Hi there.
We didn’t have a newsletter yesterday— it turned out to be a busier day than expected— so today’s edition will be a bit longer. Let’s get to it.
President Biden is wrapping up a dizzying series of diplomatic summits for his first overseas trip as President. The first was a meeting of the world’s Group of Seven leaders: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, along with the United States. As the New York Times shows, the summit represented an imperfect return to unity among the world’s richest democracies. The leaders are generally united on goals of tamping down on Chinese and Russian global influence, as well as fighting climate change, but they couldn’t reach a consensus on some key points— notably decoupling from coal, as the NYT notes. CNBC reports that the US and the European Union did reach an important agreement to end a trade war involving the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus that has gone unresolved for nearly two decades.
After that, Biden met with other leaders of NATO, the coalition Donald Trump often talked about withdrawing from. The Associated Press indicates that Biden was able to restore some level of confidence in the United States from NATO allies.
But most importantly, Biden met today with Russian president Vladimir Putin. CNN shows that Biden prepared relentlessly for this meeting, studying Putin’s go-to strongarm tactics. Putin is known for using American headlines against us, so it’s safe to assume he tried to use recent news about Donald Trump’s potential Justice Department abuses (more on that tomorrow) to suggest that the United States is in no position to condemn Putin’s own authoritarianism. CNN also suggests that today’s high-tension meeting closely mirrors historic meetings between American Presidents and Soviet leaders. A pair of Foreign Policy columns speculate as to what each party wanted most out of the meeting: Putin hoped to avoid further sanctions that hurt him politically, while Biden wants to keep Russia from aiding in the rise of China. The NYT suggests that Putin may also be looking for some praise from Biden. An NYT essay also points out that they do have some common goals, though: slowing nuclear arms proliferation and combatting climate change. But nuclear weapons, while still an existential threat to all of humanity, are sort of a relic of the Cold War. A far more pressing concern, the NYT notes, is the proliferation of cyberweapons.
AP News has a recap of the summit.
In other foreign affairs news, Voice of America broke news that the US does not plan to launch airstrikes in Afghanistan after American troops have fully withdrawn. NYT columnist Michelle Goldberg profiles former United Nations ambassador and current head of the United States Agency for International Development, Samantha Power, in making the case for America’s role in preventing and stopping genocides around the world. And Yahoo News has unveiled new details on the Saudi Arabian assassination of a journalist for the Washington Post, including a previously unknown link to Egypt.
On the domestic front, Politico explains Republican strategy in infrastructure talks, while the NYT reports on an effort by the Democratic Party’s progressive wing to leave Republicans behind on infrastructure. An investigation by the AP reveals that American military weapons have hit the black market, and are being used in violent crimes. Politico reports on Mike Pompeo’s latest steps toward a 2024 presidential bid. And perhaps most importantly, Politico suggests that another government shutdown could be waiting just around the corner.
Lastly, the NYT has some horror movie recommendations. Cheers to that.
Thank you for caring enough to read.
Be safe. Drink water. You are loved.
Talk to you tomorrow.