GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Michael McFaul knows a thing or two about Russia and Putin from his days as the former US ambassador in Moscow. As Putin's Victory Day speech illustrated, Russia hasn't moved on much since 1945, McFaul tells Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast. But if the West goes too far, there's a much bigger risk: World War III. McFaul says that Putin signaled in his nothing-burger speech that Russia is rea...

Cybercrime is a rapidly growing threat, and one that will require a global effort to combat. But could some of the same measures taken to fight criminals online lead to human rights abuses and a curtailing of freedom? As the United Nations debates a new and expansive cybercrime treaty first proposed by Russia, we’re examining the details of the plan, how feasible it would be to find consensus, and...

Nearly half of the world's population currently lives in areas that face water scarcity for at least one month out of every year, and more than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. This basic human need is too often at risk for communities around the globe, creating grave public health and security crises. The latest episode of Living Beyond Borders, a special podcast series fro...

Not much has gone right for Vladimir Putin since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began. Ian Bremmer speaks to political scientist and author Ivan Krastev, who believes Putin has the autocrat's curse: his back is against the wall because he can't be perceived as weak. Krastev unpacks many of Putin's problems, including his expectations about the "special operation" and how badly he misread U...

The concept of mercenaries, hired soldiers and specialists working privately to fight a nation’s battles, is nearly as old as war itself. In our fourth episode of “Patching the System,” we’re discussing the threat cyber mercenaries pose to individuals, governments, and the private sector. We’ll examine how spyware used to track criminal and terrorist activity around the world has been abused by ba...

The Ukraine war and sanctions against Russia have created a perfect storm that will lead to a global food supply crisis, Ertharin Cousin, former head of the UN World Food Programme, tells Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast. Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of the world's wheat exports. All nations could be affected since these are global commodities, but developing countries that...

Last year the US economy grew 5.7%, the biggest growth rate in decades, yet at the beginning of 2022 fewer than 1 in 5 Americans thought it was strong. And as the world confronts the converging crises of pandemic and war in Ukraine, inflation and skyrocketing prices are further contributing to feelings of financial insecurity. The latest episode of Living Beyond Borders, a special podcast series f...

Two years after the discovery of one of the largest cyber attacks in history, we’re looking at the current state of security for both software and hardware supply chains. In early 2020, a group of hackers broke into a software system built and managed by the Texas-based company SolarWinds. The malware they installed was eventually downloaded by thousands of SolarWinds customers, including both pri...

The relationship between Putin and Xi is a "marriage of convenience," journalist Melinda Liu tells Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast. Russia's war in Ukraine has put China in an awkward spot: they condemn the invasion, but not the invader.   Liu, who has been Newsweek's Beijing bureau chief for decades, believes that Xi is likely as isolated and surrounded by sycophants as Putin, which makes...

Confidence in democracy is declining in the West at the same time authoritarian leaders like Putin and Xi Jinping have become more transparent about their demands and lack of respect for democracy, says Johns Hopkins University professor Yascha Mounk, author of a new book, "The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure."   On the GZERO World podcast, Mounk tells...

Billions of watches, refrigerators, and even light bulbs around the world are network-connected, collecting and sharing your data. Smart device manufacturing could be a $500 billion business by 2028. But this new world of products brings new privacy and security concerns for consumers and institutions alike. In the second episode of Patching the System, a GZERO podcast produced as part of the Glob...

Renewing the Iran nuclear deal is more urgent than ever for the Biden administration. Iran is closer to getting the bomb, with the breakout time to enrich enough uranium for a single nuclear weapon reportedly less than two weeks. On the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks to Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, who says the odds of reaching an agreement in the sho...

The ripple effects of Russia’s war with Ukraine are spreading well beyond Ukraine's borders. And one country watching very closely is Finland. On the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer talks to former Finnish PM Alexander Stubb, who explains why his country has moved from neutrality to an open embrace of NATO. He believes Putin will ultimately fail at the three things he's trying to accomplish: anne...

