Skip to content
Search
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

News

A Week of Rising International Risk

A Week of Rising International Risk
Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksAugust 09, 2019
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
See Full Bio

The most consequential story in international politics right now is the sheer number of potentially consequential stories. Here are ten of them.

A Brexit Crash

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts during a speech on domestic priorities at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester

A Brexit Crash: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain will leave the European Union, with or without a deal on the future UK-EU relationship, by October 31. A no-deal Brexit poses serious economic risks for both sides. What if Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn calls a no-confidence vote, triggering a two-week process in which parliament must form an alternative majority to prevent an early election? Leaked comments from Johnson advisor Dominic Cummings signal that, even if an alternative majority becomes apparent, the prime minister could refuse to resign… and call an election to be held after October 31. Imagine the resulting chaos.

The bottom line: None of these stories is fated to end in disaster for those exposed to them. But all of them look to be moving in the wrong direction.

Latest Videos

Putin & Xi sit with gratitude in new podcastplay icon
Puppet Regime

Putin & Xi sit with gratitude in new podcast

How can we fix the AI divide?
Commission on the Status of Women

How can we fix the AI divide?

Emanuel: Iran’s veto over Strait of Hormuz “unacceptable”
GZERO World Clips

Emanuel: Iran’s veto over Strait of Hormuz “unacceptable”

How Americans feel about the war in Iran
ask ian

How Americans feel about the war in Iran

Trump postpones military strikes on Iran's power plants
Quick Take

Trump postpones military strikes on Iran's power plants

Trump tells it "strait" to Merz and Macron
Puppet Regime

Trump tells it "strait" to Merz and Macron

More For You

How AI is being used in the Iran war

​Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 3, 2026.

Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 3, 2026.

Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Syria was the first social media war, where the Syrian government harnessed the power of social media to spread misinformation. Ukraine was the first drone war, taking combat beyond the trenches. Now, the Iran conflict is the first artificial intelligence war, as the world’s strongest military embraces the technology.Admiral Brad Cooper, the head [...]

Jury finds social media giants negligent in landmark trial

Jury finds social media giants negligent in landmark trial
On Wednesday, a jury found the tech giants liable for designing platforms – Instagram and YouTube – that are harmful to young people, a landmark verdict outcome that could open up social media companies to more lawsuits over users’ mental health. Half of each company’s payment is to compensate the plaintiff for her losses, including therapy, and [...]

Pakistan potentially moderating Iran peace talks, Energy protests in the Philippines, the US gender pay widens

Israeli emergency services, security officials and residents gather at the missile impact site, after Iranian missile barrages were launched at Israel, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in the Arab city of Kafr Qassem in Israel, March 26, 2026. Picture taken using a mobile phone. ​

Israeli emergency services, security officials and residents gather at the missile impact site, after Iranian missile barrages were launched at Israel, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in the Arab city of Kafr Qassem in Israel, March 26, 2026. Picture taken using a mobile phone.

REUTERS/Rami Amichay
Pakistan the peace broker?As the Iran conflict continues to rage on, one country has emerged as a potential mediator. Pakistan said on Thursday it is relaying messages between the US and Iran, and Iranian officials suggested they’d consider meeting US negotiators in Islamabad over the next week, per The New York Times. Israel also reportedly took [...]

Trump's Iran climbdown wasn't an offramp

​A foreign tanker carrying Iraqi fuel oil damaged after catching fire in Iraq's territorial waters, following unidentified attacks that targeted two foreign tankers, according to Iraqi port officials, near Basra, Iraq, March 12, 2026.

A foreign tanker carrying Iraqi fuel oil damaged after catching fire in Iraq's territorial waters, following unidentified attacks that targeted two foreign tankers, according to Iraqi port officials, near Basra, Iraq, March 12, 2026.

REUTERS/Mohammed Aty
Four weeks into a war nobody planned to still be fighting, President Donald Trump issued Iran an ultimatum: reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours or watch your power grid get obliterated. Iran said no and threatened to retaliate against desalination plants and other civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries. Trump must have found this [...]