Selling China's Great Firewall

Hi Global Recap readers,

I always wondered why China didn’t sell its infamous “Great Firewall.”

• I assumed it was either because it wanted to keep it as a state secret or simply lacked buyers.

• Turns out it was neither. 👇🏼

🌐 WORLD
Fast Scroll News

🇨🇳 China Exports Censorship

A leak of over 500 gigabytes of source code and internal documents just exposed how Beijing’s Great Firewall tech is being packaged and sold to foreign governments.

• Mechanism: The Tiangou Secure Gateway, built by Geedge Networks, combines hardware and software to filter traffic, block VPNs, and tailor censorship to individual users.

• Reach: Pakistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and Kazakhstan have deployed the system, with Myanmar’s state telecom monitoring up to 81 million connections at once.

• Operation: Local governments run the equipment inside telecom data centers, enabling real-time blanket surveillance of mobile and internet networks.

• Collusion: Amnesty International links Geedge and firms from Germany, the US, France, Canada, and the UAE to Pakistan’s surveillance buildout, calling it a “profitable economy of oppression.”

There really are no borders with money.

🇱🇹 Lithuania Foils Parcel Plot

Lithuanian prosecutors just revealed that they disrupted a Russia-linked plan to send thermite-packed bombs through DHL and DPD to the UK, Poland, and Germany.

• Suspects: Nationals from Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine are charged, with several tied to Russian military intelligence.

• Method: Devices hidden in massage cushions and cosmetic tubes, packed with thermite, a substance that burns at over 2,000°C (3,632°F).

• Timeline: Explosions hit Leipzig Airport on July 20, a DPD truck in Poland on July 21, and a DHL warehouse in Birmingham on July 22; one device failed to ignite.

• Recruitment: Operatives were allegedly hired via Telegram and paid in cryptocurrency.

• Seizure: Searches in four countries uncovered over six kilograms of explosives and detonators hidden in canned food containers.

🇺🇸 Fed Cuts Rates

The Federal Reserve just slashed its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 4%–4.25%, the first cut of 2025, signaling that job market worries now outweigh inflation fears.

• Decision: The rate-setting committee voted 11–1, with new governor Stephen Miran pushing for a bigger half-point cut.

• Pressure: President Trump has spent months attacking Chair Jerome Powell and trying to oust Biden-era appointee Lisa Cook over unproven mortgage fraud claims.

• Jobs: August saw only 22,000 jobs added, with June posting net losses, and unemployment rising to 4.3%, the highest since 2017 outside the pandemic.

• Inflation: Prices have climbed from 2.3% in April to 2.9% in August after Trump's reciprocal tariffs, overshooting the Fed's 2% target.

• Outlook: The Fed projects two more cuts this year, though nearly half its members want rates to hold steady.

🇬🇧 Trump Courts Royals

US President Donald Trump used his unprecedented second UK state visit to praise King Charles and the "special relationship" while soaking in Windsor Castle pageantry.

• Ceremony: Britain staged its largest military ceremonial welcome for a state visit in living memory, with 1,300 service personnel lining the carriage route and a Red Arrows flypast cut short by bad weather.

• Agenda: PM Starmer aims to leverage Trump's royal admiration and Scottish family ties to secure billions in investment, ease tariffs on steel, whisky, and salmon, and press him on Ukraine and Israel.

• Deals: Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, and OpenAI have pledged £31 billion for UK projects in AI, quantum computing, and civil nuclear energy over the next few years.

• Tensions: Protests drew several thousand in London, while Epstein-related questions resurfaced after the sacking of UK ambassador Peter Mandelson and the projection of Trump-Epstein images on a castle tower.

🇷🇺 RUSSIA
Navalny Poisoned, Labs Say

Yulia Navalnaya just dropped what she says is the first hard proof her husband Alexei Navalny was poisoned in a Russian prison last year, based on tests from two Western labs that analyzed smuggled biological samples.

Context

Before we begin, a brief look at who Navalny was and what happened to him:

• Alexei Navalny was a Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist, and one of the most prominent critics of Vladimir Putin.

• He ran a YouTube channel that exposed corruption at the highest levels of Russian politics, including investigations into Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.

  • One of his most viral videos exposed Putin’s Black Sea “palace” and the corruption tied to it, which pushed Navalny into the global spotlight. Here's that video:

Poisoning

Navalny survived a 2020 Novichok poisoning that Western governments blamed on the Russian state.

• After recovering in Germany, he chose to return to Russia in early 2021, where he was immediately arrested.

• Over a series of trials widely criticized as politically motivated, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges of extremism.

• In February 2024, Russian authorities announced that Navalny had died in the IK‑3 special regime colony in Kharp, a remote Arctic prison. Officially, he died under "unclear circumstances." Classic.

The Claim

Fast forward to today. Navalnaya says the evidence is no longer just suspicion.

• Two foreign laboratories tested biological material secretly taken from his body and concluded he had been poisoned.

• She has not been given the final reports and is demanding they be made public, saying she has a moral right to know as his widow.

Inside the Cell

The details she released are specifically graphic.

• Photos show cell number 16 with a large puddle of vomit, his personal items, and the spot where she says he convulsed in pain.

• Navalny reportedly fell ill after lunch during exercise, asked to return inside, and was placed in solitary instead of the medical unit.

• Witness accounts from five Russian officials describe him moaning, clutching his chest and stomach, and suffering convulsions before dying.

The Missing Records

The official narrative has shifted over time.

• Initial death certificate cited "sudden death syndrome," later changed to "combined disease" and "arrhythmia." 🤔

• Investigative Committee reports originally mentioned stomach pain and convulsions but were edited to remove those details.

• Surveillance footage from four cameras in his cell has never been released.

Aftermath and Suppression

The state’s handling of his death fits a broader pattern.

• His mother fought for days to retrieve his body, under threat it would be buried in the prison without a public funeral.

• Items seized from the cell included vomit samples, snow, toilet paper, and the cameras themselves.

• His organizations remain banned as "extremist," his memoir is on the extremist materials list, and supporters risk prosecution for posting his image.

And here's another"coincidence": On the same day Navalnaya went public with the lab findings, Russia’s parliament voted to quit the European Convention against torture, claiming domestic law already protects human rights. Hmm....