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G-7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan.

Reuters

Zelensky makes his pitch

President Volodymyr Zelensky is on a mission ahead of the much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive that could launch any day now. That explains why he was in Saudi Arabia today to lobby dozens of countries meeting in Jeddah for the Arab League summit.

While the Gulf states in particular have doled out aid to Ukraine – the Saudis, for example, pledged $400 million earlier this year, while UAE promised $100 million – the oil-rich countries have maintained close relations with Russia, a fellow petrostate. Zelensky was likely also trying to ensure that Egypt doesn’t arm the Kremlin, after recent reports that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was toying with the idea, angering Washington.

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Japanese chef Mitsuo Ise prepares a "Germany" version of okonomiyaki ahead of the G-7 summit in Hiroshima.

REUTERS

Hard Numbers: Hiroshima’s delicacies, Italy’s first world problems, Durham's report, Russia’s military spending, Rudy's alleged pardons grift

800: Ahead of the G-7 summit later this week in Hiroshima, Japan, some 800 restaurants specializing in a local comfort food known as okonomiyaki are hoping to make a global splash. Okonomiyaki, which means “cooked as you like it,” is a savory pancake-shaped delicacy usually made with cabbage, noodles, batter, and meat. But locals are cooking up special editions for foreign dignitaries, including a sauerkraut one for the Germans, a carbonara one for the Italians, and a burger stuffed one for the Americans. Not all locals approve.

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Fox-Dominion settlement won't change US politics | World In :60 | GZERO Media

Fox-Dominion settlement won't change US politics

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

How will the Fox-Dominion settlement play into GOP politics ahead of 2024?

Honestly, not at all. It's a really big settlement, almost a billion dollars. And Fox basically is admitting that they posted a lot of disinformation, but it's not changing Fox's position as having the most watched of the cable news programs. It's not changing them from, after a couple of years of having a soft ban of Donald Trump, they're now regularly interviewing him and they will continue to, especially assuming he gets the Republican nomination. So I think that the continued erosion of US political institutions, particularly in the media space and the polarization, is going to continue apace. That is where we are. Kind of like January 6th, not a big enough crisis to have much of an impact.

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TITLE PLACEHOLDER | World In :60 | GZERO Media

Slim GOP majority traps McCarthy in US House speaker standoff

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

Why is the GOP, the Republican Party, having difficulty electing a House leader?

Well, it's because they have like a razor, razor thin margin and that means that Kevin McCarthy cannot afford to lose votes even though he has 90% of the GOP ready to vote for him. That's not enough to get it done, and the Democrats are more than happy to watch the Republicans flail around for days or weeks to lose votes while they are in the majority. So as a consequence, we're going to keep having votes. Last time you had more than one vote for a house speaker was in 1923. So congratulations to the GOP on making history.

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Models of oil barrels and a pump jack are seen in front of displayed EU and Russia flags colors.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

What We’re Watching: Russian oil price cap woes, Iran’s morality police 'U-turn'

Capping the price of Russian oil is harder than the West thought

A long-awaited G-7 $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil took effect Monday. Markets responded with skepticism: In early trading, the price for Brent crude, the global benchmark, went up slightly to $86 per barrel. Why? Three days after the sanctions scheme was announced, its weaknesses have started to show. First, Russia has outright refused to accept the cap and is mulling a response — perhaps refusing to sell any crude to countries that enforce the price ceiling. Second, Ukraine thinks the cap is too weak to seriously damage Russia's economy. Third, OPEC+, which includes Russia, says it's business as usual and that it's not changing its output levels. There are fundamental flaws to the measure. After all, it’s not really a price cap so much as a limitation on insurance and shipping firms, and it lets Russia continue to sell oil, just at a lower price. Also, most of Ukraine’s friends wanted it to be lower than $60, and big Asian buyers haven’t signed on. Meanwhile, two of Russia’s biggest customers, China and India, will continue to stock up on cheap Russian crude. So far, the price cap, imagined by Washington and executed by the G-7, seems somewhere between a bureaucratic irritant and a slap on the wrist for Moscow.

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Designing CBDCs for success

The decision to develop a central bank digital currency, or a CBDC, must be the outcome of wide-ranging policy and technology choices. What factors are at play in designing and implementing CBDCs? Which of the G7 foundational principles should be emphasized, and where can the private sector lend valuable experience? To find out, read the latest report from the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute.

The Future of Globalization | Quick Take | GZERO Media

The future of globalization

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody, Ian Bremmer here, and a Quick Take to get us kicked off this Monday morning. I thought I'd go a little macro today and talk about the future of globalization, because I hear so many people talking about the last 30 years of being this unprecedented period of goods and services and people and ideas and capital moving faster and faster across borders all over the world. And now, not anymore. Now, it's all about my country first and it's nationalists and it's insourcing and it's decoupling. And so we've hit this tipping point. Or have we? I don't quite buy this narrative that globalization is over. Rather, I think it's not being driven. I think people are angry about it and it's being fought over, but that's very different from saying that spikes are being put into it.

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Shinzo Abe Assassinated: Japan’s “JFK” Moment | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Japan’s “JFK” moment: Shinzo Abe assassinated

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi, everybody, Ian Bremmer here. And I'm very sad to be talking about this shocking tragedy in one of the world's most stable democracies, the assassination of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Gun violence in a country that experiences virtually none of it. The assassination of the country's longest serving prime minister. It is a JFK moment for Japan, maybe even bigger.

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