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Haiti’s battered state just replaced its police chief for the third time in 18 months, elevating Vladimir Paraison—an ex-palace security head who hobbled to Friday’s swearing-in on the same cane he earned fighting gang gunfire. Paraison inherits a force of barely 8,000 deployable officers pitted against the Viv Ansanm alliance that now rules roughly 80 % of Port-au-Prince and has displaced 1.3 million Haitians this year alone. (reuters.com)

Police turnover would be routine were it not systemic: since 2021, every chief has lasted, on average, seven months—mirroring the churn of prime ministers and the council that has cycled through four presidents since April. Each reshuffle resets strategy yet leaves the same structural deficit: Haiti spends just 0.7 % of GDP on security versus a regional median of 1.7 %, a gap that mathematics—not personalities—keeps widening.

Until donors tie aid to measurable force-multipliers—armored mobility, forensic labs, and a data-driven deployment model—the gangs will treat each new badge as a fresh opening. As Benjamín Labatut warns, “We mistake velocity for direction and applaud the movement while missing the drift.”

The Gist AI Editor

Haiti’s Desperate Gamble on Security

Haiti’s government appointed Vladimir Paraison as national police chief, a move to combat gang violence that has displaced over one million people (Strait Times). This highlights the state’s primary failure: protecting its citizens. While strong leadership is sought, the crisis exposes the weakness of centralized solutions when the rule of law has collapsed. Relying on one figure is a precarious strategy for restoring order where civil society has been decimated.

Japan’s Creator Economy

Japan’s “doujinshi,” or self-publishing, scene has blossomed into a billion-dollar market, a powerful example of a decentralized creator economy (Strait Times). Bypassing traditional gatekeepers, individuals freely produce and sell everything from novels to manga. This vibrant ecosystem thrives on voluntary exchange and individual entrepreneurship, a testament to the power of permissionless innovation flourishing outside of corporate or state oversight.

Washington’s IP Power Grab

The Trump administration threatened to seize Harvard patents worth hundreds of millions of dollars, alleging non-compliance with federal research grants (Bloomberg). This raises critical questions about government overreach and intellectual property. While accountability for taxpayer funds is essential, the threat of asset seizure politicizes scientific research. It challenges the core principle that secure property rights—not political leverage—are what ultimately drive innovation and progress.

Stay tuned for the next Gist—your edge in a shifting world.

Haiti replaces police chief with former head of palace security
— Strait Times

‘Very nerdy’ hobby of doujinshi self-publishing is a growing billion-dollar market in Japan
— Strait Times

Trump Administration Threatens to Seize Valuable Harvard Patents
— Bloomberg

Families of Air India crash victims demand release of flight recorders
— Strait Times

Codelco Wins Partial Approval to Restart Copper Mine in Chile
— Bloomberg

AI Chip Firm DeepX Hires Morgan Stanley for Funding Before IPO
— Bloomberg

Kremlin’s Alaskan Gambit

The Kremlin has confirmed President Vladimir Putin will meet US President Donald Trump next Friday in Alaska, immediately extending a follow-on invitation to Moscow (ZDF). This diplomatic overture signals a calculated move by Russia to reset relations and potentially bypass traditional European intermediaries. From my perspective, this isn’t just a meeting; it’s a test of the transatlantic alliance’s resilience. The risk is a bilateral US-Russia understanding forged over the heads of EU leaders, potentially altering the strategic calculus on issues from Ukrainian sovereignty to NATO’s eastern flank. The speed of the invitation suggests Moscow sees a clear opportunity to pull Washington into its orbit, forcing European capitals to react rather than co-author the West’s Russia policy.

Eurobonds 2.0

A fresh push for EU-issued joint debt is gaining serious traction among economists, framed as a direct response to President Trump’s erratic economic policies (El Pais). The argument is that with capital seeking refuge from US volatility, Europe has a window to establish the Eurobond as a premier safe asset. This revives a debate that first culminated in the EU’s inaugural €20 billion, 10-year Eurobond issuance on June 15, 2021. While the push for mutualized debt runs counter to pure free-market instincts against centralized fiscal power, the pragmatic case is compelling. Creating a deep, liquid European debt market could lower borrowing costs for all member states and fortify the euro—a strategic necessity if the dollar’s reliability wavers.

Catch the next Gist for the continent’s moving pieces.

Isabel Bueno: ‘Hernán Cortés was a puppet in Indigenous hands, he had no choice but to trust them’
— El Pais

Eurobonds 2.0: Why more and more economists are calling for Brussels to issue joint debt
— El Pais

Susana Puig, dermatologist: ‘A tan is the body’s response to skin damage — there’s not much sense in seeking it out’
— El Pais

Aktuelles zum Krieg in der Ukraine
— Zdf

La partita si sposta al sud, in Calabria passo avanti di Tridico
— Ansa

So sahen die ersten heute-Nachrichten aus
— Zdf