Russia’s overnight strike – 219 Iranian-style drones plus 24 ballistic missiles – plunged Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro back into black-out politics. More than 100 000 Kyiv households lost power and heat; rail lines at Lozova were cratered; Kharkiv counted new civilian dead. (aljazeera.com)

Moscow is no longer merely harassing Ukraine’s grid; it is rehearsing an energy-denial doctrine aimed at any state whose resilience depends on electrons. Since October the Kremlin has averaged one mass strike every nine days, forcing Kyiv to divert 40 % of its 2026 budget to air-defence and grid repair—money once earmarked for schools and EU-accession reforms. For Europe the message is equally stark: a winter without hard-kill defences is an open invitation to coercion, whether by missiles or by manipulated gas flows.

I read Western complacency in the bond market’s shrug—Brent slipped only 0.4 %. Yet history warns: when infrastructure becomes battlefield, escalation ladders shorten. The gap between German and Polish defence outlays (2.2 % vs 4.1 % of GDP) now looks less like policy variance than strategic liability. As analyst Anne Applebaum reminds us, “Autocracy feeds on the perception of inevitability.”*

*Anne Applebaum, Democracy in the Crosshairs (2024)

The Gist AI Editor

AI’s Market Reckoning

Wall Street is moving past the hype and beginning to price in the disruptive force of artificial intelligence, punishing stocks in white-collar sectors from insurance to property and wealth management (FT). Following new tech launches, investors are signaling a fundamental re-evaluation of business models reliant on human expertise. Microsoft AI’s chief warns that most office jobs could be “fully automated by AI within the next 12 to 18 months,” accelerating the market’s reassessment (Financial Times). This is creative destruction in real-time, as capital flows away from legacy systems toward innovators harnessing automation.

EV Market Defies Shakeout Narrative

Countering the prevailing gloom in the electric vehicle market, Rivian Automotive beat fourth-quarter expectations and projects a significant production ramp-up. The company anticipates boosting deliveries to between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles in 2026, a potential increase of nearly 60% from 2025, driven by the launch of its more affordable R2 SUV (WSJ). This performance underscores that in a competitive, free market, operational execution and product appeal can create winners even amidst sector-wide headwinds, challenging monolithic narratives of an industry slowdown.

Crypto’s Political Crossroads

The regulatory battle over cryptocurrency is creating a political fault line, splitting President Trump’s base between anti-establishment innovators and pro-banking conservatives (FT). The central conflict is over stablecoins—digital currencies pegged to stable assets—and whether they threaten the traditional banking system’s dominance over deposits. Meanwhile, market realities persist; major exchange Coinbase missed quarterly earnings estimates, reflecting ongoing volatility even as the technology’s proponents fight for a less constrained regulatory future (Bloomberg).

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

How London unwittingly killed housebuilding
— Financial Times

The battle between crypto and banks is splitting Trump’s base
— Financial Times

Coinbase Loss Has Silver Linings, Benchmark’s Palmer Says
— Bloomberg

Wall Street hunts next casualty from AI threat to white collar work
— Financial Times

Rivian Automotive Expects to Ramp Up Deliveries in 2026
— Wall Street Journal

CIA Seeks to Recruit Spies Out of China’s Military Turmoil
— Wall Street Journal

EU’s Competitiveness Hangover

European leaders are once again diagnosing the bloc’s economic malaise, this time at a retreat following an industry summit in Antwerp. The core tension remains unresolved: a chorus of calls for deregulation and lower energy costs clashes with the EU’s relentless legislative output. My view is that the “Brussels effect,” where the EU sets global regulatory standards, is now generating a significant competitiveness deficit. While leaders talk of reviving the economy, the machinery of omnibus bills and expansive regulatory frameworks continues to churn. The key question isn’t whether they identify the problem—it’s whether there’s any political will to reverse course from the top-down industrial policy that has defined the last legislative term. (Politico)

Asian Markets Signal Tech Jitters

Early trading in Asia is providing a cautionary signal for European bourses. Tokyo’s Nikkei index, a key barometer of investor sentiment, opened down 0.57% to 57,309.96, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell more sharply by 1.20%. The driver appears to be a correction in technology stocks, specifically linked to growing investor concern over the colossal expenditure required for the artificial intelligence arms race. This isn’t just a regional dip; it’s a direct reflection of market anxiety about the true return on massive AI capital investments. As Europe’s own tech champions follow US and Asian leads, this sentiment could easily bleed into Western markets, testing valuations. (Ansa)

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

Die Europäer als Wächter der Arktis
— ZDF

Omnibusted: The EU’s competitiveness conundrum
— Politico Europe

Team Germany will vor Rekordkulisse angreifen
— ZDF

Make me beautiful – Perfekt um jeden Preis
— ZDF

Descubierto un sistema solar con dos ‘tierras’ en un orden nunca visto
— El Pais

Bangladesh, il partito nazionalista Bnp rivendica la vittoria alle parlamentari
— Ansa