Signs of Russian climbdown following Macron-Putin meeting

How did the Macron-Putin meeting go? What is going on with the Canadian truckers' protest? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

How did the Macron-Putin meeting go?

What was five hours long and it was like a football field away from each other. And of course, Macron is focused on his election coming up. So with all of that, you'd think it would be problematic, but actually engagement between Macron and Biden the day before was pretty strong. And it does look like the ball’s moved a little bit diplomatically. Most importantly, some of the news coming out of the Kremlin overnight that indeed the Russians are planning on taking those troops out of Belarus after the military exercises are over. Now I mean, of course, if they say they are planning on taking them back out of Belarus and putting them into Ukraine, that would be a technicality, but pretty bad. But no, actually that does seem like a bit of a climbdown. Still, Putin is not friendly. He is blustering all over the place and certainly, he wants to be respected. He doesn't feel like he is right now. But on balance we're in a slightly better place because of the Macron meeting than we were the day before.

What is going on with the Canadian truckers' protest?

Well, a relatively small number of Canadian truckers who are anti vax mandate in the country decided to basically shut down central Ottawa. And first of all, it's not about the truckers as a whole. 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated. Secondly, this was largely the Canadian government in Ottawa not wanting any confrontation and so allowing these truckers to come in and basically take over the city and make lots of people miserable. And now they've declared a state of emergency. What is interesting is that the Conservative Party in Canada is becoming much more populist and the potential for a Trump-style leader in Canada to take over the conservative movement and potentially even win the premiership is real. And that would be kind of shocking for those that are focused on Canada as the nicer, softer side of the United States. There is a real populist movement that's gaining strength in Canada and the truckers are a part of it.