In this episode of Ian Bremmer’s Quick Take, Ian discusses the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska.

Ian notes that Trump and the White House are going into the meeting with “low exceptions” but emphasizes that Trump is “happy to be seen doing everything possible in the service of getting to a negotiated settlement.”

Putin's main objective? Ian explains that Putin “needs Trump to at least blame partially the continuing of the war on Zelensky.”

Regardless of the meeting’s outcome, Europe is now more united behind Ukraine than ever. Ian notes European military support for Kyiv is creating than that of the US, giving Ukraine the ability to continue fighting.

More For You

QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas production facilities, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, on March 2, 2026.
REUTERS/Stringer

The US-Israeli war with Iran has badly damaged oil & gas producers in the Gulf and consumers in the Indo-Pacific. But not all countries within those regions will feel the pain equally.

A Russian LNG tanker, Arctic Metagaz, damaged earlier this month and currently adrift without crew, floats in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa, in this handout picture released on March 13, 2026.
Marina Militare/Handout via REUTERS

700: The tons of fuel and liquefied natural gas aboard a Russian tanker that is currently floating around the Mediterranean Sea unmanned, after a drone attack earlier this month prompted the crew to abandon ship.