Archived post from legacy Decis reporting
Good morning, and welcome to the first full week of 2025. Let’s get after it.
🇺🇦 Ukraine began a new offensive into the Russian territory it holds in the Kursk region. Ukraine has held this since August, and reinforcing its hold on Russian ground will strengthen Kyiv’s hand in any upcoming peace talks. [More - Al Jazera]
🛢️ President Biden signed a last-minute order to prevent further oil and gas exploration in huge areas of the US coastline. [More - BBC]
🇨🇦 Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau is reportedly planning to step down before a party meeting this Wednesday. His Liberal Party will select his successor, but Canada’s parliament may force a vote of no confidence in the spring. This could trigger elections in mid-2025, which the opposition Conservative Party expects to do well. [More - Bloomberg]
🇬🇧 Elon Musk has waded into British politics, falsely accusing Prime Minister Kier Starmer of covering up a years-old child abuse scandal (something Starmer took major steps to crack down on when was the UK’s director of public prosecutions (DPP)), attacking his former favorite Nigel Farage who leads the Reform party, and calling for the release of Tommy Robinson, a far-right agitator in jail for contempt of court. Musk’s false accusations are being amplified by the British Conservatives as well as his millions of social-media followers and will complicate relations between the UK and US. [More - BBC]
(Note - terms like ‘far-right’ are used broadly but Robinson’s positions are sufficiently extreme that even mainstream Conservatives and Reform party members in the UK disavow him. Musk’s support of him mirrors his promotion of the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in Germany, another extreme far-right party.)
🤖 AI Implementation Workshops
I mentioned these on Friday and am excited to be able to offer a series of highly practical AI implementation workshops starting in a couple of weeks. These all build upon the lessons I’ve learned over the past few years as I’ve integrated AI into all of my workflows, particularly the intelligence feeds you see from Decis, country risk assessment, report writing, and crisis planning.
The course will lead you through a tried and tested approach to understanding AI, determining how it can benefit your organization until finally building an actionable roadmap specific to your organization.
Over five weeks, we'll cover:
What AIs are (and aren't) and the differences between the leading models
Why prompting matters and how to write and apply these effectively
How to determine the best tool for the job (and why that sometimes means not using AI)
How to determine where AI can fit into your workflows most effectively
Building an implementation roadmap and how to generate buy-in
Everything here is based on the tools and techniques I've used in my work to see improvements of up to 100x efficiency.
Moreover, the approach is firmly grounded in best consulting practices, building on my many years as a management consultant, so the focus is on delivering an actionable set of improvements to make you and your team more effective.
And as a newsletter reader you can use this special link to get 50% off this first cohort
 (Just don’t delay - this discount expires on Friday) If you're looking to take advantage of AI to improve your risk, crisis, and security operations, this is the place to start. Note, these cohorts are deliberately small to maximize the practical nature of the sessions so there are only ten seats in each group. You’ll know I am a big proponent of the advantages AI offers but I’ve also seen how people can struggle to get started with such a big topic, particularly in such a critical space as risk and crisis management. I ran an in-person version of this just before Christmas for a US organization, and it was a great success: we were able to identify significant areas for improvement in just a couple of sessions and reassure some of the skeptical members that they could use AI effectively and safely. I’m looking forward to doing the same for as many firms as possible in 2025. On to the numbers… Key MetricsWTI is $72.44 (Down) Low |------ < -------------| High Wheat is $185.735 (Down) Low |------ < -------------| High EuroDollar is $1.03 (Down) Low | < -------------------| High YuanDollar is $0.14 (Unchanged) Low |---------- < > ---------| High Graphs are illustrative to show comparative price over last 180 days Metrics via AlphaVantage updated Jan 05 2025 21:16 UTC Global Stability RatingsHere are the complete global stability rankings for all countries and territories covered by Decis Intelligence. 