World Briefing Plus: Tariff Batons, Beijing Detours, and a Freezing Ukraine: The Week the West Wobbled

The Beaver embraces the Panda as Washington rattles allies with Greenland-style brinkmanship - while Ukraine’s winter crisis exposes dangerous cracks at the top

Introduction (World Briefing Plus – Weekly Exclusive Video)

Welcome back to World Briefing Plus — the exclusive Saturday deep-dive for paid subscribers on the stories behind the headlines, and the power plays shaping what comes next.

This week, I begin with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to China - a move that might once have seemed unthinkable, but now looks like a calculated response to a Washington that’s been recklessly swaying its tariff baton under a combative Donald Trump. And even by recent standards, the latest threat is extraordinary: new punitive tariffs on Europe that will remain until “such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” Unbelievable — and yet, here we are.

A few months ago, I floated the idea that NATO as we know it may not survive the decade. I didn’t expect the unraveling to feel this immediate - a founding member of the alliance and its most powerful state now threatening other member countries like bargaining chips.

From there, we move to Ukraine, where I’m watching the situation deteriorate in real time: a punishing cold snap forecast to worsen, Russian strikes continuing, and an increasingly visible fracture in wartime unity - including open infighting between President Zelensky and big city mayors. My message at the end is blunt: Zelensky needs to stay home, launch a national dialogue, and start healing the political wounds - because Ukrainians can’t afford division when so many are literally freezing.

🎥 Watch this week’s World Briefing Plus exclusive video below — and if you’re not yet a paid subscriber, upgrade now so you don’t miss the full analysis.