What Actually Mattered This Week: Shanghai Lockdown Woes, France's First Round, No Peace in Sight
Photo Credit: Aly Song/Reuters

What Actually Mattered This Week: Shanghai Lockdown Woes, France's First Round, No Peace in Sight

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:

Pressure builds as Shanghai, a city of 25 million, remains locked inside

China’s zero Covid policy was fantastically successful when Covid was less transmissible. Now it’s failing.

The works is awash in mRNA vaccines. Xi refusing to license Moderna/Pfizer for Chinese use is political malpractice.

Putin says peace talks with Ukraine are at dead end, goads the West

Biden: Putin engaged in genocide

Putin: Negotiations a “dead end”

Seven weeks of Russia’s war in Ukraine and all signs are only pointing to escalation.

The end game isn’t Putin losing (even though I wish it were). The end game is a much more unstable global order.

Emmanuel Macron to face Marine Le Pen in French presidential election runoff

If Le Pen wins, France isn’t leaving NATO or the European Union, but France will pull out of coordinated economic sanctions against Russia.

It’s Putin’s best (and, near term, only) shot at dividing the alliance.

Prefer long-form analysis? Here are my thoughts on what Imran Khan's ouster means for Pakistan's future.

TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS

China’s zero covid policy increasingly ineffective (and unsustainable)

-Financial Times

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THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN

More from GZERO Media (subscribe here)

GRAPHIC TRUTH

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YOUR GZERO WORLD

Russia's war in Ukraine has put China in an awkward spot: they condemn the invasion, but not the invader.

Still, it's not really a "limitless" partnership because Xi Jinping has many reasons to be careful about supporting Vladimir Putin, his toxic BFF.

On GZERO World, I speak to Melinda Liu, Newsweek's veteran Beijing bureau chief, who describes the relationship between the two autocrats as a "marriage of convenience."

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

WORLD IN 60 SECONDS

After Austrian Chancellor Nehammer's meeting with Putin, will more peace talks become possible?

Is Shanghai's lockdown a humanitarian crisis?

With the US inflation rate rising to 8.5%, what will happen if imposing further sanctions against Russia?

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

Do you like what you’ve seen? Subscribe and stay informed .

BECAUSE THE INTERNET

“Quit smoking or you won’t live to see Putin’s death.”

-Ukrainians taking the long view

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WHAT TO LISTEN TO THIS WEEK

Sinica podcast by SupChina

The Ukraine crisis, which threatens to permanently alter China’s relationship with the West – with implications across business, tech and financial markets – underscores how important it is to understand the evolving mindset of China’s leaders and how it is shaped by domestic politics and actions by the US. But finding a nuanced and informed conversation about China and the bilateral relationship is only getting harder as tensions rise and China issues become more politicized in the US. One notable exception is the weekly Sinica podcast, hosted by SupChina’s Kaiser Kuo – a long-time observer of China and the US and veteran of China’s early rock scene (with the great hair to prove it). SupChina is one of the most balanced Western sources on China these days, which bizarrely enough hasn’t stopped China’s nationalist Global Times for attacking the site for its coverage of China’s propaganda on Ukraine – another reason you should give the podcast a listen.

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DEEP THOUGHTS

"If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something, I can neither give nor receive." – Dorothee S?lle


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.

Macon? Like… Georgia?

回复

Mostly not view, only the position you stand.

Thomas Walek

Senior Counselor

2 年

Le Pen and the US Republican party are Putin's best shots.

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