VIDEOSGZERO World with Ian BremmerQuick TakePUPPET REGIMEIan ExplainsGZERO ReportsAsk IanGlobal Stage
Site Navigation
Search
Human content,
AI powered search.
Latest Stories
Start your day right!
Get latest updates and insights delivered to your inbox.
Is democracy dead in Israel? Will a fugitive decide Spain's next prime minister? What does Qin Gang's removal say about China? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
Is democracy dead in Israel?
No, not at all. It's very much alive. It's precisely the fact there has been such an extraordinary outcry among so many Israeli citizens and completely peaceful, mind you, over so many months because they're not happy with the efforts to reform, and by reform, I mean, undermine Israel's independent judiciary. The first piece of that that has passed in the last 24 hours is by itself certainly not a death knell for democracy, though it probably would allow Netanyahu to appoint cabinet members that could allow him to no longer face jeopardy from these corruption cases that have been against him. If they persist with the next couple of pieces of legislation that would allow the Knesset, the legislature, to overturn with a simple majority, a judicial decision, that would be a much more significant threat to democracy. We'll see how that plays out over the fall, but certainly this is going to impact the economy, society, and the rest.
Will a fugitive decide Spain's next prime minister?
No, what's happened is that Prime Minister Sanchez recognized that by calling early elections, he could make everybody worry about the far-right Vox party and that if they went down in the polls, there was a shot for him to stay on his PM. That has played out pretty well. The center-right in Spain has done much better, but they don't have enough votes to create a parliament because they don't have a majority and that's because Vox has fallen apart. They're talking about like, anti-woke politics at a time when everyone wants to talk about the economy and people increasingly worried about climate change. So, Vox got destroyed. What's probably going to happen is, can't get a majority and so you'll have to have yet another election. We'll play this out again in the fall.
Finally, what does Qin Gang's removal say about China?
This is the former, now former foreign minister, pretty clear he was going to be out. We haven't heard from him at all in four weeks. China said he was ill for a couple days then didn't. There've been all these rumors and scandals around him. And the reason I thought he was out is because Chinese state media was not trying to repress all of the social commentary about those rumors at any point in the last couple weeks. And given that he was a Xi Jinping direct appointee and skyrocketed and how fast he was able to get the appointment, it was pretty clear there were serious problems. But I don't think this changes foreign policy in China, one whit. I was talking to the US ambassador to the UN the other day, has been dealing with the Chinese ambassador all the way through and she's like, "Nah, he's still been engaging with me as he normally does," so it's bad news for him, but no change for Chinese policy.
Keep reading...Show less
More from ask ian
Trump pulls US out of UNESCO, again
July 22, 2025
Trump announces new plan to arm Ukraine
July 15, 2025
Are NATO allies aligned on Iran?
June 24, 2025
Will Iran’s regime survive?
June 18, 2025
Trump-Musk rift over Trump's "big, beautiful bill"
June 04, 2025
What is Trump after in his latest Gulf states tour?
May 13, 2025
Why Mark Carney’s victory won’t heal the US-Canada rift
April 29, 2025
Trump tariff is starting a US-China trade war
April 08, 2025
What if Japan & South Korea sided with China on US tariffs?
April 01, 2025
US travel warnings issued by its closest allies
March 25, 2025
US-Canada trade war helps Mark Carney's election prospects
March 11, 2025
Why Trump won’t break the Putin-Xi alliance
March 04, 2025
Will Trump & Musk punish Brazil over Bolsonaro indictment?
February 19, 2025
Putin trolls Europe about "the master" Trump
February 04, 2025
DeepSeek puts US-China relations on edge
January 30, 2025
Gaza ceasefire likely as Biden and Trump both push
January 14, 2025
Meta scraps fact-checking program: What next?
January 07, 2025
GZERO Series
GZERO Daily: our free newsletter about global politics
Keep up with what’s going on around the world - and why it matters.






























