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Europe hopes to contain COVID surge; setback for Ukraine's president

europe covid response

Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on Europe In 60 Seconds:

With COVID increasing in France, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere, has Europe lost control of the pandemic?

Well, I wouldn't say lost control, but clearly it is a very worrying situation. With COVID increasing virtually everywhere, we see a new wave of semi-lockdowns... it's not as bad as it was in the spring... with the hope of being able to contain the surge during the month of November. Let's wait and see.

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Will the Ukraine ceasefire last? COVID containment in Europe

Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, with the view from Europe:

Will the recent ceasefire between Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists lead to a solution of the conflict?

That's much too early to say. At first, it remains to be seen if this ceasefire will hold. There have been a number of ceasefires and all of them have collapsed sooner or later. We'll see first what happens with this one. Will it lead to further political talks between Kiev and Moscow, primarily? That remains to be seen. I mean, there have been no indication so far of change in the basic Russian attitude of keeping on to Donbass, the one way or the other. So, let's hope for the best but let's be rather skeptical about all that's happening.

Will the recent upsurge of coronavirus and different measures taken against it in Spain lead to a new lockdown in Europe?

No, I don't think it will. I mean, you will certainly see, as you see elsewhere, sort of outburst here and there, but I think that there are better capabilities now in Europe to localize those particular outbursts and try to contain them. So, a return to the big lockdowns that was always the beginning of the year, that is, I think, neither necessary nor likely.

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Who still welcomes American tourists? International travel in the era of coronavirus

Ian Bremmer offers a quick a survey of nations currently welcoming American tourists, in case your cabin fever has you longing to fly away. Think Caribbean, the Balkans, or even the U.K.—but as they say in the fine print of any offer, "Some restrictions may apply."

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Iran faces repercussions after shooting down a passenger plane

Ian Bremmer joins us from Ethiopia to help us make sense of global political tensions and their origins.

What repercussions will Iran face in the aftermath of shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane?

Well, big repercussions internationally because the Europeans, the Canadians, plenty met. They lied about it before they finally said, OK. Tried to cover it up. And that means it's going to be much tougher to keep them onside in terms of this Iranian nuclear deal that the Iranians themselves are increasingly pulling away from. Also, big demonstrations on the ground in Iran. That's bad for the Iranians, of course, the worst week they've had in decades.

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Finland's Election Veers Right: Europe in 60 Seconds

ukraine

Is Ukraine going to elect a comedian as president on Sunday?

Well, not exactly comedian. He's an actor, he is a television personality. He is a business man in the entertainment business, you might say. But yes, it's highly likely that Mr. Zelensky will be elected as new president of Ukraine to take office at the beginning of June, but we will have to return to that.

Are nationalist forces gaining strength in the Finnish election?

Well, yes they did fairly well, but roughly the same result as they had in the last election a couple of years ago, with somewhat less than they had in the first election, when they entered the scene in 2011. But it was still more than expected, in view of the fact that they had been splitting and they had been disagreeing and things like that. So it shows the enduring strength of those particular forces - around 17% of the electorate. I think that's roughly the European norm these days.

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