🇦🇫 Afghanistan is Unstable 🇦🇱 Albania is Weak 🇩🇿 Algeria is Weak 🇦🇩 Andorra is Stable 🇦🇴 Angola is Weak 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda is Stable 🇦🇷 Argentina is Weak 🇦🇲 Armenia is Weak 🇦🇺 Australia is Stable 🇦🇹 Austria is Stable 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan is Weak 🇧🇭 Bahrain is Weak 🇧🇩 Bangladesh is Weak 🇧🇧 Barbados is Stable 🇧🇾 Belarus is Unstable 🇧🇪 Belgium is Weak 🇧🇿 Belize is Weak 🇧🇯 Benin is Weak 🇧🇹 Bhutan is Weak 🇧🇴 Bolivia is Weak 🇧🇦 Bosnia And Herzegovina is Weak 🇧🇼 Botswana is Stable 🇧🇷 Brazil is Weak 🇧🇳 Brunei is Stable 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso is Unstable 🇧🇮 Burundi is Weak 🇰🇭 Cambodia is Weak 🇨🇲 Cameroon is Weak 🇨🇦 Canada is Weak 🇨🇻 Cape Verde is Stable 🇨🇫 Central African Republic is Unstable 🇹🇩 Chad is Unstable 🇨🇱 Chile is Stable 🇨🇳 China is Stable 🇨🇴 Colombia is Weak 🇰🇲 Comoros is Weak 🇨🇷 Costa Rica is Stable 🇭🇷 Croatia is Stable 🇨🇺 Cuba is Weak 🇨🇾 Cyprus is Stable 🇨🇿 Czech Republic is Stable 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic Of The Congo is Unstable 🇩🇰 Denmark is Stable 🇩🇯 Djibouti is Weak 🇩🇲 Dominica is Weak 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic is Stable 🇹🇱 East Timor is Weak 🇪🇨 Ecuador is Weak 🇪🇬 Egypt is Weak 🇸🇻 El Salvador is Weak 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea is Unstable 🇪🇷 Eritrea is Weak 🇪🇪 Estonia is Stable 🇸🇿 Eswatini is Weak 🇪🇹 Ethiopia is Unstable 🇫🇲 Federated States of Micronesia is Weak 🇫🇯 Fiji is Weak 🇫🇮 Finland is Stable 🇫🇷 France is Weak 🇬🇦 Gabon is Unstable 🇬🇪 Georgia is Weak 🇩🇪 Germany is Weak 🇬🇭 Ghana is Stable 🇬🇷 Greece is Stable 🇬🇩 Grenada is Weak 🇬🇹 Guatemala is Weak 🇬🇳 Guinea is Unstable 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau is Unstable 🇬🇾 Guyana is Weak 🇭🇹 Haiti is Critically Unstable 🇭🇳 Honduras is Unstable 🇭🇺 Hungary is Stable 🇮🇸 Iceland is Stable 🇮🇳 India is Weak 🇮🇩 Indonesia is Weak 🇮🇷 Iran is Weak 🇮🇶 Iraq is Weak 🇮🇪 Ireland is Stable 🇮🇱 Israel is Weak 🇮🇹 Italy is Weak 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast is Weak 🇯🇲 Jamaica is Weak 🇯🇵 Japan is Weak 🇯🇴 Jordan is Weak 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan is Stable 🇰🇪 Kenya is Weak 🇰🇮 Kiribati is Weak 🇰🇼 Kuwait is Stable 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan is Weak 🇱🇦 Laos is Weak 🇱🇻 Latvia is Stable 🇱🇧 Lebanon is Unstable 🇱🇸 Lesotho is Weak 🇱🇷 Liberia is Weak 🇱🇾 Libya is Unstable 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein is Stable 🇱🇺 Luxembourg is Highly Stable 🇲🇰 Macedonia is Weak 🇲🇬 Madagascar is Weak 🇲🇼 Malawi is Weak 🇲🇾 Malaysia is Stable 🇲🇻 Maldives is Weak 🇲🇱 Mali is Unstable 🇲🇹 Malta is Stable 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands is Weak 🇲🇷 Mauritania is Weak 🇲🇺 Mauritius is Stable 🇲🇽 Mexico is Weak 🇲🇩 Moldova is Weak 🇲🇨 Monaco is Stable 🇲🇳 Mongolia is Stable 🇲🇪 Montenegro is Weak 🇲🇦 Morocco is Weak 🇲🇿 Mozambique is Weak 🇲🇲 Myanmar is Unstable 🇳🇦 Namibia is Stable 🇳🇷 Nauru is Weak 🇳🇵 Nepal is Weak 🇳🇱 Netherlands is Weak 🇳🇿 New Zealand is Weak 🇳🇮 Nicaragua is Weak 🇳🇪 Niger is Unstable 🇳🇬 Nigeria is Unstable 🇰🇵 North Korea is Critically Unstable 🇳🇴 Norway is Stable 🇴🇲 Oman is Weak 🇵🇰 Pakistan is Weak 🇵🇼 Palau is Stable 🇵🇦 Panama is Weak 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea is Weak 🇵🇾 Paraguay is Weak 🇵🇪 Peru is Weak 🇵🇭 Philippines is Weak 🇵🇱 Poland is Stable 🇵🇹 Portugal is Stable 🇶🇦 Qatar is Stable 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo is Weak 🇷🇴 Romania is Weak 🇷🇺 Russia is Weak 🇷🇼 Rwanda is Stable 🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis is Stable 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia is Weak 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is Stable 🇼🇸 Samoa is Stable 🇸🇲 San Marino is Stable 🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe is Stable 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia is Weak 🇸🇳 Senegal is Stable 🇷🇸 Serbia is Weak 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone is Weak 🇸🇬 Singapore is Stable 🇸🇰 Slovakia is Stable 🇸🇮 Slovenia is Stable 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands is Weak 🇸🇴 Somalia is Unstable 🇿🇦 South Africa is Weak 🇰🇷 South Korea is Weak 🇸🇸 South Sudan is Critically Unstable 🇪🇸 Spain is Weak 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka is Weak 🇸🇩 Sudan is Critically Unstable 🇸🇷 Suriname is Weak 🇸🇪 Sweden is Stable 🇨🇭 Switzerland is Stable 🇸🇾 Syria is Critically Unstable 🇹🇼 Taiwan is Stable 🇹🇯 Tajikistan is Weak 🇹🇿 Tanzania is Stable 🇹🇭 Thailand is Weak 🇧🇸 The Bahamas is Stable 🇬🇲 The Gambia is Weak 🇹🇬 Togo is Weak 🇹🇴 Tonga is Weak 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago is Weak 🇹🇳 Tunisia is Weak 🇹🇷 Turkey is Weak 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan is Weak 🇹🇻 Tuvalu is Weak 🇺🇬 Uganda is Weak 🇺🇦 Ukraine is Unstable 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates is Stable 🇬🇧 United Kingdom is Stable 🇺🇸 United States Of America is Stable 🇺🇾 Uruguay is Stable 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan is Stable 🇻🇺 Vanuatu is Weak 🇻🇪 Venezuela is Unstable 🇻🇳 Vietnam is Stable 🇪🇭 Western Sahara is Weak 🇾🇪 Yemen is Critically Unstable 🇿🇲 Zambia is Weak 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe is Weak Carpe tomorrow!  PS - Don’t forget to use the link below to get the special newsletter reader 50% offer on the AI Implementation Course. But don’t wait too long - the offer expires on Friday.  |
