Parliament Building: Torched

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Global Recap
August 30, 2025 • Read in: 7 minutes

Hi Global Recap readers,

Sorry for the late send! I’m on the road and all these timezone changes are confusing...

Anyway, as August wraps up, September is shaping up to be pretty wild. A few big things you should be on the lookout for:

  • Sept. 3: China's "Victory Day" military parade.

  • Sept. 9: The UN General Assembly.

  • Sept. 13: Tommy Robinson's Free Speech Festival.

See you in September.

🇮🇩 INDONESIA
Indonesia Protests Escalate

Click for video
Three people died after protesters torched the regional parliament building in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The Southeast Asian nation's disaster management agency didn't give the causes of the deaths.

Jakarta’s streets erupted after a ride-share driver was killed by a police vehicle during Thursday’s clashes. The fallout is now testing Prabowo Subianto’s presidency just nine months in.

  • Victim: Affan Kurniawan, a Gojek and Grab driver, died after being struck by an armored police truck near parliament. He was not part of the protest that was already taking place.

  • Context: The protests initially erupted over lawmakers’ plans to grant themselves a new monthly allowance of 50 million rupiah (US$3,042, nearly ten times the Jakarta minimum wage) along with demands for higher wages, lower taxes, and stronger anti-corruption measures.

  • Response: President Prabowo called the incident “excessive,” ordered a full investigation, and promised accountability. Seven officers are now detained for ethics violations.

  • Unrest: Protesters hurled rocks, burned vehicles, and chanted “Killer. Killer.” outside police HQ. Schools shut early. Banks told staff to work remotely.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
Court: Trump’s
Tariffs Are Illegal

A federal appeals court just ruled that most of Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal, gutting the legal foundation of his signature trade weapon.

  • Ruling: The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit voted 7–4 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the president authority to impose sweeping “reciprocal” and “trafficking” tariffs.

  • Pause: The decision will not take effect until October 14 to allow the administration to seek a Supreme Court reversal.

  • SupremeCourt: Trump said he is confident the Supreme Court will side with him, calling the appeals bench “Highly Partisan” and warning that losing the tariffs would “literally destroy the United States of America.”

  • Scope: The decision targets tariffs on countries like China and Canada tied to fentanyl import claims, but leaves untouched sector-specific levies on steel and cars.

  • Risk: If struck down, the tariffs could erase hundreds of billions in expected revenue used to offset tax cuts and disrupt trade deals negotiated under Trump.

📌 Context: The last point requires nuance.

• US importers pay the tariffs at customs.

• They typically pass those costs along through higher prices.

• This means the “revenue” functions as a domestic tax burden, not as money extracted from foreign governments as many seem to believe.

• US Treasury Secretary Bessent admitted it when pressed to clarify in an interview.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
Palestinian Authority
President Blocked

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right).

The US just blocked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from next month’s UN General Assembly in New York, where multiple countries plan to formally recognize Palestinian statehood.

  • Decision: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced no visas for Palestinian Authority or PLO officials ahead of the meeting, with a narrow exemption for the UN delegation that excludes Abbas himself.

  • Timing: The ban comes as Britain, France, Canada, and Australia prepare to recognize Palestinian statehood in September 2025, citing the need to preserve a two-state solution.

  • Rationale: Rubio accused the PA and PLO of failing to “consistently repudiate terrorism,” referencing the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, despite Abbas having condemned them earlier this year.

  • Precedent: Washington last denied a Palestinian leader entry in 1988, when Yasser Arafat was blocked from attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) after declaring statehood.

📌 Context: The Palestinian Authority governs parts of the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007.

• The US has historically backed a negotiated two-state solution, but the Trump administration has shifted away from that goal.

• Abbas has not held elections since 2006—using the possibility of elections (without following through) as leverage in negotiations.

🇺🇦 UKRAINE
Zelenskyy Pushes Security Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

President Zelenskyy wants allies to fast-track next week’s negotiations on “NATO-like” guarantees for Ukraine, pulling the discussion up to head-of-state level and pressing Donald Trump to join.

  • Request: Zelenskyy called for legally binding guarantees ratified by partner parliaments, rejecting a repeat of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum that failed to deter Russia.

  • Players: He named European leaders and US President Donald Trump as key participants, with his chief of staff Andriy Yermak already meeting US envoy Steve Witkoff in New York.

  • Trigger: The push followed a Russian missile strike on Kyiv on Thursday that killed 25 people, which Yermak said proved Moscow’s unwillingness to end the war.

  • Support: EU defense ministers in Copenhagen backed expanding their training mission to operate inside Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached, adding to the 80,000 troops already trained.

  • Leverage: Trump has set a two-week deadline for Putin to agree to a one-on-one meeting with Zelenskyy, warning of new measures if no commitment is made.