Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

{{ subpage.title }}

Putin "wins" Russia election, but at what cost?
| Ian Bremmer | Quick Take

Putin "wins" Russia election, but at what cost?

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take:

A Quick Take to kick off your week. Want to talk about things Russian. We, of course, just had an “election” that Putin “won.”

There is no opposition to speak of in Russia. If you're running against him and allowed to run, that means that you are considered acceptable to the regime and you're basically there to play against the Harlem Globetrotters. What was it, the senators, the generals? I can't remember what it was called, but that was the group that was there to make the winning team look good. Of course, you know, Putin is not as much fun to watch as the Globetrotters, but he certainly is politically talented and of course, it's important for him to show that he has an historic win with historic turnout better than anyone before in Russia, not quite Turkmen in Turkmenbashi in Central Asia, not quite Aliyev levels in Azerbaijan, but strong enough for Russia.

Read moreShow less
Ian Bremmer on Putin and Tucker
Ian Bremmer on Putin and Tucker | Quick Take

Ian Bremmer on Putin and Tucker

What happened when Tucker Carlson met Vladimir Putin? Was it news, propaganda, theatre, or all three? Ian Bremmer breaks down what you need to know now in his latest Quick Take.

Ian weighs in on Tucker Carlson's highly-anticipated interview with Putin and why it revealed what he and all other megalomaniacs have in common. The two-hour sit-down dropped to much fanfare from all sides of the political spectrum. Will there be any fallout from Putin’s first interview with an American since the start of the “special military operation” in Ukraine?

Read moreShow less

Al Gore's take on American democracy, climate action, and "artificial insanity"

Transcript

Listen: In this episode of GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with former US Vice President Al Gore on the sidelines of Davos in Switzerland. Gore, an individual well-versed in navigating contested elections, shared his perspectives on the current landscape of American politics and, naturally, his renowned contributions to climate action.

While the mainstage discussions at the World Economic Forum throughout the week delved into topics such as artificial intelligence, conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and climate change, behind the scenes, much of the discourse was centered on profound concerns about the upcoming 2024 US election and the state of American democracy. The US presidential election presents substantial risks, particularly with Donald Trump on the path to securing the GOP nomination.

Read moreShow less
Al Gore: "Artificial insanity" threatens democracy
Al Gore: "Artificial insanity" threatens democracy | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Al Gore: "Artificial insanity" threatens democracy

It is not a partisan statement to acknowledge that the future of American democracy is very much an open question. In 2020, we witnessed the first non-peaceful transition of power from one US presidential administration to another for the first time in modern history. And if past is prelude, 2024 could be a good deal worse. So what accounts for the imperiled state of democracy? Misinformation, coupled with technology, is a big part, says former vice president and Nobel laureate Al Gore in an upcoming episode of GZERO World.

Ian Bremmer caught up with Gore on the sidelines of the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to talk about the upcoming US election and, as you might expect, the existential threats posed by climate change. In this clip, Gore talks about today's witches' brew of new technologies, social media, and a lack of shared trust amongst Americans.

Read moreShow less
El Salvador's Bukele: The posterboy for popular authoritarianism
El Salvador's Bukele: The posterboy for popular authoritarianism | GZERO World

El Salvador's Bukele: The posterboy for popular authoritarianism

Here's one country where democracy is on the backslide, and the increasingly authoritarian leader could not be more popular. El Salvador's Nayib Bukele won the presidency at 37, as Latin America's youngest elected head of state, as an outspoken candidate on social media with an affinity for cryptocurrency.

In a wide-ranging interview on the state of global democracy in 2024, Stanford's Francis Fukuyama explains Bukele's crime-fighting appeal: "El Salvador legitimately elected Nayib Bukele as president, but he embarked on this massive effort to simply round up people that he thought were gang members and put them in prison, no trial, no, judicial process to find out whether they're actually guilty or not. And as a result, around 10% of the young men in the country are now sitting in prison. Uh, and it's been quite successful in reducing the level of gang violence in El Salvador by like 90%."

Read moreShow less
Francis Fukuyama: Americans should be very worried about failing democracy
Francis Fukuyama: Americans should be very worried about failing democracy | GZERO World

Francis Fukuyama: Americans should be very worried about failing democracy

The prospect of another Trump presidency can be hard to imagine. Still, before we even get there, we must confront the possibility of political violence in the months leading up to November 5.

With the US presidential election on November 5, many Americans are pondering what another four years of a Trump presidency could mean for the country and the world. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The months leading up to November 5 (and the period after the election but before the January 20 inauguration) could be the most consequential in modern history. That's according to Stanford political scientist Francis Fukuyama, who warns that the capacity for violence amongst Trump supporters is unprecedented.

Read moreShow less

Podcast: America vs itself: Political scientist Francis Fukuyama on the state of democracy

Transcript

Listen: In this edition of the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks with Stanford’s Francis Fukuyama about the state of democracy worldwide and here in the US. 2024 will be a pivotal year for democracy, and nowhere more so than here at home. A quarter of Americans believe that the FBI was behind January 6. But as the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “You’re entitled to your own opinions, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.” But today, in America, we cannot agree on basic facts. On this note, Fukuyama joins Bremmer to discuss the global and domestic threats to democracy.

Read moreShow less

A view shows graves of killed Ukrainian defenders, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a cemetery in Kharkiv, Ukraine January 31, 2023.

REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi

Hard Numbers … after a year of war in Ukraine

300,000: Human losses on both sides of the conflict are mounting (and disputed), but there have been a whopping 300,000 military and civilian deaths on both sides, according to high-end estimates.

Read moreShow less

Subscribe to our free newsletter, GZERO Daily

Latest