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2022's geopolitical twists and turns: Anne-Marie Slaughter & Tom Nichols discuss
From the rise and fall of the Roman Empire to the blink-of-an-eye tenure of British PM Liz Truss, political power is fleeting.
Just look at Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
Putin, who started 2022 as one of the most powerful leaders in the world, in many ways has now become a global pariah. Zelensky, a former comedian few trusted with a crisis, is now TIME Magazine's Person of the Year.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer looks back at 2022 and forward to 2023 with frequent guests of the show: New America CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter and The Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols.
Were fears about US democracy in peril overblown or justified? Did China's Xi Jinping gain more power, or was his regime "cut down to size" when the zero-COVID policy finally caused massive protests? Russia's invasion of Ukraine upended the geopolitical balance around the world, but where will the war lead - especially if Putin really has no endgame?
This interview was featured in a GZERO World episode: On Russia’s reckoning, China’s vulnerability & US democracy’s Dunkirk
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- Podcast: Not infallible: Russia, China, and US democracy with Tom Nichols & Anne-Marie Slaughter ›
- Disinformation the “biggest threat” from Russia – Anne-Marie Slaughter ›
2022 showed Xi Jinping is not invincible; 2023 will be "rocky year" for him
What a year 2022 has been for Xi Jinping.
On the one hand, China's leader made clear he's the big boss after the 20th Communist Party Congress. On the other, he's been forced to roll back his zero-COVID policy following protests and the damage to the economy.
What will 2023 hold for Xi?
“It will be a rocky year for China,” former US State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World. Moving away from lockdowns was long overdue, but the big problem now is that a large part of the elderly population is unvaccinated.
And it's very striking, she adds, that Xi had to reverse course when he realized he couldn't stop the protests.
For international relations expert Tom Nichols, the experience humbled Xi, whose "regime has been cut down to size." China, he points out, is no longer 10 feet tall like in the early days of COVID but just another government facing the same problems they all did during the pandemic.
Watch the GZERO World episode: On Russia’s reckoning, China’s vulnerability & US democracy’s Dunkirk
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Russia has no endgame — but it's not out of the game (yet)
Russia's war in Ukraine upended geopolitics in 2022. And its fallout will extend into 2023.
The one thing that keeps international relations expert Tom Nichols up at night is that there's no endgame for Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council turned nuclear-armed rogue state.
On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, former US State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter pushes back, arguing that while Russia may have gone rogue for the West, much of the rest of the world is still happy to deal with Moscow.
Still, Nichols says Vladimir Putin is a terrible strategist because he was already getting what he wanted before invading Ukraine: global institutions were weakening. If they hold now, he adds, it'll be thanks to Putin.
What's more, for Slaughter the Russian military has performed so poorly in Ukraine that they've made the Ukrainians "look pretty good by comparison."
Watch the GZERO World episode: On Russia’s reckoning, China’s vulnerability & US democracy’s Dunkirk
American democracy dodged a bullet in 2022
Were fears about US democracy in peril being overblown?
No, and in fact we're underestimating the danger, says Tom Nichols, a staff-writer at The Atlantic and author of the book "Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within On Modern Democracy."
"Election deniers and various other cooks and weirdos almost took over state offices," he tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World, "and they're all coming back for another bite of the apple in 2024.”
For Anne-Marie Slaughter, former US State Department official and now CEO of New America, the main takeaway from the US midterms was Gov. Ron DeSantis's huge margin of victory in Florida and the many Trump-backed candidates who lost big. Both outcomes have massive implications for 2024.
Will the former POTUS beat DeSantis to win the GOP presidential nomination? Nichols, who used to be a Republican, puts Trump's odds at 60-70% and says he's amazed that some people question President Biden running again. It wouldn't be a debate for most other presidents.
Watch the GZERO World episode: On Russia’s reckoning, China’s vulnerability & US democracy’s Dunkirk
On Russia’s reckoning, China’s vulnerability & US democracy’s Dunkirk
2022 started and ended very differently for Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
Putin has gone from all-powerful to global pariah. Zelensky from untrustworthy former comedian to TIME magazine's Person of the Year.
It's one of the oldest lessons in the history books: political power can be fleeting.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer looks back at 2022 and forward to 2023 with two frequent guests of the show: former US State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter and The Atlantic contributor Tom Nichols.
Lots to talk about: Ukraine, the state of American democracy, and Xi Jinping's rocky year.
Does Russia still have game after its disaster of a war in Ukraine? Did US democracy dodge a bullet with the unexpected result of the midterms? And has walking back zero-COVID humbled Xi on the year of his CCP coronation?
Podcast: Not infallible: Russia, China, and US democracy with Tom Nichols & Anne-Marie Slaughter
Listen: From the largest European land invasion since World War II in Ukraine to the essential “coronation” of the world’s most powerful person in Beijing, to one of the biggest political comebacks for Democrats in Washington, 2022 has been quite the year. Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America, and Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic, join Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast to look back at the remarkable power shifts of 2022 and what it might mean for the year ahead.
Were fears about US democracy in peril overblown or justified? Did China's Xi Jinping gain more power, or was his regime "cut down to size" when the zero-COVID policy finally caused massive protests? Russia's invasion of Ukraine upended the geopolitical balance around the world, but where will the war lead - especially if Putin really has no endgame?
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.- Podcast: Can the US get its act together? Susan Glasser & Peter Baker on "the world’s greatest geopolitical crisis" ›
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- Disinformation the “biggest threat” from Russia – Anne-Marie Slaughter ›
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Why ‘America first’ means “America involved”
What's the biggest foreign policy misconception that Americans have about the US's role in the world? According to international relations expert Tom Nichols, too few Americans believe that the US, in fact, has a critical role in the world, and that the things Americans enjoy, from cheap goods to safe streets, are made possible because of American global leadership. "Americans have become so spoiled and inured to the idea that the world is a dangerous place that they don't understand that the seas are navigable because someone makes them that way. They don't understand that peace between the great powers is not simply like the weather, that just happens," Nichols tells Ian Bremmer. Their conversation is featured on an episode of GZERO World, airing on US public television – check local listings.
Watch the episode: Make politics "boring" again: Joe Biden's first 100 Days
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America’s “narcissism pandemic”: Tom Nichols, author of "Our Own Worst Enemy"
Is America's real problem a "narcissism pandemic"? According to Tom Nichols, an Atlantic contributor and author of "Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within On Modern Democracy,," the coronavirus pandemic has revealed the degree to which Americans expect things to come easily to them. "There is a real selfishness and self-absorption and narcissism that has come with living in a country that is peaceful, prosperous, affluent, super high standards of living—technological innovations that we now just take for granted that things just work." Ian Bremmer asks Nichols to suggest some solutions to the problem in an interview on GZERO World, airing on US public television.
Watch the episode: Make politics "boring" again: Joe Biden's first 100 Days