A weekly preview of world events in the week ahead from the Council on Foreign Relations.
The first in-person summit of the Quad—Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—takes place; Germany’s general election is set to produce a successor to Angela Merkel; and Japan’s ruling party holds a leadership election.
The United Nations General Assembly holds its annual debate, Canadians vote in a close federal election, and U.S. President Joe Biden hosts a summit on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Americans mark twenty years since the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) convenes for a summit to discuss security in Afghanistan, and Norway holds general elections.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko hold integration talks, Germany’s election season ramps up, and U.S. and Mexican officials hold a high-level economic meeting.
United States combat troops are set to fully withdraw from Afghanistan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets U.S. President Joe Biden in the White House, and Iraq hosts a regional summit.
Afghans await what will follow the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul, foreign capitals grapple with the consequences of the collapse of Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed government, and recriminations fly in the United States over the Taliban’s return to power.
The world reacts to a grim report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Taliban forces advance across Afghanistan as the United States completes its withdrawal, and Ethiopia’s civil conflict worsens.
In this special episode of The World Next Week, CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow Carla Anne Robbins joins James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon to discuss the books they recommend reading, the books they’re looking forward to reading, and the books they’re reading for fun. (This is a rebroadcast.)
Read more about Jim, Bob, and Carla’s picks on Jim’s blog, The Water’s Edge.
Jim’s Picks:
This is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arm Race, by Nicole Perlroth
Objects of Desire, by Clare Sestanovich
Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter—Then, Now, and Forever, by John McWhorter
Bob’s Picks:
Missionaries, by Phil Klay
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, Geraldine Brooks
“Power of the Powerless” in Living in Truth, by Vaclav Havel
Carla’s Picks:
The Price of Peace: Money , Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, by Zachary D. Carter
The Transparency of Time, by Leonardo Padura
George Smiley Novels, by John le Carré
Iran’s next president, Ebrahim Raisi, takes office; the suspension of the United States’ debt ceiling ends; and the summer wildfire season sets new records.
The Tokyo Olympic Games kick off in COVID-19’s shadow, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visits U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House, and South Africans deal with the fallout from days of deadly rioting.
