10 Things Weekly Roundup - 13th February 2026
Strategic Divergence and Ideological Drift
The week did not produce a single dramatic rupture. Instead, it exposed structural divergence across the Atlantic, sharper ideological signalling in Washington, electoral movement toward conservatism in parts of Asia, and a US–China relationship that continues to balance deterrence with managed engagement.
The shifts were not subtle. Europe moved further towards regulatory and industrial autonomy. The United States acted unilaterally on security and climate policy. Elections in several countries pointed to conservative consolidation. Meanwhile, Washington and Beijing continued to advance military positioning even as summit diplomacy remained intact.
Taken together, the pattern is less about crisis than about direction.
European leaders this week signalled a clearer willingness to diverge from Washington on core policy areas.
Support for a stronger “Buy European” approach in strategic sectors reinforced an industrial strategy aimed at reducing dependency. Emmanuel Macron publicly urged the European Union to resist US pressure over technology regulation and tariff policy, framing regulatory independence as central to economic sovereignty. EU lawmakers also backed broader use of third-country processing for asylum seekers, marking a harder and more coordinated migration stance.
Expanded restrictions on social media use for under-16s illustrated a regulatory environment prepared to set its own standards for digital governance. Within NATO, greater prominence for European officers reflected a subtle institutional rebalancing.
None of these measures amount to separation from the United States. But collectively they point to a Europe less willing to align automatically with American preferences and more prepared to define its own industrial, digital and border policy frameworks.
Washington’s posture this week was overtly unilateral and, in climate policy, explicitly ideological.
On Iran, US signalling around a potential second carrier deployment accompanied expectations of further talks. The message was direct: diplomacy would proceed under visible military pressure. In North America, the Gordie Howe bridge dispute intersected with tariff politics and domestic lobbying, reinforcing a transactional approach to cross-border infrastructure and trade.
Climate policy marked the clearest divergence from global trends. Purchasing explicitly coal-generated electricity and winding back enforcement powers against polluters represented a departure from the regulatory tightening seen in Europe and parts of Asia. The administration has repeatedly characterised climate policy as a “scam”, and the week’s measures reflected that stated position.
The contrast with Europe’s regulatory direction was sharp. Where Brussels tightened standards, Washington loosened them. The cumulative impression was not incremental adjustment but ideological repositioning, undertaken without reference to international alignment.
Elections this week pointed clearly toward conservative consolidation rather than ideological balance.
In Japan, electoral results were interpreted as strengthening continuity within a centre-right framework, with markets responding positively to perceived policy stability. Thailand’s snap election produced an outcome reinforcing conservative and establishment influence. In Bangladesh, electoral claims followed a period of unrest, consolidating authority within a more nationalist political context.
Portugal stood apart with a socialist presidential victory, but the presidency carries limited executive power. The result functioned more as symbolic reassurance than as a shift in governing direction.
Across these cases, the common thread was not procedural democracy alone but ideological gravity. Voters and political elites moved, or remained, on the conservative side of the spectrum. In an environment shaped by security concerns, migration pressures and economic volatility, the electoral centre of mass appears to be shifting rightwards rather than fragmenting.
The US–China relationship continued to operate on two tracks.
The United States confirmed plans to deploy nuclear-powered submarines in Australia, reinforcing long-term security commitments in the Indo-Pacific. A trade pact with Taiwan, including substantial purchase commitments, deepened economic alignment. Reports of CIA recruitment efforts aimed at Chinese military officers underscored the intelligence contest beneath formal statecraft.
Yet Washington also paused certain technology curbs ahead of a summit with Xi Jinping. Engagement was not abandoned; it was sequenced.
The pattern is neither thaw nor escalation. Military positioning and intelligence competition advance even as summit diplomacy proceeds. Both governments appear committed to managing rivalry rather than resolving it, sustaining pressure while preserving channels for negotiation.
The week’s developments do not point to sudden upheaval. They point to direction.
Europe is institutionalising greater autonomy. The United States is asserting unilateral leverage and reversing climate regulation on ideological grounds. Elections across parts of Asia indicate conservative consolidation. And US–China relations continue to combine strategic competition with structured dialogue.
The world is not fragmenting overnight. But it is drifting into clearer blocs of regulatory philosophy, ideological orientation and managed rivalry. The trend is steady, not dramatic and that steadiness may be what makes it durable.