We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
A protester is seen carrying a Canadian rainbow flag.
Hard Numbers: LGBTQ travel warning, drug deal on ice, weaker growth spurs rate hopes, bees hit the road
1 million: In response to a growing number of US state laws that discriminate against LGBTQ people, Canada has issued a travel warning for anyone visiting the southern neighbor. At least 1 million of Canada’s 40 million people openly identify as LGBTQ.
0: So far, zero US states have been able to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canadian wholesalers, despite the Trump administration’s move to permit this practice three years ago. Texas has now become the latest, and largest, state to apply, spurring hopes that the FDA will accelerate approvals for the program.
1.1: Canada will announce second-quarter GDP numbers on Friday, and economists expect growth of just 1.1%, a marked slowdown from the 3.1% clip reached in the first quarter. The silver lining? This may give the Bank of Canada room to pause on its rate hikes, which reached a 22-year high back in July as inflation remains toasty. The next rate-setting meeting is on September 6.
5 million: How’s this for some buzz to start the day? Several crates carrying some 5 million bees fell off a truck during the Wednesday morning rush hour in Burlington, Ontario, prompting police to urge motorists to roll up their windows and call for anyone with beekeeping experience to lend a hand.
The Graphic Truth: Worlds Apart on LGBTQ Rights
LGBTQ+ rights are not distributed equally around the globe. While some countries are taking progressive steps toward equal rights, just as many are implementing discriminatory and dangerous anti-LGBTQ legislation. From Latin America to Oceania, members of the LGBTQ+ community still face repression, imprisonment, and even death threats.
On the positive side: A Japanese court ruled last week that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, paving the way toward legalization. Also, in 2022 we saw Cuba and Switzerland add themselves to the list of countries that recognize same-sex unions.
Meanwhile, Uganda signed the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws in May, mandating the death penalty for homosexual acts and 20-year prison sentences for anyone who promotes homosexuality. In the US, there are currently 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures. While not all of them will become law, they all hurt the LGBTQ community – both domestically and globally. After all, each domestic effort also reflects a weakening US resolve to stand up for LGBTQ rights on the global stage.
We take a look at the landscape of rights for same-sex couples around the globe.
The Graphic Truth: Worlds apart on LGBTQ rights
LGBTQ+ rights are not distributed equally around the globe. While some countries are taking progressive steps towards equal rights, just as many are implementing discriminatory and dangerous anti-LGBTQ legislation. From Latin America to Oceania, members of the LGBTQ+ community still face repression, imprisonment, and even death threats.
On the positive side: A Japanese court ruled last week that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, paving the way toward legalization. Also, in 2022 we saw Cuba and Switzerland add themselves to the list of countries that recognize same-sex unions.
Meanwhile, Uganda signed the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws in May, mandating the death penalty for homosexual acts and 20-year prison sentences for anyone who promotes homosexuality. In the US, there are currently 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures. While not all of them will become law, they all hurt the LGBTQ community – both domestically and globally. After all, each domestic effort also reflects a weakening US resolve to stand up for LGBTQ rights on the global stage.
We take a look at the landscape of rights for same-sex couples around the globe.
What Eurovision means to Ukrainians at war
Where else will you find banana-inspired wolves, dubstep rapping astronauts, or earworms about vampires? It’s Eurovision, of course: the 70-year-old song contest that pits nations against each other in an annual spectacle of camp, kitsch, and catchy melodies.
But for Ukrainians – who have won the contest three times in the past 20 years – the contest is about something much more.
On GZERO Reports, we visit a secret Eurovision watch party outside of Kyiv, a drag party in New York City, and look at how Eurovision is more political than you – or those wolves, astronauts, and vampires – could imagine.
For the uninitiated, the colorful annual Eurovision Song Contest pits countries against each other in a spectacle of camp, kitsch, and catchy pop music. It’s like the Olympics meets American Idol meets Burning Man. Each country submits an original song, and the winner is chosen through a combination of audience and professional jury votes.
The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes Eurovision, says the contest isn’t political (they turned down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's request to speak at the finale), but in its almost 70-year history, politics have always found a way of creeping in.
