What Actually Mattered This Week: Biden Inauguration, Navalny Arrest

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WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK

My thoughts on some of this week’s biggest news stories:

Biden sworn in as U.S. president

Not peaceful, but a democratic transition.

Let’s go for two out of two next time.

Biden announces return to global climate accord, new curbs on U.S. oil industry

Literally every other country in the world opposed the US withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. That’s really hard to do.

Rejoining is as close to a layup as exists in foreign policy.

Kremlin critic Navalny arrested after landing in Moscow

Massive Russian police presence awaiting Navalny’s arrival at the Moscow airport…while President Putin and Russian state media say he’s harmless and irrelevant. Which one is it?

Navalny’s arrest is the sign of a weak regime, not an all-powerful one. A dictatorship that marshals the force of the state to extinguish a single man’s freedom because they can’t break his spirit.

Navalny’s selfless bravery is all the more striking for how alien it seems to most in Washington today.

TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS

Trump left office with the lowest approval rating of his presidency.

He’s the only president not to register a 50% or higher approval rating at any point during his presidency since Gallup began its records in 1938.

-Gallup

THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN

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GRAPHIC TRUTH

YOUR GZERO WORLD 

For the first time in twenty years, extreme poverty around the world is growing. How does the developing world recover from a pandemic that has brought even the richest nations to their knees? David Malpass, the President of the World Bank, is tasked with answering that question. He joins me on GZERO World to talk about how his organization is trying to keep the developing world from slipping further into poverty in the wake of a once-in-a-century pandemic.

For a longer, more in-depth version of my interview with Malpass, check out the GZERO World podcast.

YOUR QUICK TAKE

My thoughts on wins in Trump’s foreign policy legacy: 

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BECAUSE THE INTERNET

Uncanny

WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK

Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra Vogel

After the passing of renowned Asia scholar and Harvard Professor Ezra Vogel at the end of last year, it is worth revisiting one of his last seminal works on this critical period of Chinese modern history. The book provides in-depth reads of Chinese official and other historical documentation of major events in the “reform and opening” era, from establishing special economic zones to encourage foreign investment through the Tiananmen Square incident. The book offers unique context regarding China’s relations with foreign powers in the Deng era including the US, Japan, the Soviet Union, and other countries. Amid growing divisions between the US and China on many fronts, Vogel’s work reminds of the potential for reform impulses to carry the day in Beijing, while also illuminating the personalized nature of elite Chinese politics and the deep anxieties that govern decision-making.

DEEP THOUGHTS

“Growth and comfort do not coexist.” – Ginni Rometty

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Ian Bremmer is president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media and foreign affairs columnist at TIME. He currently teaches at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and previously was a professor at New York University. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.