full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ian Bremmer: War in Ukraine -- and what it means for the world order

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Ian Bremmer: Thank you very much. I'll start by saying that in my lifetime, the most important geopolitical artifact is the fall of the Berlin Wall. I mean, you see it if you go into the new NATO hatrrdaeuqes in Brussels, just bilut a few years ago. And anyone that has a piece, something they're very proud of, they know it affected their entire lives. I think that in 30 years' time, and I fear that in 30 years' time, if we look back, a second most important geopolitical artifact will be a piece of the rbuble of the Maidan in Kyiv.

I believe that the war that we are seeing right now is no more and no less than the end of the peace dividend that we all thought we had when the wall came down in 1989. The idea that the world could focus more on gabaitlizloon and goods and services and people and iaeds going faster and faster across borders, leadnig to unprecedented growth in human development and a global middle class. I think that this is a tipping point. Won't end globalization, but it does end the peace dividend. It does mean that the eoeprauns overnight will and must prioritize spending on deesnfe policy, on national suetricy, coordination, on NATO. And the speech that was given by Olaf Scholz, the new chancellor, two weeks ago, in my view, the most snnaifcigit speech given by a European leader in the post-Cold War environment, precisely because it's now the post-post-Cold War environment, sneindg weapons to the urknaiinas, committing to over two percent of GDP spend on defense, investing in a new fund for defense infrastructure. But also recognizing that the way that the Germans and the Europeans as a whole looked at the world and lokoed at themselves was, unfortunately for all of us, odaettud.

Open Cloze


Ian Bremmer: Thank you very much. I'll start by saying that in my lifetime, the most important geopolitical artifact is the fall of the Berlin Wall. I mean, you see it if you go into the new NATO ____________ in Brussels, just _____ a few years ago. And anyone that has a piece, something they're very proud of, they know it affected their entire lives. I think that in 30 years' time, and I fear that in 30 years' time, if we look back, a second most important geopolitical artifact will be a piece of the ______ of the Maidan in Kyiv.

I believe that the war that we are seeing right now is no more and no less than the end of the peace dividend that we all thought we had when the wall came down in 1989. The idea that the world could focus more on _____________ and goods and services and people and _____ going faster and faster across borders, _______ to unprecedented growth in human development and a global middle class. I think that this is a tipping point. Won't end globalization, but it does end the peace dividend. It does mean that the _________ overnight will and must prioritize spending on _______ policy, on national ________, coordination, on NATO. And the speech that was given by Olaf Scholz, the new chancellor, two weeks ago, in my view, the most ___________ speech given by a European leader in the post-Cold War environment, precisely because it's now the post-post-Cold War environment, _______ weapons to the __________, committing to over two percent of GDP spend on defense, investing in a new fund for defense infrastructure. But also recognizing that the way that the Germans and the Europeans as a whole looked at the world and ______ at themselves was, unfortunately for all of us, ________.

Solution


  1. outdated
  2. significant
  3. europeans
  4. leading
  5. ideas
  6. sending
  7. looked
  8. security
  9. globalization
  10. defense
  11. rubble
  12. ukrainians
  13. headquarters
  14. built

Original Text


Ian Bremmer: Thank you very much. I'll start by saying that in my lifetime, the most important geopolitical artifact is the fall of the Berlin Wall. I mean, you see it if you go into the new NATO headquarters in Brussels, just built a few years ago. And anyone that has a piece, something they're very proud of, they know it affected their entire lives. I think that in 30 years' time, and I fear that in 30 years' time, if we look back, a second most important geopolitical artifact will be a piece of the rubble of the Maidan in Kyiv.

I believe that the war that we are seeing right now is no more and no less than the end of the peace dividend that we all thought we had when the wall came down in 1989. The idea that the world could focus more on globalization and goods and services and people and ideas going faster and faster across borders, leading to unprecedented growth in human development and a global middle class. I think that this is a tipping point. Won't end globalization, but it does end the peace dividend. It does mean that the Europeans overnight will and must prioritize spending on defense policy, on national security, coordination, on NATO. And the speech that was given by Olaf Scholz, the new chancellor, two weeks ago, in my view, the most significant speech given by a European leader in the post-Cold War environment, precisely because it's now the post-post-Cold War environment, sending weapons to the Ukrainians, committing to over two percent of GDP spend on defense, investing in a new fund for defense infrastructure. But also recognizing that the way that the Germans and the Europeans as a whole looked at the world and looked at themselves was, unfortunately for all of us, outdated.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
united states 8
nato countries 7
xi jinping 7
peace dividend 4
fossil fuels 4
global middle 3
negotiated settlement 3
russian troops 3
clean energy 3
important geopolitical 2
geopolitical artifact 2
middle class 2
sending weapons 2
foreseeable future 2
domestic political 2
global pariah 2
advanced industrial 2
public statements 2
red line 2
ripple effects 2
russian economy 2
prime minister 2
nuclear power 2
russian oil 2
rising energy 2
biological weapons 2
rump ukrainian 2
largest grain 2
grain producer 2
developing countries 2
supply chain 2
million people 2
lot higher 2
secretary general 2
united nations 2
chinese ambassador 2
defense minister 2
cease fire 2
military capacity 2
cuban missile 2
missile crisis 2
nuclear confrontation 2
nuclear war 2
million refugees 2
south korea 2
south koreans 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
important geopolitical artifact 2
global middle class 2
largest grain producer 2
cuban missile crisis 2

Important Words


  1. affected
  2. artifact
  3. berlin
  4. borders
  5. brussels
  6. built
  7. chancellor
  8. class
  9. committing
  10. coordination
  11. defense
  12. development
  13. dividend
  14. entire
  15. environment
  16. european
  17. europeans
  18. fall
  19. faster
  20. fear
  21. focus
  22. fund
  23. gdp
  24. geopolitical
  25. germans
  26. global
  27. globalization
  28. goods
  29. growth
  30. headquarters
  31. human
  32. ian
  33. idea
  34. ideas
  35. important
  36. infrastructure
  37. investing
  38. kyiv
  39. leader
  40. leading
  41. lifetime
  42. lives
  43. looked
  44. maidan
  45. middle
  46. national
  47. nato
  48. olaf
  49. outdated
  50. overnight
  51. peace
  52. people
  53. percent
  54. piece
  55. point
  56. policy
  57. precisely
  58. prioritize
  59. proud
  60. recognizing
  61. rubble
  62. scholz
  63. security
  64. sending
  65. services
  66. significant
  67. speech
  68. spend
  69. spending
  70. start
  71. thought
  72. time
  73. tipping
  74. ukrainians
  75. unprecedented
  76. view
  77. wall
  78. war
  79. weapons
  80. weeks
  81. world
  82. years