What Actually Mattered This Week: US Vaccine Mandates, Brazil Protests, El Salvador's Bitcoin Bet
Should Internet Access Be Free for Everyone? On Wednesday, the UN’s Melissa Fleming will moderate a live discussion with proponents, skeptics, and fence-sitters. This GZERO Media event is produced in partnership with Microsoft. Watch at 11 am ET on GZERO Media’s LinkedIn page, or gzeromedia.com/globalstage.
WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK
My thoughts on some of this week’s biggest news stories:
A vaccine mandate is about freedom.
Freedom to go to work.
Freedom to go to school.
Freedom to live a healthy life.
I support gun rights.
I’m pro-choice.
Same sex marriage.
Legalize marijuana.
I don’t like the government making personal decisions for citizens.
But I’m 100% in favor of a vaccine mandate. The human costs of the pandemic are far too high.
Brazil. Will. Not. Have. A. Coup.
As Bolsonaro becomes more extreme, it just makes it more likely he’s out (but getting from here to there could be violent...).
El Salvador's President Bukele is trying to avoid getting leveraged under America's influence by moving to Bitcoin.
Geopolitically, I would say becoming El Salvador's legal tender is a bad move for Bitcoin.
TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS
Russians the most vaccine skeptical. US #2.
-via The Economist
THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN
领英推荐
GRAPHIC TRUTH
YOUR GZERO WORLD
Two decades of war in Afghanistan came to a tragic close on August 31 as President Joe Biden announced from the White House that the last US troops had left the country. "I was not going to extend this forever war," Biden said, "and I was not extending a forever exit." On GZERO World, we hear from three people whose lives have been forever changed by the conflict. First, a women's education activist hiding from the Taliban inside Afghanistan, moving every night for her own safety. Then, the former Afghan Central Bank governor, now in exile who barely made it out (and lost a shoe in the process). And finally, a former US Army Captain and CIA intelligence officer whose life was saved by his Afghan interpreter and who is now in a desperate race to help Afghans and their families get out of the country.
For a longer, more in-depth version of this week’s episode, check out the GZERO World podcast.
WORLD IN 60 SECONDS
A week after the US withdrawal, how is Afghanistan in the transition to Taliban rule?
Why is China's President Xi trying to redistribute wealth?
What changes will Bitcoin bring to El Salvador?
Find out in this week’s World in 60 Seconds!
Do you like what you’ve seen? Subscribe and stay informed.
BECAUSE THE INTERNET
North Korea:
When it’s the middle of a pandemic but you still have to attend a military parade. #HazmatSquad
WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK
Troy: Our Greatest Story Retold by Stephen Fry
The rise and fall of the ancient city-state of Troy is one of the world’s earliest tales of geopolitics. Re-told by Britain’s acclaimed actor, broadcaster, and writer (though not politician or historian) Stephen Fry, Troy is not merely a legend or ancient history. The book tells a tale of shifting alliances, political gambles and blunders, as well as of glorious and catastrophic military conquests. Re-told by Fry in a fun, witty, yet enlightening style, Troy is also a social and political analysis of the powers that be. Behind all of its legends and myths, there are striking familiarities with the geopolitics of the 21st century...
DEEP THOUGHTS
“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.” —Seneca
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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.
Freelance Translator w YouTube
3 年Hello, Ian. What a coincidence I'm reading your report on the Afghanistan refugees situation in Times. It's very interesting.
(Semi Retired) Manufacturing Consultant, Author, Objective Observer and Researcher (Independant)
3 年Ian Bremmer GZERO Media Had I ever been asked to put together a plan that would affect 350,000,000 citizens of a free country. Impact jobs livelihoods and all sectors of the most powerful nation in the world. And presented the Biden with no detail or data to support. I would have been laughed out of the conference room. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/guy-ignafol-62490237_manufacturing-business-economy-activity-6842131615829790720-DiLw
I hope this new policy accelerates vaccination. I wish it had been more stringent policy. Winter is a few months away, let's see what it brings to the American Public.
Emerging Markets Specialist with a particular focus on Sustainability issues. All views, comments, posts personal only'
3 年I like the piece on the Vaccine mandate. I think the actual policy does give individuals a choice between getting vaccinated or being frequently tested as well as doing neither and bearing the consequences. The testing option is lost in most of the reporting across the spectrum. The inconvenience of frequent testing and that it confronts the individual with possibility that they are infected might persuade some to chose to get vaccinated. Personal freedom shouldn’t give you the right to infringe other people’s freedom and the actual policy does allow you to choose how you avoid that