What Actually Mattered This Week: Russia/Ukraine Talks, Biden's Gaffe (?)
Pandemic. Climate change. AI revolution.
Preorder my forthcoming book?The Power of Crisis?now for a roadmap of this decade's three Great Crises and how they might help us build a better world.
WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK
My thoughts on some of this week’s biggest news stories:
The outcome we should all want: end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible. So far Putin has done nothing—not a thing—in service of that outcome.
If Russia wants to take Donbas (the “2nd phase” the Kremlin announced) that implies redeploying troops from around Kyiv. That’s not de-escalation. If Putin is withdrawing forces—and nobody should presume he is until it’s verified—it’s because he’s losing.
Takeaway: continue negotiations, continue tough sanctions, continue strong military support to Ukraine.
A ceasefire in Ukraine may be possible, but sanctions against Russia aren’t going anywhere. This severely limits potential for negotiations.
For the record:?I don’t consider Biden’s “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power” a gaffe.
Why?
Because if you asked Biden before the speech did he agree with the statement and would he say it publicly, he would have said yes.
TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS
March 2022. % of U.S. adults who have confidence in the following to do the right thing re world affairs:
Zelenskyy 72%
Macron 55%
Scholz 53%
Biden 48%
Xi 15%
Putin 6%
领英推荐
THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN
GRAPHIC TRUTH
YOUR GZERO WORLD
Renewing the Iran nuclear deal is more urgent than ever for the Biden administration. Iran is closer to getting the bomb, with the breakout time to enrich enough uranium for a single nuclear weapon reportedly less than two weeks. On the GZERO World podcast, I speak to Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, who says the odds of reaching an agreement in the short term are 50/50.
For a longer, more in-depth version of my interview with Vaez, check out the GZERO World podcast.
WORLD IN 60 SECONDS
Find out in this week’s World in 60 Seconds!
Do you like what you’ve seen? Subscribe and stay informed.
BECAUSE THE INTERNET
The Oscars we wanted
WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK
The World for Sale by Javier Blas
With the war in Ukraine, post-COVID inflation, and shifting geopolitical alignments all weighing on oil, gas, metals, and agriculture markets, commodity trading is front and center in understanding the state of the world today. This detailed accounting of commodity trading’s past and present should be required reading for anyone trying to understand what’s going on. It is also a fascinating verbal history of the (mis)adventures of the handful of traders that created the modern commodities industry.
DEEP THOUGHTS
“You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want." – Shakti Gawain
?
Thanks for reading! Please subscribe for more analysis from GZERO Media.
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.
Online Tutor at Learn Quran Online From Home
2 年Aoa
CEO
2 年I don't think he is sending the world into a frenzy. Biden is behaving very plausible, supporting Ukraine with intelligence and munition, which means is hoping this crisis will hopefully end shortly. But, I Hope, Biden and other politicians will never ever shake the Putin's hand who conducted this war crime.