparks Immigration Firestorm
Chandra Nagamallaiah, an Indian-origin motel manager, was brutally beheaded with a machete by Cuban illegal immigrant Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, in front of his wife and young son. The trigger? A dispute over a broken washing machine.
After the beheading, Yordanis kicked the head into a parking lot like a soccer ball, with the entire incident captured on surveillance cameras.
Rap Sheet?: Child sex abuse, carjacking, grand theft auto
ICE released him back into the streets in January after Cuba refused repatriation due to his violent record. Now, ICE has lodged a detainer and the killer faces capital murder charges.
Trump blasted Biden’s immigration policies on Truth Social and vowed full justice.
💡 Bottom line: This gruesome case is now a defining symbol in the immigration debate, highlighting systemic failures and escalating political rhetoric around enforcement.
🗽 Hochul Endorses “Liddle Communist” in NYC Mayor Race
In a stunning political pivot, Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor, despite previously freezing him out over his tax-the-rich and defund the police agenda.
Her NYT op-ed praised his “focus on affordability,” a naked play to unify Democrats and shore up her left flank ahead of her own reelection.
The endorsement splits the Dems: Schumer and Jeffries are still withholding support, highlighting deep establishment anxiety
Trump immediately blasted the move on Truth Social, dubbing Mamdani a “Liddle Communist” and threatening to cut federal funds to NYC if he wins .
💡 Bottom Line: Mainstream Dems and Jewish New Yorkers, brace yourselves for chaos.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
💸 Musk Drops $1B on Tesla Stock
Elon Musk just dropped $1 billion on Tesla shares—his first open-market buy since 2020—boosting his stake to 12.8%.
The move screams confidence as Tesla pivots to AI and robotaxis amid a brutal EV slump.
The buy also erased Tesla’s losses for the year and boosted the stock 85%
💡 Bottom Line: Musk’s 25% control dream? Still $150B away.
🤖 PayPal Links Go Crypto…Soon
PayPal just dropped PayPal Links—one-time, sharable payment URLs that work in any chat .
The killer feature? Soon, you’ll be able to send Bitcoin, Ethereum, and PYUSD directly through these links, no account details needed.
And in a nod to usability, personal crypto transfers are exempt from 1099-K tax reporting—for now.
💡 Bottom Line: It’s a slick move to mainstream crypto payments by making them as easy as sending a meme.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench in the Pacific ocean is the lowest point on Earth, with its deepest part, known as Challenger Deep, reaching about 10,984 meters (36,037 feet) below sea level.
It is so deep that that if Mount Everest were placed at its bottom, its peak would still be over 2,000 meters below sea level.