Last Saturday’s Grand Finale was no exception. This year’s contest, held in Liverpool, England, was full of messages of unity and support for Ukraine, who could not host Eurovision after winning in 2022 because of the Russian invasion. GZERO traveled to two very different Eurovision watch parties—one in the heart of New York City and one in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of Kyiv—to see how politics and pop music come together for fans around the world.
"Just to see so much solidarity and so much diversity of thought and backgrounds embracing Ukraine through the power of music is very encouraging,” said Maxim Ibadov, the National Coordinator of RUSA LGBTQ+ and organizer of the NYC event, “Because Ukraine has beautiful culture and I’m so happy it’s being celebrated.”
Watch the upcoming episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television, airing nationwide. Check local listings.
- Hard Numbers: German arms for Ukraine, Serbia rejects ‘thoughts and prayers,' deadly storm hits Myanmar and Bangladesh, Sweden sweeps Eurovision ›
- The Graphic Truth: Eurovision – beating swords into microphones, sort of ›
- Hard Numbers: Ukraine wins Eurovision, Somalia’s new prez, Venezuela woos investors, CDU victory ›
A map showing countries in Africa and Asia that criminalize same-sex acts, by degree of punishment.
The Graphic Truth: Criminalizing LGBTQ love
Last week, Uganda’s parliament passed legislation that criminalizes identifying as LGBTQ, which puts individuals at risk of life imprisonment, or in some cases, even death. Similarly, draconian legislation over identifying as LGBTQ is under consideration in Ghana, and VP Kamala Harris’s visit to Zambia this week – for a summit celebrating democracy – is stoking anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. As of 2023, many parts of the world are still unsafe for the LGBTQ community, as same-sex acts are deemed illegal in 65 countries, from Latin America to Oceania. The death penalty is a possibility in 11 countries worldwide. We look at the range of penalties in Africa and Asia, the two continents with the highest number of countries criminalizing same-sex acts.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff walk to a helicopter on their way to Cape Coast in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday March 28, 2023.
What We’re Watching: Zambia warns against anti-LGBTQ protests, AI scares tech leaders
Zambia warns against anti-LGBTQ protests ahead of Harris’s arrival
Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema is warning against anti-LGBTQ protests ahead of US Veep Kamala Harris’s visit Friday, part of a three-nation Africa tour aimed at shoring up US relations across Africa.
While in Lusaka, Harris will (virtually) address the Summit for Democracy, a Biden-crafted international conference designed to bolster democratic institutions and norms amid rising global authoritarianism. But dozens of Zambian opposition MPs claim the summit also aims to introduce gay rights to the country.
The opposition Patriotic Front Party reportedly plans to hold protests before the summit, but Hichilema has called for calm and for a dialogue with his opponents. Earlier this month, he vowed to maintain Zambia’s laws criminalizing consensual same-sex acts, which carry a life sentence.
This isn’t the first time gay rights have come up during Harris’s tour. In Ghana, she noted that LGBTQ rights are human rights but did not discuss the proposed Ghanaian bill to criminalize LGBTQ identification and advocacy. Harris’s visit also follows Uganda’s adoption last week of a draconian law that criminalizes identifying as LGBTQ, which could involve the death penalty in some cases.
Is AI getting too smart, too fast?
Yes, according to billionaire Elon Musk and over 1,000 other artificial intelligence luminaries, who've published an open letter calling for a six-month "pause" on further AI development. Why? So it doesn't threaten humanity by creating digital minds so powerful that they can't be controlled by humans.
But perhaps "humanity" is code for white-collar jobs. After all, Goldman Sachs just warned that AI could put up to 300 million people out of work in a decade. Most at-risk jobs are desk gigs, not blue-collar manufacturing jobs we once thought would be wiped out by automation.
Should that be more or less important than stopping AI from automating political misinformation in social media? And what if China takes advantage of the pause to beat the US in the AI race? Let us know your thoughts on taking an AI break here.
A sculpture of the World Cup trophy is pictured in front of Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
Will politics or soccer win Qatar's World Cup?
