What Actually Mattered This Week: A Messy End To ‘Zero-Covid’ in China

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WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK

China facing largest COVID surge of the pandemic: possibly

Good news: dismantling Xi Jinping’s zero-covid policy brings some freedom back to Chinese citizens.

Bad news: that freedom includes the freedom to get covid (without protection from mRNA vaccines or prior infection).

EU leaders agree more Russia sanctions, funds for Ukraine

Now 9 rounds of European sanctions passed against Russia — all unanimous.

The EU & NATO (and the G7) are more united than we’ve seen in decades.

Nuclear-Fusion Breakthrough Accelerates Quest to Unlock Limitless Energy Source

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the impossible: creating a positive energy gain from nuclear fusion for the first time in history.

Almost limitless carbon-free power? A possible game changer for humanity (eventually).

Iran carries out second known execution over protests

Rest in peace, Majidreza Rahnavard.

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TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS

?Two things Europeans crush Americans on:

-football/soccer

-trains

(maps via Open Train Project)

THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN

?GRAPHIC TRUTH

YOUR GZERO WORLD

Woman, life, freedom. Those three words have filled the streets of Iran since the ongoing women-led protests against the regime, the biggest since 2009, began last September.

How did Iranian women get here? How has the theocracy responded so far? And what might come next?

On GZERO World, I speak to Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, a sworn enemy of the Supreme Leader; it's widely believed that Iranian spies have tried to kidnap and assassinate her here in New York.

From Alinejad's perspective, the regime is afraid like never before because the protests have achieved unity among Iranians for the first time. And many even cheered the national soccer team's elimination at the World Cup because some players were seen as puppets of the regime.

Her message to the West: If you want to help, don't go back to the 2015 nuclear deal and let Iranians bring about regime change on their own.

For a longer, wider-ranging version of my interview with Alinejad, check out the GZERO World?podcast.

WORLD IN 60 SECONDS

What does Biden hope to achieve from his Africa summit?

Why did Putin cancel his annual press conference?

SBF is busted. What does this mean for crypto exchanges around the world?

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

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BECAUSE THE INTERNET

America’s inflation slowing to 7.1%:

WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK

Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology By Chris Miller

There’s a reason you see so many people reading Chip Miller’s “Chip War.” It’s not just that it’s a comprehensive breakdown of the race to keep access to the most vital economic and informational resource of the 21st century. It’s that it tells the average smart person everything they need to know on this increasingly crucial subject in a vivid and highly readable style.?

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DEEP THOUGHTS

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

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Thanks for reading!?Please subscribe to Signal?for daily coverage from GZERO Media and my?Bulletin?for weekly deep dives from yours truly. And make sure to read my new book?The Power of Crisis?for a roadmap of this decade's great crises and how they might help us build a better world.

I am president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media and foreign affairs columnist at TIME. I currently teach at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and previously was a professor at New York University. You can follow me on?Twitter,?Facebook, and?Instagram.