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Concerns increase over Russian military activity near Ukraine
Fears Rise Over Russian Military Activity Near Ukraine | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Concerns increase over Russian military activity near Ukraine

Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, shares his perspective from Europe:

What are the Russians up to with Ukraine?

Well, we don't know. But what we do know is that they are concentrating quite substantial military forces, moving towards the borders with Ukraine at the same time as they are de facto stopping the diplomatic dialogue with them. Very strong message coming from Washington and from the European capitals that they should abstain from early military operation. But you never know. It is a fairly sort of worrying situation.

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Biden's vaccine mandates caught in a growing culture war
Biden’s Vaccine Mandates Are Becoming a Growing Culture War Issue | US Politics In :60 | GZERO Media

Biden's vaccine mandates caught in a growing culture war

Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, shares insights on US politics:

What is happening with Biden's vaccine mandates?

Well, Biden put in place a mandate for employers to vaccinate or test, on a weekly basis their employees, if they have more than 100 of them. And there's been pushback from a lot of corners of society. Some smaller businesses have objected. Some governors, particularly Texas, Louisiana, have objected.

Texas said the mandate doesn't apply for large employers in its state, even though that puts the employers in a terrible situation of having to choose which level of government they should listen to. And these states have sued in federal courts. The federal courts have stayed the mandate, meaning it won't be implemented until the decision is made probably by the Supreme Court on the grounds that the Labor Department overstepped its authorities in issuing this mandate, claiming that they have the ability to protect workplace safety.

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Aaron Rodgers takes "Cheesehead" literally
Ian Bremmer: Aaron Rodgers Takes “Cheesehead” Literally | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Aaron Rodgers takes "Cheesehead" literally

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take:

Hi everybody. Ian Bremmer here. Happy start to your week. I'm going to talk about something completely different today, NFL football. Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay, lost to the inferior Kansas City Chiefs yesterday, 13-7. And do you know why? It's because their star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, wasn't playing. He has COVID. And he was asked before whether he was vaccinated, he said, "yes".

Here's the video: "Are you vaccinated and what's your stance on vaccinations?" "Yes, I have been immunized."

Turns out he wasn't vaccinated. Now that's his right but he did not adhere to the required protocols for unvaccinated NFL players because he's a weasel. Now Aaron is saying, he's being demonized by the woke mob. He's done his research. He's listened to Joe Rogan. He took Ivermectin and a homeopathic immunization protocol, whatever the hell that is. And he's allergic to an ingredient in mRNA vaccines, which of course doesn't include J&J, which he doesn't talk about. No reason for that but nonetheless, he even sent 500 pages of research that he did to the NFL.

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G-20 summit to focus on COVID-19 as Eastern Europe faces a new surge
G20 Summit To Focus on COVID-19 While Eastern Europe Faces a New Surge | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

G-20 summit to focus on COVID-19 as Eastern Europe faces a new surge

Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, shares his perspective from Europe:

What is happening with COVID in Europe?

Well, primarily the east of Europe is a worrying situation. Russia has substantially more than a thousand deaths every day. And Bulgaria, Romania, difficulty for the Baltic states at the moment are surging infection rates. Vaccination rates must improve. It's primarily a problem, of course, in Russia, where people don't have trust in the vaccine and trust in the records.

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Protest rally against COVID-19 vaccinations on 30 August 2021 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Hristo Vladev/NurPhoto

The world’s worst COVID outbreak (for now)

Right now, only one region of the world is reporting an increase in new daily COVID cases. Here's a hint: it's one of the places where vaccines are, for the most part, easiest to get.

It's Europe. According to the World Health Organization, the region last week notched a 7 percent uptick in new daily infections, the third week in a row that infections rose there.

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Gabriella Turrisi

The Graphic Truth: No trust, no jab in EU

After a very rocky start, the EU stepped up its COVID vaccination game in the spring, and by the end of summer had vaccinated more people per capita than the US. Close to 80 percent of EU residents are now fully vaccinated, yet inoculation levels have either plateaued or remain low where people don't trust the government, the vaccine — or both. This is leading to a third wave of the pandemic mainly in Eastern Europe, and as a result Europe is the only continent where COVID cases are now rising. We compare how much people in the EU trust their government with their willingness to get vaccinated.

From $3.5 trillion to $2 trillion: Cuts to US spending bill mean less money for families

Congressional spending cuts | US Politics :60 | GZERO Media

From $3.5 trillion to $2 trillion: Cuts to US spending bill mean less money for families

Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, shares insights on US politics:

What does it actually mean to cut $1 trillion from the Democrats' $3.5 trillion social spending bill?

President Biden has proposed one of the most ambitious expansions of federal spending in recent memory. If he gets everything he wants, it would probably be the largest expansion of government since the Great Society, but he's not going to get everything he wants. Democrats have basically said they cannot do all $3.5 trillion in spending. They're probably going to end up around $2 trillion. So what gets cut? Well, we don't know yet. There's kind of two ways to go about this. They could either cut the number of programs that have been proposed, doing fewer things with more money on a permanent basis, or they could try to do more things, each program getting less money and potentially doing them on a temporary basis. So, a future Congress would have to extend it. What does this mean for you? Well, a lot of the money in here is designed to go directly to families, either in the form of cash payments, through the tax code, the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit, or subsidies for things like child care, early childhood education, and community college. And if you cut these things back, it means less money is going to go out the door to the American people. It also means less tax increases to finance it. So the implications of what's being proposed could actually end up being a big deal for a lot of Americans who would qualify for benefits under these new programs.

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US most unequal, least vaccinated in G7
US Most Unequal, Least Vaccinated in G7 | Quick Take | GZERO Media

US most unequal, least vaccinated in G7

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take:

Hi everybody, Ian Bremmer here. Welcome to your week, happy to be back in the offices, of course, in New York City. And by the way, and what do I have at my desk here? A fan sent me a Moose the dog cookie, which how does one eat that? You can't eat that because it's Moose, you just keep it! But that's pretty awesome, a Norfolk Terrier in a cookie right there, very talented. Thank you so much.

And let's get started. So what I was thinking about as I saw over this weekend, today. Not only is the United States today the most economically-unequal of the G7 advanced industrial democracies, and the most politically divided, but we're also now in terms of first jabs of the COVID vaccine, we are the least vaccinated of the G7, which is annoying because we were the most vaccinated of the G7 months ago. And of course, all of this speaks to the fact that the United States is enormously wealthy, enormously powerful, there are so many great things about this country, but the politics are deeply, deeply screwed up. And the problems we have are self-inflicted.

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