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The United States will no longer play global policeman, and no one else wants the job. This is not a G-7 or a G-20 world. Welcome to the GZERO, a world made volatile by an intensifying international battle for power and influence. Every week on this podcast, Ian Bremmer will interview the world leaders and the thought leaders shaping our GZERO World.

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The global aid crisis, with David Miliband

The global aid crisis, with David Miliband

Humanitarian aid isn’t just charity—it’s the world’s safety net against disease, conflict, and instability. David Miliband joins Ian Bremmer to unpack what America’s retreat from global aid means for the world and what comes next.

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 each year. But amid two major global crises–the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the war in Iran–the system is under more strain than ever before. Humanitarian aid is more than charity, it’s what keeps crises from spiraling out of control and conflict from spilling over borders. Can anything be done to keep the system from collapsing entirely? Who, if anyone, is stepping up to fill the vacuum left by the United States? Fresh from a trip to Ukraine, Miliband talks about the humanitarian need on the ground there, the ripple effects of the US pullback, and where the international relief system goes from here.

“The real state of American foreign aid is massively reduced,” Miliband says, “And when America's absent, absent on aid, absent on diplomacy, absence on economics, the vacuum gets filled.
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gzero world ian bremmer aid global aid humanitarian aid ukraine syria sudan uk politics david miliband

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