What Actually Mattered This Week: Taliban Blitz, Brazil Election Worries

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WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK

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

Taliban take Kandahar, Herat in major Afghanistan offensive as U.S. withdraws

Only three major cities remain under the Afghan government’s control, including Kabul. And not for long.

The Taliban is retaking territory much faster than the Biden administration expected, but it doesn’t change their assessment. It’s a big problem for China, India, Iran, and Pakistan. It’s a huge problem for the Afghan people.

But for the US? Not so much.

Bolsonaro prompts fears of a power grab with attacks on Brazil’s voting system

Next year, Brazil’s elections will be the world’s most troubled.

President Bolsonaro, fearing a loss, is doing everything he can to delegitimize the outcome.

A January 6 moment in South America’s largest democracy is looking more likely every day.

Prefer long-form analysis? Here are my thoughts on Tunisia's democracy being in jeopardy.

TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS

% of Americans who:

Strongly support US withdrawal from Afghanistan 31%

Somewhat support 42%

Somewhat oppose 20%

Strongly oppose 7%

Net support 73%

Net oppose 27%

-The Hill/HarrisX

THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN

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GRAPHIC TRUTH

YOUR GZERO WORLD?

With COVID rates rising globally, this year's Olympics faced some major hurdles. But the pandemic was only part of the picture. The Tokyo Games played out against a backdrop of mounting global tension surrounding gender equality, racism and human rights, leaving many people to examine the place of politics on the playing field and podium. On GZERO World, I look at the long history of protest at the Games with Dick Pound, the longest serving member of the International Olympic Committee and a former Olympic athlete himself. Plus: the US Women's National Soccer Team is the most decorated team in the sport, but are they paid as much as their male counterparts? A look at what equal pay for equal play means.

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

WORLD IN 60 SECONDS

Is the US drawdown in Afghanistan going as planned?

Are the global wildfires igniting political fires?

A Chinese court has upheld a Canadian citizen's death sentence. What message is Beijing trying to send to Ottawa?

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

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BECAUSE THE INTERNET

Next up: China

WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK

The Long Southern Strategy by Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields

This 2019 book takes a long-term view of the South’s transition from a solidly Democratic region into a solidly Republican one. The themes the authors identify as key drivers in this shift—racial politics, religion (specifically the rise in influence of evangelical Christianity), gender/feminist backlash—are the same forces driving the modern day politics of white grievance, which shaped Donald Trump’s political message. The US will move past Trump, but the political narratives he created and ran on will persist, and this book is a helpful and highly interesting examination of where they came from.?

DEEP THOUGHTS

“Don’t be afraid to start over. This time you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.” – Unknown

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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.