Trump and police reform; India-China tension; North and South Korea
June 16, 2020
VIDEOSGZERO World with Ian BremmerQuick TakePUPPET REGIMEIan ExplainsGZERO ReportsAsk IanGlobal Stage
Site Navigation
Search
Human content,
AI powered search.
Latest Stories
Sign up for GZERO Daily.
Get our latest updates and insights delivered to your inbox.
Puppet Regime is up for a Webby Award!
VOTE HERE
US & Canada
Presented by
Ian Bremmer on this week's World In (More Than) 60 Seconds:
Number one: What police reform will result from Trump's executive order?
Well, on the one hand, it is a recognition that very strong and across the board, pretty bipartisan support in the United States for police reform. And so, he has to respond. And he can respond. I mean, the fact is that one of the most broadly supported bipartisan policies in the US that has come out of the Trump administration was penal reform.
That you got really strong progressive left and right wing support that Trump, Jared Kushner, others got done a couple of years ago. Here, we're talking about federal leverage on funding to ensure that there is more training for nonlethal and nonviolent climb-downs, non-escalation with engagement with people. There is talk of ending chokeholds. The thing that I guess concerns me is that there's really nothing that's going to be done from the executive order about police unions. And that is one area that really strangles to use that, any potential of long-term reform, structural reform in the police departments. But again, the message it sends very clearly is that no one, not even the president, can ignore the grassroots support for police reform, the outrage over the treatment of George Floyd and so many others in the United States. And that's going to also put more support for bipartisan reform in Congress, which will be much more substantive and hopefully much more lasting.
How serious is the escalating tension between India and China?
Well, two nuclear powers fighting over a very long and non-demarcated, non-walled border, non-policed border between the two. We now see that that soldiers have been killed. And India is in the middle of a number of border disputes right now that have escalated into skirmishing, not just with China. Also, with Pakistan, also over Tibet. And that is leading Modi, whose approval ratings are very high right now, there over 80%, because of a strong and decisive response to coronavirus, and a level of leadership that's quite supported domestically as a rally around the flag effect, it's going to lead to a lot of xenophobia in India. So, it is something we should, I think, watch out for, not because I think this is going to precipitate World War III, but rather because greater Indian nationalism, as driven by a leader who has shown himself very savvy and capable of using that, could lead to more broad confrontation, strategic confrontation and maybe even realignment between India and the subcontinent that has always wanted to steer clear of broader, great game geopolitics. And the China that is feeling increasingly insecure and besieged by its bad relationship with the United States really doesn't want a very bad relationship with India right now. But it might end up getting one.
What's going on between North Korea and South Korea?
Well, North Korea in North Korean fashion blew up this liaison office, literally exploded it inside North Korean territory. No one in it. Nobody injured or died. But showing very clearly that the North Koreans are not happy with the charm offensive between summitry with the American president. Been there, done that. And a lot of joint cultural exchanges, sports exchanges, others and some economic exchange with South Korea. But they want more. And their feeling is by playing hardball, they can get more humanitarian support. Particularly important for them with the global economy doing badly and therefore trade with China not being what it was a year ago. Having said that, no test of ICBMs, no nuclear tests, nothing that would precipitate a significant response from President Trump himself. And that seems to be the most important point is that North Korea wants me to be answering this question, they want headlines in the news. They've got that. But it does not in any way appear that they're trying to create a real confrontation. And, you know, with President Trump maybe on the ropes, certainly with a tougher election in front of him in November, I think that the North Koreans would like a reset from a period of more diplomatic normalization with either a second Trump term or with Biden. But that's very different from saying they're looking, they're itching for conflict and brinksmanship with the United States. Doesn't seem that way.
The fight against COVID-19 continues. What is the update?
The update is a lot more R or reproduction rate over 1.0. So, exponential in a bunch of US states. That's the bad news. Linked to the opening of the economy and opening in a much more dramatic and immediate way than where we've seen, for example, in Europe. It does seem pretty clear that linked to those openings are a lot more cases. We're seeing that Florida, we're seeing that in Texas, we're seeing that, in fact, across the American South and in some cases in the west as well. 18 states now that have an R 1.0 or higher. So, again, exponential growth of new cases. That's the bad news. The good news is that death rates are still quite low in the United States compared to where they were a few weeks ago. Now, of course, death rates lag new hospitalizations. So, that's a danger. It's still early to say that we're in a better place. I think this is, well, I'm getting more concerned, frankly, that the US economy is going to have a longer hit that comes off of this not second wave but extended first wave that we're still in very much in the United States.
Meanwhile, you've got countries all over the world, developing countries that clearly have people that have been under lockdown. They're not prepared to tolerate much more of it. They're economically much more challenged than the developed world. The governments in terms of relief and bail outs. The people in terms of how much they can sustain not being able to work productively and staying at home. You're seeing that play out in countries like Mexico and Brazil and India and Pakistan. All over the emerging markets. Less so sub-Saharan Africa, where there's not much testing and much younger populations. But that's a real danger. And certainly, you're going to see more explosive cases, both in terms of what we know, but also what we don't know, because they're not testing nearly as much in those countries. They're going to learn to live with and maybe die with coronavirus. So, not the happiest outlook.
