Ian Bremmer on Modi & Trump

Ian Bremmer's perspective on what's happening in geopolitics:

What are the takeaways from President Trump's visit to India?

No trade deal, in part because Modi is less popular and he's less willing to focus on economic liberalization. It's about nationalism right now. Hard to get that done. But the India US defense relationship continues to get more robust. In part, those are concerns about China and Russia.

Is Iran the new focal point of coronavirus?

It's still overwhelmingly China, is where the cases are coming from. But I'm personally very concerned about Iran. They clearly have no sense of how much this has expanded, of their ability to control their borders, much more porous, much weaker state. And as a consequence, I think the likelihood this hits pandemic status over the course of the next few days is actually pretty high.

What's going on in Malaysia?

Almost 95 years old, Prime Minister Mahathir, resigns because of all the infighting in his coalition and then comes back, is appointed by the king. He matters. He's like Bernie Sanders, plus another voter at this point. My god, he makes a 78-year-old look like a kid. That's the way Malaysia is running. It's all about him. It's less about the people.