GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

This week on the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the General Assembly for the final time in his official capacity as UN chief. After a decade as the UN’s top diplomat, the former Portuguese Prime Minister is leaving his position at a moment of great global instability. Wars grind on in Ukraine and Iran with no end in sight. Humanitarian crises in Gaza and Sudan have exposed how little leverage the international system has when powerful states and their partners act with impunity. With faith in global in...

For decades, nuclear war has represented the ultimate doomsday scenario. But investigative journalist and author Annie Jacobsen says biological warfare may pose an even greater overall threat. Unlike nuclear weapons, which require tightly controlled materials, enormously expensive delivery systems, and specialized expertise, the barriers to developing biological weapons can be far lower. And artificial intelligence could lower them further.

Ian Bremmer sits down with Jacobsen to discuss how AI is changing the landscape of catastrophic risk. As increasingly powerful models make sophisticated scientific knowledge easier to access, they could allow bad actors to bypass years of specialized...

This week marks 25 years since 9/11—the deadliest terror attack the world has ever seen and a defining moment in American history. The attacks transformed US politics and national security. The war on terror became the organizing principle of American foreign policy. Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to reflect on the day that forever changed how Americans thought about national security, and how the United States wielded its enormous power around the world. 

How much did we learn from the post-9/11 era and do we risk repeating the same mis...

More than half a century after humans last walked on the Moon, the next era of space exploration is taking shape. Getting there is cheaper, private companies are playing a much bigger role, and discoveries like vast reserves of lunar water have made the prospect of establishing a permanent presence on the Moon far more realistic.

Ian Bremmer sits down with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to talk about what this new space age could look like. They discuss the growing competition between the US and China, whether rivals can cooperate on the lunar surface, and who gets...

What happens when the world’s safety net disappears? For decades, international aid has helped fight poverty, stop disease outbreaks, and keep fragile societies from falling over the edge. But after the shutdown of USAID last year, the relief system is in danger of collapsing entirely. International Rescue Committee President & CEO David Miliband joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to talk about the long shadow cast by America’s retreat from global aid and what comes next.

In truth, there has never been enough humanitarian aid to help the millions of people who desperately need it e...

Ten years ago, Britain voted to leave the European Union in one of the most consequential political decisions of the 21st century. Supporters promised greater sovereignty, stronger economic growth, and a more independent future. Instead, Brexit ushered in a decade of political upheaval, economic uncertainty, and a fundamental rethinking of Britain's role in the world.

On this episode of the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with former UK cabinet minister Rory Stewart to assess Brexit's legacy a decade later. They discuss whether the referendum's core promises have been fulfilled, why Britain's economy has struggled to...

While the world’s attention has focused on the Strait of Hormuz and the escalating conflict between the United States and Iran, another potentially transformative front has opened in Lebanon. Israeli attacks against the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah have left more than 4,000 people dead and displaced over a million. Now, a fragile ceasefire has raised a question diplomats have struggled with for decades: Can Hezbollah actually be disarmed?

On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks with Lebanese-born journalist and Middle East expert Kim Ghattas about Iran’s shrinking regional influence, Israel’s possible plans for a long-term buffer...

For more than four years, Russia has wagered that it can outlast Ukraine. The Kremlin has more troops, more resources, and a greater tolerance for casualties, betting that Kyiv—and its Western allies—will eventually lose the will to keep fighting.

But that assumption is being tested. Ukraine is carrying out increasingly sophisticated strikes deep inside Russian territory, forcing Moscow to defend military bases, energy infrastructure, and even symbolic strongholds like Crimea. At the same time, NATO support has strengthened, Europe is expanding its defense cooperation with Kyiv, and President Donald Trump has struck a noticeably warmer tone...

Iran’s government emerged from the war with a powerful new story to tell: it withstood attacks from the United States and Israel, kept its grip on power, and gained fresh leverage in the region. But that is not how the conflict looks from inside the country.

For ordinary Iranians, the conflict has brought more fear, deeper economic pain, and little sign that the political change many hoped for is any closer. The protest movement that shook the country has been pushed underground by a brutal crackdown, while the government uses internet restrictions to make it harder fo...

America turns 250 at a time when even celebrating the country can feel political. In the latest episode of the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with comedian and political commentator Bill Maher to discuss patriotism, polarization, and the arguments Americans are having over what their country represents.

Maher argues that patriotism should not belong to US President Donald Trump or any one political party. Americans can confront the country’s failures, he says, without losing sight of the ideals and institutions that have helped drive progress: the rule of law, civil rights, scientific inquiry, and a sy...

What can Democrats learn from winning in America's ultimate swing state? On the latest episode of the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to discuss the future of the Democratic Party, the growing crisis of trust in American institutions, and the biggest challenges facing the country at home and abroad.

