Courtesy of Ian Bremmer, writing at Linkedin.com
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WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERED THIS WEEK
My latest deep-dive on the Israeli-Palestine conflict
Israel and Hamas are not just fighting a ground war. So much of the fight is being determined by who can drive real-time disinformation with headlines on social media.
This makes the ability to get accurate information harder than ever.
Plus, trying to cram decades of history into 2-minute TV segments means all you get is feel good (and feel bad) headlines…and not much else.
I tried to do better with an hour-long sit-down with Big Think.
Israel agrees to 4-hour daily pauses in Gaza fighting to allow civilians to flee, White House says
- This is incredible news.
- And about a month late.
“You’re just scum”: Key takeaways from a heated GOP debate
- Smartest political move Donald Trump has made in his campaign to date?
- Refusing to participate in the GOP debates.
Putin looks set to run for president in 2024
- Going to be a close call, for sure.
What a third world war would mean for investors
- …Are you people kidding me?
TRUTHS, DAMNED TRUTHS, AND STATISTICS
American economy: outperforming all its peers:
THE GZERO WORLD WE’RE JUST LIVING IN
THE GRAPHIC TRUTH
YOUR GZERO WORLD
Remember that famous line from Bill Clinton’s campaign staffer James Carville back in 1992?: “It’s the economy, stupid!” As Israel’s war with Hamas escalates, it brings to mind—in a nasally Louisiana accent—the phrase “It’s Iran, stupid.”
Because, whether it’s the dizzying arsenal of Hezbollah rockets in southern Lebanon pointed at Israel, or the Houthi drones targeting Israel from Yemen, or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard facilities in Eastern Syria-, one thing is clear: all roads lead back to the Ayatollah. And yet, there’s a big difference between skirmishes with proxy forces and an all-out US/Israel war with Iran.
“Iran feels particularly emboldened at the moment,” says Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, who joins me on GZERO World. “Whether it’s going after Israel via proxies or going after the US via their proxies. And they may be difficult to deter because they may either correctly read the situation that the US is not interested in a conflict, or they may misread it. And that could lead us to more direct conflict with Iran.”
So how close is Iran to waging war on Israel, and its Western allies? Iran is, after all, a rogue nation well on its way to developing a nuclear weapon. And that’s an escalation that no one, including Iranian leadership, wants to see happen.
For a longer, wider-ranging version of my interviews check out the GZERO World podcast.
WORLD IN 60
How long will Israel’s indefinite security control in Gaza last?
What do you expect from the Biden-Xi meeting at APEC?
Finally, is a nuclear Israel concerning during a time of war?
Find out in this week’s World in 60 Seconds!
DIG DEEPER: GZERO DAILY BY IAN BREMMER
Where does the US presidential election stand one year out?
Both candidates have a narrow path to victory.
The only surprise possible for 2024: a landslide for either candidate.
Do you like what you’ve seen? Sign up for GZERO Daily by Ian Bremmer
BECAUSE THE INTERNET
I knew that courtroom sketch looked familiar…
WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK
In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story by Ghada Karmi
In war, each side dehumanizes the enemy to justify the need to kill. From animalistic caricatures to (often false) stories of enemy atrocities, it has happened on every side of every conflict throughout history. That’s the importance of books like Ghada Karmi’s memoir “In Search of Fatima.” Her story is a beautiful reminder of the loss felt by every human being, particularly children, when violence pushes people into exile.
DEEP THOUGHTS
“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” ― Aristotle
Thanks for reading! Please subscribe to GZERO Daily for coverage of global politics. And make sure to read my latest 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 X, Threads, Facebook, and Instagram.
