Hi Global Recap readers,

Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, a tragic event that claimed nearly 3,000 lives and left thousands more injured.

As we reflect on this somber day, we also turn our attention to the current geopolitical landscape.

📈 Top News

🇺🇦 Ukraine’s Next Big Move: 150K Troops to Take Back Crimea? Ukraine's military intelligence released an audio recording of an intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and his friend. The soldier claims to have heard that Kyiv is planning a massive operation to reclaim Crimea. He sounded scared and panicked, while his friend tried to calm him down.

This is a lot of “he said, they said.” Could this be a Ukrainian scare tactic or a legit intercept?

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👎 G20 Fails to Call Out Russia Over Ukraine. The G20 summit in Delhi ended with the world leaders failing to agree on a strong statement condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Instead, they settled for a vague and watered-down declaration that avoided naming and shaming Russia.

Russia's foreign minister hailed the outcome as a "milestone," while Ukraine slammed it as "nothing to be proud of."

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🇰🇵 Kim Jong Un’s train leaves for Russia. Kim Jong Un is heading to Russia for a not-so-secret meeting with Putin. Here's a quick rundown of the possible motives and implications:

• Russia: Russia wants ammo for its war against Ukraine.

• North Korea: North Korea is facing food and energy shortages and international isolation. Kim might seek Putin's assistance to ease the sanctions and get some aid.

• Both want leverage: Kim and Putin might also use this meeting to gain more bargaining power with other countries, especially the U.S.

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🌱 Climate Rebels Shut Down Dutch Highway, Get Arrested. Around 10,000 “Extinction Rebellion” activists blocked a busy road to The Hague for two days, demanding an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Police used water cannons and dragged them away, but they vowed to come back every day until the government listens.

Is this the right tactic to bring attention to their cause, or a wrong one that turns people away from the issue of climate change?

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✍️ In-Depth

United States
The Nickname “Sleepy Joe” Making a Combeback?

🤯 Biden’s Bizarre Presser. President Joe Biden gave a very strange press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he rambled about:

• wanting to “go to bed,”

• Vietnam being a third-world country,

• climate deniers being “lying dog-faced pony soldiers,”

• him “just following orders.”

🎤 Biden’s Mic Cuts Off. As Biden was answering questions from reporters, his press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly ended the event and cut his microphone. Biden was still talking about his conversation with Chinese Premier Li Qiang when Jean-Pierre announced: “Thank you everybody. This ends the press conference.”

👴 Biden’s Age Worries. Biden’s performance raised concerns about his age and mental competence, as he is the oldest person ever to serve as president and will turn 81 in November.

A recent CNN poll, reveals that 73% of Americans harbor serious doubts about Biden's physical and mental fitness.

🐘 Biden’s Critics Pounce. Conservative figures and media outlets seized on Biden’s press conference to mock and question his leadership. They accused him of being incoherent, senile, and controlled by his staff. This recent viral blunder is reviving his old nickname “Sleepy Joe,” while also raising questions about whether the White House is actually being run by the president’s aides.

🌐 Opinion

Here are the poll results:

Is the CNN report on Musk “cutting off Starlink network” a marketing fluff piece?

• 73%: 👍 Yes.

• 27%: 👎 No.

The author of the upcoming biography attempted to "clarify" the issue, but many have pointed out that the line about Musk "secretly" instructing his engineers to disable the network on the Crimean coast was originally penned by the author himself.

Following the backlash, the author issued a correction to his own The Washington Post op-ed, clarifying that Musk had already disabled the network and that he had "mischaracterized" the event in his book.