The conversation spans a wide range of issues: the future of North American trade and USMCA, the economic impact of tariffs, the war in Iran, changing US policy toward Israel, and the challenge of regulating artificial intelligence without stifling innovation. Shapiro...

The World Cup descends on North America this week, bringing with it billions of viewers, billions of dollars, and no shortage of political controversy. But according World Cup Fever author Simon Kuper, none of that is new - the tournament has always reflected the world around it.

On GZERO World, Kuper and Ian Bremmer discuss how national teams have become flashpoints in debates over immigration and identity, why FIFA remains one of the world's most powerful and least accountable organizations, how Iran's World Cup campaign could become a geopolitical spectacle, and what the tournament reveals about nationalism...

From birthright citizenship to the independence of federal agencies, the Supreme Court is poised to decide a series of cases that could redefine the balance of power in Washington. Yale legal scholar and New York Times Magazine staff writer Emily Bazelon joins Ian Bremmer to assess what's at stake and whether the judiciary remains an effective check on presidential authority.

Bazelon argues that Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship is unlikely to succeed, but says other pending cases involving the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission could significantly expand presidential control over agencies that Congress intentionally...

Operation Epic Fury may be over, but the Iran war is far from resolved. On this week's episode, American Enterprise Institute Kori Schake joins Ian Bremmer to discuss the conflict's global ripple effects. 

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to commercial shipping, the US finds itself in what Schake calls a Mexican standoff, unable to force Iran's hand without dramatic escalation, and unwilling to accept the humiliation of ceding control of one of the world's most critical waterways. Meanwhile, Washington's two biggest rivals are gaining ground. Russia is cashing in on higher oil prices at a m...

Ian Bremmer's guest this week is author and Bloomberg defense tech reporter Katrina Manson, who spent years reporting on Project Maven for her new book on the Pentagon's AI push.

The program launched in 2017 with a narrow mandate: use machine learning to process drone footage. It has since expanded into something far more ambitious. Autonomous weapons, drone swarming technology, and AI-assisted targeting are now central to how the Pentagon talks about modern warfare.

The tech rollout is fast, but not reliable. Algorithms fail when the battlefield changes. The targeting process is accelerating to the point...

Historian Michael Bustamante joins Ian Bremmer to discuss Cuba's economic freefall, Trump's end game, and the hopes of Cuban Americans.

This week, Ian Bremmer sits down with University of Miami historian and Cuba expert Michael Bustamante to make sense of the US-Cuba standoff.

Cuba is in its worst crisis in 30 years, with basic necessities like fuel, water and food in short supply. Between one and two million Cubans have left in the past five years, the largest exodus in the island's history. And the opposition is too weak, too scattered, and too decimated by exile...

North Korea has nuclear weapons, a succession plan hiding in plain sight, and a personality cult that has outlasted Stalin's and Mao's combined. Wall Street Journal's Beijing bureau chief Jonathan Cheng argues the world keeps misreading Pyongyang because it insists on reducing it to an authoritarian state.

North Korea is also a religious society, built on a divine rule centered on a "god-king", Cheng argues. Kim Jong Un, third generation leader of the Kim dynasty was able to consolidate his power while developping the nuclear arsenal his father had succesfully created.

Now, with the Iran...

Rising energy prices, higher inflation, and growing economic uncertainty — a Harvard economist says the fallout from the Iran war is already being felt.

On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Harvard economist and former IMF Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath to unpack how the conflict is rippling through the global economy. As oil and gas prices surge, inflation is climbing, adding new costs for households and businesses and putting pressure on growth worldwide.

Gopinath explains that while the immediate hit to global growth may seem modest, the bigger concern is longer-term “structural dama...

Ian Bremmer sits down with Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and political scientist, to discuss Hungary's consequential upcoming election and what it means for the far right globally.

For sixteen years, Viktor Orbán has dominated Hungarian politics, rewriting rules, consolidating power, and positioning himself as Europe's leading nationalist and Donald Trump's closest ally on the continent. But with parliamentary elections approaching on April 12th, his aura of invincibility is finally cracking. Opposition candidate Péter Magyar, a conservative former Orbán insider, is polling ahead by double digits, and the Trump administration is...

Ian Bremmer and Rahm Emanuel discuss the deepening conflict in the Middle East, US foreign policy under Trump, and the upcoming midterms.

Rahm Emanuel argues that this is a war of choice, one President Trump made himself, not one driven by external pressures like Israel’s influence. While the Prime Minister of Israel has long pushed for military action, Emanuel stresses that the responsibility for war ultimately lies with the US president, not foreign actors. He also highlights how America’s fractured political system has complicated decision-making, making it harder for the US to act with a unif...

