Daily brief

Anne Applebaum maps Washington's new “Empire of Grift” as Germany's weekend elections hand the AfD its best-ever regional result and a hard-left party tops Berlin. A zero-click exploit dubbed Plugin4Shell hit Claude Code, Codex, Copilot and Gemini CLI at once, exposing AI coding's supply-chain blind spot. Overnight, Ukraine's drones set Moscow's biggest refinery ablaze in the war's largest barrage yet, Nawrocki and Tusk split between New York and Kyiv, and Washington and Denmark strike an “infinite” deal over Greenland.

Top story · International politics

Anne Applebaum Maps Washington's “Empire of Grift”

Anne Applebaum's cover essay for The Atlantic's October issue argues that far-right ideologues have quietly rewired American foreign policy into an instrument of personal enrichment and antidemocratic politics. She traces how informal envoys, crypto and mineral entrepreneurs, and ideologically aligned online operators now carry more weight in Washington's dealings abroad than career diplomats or state institutions. The State Department, she writes, has launched funding for MAGA-aligned movements across Europe, and oligarchs and media tied to Trump have actively promoted far-right parties in Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and Romania. Applebaum contends this is not incidental: the same networks steering American policy toward crypto and mineral deals abroad are the ones cheering the AfD's rise and courting South America's new right. Traditional diplomacy, in her account, has given way to a transactional style that rewards loyalty and personal gain over alliance-building. The essay lands just as Germany's weekend state elections handed the AfD its strongest result yet and a hard-left party topped Berlin, testing exactly the realignment Applebaum describes. It is likely to become a reference point for the wider debate over what survives of the transatlantic order under a second Trump term.

The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum · 14.09.2026

Why it matters — It reframes MAGA's courtship of Europe's far right not as ideology but as a business model — a lens Warsaw and Berlin will need as their own populists test it.

01 International politics 01 / 06

Xi Rebuilds a Purged PLA Command Behind a Screen of “Strategic Stability”

Christopher Nye and Charles Sun write that Beijing's new mantra of “strategic stability” toward Washington is less a diplomatic olive branch than cover for a People's Liberation Army in disarray. Xi Jinping has spent recent years purging much of the PLA's senior command, taking down two former defense ministers and hollowing out the leadership pyramid in the name of loyalty and anti-corruption. The authors argue Xi is betting that concentrated state power can force through a rebuild — replacing purged commanders and flawed equipment — while a temporary lull in external pressure buys him the years such a rebuild requires. That makes this an unusually awkward moment for anyone to test Chinese military resolve, even as its capabilities keep growing on paper.

War on the Rocks, Christopher Nye & Charles Sun · 15.09.2026

Why it matters — A military rebuilding itself after a purge is one Xi has every incentive to keep out of a real fight — a factor threat assessments fixed on hardware alone tend to miss.

02 Geopolitics 02 / 06

Deterring China Over Taiwan May Run Through Eurasia, Not the Pacific

Ken Moriyasu and William Pazos argue that Washington's Taiwan-deterrence planning leans too heavily on naval posture in the Indo-Pacific. The sharper question, they write, is whether China could keep its economy running through a Taiwan crisis if the Strait of Malacca were closed to it — and Beijing is quietly building that resilience overland, through Russian and Central Asian energy and rail links that bypass the sea lanes the U.S. Navy is built to contest. A deterrence strategy that ignores Eurasia's pipelines and railways, they conclude, is fighting the wrong map.

War on the Rocks, Ken Moriyasu & William Pazos · 17.09.2026

Why it matters — If Beijing's real vulnerability has shifted from the sea to the steppe, the Pacific-first deterrence architecture Washington and its allies are funding may be aimed at the wrong chokepoint.

