The World Next Week

The United States sets in motion a complete military withdrawal from Afghanistan, dozens of world leaders are invited to a U.S.-led climate summit, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga meets with President Joe Biden at the White House.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is slated to travel to Israel; talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal continue in Vienna, Austria; and Peru holds a general election.

Top security officials from Japan and South Korea meet with the new U.S. national security advisor, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank host their annual Spring Meetings virtually, and European Union officials convene with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Extreme weather events ramp up in Australia and the United States; Myanmar’s military junta marks Armed Forces Day; and leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay convene for a virtual trade summit.

Israel holds its fourth election in two years, the United States faces a mounting migration crisis at its border with Mexico, and Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, meets with regional premiers.

Syrians mark the tenth anniversary of the start of the civil war; leaders from Australia, India, Japan, and the United States convene virtually for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue; and the United Kingdom reviews its defense and foreign policy after Brexit.

China’s national legislature and its top political advisory body meet in tandem, Pope Francis travels to Iraq as the country deals with COVID-19 and security concerns, and International Women’s Day is celebrated around the globe.

The United States assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council, with Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield newly confirmed as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations; the U.S. intelligence community releases a report on the Jamal Khashoggi killing; and a political crisis deepens in the country of Georgia.

The COVID-19 death toll approaches five hundred thousand in the United States. Also, President Biden formally rejoins the Paris Agreement on climate and addresses world leaders at the virtual Munich Security Conference.

Defense ministers of NATO countries meet virtually to discuss withdrawing from Afghanistan; the UN Security Council debates the war in Yemen following the Biden administration’s policy shift; and spacecraft from China, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States enters Mars’s orbit.

Former President Donald J. Trump’s second impeachment trial begins in the Senate, Myanmar faces the fallout of a military coup, and the United States extends the New START nuclear treaty with Russia. 

Tension between China and Taiwan builds, Antony Blinken begins his first week as President Biden’s secretary of state, and governments race to procure the COVID-19 vaccine as virus variants emerge.

President Biden’s cabinet nominees face Senate confirmation hearings, Greece and Turkey resume maritime border talks, and the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force ninety days after its ratification.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s second impeachment reverberates in Congress, Washington braces for President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration amid increased security concerns, and the incoming Biden team prepares to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Americans face the fallout—at home and abroad—from violent pro-Trump riots that shook the U.S. Capitol and Democrats narrowly gain control of the Senate after runoff elections in Georgia.

In this special year-end episode of The World Next Week, James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon are joined by Shannon K. O’Neil, CFR’s vice president, deputy director of studies, and Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin America Studies. Lindsay, McMahon, and O’Neil break down the supply chain challenges that come with distributing COVID-19 vaccines, what’s on President-Elect Joe Biden’s foreign policy agenda, and the impacts of disinformation in the United States and beyond.

The Climate Ambition Summit 2020 is held virtually five years after the Paris Agreement, the state of Georgia begins early voting in its Senate runoff, and Tunisia marks ten years since the beginning of the Arab Spring.

U.S. health officials discuss emergency authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine; Venezuelans vote for a new National Assembly, currently the country’s last opposition-controlled body; and the “safe harbor” deadline for the U.S. election approaches.

Saudi Arabia hosts a virtual Group of Twenty (G20) summit, U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden ramps up his cabinet nomination process, and the United States prepares to formally withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies.

U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden begins a turbulent ten-week transition, Armenians and Azeris react to a Russia-brokered peace agreement, and the thirty-seventh summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) goes virtual.