Sunday is the day half the world has been eagerly awaiting for four years. The men's soccer World Cup — the most-watched event of the most popular sport on the planet — kicks off in, of all places, Qatar.
Hold up. A World Cup in a tiny country with zero soccer tradition that’s never qualified for the tournament? Yep. And that’s just one reason why, so far, this particular edition has grabbed more headlines over its scandals than the Beautiful Game.
First, Qatar has been called out for its dismal human rights record, especially regarding migrant workers. In February 2021, a bombshell report by The Guardian claimed that more than 6,500 guest laborers from South Asia had died while building the stadiums. (The Qataris, of course, deny it all.)
And then there's how Qatar treats LGBTQ people. Same-sex relationships are strictly banned, transgender people must undergo conversion therapy, and until a couple of months ago LGBTQ people were still being detained for no reason other than, well, being LGBTQ. Doha has tried to downplay it, but the tournament's official ambassador did it no favors when he told German TV that homosexuality is "damage in the mind."
Second, it all reeks of corruption. And that's on both sides: Qatar and FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, with a long and checkered history of being riddled with graft.
Ever since it awarded the 2022 tournament to Qatar — and the 2018 edition to Russia — over higher-merit bids almost 12 years ago, FIFA hasn't been able to shake the widely held suspicion that bribes were taken. The scandal blew wide open in 2015, when the FBI indicted some top officials for running FIFA like a mafia and forced longtime President Sepp Blatter to step down.
But even after FIFA admitted missing red flags like the sizzling temperature, it decided to keep Qatar as host. The consequence? For the first time, the World Cup was rescheduled for the winter months, requiring domestic soccer championships everywhere to take a two-month break in the middle of the season (allegedly) thanks to gas-rich Qatar's deep pockets.
FIFA got away with it because, quite simply, it has too much global sway. Indeed, the political power that comes with deciding who gets to host the most-followed sporting event on the planet cannot be understated.
Qatar, for its part, is using the World Cup to pitch itself as a peace-loving Middle Eastern country that wants to attract more tourism and foreign investment, sell more of its plentiful natural gas, and project more soft power in a notoriously volatile region.
There's been (some) backlash. In the run-up to the tournament, Qatar has become toxic for celebrities. While singers like Rod Stewart or Dua Lipa were praised for turning down hefty sums to headline the opening ceremony, Nicki Minaj got flak for recording the tournament’s theme song following the social media outcry over Qatar's anti-LGBT laws.
Meanwhile, in Europe activist fans have piled on by calling for a boycott. Whether that means not watching in person or not watching at all is unclear, but so far the strongest national team reaction has come from Denmark, whose players will wear "toned-down" uniforms in Qatar.
Yet, despite all the controversy, the vast majority of soccer nuts around the globe will still tune in. Why?
For one thing, it's not the first time a World Cup host has had a dodgy human rights record. After all, Argentina won its first trophy at home in 1978 while the country was run by a fearsome military junta. For another, the political stuff usually stops when the ball starts rolling.
Once the tournament is underway, most fans’ attention will switch quickly from human rights to the human magic expected from the feet of megastars like Leo Messi, Kylian Mbappé, or Neymar. (We'd mention Cristiano Ronaldo too, but he's in a bit of a slump these days.)
So, dear reader, let's kick the question over to you: Will the story of Qatar 2022 be scandal or soccer? And while we're at it, who do you think will win? The smart money seems to be on Argentina and Brazil, but there are plenty of underdogs — hello, Senegal — with a shot at going all the way.
Let us know your thoughts on either here.This was featured in Signal, the daily politics newsletter of GZERO Media. For smart coverage of global affairs that normal people can understand, subscribe here.
The Graphic Truth: LGBTQI identification vs. social acceptance
International polls often gauge what percentage of a given population identify as LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex). But the willingness of people to divulge their gender identification and sexual preference is likely influenced by social and cultural attitudes towards LGBTQI people. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, where same-sex sexual acts can be punishable by death, no one is going to be upfront about their sexual proclivities. We look at the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQI in G20 countries, as well as how each of these countries rank on UCLA Law School’s LGBTI Social Acceptance Index.
This comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Subscribe for your free daily Signal today.