03 Tech / AI / future tech 03 / 06

An Essay Argues AI's “Safe” Prose Is a New Kind of Creative Poverty

Afra Wang's essay moves from Baudelaire's Paris to China's tightly filtered “Simplified Chinese Internet” to argue that great writing has never come from systems built on reward and punishment — and that today's large language models are exactly such a system. Reinforcement-based post-training, she writes, doesn't just filter out unsafe content; it flattens prose, design and expression into a narrow, “same-ified” register that echoes what censorship once did to Chinese online writing. The result is AI text that feels disenchanted rather than revolutionary — competent, safe and creatively poor by construction, not by accident. Wang's argument lands as AI writing tools become fixtures in newsrooms, schools and marketing departments across Europe and Asia alike.

Noema, Afra Wang · 09.09.2026

Why it matters — It reframes complaints about “AI slop” as a structural property of reinforcement learning, not a bug that a bigger model will simply fix.

04 Economy / markets / KYC / AML 04 / 06

UK Unveils a Three-Year Plan to Disrupt Money-Laundering Networks

The Home Office and HM Treasury published a new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy for 2026-2029, built around three pillars: targeting the networks that cause the most harm, integrating information-sharing across agencies, and empowering investigators with more staff and better tools. The plan is backed by £520 million from the Economic Crime Levy plus a further £30 million from the 2025 Budget's high-streets package, funding more than 500 new officers across police forces, the National Crime Agency and prosecutors. It follows a year in which illicit-finance disruptions rose 15% and money-laundering convictions rose 11%, though asset recovery — £345.3 million — still lags the scale of the problem officials describe.

UK Home Office / HM Treasury · 15.09.2026

Why it matters — A three-year funding commitment signals London intends to compete on enforcement, not just on paper rules — raising the compliance bar for any bank or crypto firm routing money through the UK.

05 Medicine 05 / 06

Landmark UK Trial Finds Open Dialogue Cuts Hospital Admissions, Not Relapse

The ODDESSI trial, the first randomized controlled trial of the Open Dialogue approach to mental-health crises, found no significant difference in time to relapse between Open Dialogue and standard care among 494 people in crisis across England. But the secondary results were striking: only 21% of Open Dialogue patients were admitted to a psychiatric ward within two years, versus 44% on treatment as usual, and patients reported better recovery, quality of life and satisfaction with services. The null primary result complicates two decades of enthusiasm for the Finnish-originated model, even as the hospitalization data is likely to be seized on by health systems looking to cut inpatient costs.

The Lancet Psychiatry · 20.09.2026

Why it matters — It is a case study in how one trial can simultaneously vindicate and puncture a decade of clinical advocacy, depending on which outcome a health system chooses to fund around.

06 Intelligence / OSINT 06 / 06

“Plugin4Shell” Zero-Click Flaw Hit Every Major AI Coding Agent at Once

Security researchers at AIR disclosed a zero-click remote-execution flaw, dubbed Plugin4Shell, that let a malicious plugin update run attacker-controlled code inside Anthropic's Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex, GitHub Copilot and Google's Gemini CLI without any user approval. The flaw sat in how these agents verify plugin updates: each checks out the commit its marketplace listing points to but never confirms the checkout actually landed there, letting an attacker who controls a plugin's repository swap in malicious code while the version pin still looked intact. Because these plugins typically inherit the same permissions as the developer running the agent, the exposure reached local source code, cloud credentials, SSH keys and production systems. Anthropic patched Claude Code in version 2.1.179 and OpenAI patched Codex in 0.146.0; Google deprecated Gemini CLI outright rather than fix it, and Microsoft had not shipped a GitHub Copilot patch as of disclosure.

AIR (air.security) · 18.09.2026

Why it matters — The flaw targeted the software supply chain behind AI agents, not the models themselves — a reminder that the industry's security debate has been aimed at the wrong layer.

