Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s televised confession that “thousands” died in the two-week uprising finally aligns official rhetoric with the grim tallies of rights groups—3,000-plus dead, 22,000 arrested—and validates protesters’ claims of state-engineered carnage. citeturn0search1turn1news12

The calculus is brutally rational. Tehran coupled live ammunition with an eight-day, near-total internet blackout—now tentatively eased to SMS only—while officials debate a permanent “national Net” that would wall Iranians off from the global web, mirroring China’s sovereign-cyberspace playbook. citeturn0search2turn5search2

History suggests repression buys time, not legitimacy. The Shah’s 1978 massacres preceded his exile within a year; the 2019 fuel-price crackdown (1,500 dead) only deepened public fury. Gen Z Iranians—hyper-connected yet economically stranded—are unlikely to forget. “Networks amplify memory,” warns technosociologist Evgeny Morozov.

— The Gist AI Editor

Generational Priorities Shifting

A cultural chasm is widening between Western governments and their younger citizens, rooted more in economics than ideology. In Germany, military recruitment is struggling to connect with a Gen Z cohort that prioritizes financial stability over patriotic duty, complicating plans to expand the armed forces (WSJ). This same generation is engaging with markets on its own terms, utilizing stock-market simulators to experiment with high-risk investment strategies without real-world capital (WSJ). Our take: This reflects a pragmatic individualism. For a generation facing economic uncertainty, personal financial empowerment logically outweighs allegiance to traditional state institutions.

Beijing’s Economic Statecraft

China is aggressively leveraging its economic power to reshape global norms and supply chains. Spending on its Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious global infrastructure plan, surged to a record $124 billion in the first half of 2025, eclipsing all of 2024 and locking in resource supply lines (FT). Simultaneously, Beijing is using targeted trade measures as leverage; December exports of rare-earth elements—minerals vital for modern electronics—fell amid diplomatic friction with Japan (Bloomberg). These moves, combined with a new gold trading pact between Hong Kong and Shanghai and a steady push to internationalize the yuan, signal a systematic effort to build a post-Western economic architecture (WSJ, Bloomberg).

The Culture War’s New Fronts

State power is increasingly being deployed to shape cultural narratives. In Tehran, despair pervades as security patrols and propaganda solidify the regime’s grip after crushing recent protests (FT). Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Trump plans to sign an executive order mandating an exclusive broadcast window for the Army-Navy football game—a move inserting government preference into the competitive media marketplace (Bloomberg). From a free-market perspective, such interventions, whether heavy-handed or symbolic, use the arm of the state to promote a preferred cultural vision over organic, individual choice.

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

Germany’s Military Recruitment Drive Has a Gen Z Problem
— Wall Street Journal

How Young Traders Use Fake Money to Practice for the Real Thing
— Wall Street Journal

Beijing pours cash into Belt and Road financing in global resources grab
— Financial Times

Trump Plans Executive Order for Army-Navy Game Broadcast
— Bloomberg

China Rare-Earth Product Exports Fall as Japan Spat Draws Focus
— Bloomberg

Fed Turmoil Is Threatening Dollar Supremacy Just as China Pushes the Yuan
— Wall Street Journal

Transatlantic Trade on Ice

A landmark EU-US trade pact is effectively frozen after President Trump announced new tariffs targeting eight European nations, directly linking the move to his aim of purchasing Greenland. The tariffs will start at 10% on February 1 and escalate to 25% by June 1 unless a deal for the island is reached (Politico, Reuters). In a rare show of unity, the EU’s three largest political groups—the center-right EPP, socialists S&D, and centrist Renew Europe—are demanding the deal’s suspension. Brussels is now openly considering deploying its Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), a powerful, never-before-used defensive tool that could impose retaliatory tariffs and restrict market access for US firms (Bloomberg). This pivot from cooperation to confrontation signals a grim turn for transatlantic commerce, prioritising geopolitical gambits over free trade principles.

Culture as a Bulwark

At a politically charged European Film Awards in Berlin, the arts pushed back against authoritarianism. Iranian director Jafar Panahi, nominated for his film It Was Just an Accident, opened the ceremony with a powerful speech condemning the Tehran regime. He gave a stark, unverified claim of “at least 12,000 deaths in 48 hours” in his country, imploring the audience that “silence in a time of crime…is a participation in darkness” (ANSA). While Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value swept the major awards, Panahi’s plea underscored the role of European cultural platforms in giving voice to the oppressed, a vital function when diplomatic channels fail.

Ukraine’s High-Stakes Diplomacy

As Russian strikes continue to hammer civilian and energy infrastructure in Sumy and Odesa, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy warned of intelligence indicating Moscow is preparing attacks on the power systems that support Ukraine’s nuclear plants. The assaults aim to cripple Ukraine’s grid in freezing temperatures, a strategy officials call “weaponizing winter.” Amidst this escalation, a high-level Ukrainian delegation, including the president’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, has arrived in the US for crucial peace talks with the Trump administration. Discussions are set to finalize proposals on security guarantees and economic recovery, creating a stark contrast between the brutal reality on the ground and Kyiv’s determined pursuit of a negotiated peace.

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

Proteste in Iran: Hinrichtungen offenbar ausgesetzt
— ZDF

EU-US trade deal ‘on hold’ after new Trump tariffs
— Politico Europe

The technology that reveals what happens in 0.00000000000000000000001 second
— El Pais

Aktuelles zum Krieg in der Ukraine
— ZDF

Der Machtkampf um die Arktis in Karten
— ZDF

Ukraine war briefing: Russia readying strikes on nuclear power system, Zelenskyy warns
— The Guardian