What Actually Mattered This Week: Germany Post-Merkel, US Infrastructure Bill
WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK
My thoughts on some of this week’s biggest news stories:
16 years of Angela Merkel’s rule coming to an end. She was by far the strongest leader that Europe has seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and we will miss her.
As for the election, we see a population that’s generally content. There was strong support for centrism, and anti-establishment sentiment is not growing in Germany, which is increasingly rare among democracies. But the government will be weaker because the leadership will be weaker.
The takeaway is a lot of political continuity and stability in Germany, but weaker German leadership internationally.
I support the $3 trillion spend on improving the social contract. We need more equality of opportunity in the US.
But as a taxpayer who will be footing my share of the bill, I find it infuriating that Biden, Pelosi and other political leaders are saying it won’t cost anything.
Prefer long-form analysis? Here are my thoughts on Angela Merkel's legacy and the ambitious global agenda President Biden laid out at UNGA.
TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS
Biggest NATO defense spenders 2021:
1 US $811bn
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2 UK $73bn
3 Germany $65bn
4 France $59bn
5 Italy $30bn
6 Canada $27bn
7 Spain $15bn
8 Netherlands $14bn
9 Poland $13.4bn
10 Turkey $13bn
领英推荐
THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN
GRAPHIC TRUTH?
YOUR GZERO WORLD
The pandemic hit the global economy hard, and many economies are still hurting. But it could have been even worse. In May 2020, economic historian Adam Tooze told GZERO World that the world was facing a second Great Depression. Now in a new interview, Tooze is back to explain why the US economy rebounded so surprisingly fast, while much of the rest of the world lags behind.
For a longer, more in-depth version of my interview with Tooze, check out the GZERO World podcast.?
WORLD IN 60 SECONDS
As top US military officials testify right now on Capitol Hill, just down the road, do I expect the Biden administration to suffer any long-term consequences for its botched Afghanistan withdrawal?
Macron was hit with an egg! Is his popularity sinking in France?
Did China's "hostage diplomacy" work as it freed the "two Michaels" after Canada released Huawei's CFO?
Find out in this week’s World in 60 Seconds! ?
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BECAUSE THE INTERNET
The Merkel Rhombus
WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK
Geoengineering: The Gamble by Gernot Wagner
With “Geoengineering: The Gamble,” Gernot Wagner gives us a smart and sophisticated insider’s take on the climate change puzzle. There can be no national solution to a global problem, but given the dysfunction in great power politics on emissions, new technologies will form a crucial piece of the larger climate puzzle. Wagner gives us both the rewards and the very real risks.??
DEEP THOUGHTS
“If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.” – Michele Ruiz
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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.
Traductrice chez PHENIXYA-Thomson Broadcast
2 年On the ??Macron and egg bit??, it’s an expected event if you are the French President, something must be thrown at you, could be flour or egg ??