News Poland

Shooting Wounds Two in Small-Town Manhunt Near Olkusz

Two men were shot on Sunday evening in Bukowno, a small town in the Olkusz district of Małopolska, prompting a large police manhunt and an appeal for residents to stay indoors. One victim was airlifted to hospital; police arrested a 52-year-old suspect after the search. No motive has been released. Source →

Nawrocki Heads to New York as UN's High-Level Week Opens

President Karol Nawrocki left for a four-day trip to New York built around the UN General Assembly's opening, including talks with the Baltic presidents, a meeting with Secretary-General António Guterres and General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman, and events with the Polish diaspora. The visit comes as Washington signals it wants this year's session to focus on a “back to basics” UN centered on sovereignty and security rather than broader mandates. Source →

Tusk Warns of “Difficult Months” on Visit to Ukraine's Carpathian Summit

Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled to Ivano-Frankivsk for a Carpathian Eight regional summit, telling Ukrainians the trip was meant chiefly “to show that Ukraine is not alone.” He confirmed Poland and Ukraine will be formal partners inside Europe's new anti-ballistic coalition and said the region should expect “heavy, difficult weeks and months” ahead. The visit followed his public clash last week with President Nawrocki over remarks on Polish territory. Source →

CBOS Poll Puts PiS and Confederation in a Statistical Dead Heat

A new CBOS survey conducted 7-9 September gives the ruling Civic Coalition 26.1%, with PiS at 15% and Confederation at 14.8% — a gap of just 0.2 points that would have been unthinkable a year ago. A breakaway Confederation of the Crown offshoot would also clear the threshold, on 7.8%, suggesting the anti-establishment right is fragmenting even as it grows. Source →

Constitutional Tribunal Oath Standoff Drags Into a New Term

Judge Maciej Berek, elected by the Sejm on 4 September, still has not been sworn in after President Nawrocki's chancellery demanded further proof of his legal-counsel work history. The Sejm's chancellery says the Speaker expects the president to accept the oath “without delay,” while Berek has floated submitting a notarized oath directly to the Sejm if the impasse drags on much longer. Source →

August Inflation Jumps to 3.4% as Fuel Costs Bite

Poland's CPI inflation rose to 3.4% year-on-year in August, up from 3.0% in July, driven mainly by rising transport-fuel prices. The central bank left interest rates unchanged and still expects inflation to end the year near 2.9%, but analysts warn the real test is how far carriers, farmers and retailers pass the fuel shock on to consumers. Source →

News Europe

AfD Wins Its Best-Ever Regional Result as Berlin Swings Left

Germany's twin state elections delivered a split verdict: the AfD topped Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with 38.1% (SPD second at 35.5%), while an exit poll gave Berlin's left-wing Die Linke 24.5%, ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU on 20%. Merz called the results a disaster for his party, which lost ground in both states just two weeks after the AfD's record showing in Saxony-Anhalt. Source →

Sweden's Andersson Given Until 28 September to Build a Government

Magdalena Andersson formally began efforts to form Sweden's next government after her bloc's narrow election win, but the four parties she needs — Social Democrats, Left, Centre and Greens — disagree sharply over tax cuts, nuclear power and a proposed billionaire tax. She has until 28 September before outgoing premier Ulf Kristersson gets a chance to try forming a government of his own. Source →

Meloni Moves to Ban Burqas in Schools and Cap Foreign Pupils

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told her party's youth wing that the government will bring a bill banning burqas and niqabs in schools and limiting the number of foreign students per classroom, alongside compulsory Italian lessons for parents of children struggling to integrate. The measure, unveiled at a Brothers of Italy youth festival in Rome, would need parliamentary approval within 60 days once the cabinet formally adopts it. Source →

Macron and Carney Pledge Closer Ties as Canada Drifts From Washington

Meeting in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney announced plans to deepen cooperation on energy, defense, space and fisheries, part of Canada's broader tilt toward Europe amid its trade dispute with the United States. The meeting follows Ursula von der Leyen's proposal last week to make Canada the EU's first-ever “associate member.” Source →

Ukraine's Largest Drone Barrage of the War Sets Moscow Refinery Ablaze

Ukraine launched its heaviest overnight drone attack of the war so far, with Russia's defense ministry saying it downed 1,110 drones across 19 regions and Crimea. Several drones reached Moscow's oil refinery, which supplies roughly 40% of the capital's fuel and 70% of the region's petrol and jet fuel; large fires broke out at its crude-distillation and isomerization units. The attack landed as Russia entered the final day of Duma elections, with Moscow's mayor calling it the capital's largest drone attack to date. Source →