Ian Bremmer sits down with Thomas Wright, Brookings Institution fellow and former Senior Director at the US National Security Council, to unpack the deepening war in Iran and the divergent strategies shaping it.

What are the possible outcomes for the widening conflict in Iran? What began as a dramatic opening strike has evolved into a far more complex war, with Washington, Jerusalem, and Tehran all pursuing different aims. Wright argues this isn’t simply about degrading military capability; it’s about competing endgames that may pull the region in unpredictable directions.

As Wright explains, the Unit...

While Washington has become more hostile to globalization, Americans continue to buy foreign goods in record numbers. Lincicome notes that economic nationalism is “about an inch deep,” with support collapsing when Americans face higher prices for domestic products.

The conversation also explores the impact of tariffs on businesses and consumers. Lincicome explains that if certain tariffs are ruled illegal, companies could seek refunds totaling up to $175 billion, potentially through litigation rather than administrative action. Krugman emphasizes that while policy debates grab headlines, public perception and midterm politics may ultimately matter more than the details of trade law or c...

Ian Bremmer sits down with Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace to examine Iran’s precarious position on the global stage and the forces shaping the country. At the heart of the discussion is the regime’s internal fragility. Sadjadpour explains that many inside Iran, including elements of the Revolutionary Guards, are “waiting for Ayatollah Khamenei to die.” 

The conversation also explores Iran’s isolation in the international arena. While 90% of its oil goes to China at deep discounts, Sadjadpour points out that Chinese and Russian interests in Iran diverge sharply. Despite the pressures at home and ab...

From sweeping tariffs to threats of military action and withdrawal from international institutions, Trump has demonstrated a willingness to break with the United States' approach to international relations. When the US shifts from global order architect to challenger, what kind of system emerges, and how do other countries react? On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with former US Trade Representative and Council on Foreign Relations President Michael Froman to discuss.

Michael Froman tells Ian Bremmer that under Trump's second term, he’s been less surprised by a single policy shift than by how quickly ot...

As more small businesses move sales, payments, and customer relationships online, they unlock new opportunities, but they also become easier targets for cyber-criminals and other threat actors.

In this episode of Local to global: The power of small business, host JJ Ramberg sits down with Shamina Singh, Founder & President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and Brian Cute, Interim CEO and Director of Capacity & Resilience at the Global Cyber Alliance, to explore what Southeast Asia’s fast-growing digital economy reveals about the cybersecurity challenges facing micro, small and medium-sized businesses everywhere.

Together, they unpack wh...

How does a small country like Singapore, strategically positioned between the US and China, navigate a world of growing uncertainty? On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to unpack a global order in flux. For a small country at a global crossroads, managing the current geopolitical moment isn't an abstract concept. It is central to its survival. Despite "radical uncertainty," the city-state has continued to flourish as a global hub for finance, trade, and technology.

From the sidelines of Davos, Bremmer and Shanmugaratnam look at the rapidly changing global or...

The GZERO World Podcast heads to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum this week for a look at transatlantic relations and how President Trump’s second term is reshaping the global order. Uncertainty and tensions were high this week as Trump doubled down on his desire to control Greenland—before announcing a deal with NATO over the Danish territory’s future and walking back tariff threats. Ian Bremmer spoke with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on the sidelines of Davos to discuss the future of the transatlantic relationship, Arctic security, the war in Ukraine and why, despite so many geopol...

It’s been a year since President Trump returned to office, this time with fewer constraints, a better understanding of how government works, and a much more muscular view of US foreign policy. This week on the GZERO World Podcast, Harvard’s Stephen Walt joins Ian Bremmer to help answer a simple question with complicated answers: what kind of presidency is he building this time around?

Over the past year, we’ve seen a dramatic expansion of presidential power and a rewriting of America's role in the world. There’s been a retreat from multilateral institutions, targeting of long...

Ian Bremmer unpacks the fallout from the Trump administration’s dramatic operation in Caracas that captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the US to face federal charges. The raid was a stark demonstration of American power, and few are mourning the fall of a leader whose rule helped collapse Venezuela and drive millions to flee. But even with Maduro gone, the hard questions start immediately: who governs now, how long does the US stay involved, and how quickly could “stability” turn into something far messier?

First, Bremmer speaks with Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego, who say...

With the global order under increasing strain, 2026 is shaping up to be a tipping point for geopolitics. From political upheaval in the United States to widening conflicts abroad, the risks facing governments, markets, and societies are converging faster—and more forcefully—than at any time in recent memory.

To break it all down, journalist Julia Chatterley moderated a wide-ranging conversation with Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, and a panel of Eurasia Group experts, to examine the findings of their newly-released Top Risks of 2026 report.

