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Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksDecember 08, 2017
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
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230: This week the U.S. and South Korea launched its largest-ever joint air exercise, which included 230 aircraft. #KimControl

560,000: Lethal violence (homicides and war) killed 560,000 people in 2016. The world’s five most violent countries: Syria, El Salvador, Venezuela, Honduras, and Afghanistan.

27: Australia is the twenty-seventh country to legalize same-sex marriage. The country’s 47,000 same-sex couples can now tie the knot.

65: With his trip to Greece, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the first Turkish president to visit Greece in 65 years.

53: China is one of the world’s most optimistic nations, with 53 percent of citizens saying they believe the world is “getting better.” Only 16 percent of Americans, seven percent of Germans, and four percent of Mexicans feel the same way.

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