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Earth Intelligence

01 Sep 2025 — 6 min read

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Yesterday, August 31, 2025, at approximately 2:30 PM, Venezuelan forces opened fire on a Guyana Defence Force and Police patrol boat escorting ballot boxes along the Upper Cuyuni River near Bamboo, close to the Guyana-Venezuela border. The patrol was supporting Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials in delivering election materials to remote polling stations in Region 7, with nine GECOM personnel on board. Guyanese forces returned fire and safely maneuvered out of the area, resulting in no injuries to personnel and no damage to the election materials. The patrol proceeded to successfully deliver the ballot boxes to Cumang Landing, Kurutuku, Dukquarie Landing, and Tumbung, while Guyana's Joint Services have been placed on high alert to coordinate with GECOM for ongoing election security, as an investigation into the incident continues.

Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela have been escalating due to longstanding disputes over the Essequibo region, which Venezuela claims as its own despite international arbitration rulings favoring Guyana, with the area gaining heightened significance amid recent oil discoveries. Venezuela's actions, including a 2024 referendum asserting control over Essequibo and increased military activities near the border, reflect intentions to challenge Guyana's sovereignty and exploit resources, leading to prior incidents such as attacks on Guyanese soldiers in May 2025 and surges in cross-border incursions by criminal groups since 2022. These gray zone operations, including threats to offshore oil assets, have raised concerns of potential broader conflict, prompting Guyana to bolster its defenses amid fears of Venezuelan aggression impacting regional stability.

Economics & Markets:

Yesterday’s commodity market:

Yesterday’s crypto market:

Cyber:

On August 24, 2025, Nevada state officials detected a sophisticated ransomware attack on government networks, leading to widespread disruptions across multiple agencies. The cyber incident, confirmed as ransomware involving data exfiltration and server encryption, forced the closure of state offices, including all Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) branches, and took numerous agency websites and phone lines offline. Critical services like emergency 911 remained operational, but law enforcement access to DMV records was temporarily halted, and online transactions for various departments were suspended. No threat actor has claimed responsibility, and an ongoing investigation is assessing the full extent of stolen data, which may include personal information.
As of August 31, 2025, Nevada continues to grapple with the aftermath, with many systems still isolated for security reasons and a methodical restoration process underway to prevent further breaches, supported by federal partners like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). This incident highlights the growing vulnerabilities of state and local governments to ransomware, with experts noting a surge in such attacks over the past 18 months targeting under-resourced entities for financial gain or disruption. Background factors include Nevada's decentralized cybersecurity infrastructure, which lacks a unified backbone, exacerbating recovery challenges amid a broader trend of over 500 similar U.S. government attacks since 2018, costing billions in downtime and underscoring the need for enhanced defenses against evolving cyber threats.

Nationwide Verizon Outage:

On August 30, 2025, Verizon experienced a nationwide wireless service outage attributed to a software issue, affecting thousands of customers across the United States starting in the early afternoon. Reports surged from areas including California, Chicago, New York, and other major cities, with users encountering SOS mode on their devices, dropped calls, inability to send or receive texts, and complete loss of cellular data. Downdetector recorded over 14,000 outage complaints by evening, though critical emergency services like 911 remained functional in most cases. Verizon confirmed the disruption and stated that engineers were working diligently to resolve it, with no immediate indication of a cyber attack or external interference.
As of August 31, 2025, Verizon has largely restored service in affected regions, though some lingering issues were reported in isolated areas, prompting ongoing monitoring and customer support efforts. The incident highlighted vulnerabilities in telecom infrastructure, with customers expressing frustration over delayed communication from the company during the multi-hour disruption. Background factors include Verizon's recent commitments to improved reliability and customer trust, yet this event marks the second major outage in 2025, underscoring broader industry challenges with software dependencies and the impact on daily life, from navigation to business operations, amid growing reliance on outdated networks.

Science & Technology:

On August 31, 2025, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 7:49 a.m. EDT (11:49 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission, called Starlink 10-14, carried 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low-Earth orbit to expand the company’s broadband network. The rocket’s first-stage booster, B1077, completed its 23rd flight and successfully landed on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.

This marked SpaceX’s 499th booster landing. Both ascent and satellite deployment went smoothly, and the fairings were also set for recovery. This was the 108th Falcon 9 launch of 2025, keeping SpaceX on track to exceed 150 launches this year, largely driven by Starlink missions. SpaceX continues to improve satellite performance and refine reusable rocket technology, cutting costs and cementing its dominance in the launch market.

Statistic:

Largest assets on Earth by market capitalization:

Gold: $23.583T
🇺🇸 NVIDIA: $4.239T
🇺🇸 Microsoft: $3.766T
🇺🇸 Apple: $3.445T
🇺🇸 Alphabet (Google): $2.578T
🇺🇸 Amazon: $2.442T
Silver: $2.292T
Bitcoin: $2.155T
🇺🇸 Meta Platforms: $1.855T
🇸🇦 Saudi Aramco: $1.534T
🇺🇸 Broadcom: $1.398T
🇹🇼 TSMC: $1.197T
🇺🇸 Berkshire Hathaway: $1.085T
🇺🇸 Tesla: $1.076T
🇺🇸 JPMorgan Chase: $828.82B
🇺🇸 Walmart: $773.94B
🇨🇳 Tencent: $706.37B
🇺🇸 Visa: $682.78B
🇺🇸 Eli Lilly: $656.72B
🇺🇸 Oracle: $635.16B
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust: $592.01B
🇺🇸 Mastercard: $538.14B
Ethereum: $530.79B
🇺🇸 Netflix: $513.41B
🇺🇸 Exxon Mobil: $487.24B

History:

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) traces to the Constitution’s insistence on civilian control and a small standing force supported by state militias. In 1789 the Department of War was created to manage the Army (and, early on, many non-military frontier and infrastructure tasks). The Navy broke out into its own department in 1798 (with the Marine Corps inside it), while military aviation grew from the Army’s Signal Corps into the Army Air Forces during WWII. The crucible of that war forced unprecedented “joint” planning, leading to the National Security Act of 1947, which formed the National Military Establishment under a civilian Secretary of Defense, recognized the U.S. Air Force as a separate service, and established the NSC and CIA. In 1949, reforms tightened civilian authority and renamed the NME the Department of Defense; the War Department became the Department of the Army, and the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force were placed under the SecDef.
From the Cold War through today, DoD evolved to project power globally. It built the nuclear triad, a worldwide network of bases, and unified combatant commands; Goldwater-Nichols (1986) supercharged joint operations and clarified the chain of command. After 9/11, DoD fought long counterterrorism campaigns, stood up U.S. Northern Command (2002) and U.S. Cyber Command (2009; elevated 2018), and, with the rise of space and great-power competition, helped launch the U.S. Space Force (2019) within the Department of the Air Force. Today’s DoD emphasizes “integrated deterrence” and multi-domain operations—blending cyber, space, air, sea, and land with AI-enabled C2—while leaning on alliances (NATO, AUKUS, Indo-Pacific partners). Together, these departments forge the most powerful military force on Earth—one that not only safeguards the United States but also projects influence across every continent and ocean, acting as a de facto global police force.

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