One theme dominates the discussion: the United Stat...

This week, instead of zooming in on a single conflict, the GZERO World Podcast looks back on 2025 and takes stock of a world increasingly defined by conflict. Ian Bremmer sits down with CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward and Comfort Ero, President and CEO of the International Crisis Group to look at some of the biggest crises of 2025–-both the headline making wars and the ones the world overlooked.

Gaza and Ukraine captured the world’s attention this year. But at the same time, around 60 other armed conflicts and struggles have been raging around the world. It’s the...

At a moment when Americans can’t agree on much of anything, one unlikely institution still commands broad trust: Wikipedia. Ian Bremmer sits down with Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales to ask why the crowdsourced encyclopedia remains one of the most visited and relied-upon sites in the world, even as trust in media, government, and tech companies continues to collapse.

That trust, Wales argues, comes from Wikipedia’s decentralized model and its refusal to speak with a single authoritative voice on contested issues. “We don’t try to answer the question or take a side,” Wales says. “What we do is des...

Computer scientist and Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast to talk about artificial intelligence, the technology transforming our society faster than anything humans have ever built. The question is: how fast is too fast? Hinton is known as the “Godfather of AI.” He helped build the neural networks that made today’s generative AI tools possible and that work earned him the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics. But recently, he’s turned from a tech evangelist to a whistleblower, warning that the technology he helped create will displace millions of jobs and eventually destroy humanity...

The US is ramping up pressure on Venezuela, with the USS Gerald R. Ford deployed to the region, CIA covert operations approved by the White House, and strikes on suspected narco‑trafficking vessels attributed to Caracas. Many analysts now see regime change as the ultimate goal. On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer and former US Ambassador James Story game out what a US intervention in Venezuela might look like—and more importantly, how the US would manage the aftermath.

Story points out that while removing Nicolás Maduro may sound feasible, rebuilding Venezuela’s institutions, economy and social fa...

As populations grow and communities evolve, transportation authorities and urban infrastructure are seeking ways to modernize.

In this episode of “Local to global: The power of small business,” host JJ Ramberg sits down with Chapin Flynn, Senior Vice President of Transit and Urban Mobility at Mastercard, and Mark Langmead, Director of Revenue & Compass Operations at TransLink in Vancouver, to explore how cities are making transit easier, faster, and more seamless for riders–an approach known as frictionless urban mobility.

They discuss how innovations like contactless tap-and-go technologies are reducing dwell time, speeding up boarding, and produc...

In 1929, unchecked speculation and economic hype helped fuel the worst financial crash in modern history. Nearly a century later, New York Times journalist and CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin sees troubling parallels. On the GZERO World podcast, he joins Ian Bremmer to talk about his new book, "1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation," and whether today’s economy is headed for another cliff.

Sorkin warns that behind today’s AI boom and market exuberance lies an undercurrent of fragility—historic debt levels, shaky private credit markets, and investors chasing returns...

What can the US learn from the benefits–and perils–of China’s quest to engineer the future? Tech analyst and author Dan Wang joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to discuss his new book "Breakneck," China’s infrastructure boom, and the future of the US-China relationship. Over the last two decades, China has transformed into what Wang calls an “engineering state,” marshaling near unlimited resources to build almost anything–roads, bridges, entire cities overnight. That investment has created astounding growth, but also domestic challenges and soaring debt. It’s also led to a stubborn belief within the Chinese gove...

US President Donald Trump has been piling the pressure on Russia and Venezuela in recent weeks. He placed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil firms and bolstered the country’s military presence around Venezuela – while continuing to bomb ships coming off Venezuela’s shores. But what exactly are Trump’s goals? And can he achieve them? And how are Russia and Venezuela, two of the largest oil producers in the world, responding? 

GZERO's Zac Weisz and Riley Callanan discuss.

Hosts: Zac Weisz, Riley Callanan

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This is normally where you’ll find extended versions of Ian Bremmer's interviews from the public television show, but today we're bringing you something a little different. Ian just returned from Tokyo, Japan where he delivered his annual State of the World address to packed audience of diplomats, business leaders, and opinion makers from around the world.

Each year, this speech is a chance to take stock of where things stand geopolitically, and today the picture is more uncertain than ever. We’re not just facing new conflicts and crises. We’re facing a deeper transformation of the gl...

Can we align AI with society’s best interests? Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to discuss the risks to humanity and society as tech firms ignore safety and prioritize speed in the race to build more and more powerful AI models. AI is the most powerful technology humanity has ever built. It can cure disease, reinvent education, unlock scientific discovery. But there is a danger to rolling out new technologies en masse to society without understanding the possible risks. The tradeoff between AI’s risks and potential rewa...