What Actually Mattered This Week: Biden's Europe Trip, Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings

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WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK

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

Joe Biden's trip to Europe carries high stakes for the war in Ukraine

Extraordinary NATO, EU and G7 summits this week in Brussels. The most unity seen among the US and its allies in decades, all thanks to Putin.

I think Biden's going to try to bridge up the energy issue with the Europeans and wants to be seen as a strong ally that's leading this process. I expect it's going to be one of his better trips so far. There's no question, because there is so much alignment on the Russia issue.

Ketanji Brown Jackson faces more questions in Supreme Court hearings

Ketanji Brown Jackson was enormously impressive this week.

Biden should’ve appointed her without saying he was only going to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court.

Her credentials and talent stand for themselves.

TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS

60% of people in Finland now support joining NATO, per a recent Eva survey.

In 2021, the number was 34%.

-via Business Insider

THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN

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GRAPHIC TRUTH

YOUR GZERO WORLD

The West is already at war with Russia.

NATO boots may not be on the ground, but the US and its allies are helping Ukraine with arms and cash, and by upping the pressure on Moscow with tough sanctions. Vladimir Putin knows this, but he's fighting a 20th-century war in 2022 — and losing on global PR and social media.

Meanwhile, the ripple effects of the conflict are spreading well beyond Ukraine's borders. And one country watching very closely is Finland.

On this episode of GZERO World, I talk to former Finnish PM Alexander Stubb, who explains why his country has gone from longtime neutral actor to NATO hopeful.

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

WORLD IN 60 SECONDS

What do I expect to come from Biden's trip to Europe?

Why was Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, sentenced to nine more years in prison?

Will China's worst passenger jet crash in years derail President Xi's re-election?

Find out in this week’s World in 60 Seconds!

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BECAUSE THE INTERNET

Funny how that works out

WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK

Mountains Beyond Mountains – by Tracy Kidder

In this 2003 book, Pulitzer prize winning and pioneering literary journalist Tracy Kidder looks at the life and work of a pioneering global health figure. Paul Farmer, who passed away unexpectedly in February, devoted his life to improving health systems around the world from the ground up, focusing on interventions that recognized the importance of context, local support, and the socioeconomic drivers of health. The community health worker system that Partners in Health (the organization he co-founded) put in place in Rwanda, Haiti, and elsewhere, avoided the pitfalls common in the international development world, where a disproportionate amount of resources were spent on high-priced consultants and one size fits all models. Kidder tells the story of Farmer’s life, from his unconventional upbringing to his tireless efforts to take on the global health status quo. In parallel, Kidder grapples with his own evolving understanding of Farmer and the challenges of profiling an almost too-altruistic-to-be-true figure as he navigates a steady stream of corruption, narcissism, and inequality.

DEEP THOUGHTS

“Don't think about what you want to be, but what you want to do.” – Richard Feynman

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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.