Cyberattacks in Ukraine are the latest example of how cyberspace is increasingly a theater of conflict around the world. As part of the Global Stage series, a partnership between Microsoft and GZERO Media, the 5-part podcast “Patching the System” will explore the biggest cyber risks and challenges for governments, corporations, and consumers alike. Through the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a public c...

As Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Pakistan's PM Imran Khan, one of Vladimir Putin’s few friends, visited Moscow. But his trip did not go down well in the US.  With Washington ready to downgrade its relationship with Islamabad, Khan is looking to form new friendships to protect Pakistan's strategic interests. In this episode of the GZERO World Podcast , Ian Bremmer talks to Pakistan’s former Forei...

John Kerry, former US Secretary of State and current climate czar, pushed back against the idea that this will be "the century of the authoritarian" in a GZERO World interview with Ian Bremmer at the Munich Security Conference (before the invasion of Ukraine). If China and Russia have been on a sort of authoritarian honeymoon because they think America is declining, "that is a very serious misconc...

At the 2022 Munich Security Conference, world leaders are gathering again for the first time in two years at a moment of unprecedented crisis. At the time of this GZERO World Podcast interview, Russia’s 150,000 plus troops have yet to cross the Ukrainian border, but Western officials warn that an invasion could happen at any moment. Ian Bremmer is joined by former CIA director and retired four-sta...

What keeps Ray Dalio, one of America’s most successful investors, up at night? Three things: spiraling debt, a weakening dollar and a rising China. China is closing the gap on US economic dominance as its geopolitical influence grows, Dalio tells Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast.   The US economy is negatively impacted not only by its debt but also by the widening wealth gap among Americans,...

Voter suppression is a front and center issue. But it’s not always black and white…or red and blue. Black voters continue to turn out in smaller numbers than white voters. How much of that is due to conscious efforts to make voting harder? Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast to discuss the past and future of the struggle for B...

Tensions in Ukraine are high as Russia builds up its military capacity along the border. Cyber attacks on Kyiv have also increased. Can the US and NATO do anything to deescalate the situation, or will Putin decide to invade?    Ian Bremmer speaks with Russia/Ukraine expert Alina Polyakova of the Center for European Policy Analysis, who believes that based on Putin’s actions, all the signals are po...

Tech companies set the rules for the digital world through algorithms powered by artificial intelligence. But does Big Tech really understand AI? Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt tells Ian Bremmer that we need to control AI before it controls us.   What's troubling about AI, he says, is that it’s still very new, and AI is learning by doing. Schmidt, co-author of “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future,...

Xi Jinping's zero-COVID approach faces its toughest test to date with omicron. Why? Because China lacks mRNA jabs, and so few Chinese people have gotten COVID that overall protection is very low. A wave of lockdowns could disrupt the world's second-largest economy — just a month out from the Beijing Winter Olympics. That could spell disaster for Beijing, Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global he...

On the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, America has only grown more divided. More Republicans than ever believe that the election was stolen. And that’s not just a domestic problem. It’s a national security threat. Ian Bremmer speaks with Fiona Hill, former senior director of the National Security Council who famously testified against her boss, former president Donald Trump, in his first...

After 7 years of conflict, Yemen is often called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Ian Bremmer speaks with UN Resident Coordinator David Gressly about the dire situation in Yemen, where half of the population doesn’t know when they will eat their next meal. Seen as a proxy war between the Saudis and the Iranians, civilians are caught in the crosshairs. Subscribe to the GZERO World with Ian Br...

While 2021 brought incredible breakthroughs in science and billions of COVID-19 vaccine doses were delivered globally, the pandemic seems far from over as the new year approaches. Add in an urgent need for climate action, uneven economic recovery and supply chain disruption, plus growing tensions between the world’s two biggest economies—the US and China—and you basically want to pull the covers o...