News World

Trump Announces an “Infinite” US-Denmark Security Deal Over Greenland

Donald Trump said the US has struck a deal with Denmark giving Washington “permanent control over security, and all other needs” in Greenland at no cost to the United States, while leaving Danish sovereignty formally intact. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the three governments — Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk — will sign the agreement next week, describing it as respecting Greenland's territorial integrity. The deal follows months of Trump threats to seize the Arctic island by force. Source →

Trump to Meet Venezuela's Acting President for the First Time

Donald Trump will meet Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's acting president since US forces seized Nicolás Maduro in January, in New York this week — their first meeting since Washington installed her government. The sit-down comes as Rodríguez works to lift a domestic media blackout and prepares to address the UN General Assembly on 24 September. Source →

Gaza Ceasefire Nears a Year With Reconstruction Still Frozen

Israeli strikes over the weekend killed at least three Palestinians and several Hamas members Israel accused of ceasefire violations, while a deadly building collapse in Gaza underscored how little reconstruction has moved nearly a year after the truce took hold. Israel continues to bar most construction materials from entering the strip, leaving even basic repairs difficult as displaced families shelter in unsafe structures. Source →

Deadly Shooting Near a West Bank Settlement Hours Before Yom Kippur

A gunman opened fire on Israelis gathered at a spring near the Neve Tzuf settlement in the West Bank hours before Yom Kippur began, killing a man in his 30s before fleeing; Israeli commandos later captured him at a hospital in the Ramallah area. The army sealed off several Palestinian villages and prepared what officials called “extensive” arrest raids during the fast, with the military citing high alert across all sectors. Source →

World Leaders Converge on New York as UN's High-Level Week Begins

The UN General Assembly's high-level week opens Tuesday with Brazil's Lula da Silva speaking first, followed by Donald Trump representing the host nation — a lineup unchanged since 1955, when the custom of Brazil going first began. Washington says its priority this year is pushing the UN “back to basics,” toward sovereignty, security and measurable results rather than broader mandates, a framing likely to collide with European and developing-world priorities. Source →

Sport

Evenepoel Wins His Fourth Straight World Time-Trial Title

Cycling · UCI Road World Championships

Remco Evenepoel powered to a fourth consecutive world time-trial title in Montreal, beating Filippo Ganna into second and France's Paul Seixas into third — the first man ever to win four straight. Switzerland's Marlen Reusser successfully defended her women's title on the same 39.2km course earlier in the day. Source →

Dauwalter and Cardin Take the Chianti Ultra Trail 120K

Trail running · UTMB World Series

American Courtney Dauwalter and France's Thomas Cardin won the women's and men's races at the Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB, run over 120 kilometres through the Tuscan hills, the latest stop on the UTMB World Series calendar. Source →

Legia Stay Unbeaten With 3-1 Win at Jagiellonia

Football · Ekstraklasa

League leaders Legia Warszawa scored twice from the penalty spot and added an own goal on the way to a 3-1 win at Jagiellonia Białystok, extending their unbeaten start to the Ekstraklasa season. Jesús Imaz's penalty was the hosts' only reply. Source →

Lech Poznań Rout Radomiak 5-1

Football · Ekstraklasa

Lech Poznań shrugged off an early Radomiak goal to score five unanswered, with Pablo Rodríguez and Patrik Wålemark each scoring twice, in a one-sided ninth round of the Ekstraklasa. Source →

Wisła Płock End Zagłębie Lubin's Unbeaten Home Run

Football · Ekstraklasa

Wisła Płock won 2-0 at Zagłębie Lubin, breaking the home side's unbeaten run at their own stadium this season with goals either side of stoppage time from Łukasz Sekulski and Saïd Hamulić. Source →

Satire · curated

Why We Must Return to the Office to Use AI in Person

Jonathan Zeller's McSweeney's memo insists that despite years of remote work, employees must now return to the office specifically to use AI chatbots in person — because apparently clicking “generate” only counts as productivity when management can watch you do it. Read →