One nice piece, it does seem like there is a treatment, coming out of the UK, that does seem to have some success. And they're now planning on rolling it out to those that are hospitalized and have severe symptoms, are on ventilators. And the early testing shows about maybe 10% reduction in the death rate in the UK if everyone had been able to be treated with this drug. And if, that is a steroid, if that's the case and you can get that rolled out broadly, and there's a lot of production that already exists around the world, that would be meaningful good news. Not in terms of a vaccine. But in terms of actual treatment of the disease. First time we might have seen a breakthrough on that scale. So, we'll watch that very carefully.
Keep reading...Show less
More from US & Canada
What Hungary's new leader really wants
May 01, 2026
Jet-setting to Caracas
May 01, 2026
You vs. the News: A Weekly News Quiz - May 1, 2026
April 30, 2026
Taiwan in the crosshairs
April 30, 2026
Descendants of Escobar’s hippos live to see another day
April 30, 2026
The world hedges its bets on America
April 29, 2026
The rise of robotics
April 29, 2026
US Supreme Court guts pillar of Voting Rights Act
April 29, 2026
What’s Good Wednesdays™, April 29, 2026
April 29, 2026
Hard number: Trouble in wine country
April 29, 2026
Advancing sustainability through packaging innovation
April 28, 2026
UAE to withdraw from OPEC
Apr 28, 2026
Hard number: A superyacht gets through Hormuz
April 28, 2026
Can the King be the UK’s Trump card?
April 28, 2026
Trump's Cuba backlash could come from home
April 28, 2026
US-Iran peace talks stall
Apr 27, 2026
Why Cuba won't be the next Venezuela
April 27, 2026
Violence creates an environment of fear in US politics
April 27, 2026
Hard Number: Black Republican exodus from the US House
April 27, 2026
Cuba on the brink
Apr 27, 2026
The Strait of Hormuz helpline
Apr 24, 2026
Will Trump actually try to "take" Cuba?
Apr 24, 2026
Hard Number: US holds up cash for Iraq
April 24, 2026
You vs. the News: A Weekly News Quiz - April 24, 2026
April 23, 2026
China plays the long game, Cuba faces mounting US pressure
April 23, 2026
Could Mythos prompt Trump admin U-turn on AI regulation?
April 23, 2026
Hard number: Iran war elevates Panama Canal costs
April 23, 2026
The US Senate is suddenly in play
April 22, 2026
What’s Good Wednesdays™, April 22, 2026
April 22, 2026
Preserving presidential history for America’s 250th
April 22, 2026
Hard number: Mass trial in El Salvador
April 22, 2026
Putting AI to work with the building trades
April 22, 2026
The teen girl tapped to rule North Korea next
April 22, 2026
GZERO wins a Webby People's Voice Award for Puppet Regime
April 21, 2026
Taiwan and the Trump-Xi summit
April 21, 2026
Will Trump pay a price for tangling with the pope?
April 21, 2026
Hard number: Apple let him Cook
April 21, 2026
North Korea: The cult that outlasted Stalin and Mao
April 21, 2026
Iran war ceasefire holds … for now | Quick Take
April 20, 2026
Graphic Truth: Spain’s unique path on immigration
April 20, 2026
Hard Number: Trump’s tariff refunds on their way
April 20, 2026
What China wants from Trump's Beijing visit
April 20, 2026
Kim Jong Un's winning nuclear bet
April 19, 2026
How global leaders are tackling the water crisis
April 18, 2026
North Korea's nuclear bet paid off
April 17, 2026
Adapting to a more volatile market environment
April 17, 2026
Can Cuba continue to hold off the US?
April 17, 2026
Hard number: Haiti’s hunger crisis
April 17, 2026
Rania Al-Mashat on fragile trade flows
April 17, 2026
You vs. the News: A Weekly News Quiz - April 17, 2026
April 17, 2026
Hormuz standoff: Who blinks first?
Apr 16, 2026
World Bank’s strategy for AI, jobs, and economic resilience
April 16, 2026
Iran war jeopardizes Iraq’s momentum
April 16, 2026
Trump gets a "big, fat" concession from Xi
April 16, 2026
Why the IMF is cutting global growth forecast
April 16, 2026
How to prepare the global economy for the age of AI
April 15, 2026
How the Iran war made China stronger
April 15, 2026
Another milestone for a bleak civil war
April 15, 2026
A full-stack approach to AI
April 15, 2026
Hard Number: Saudi Arabia picks up Pakistan’s tab again
April 15, 2026
What’s Good Wednesday, April 15th, 2026
April 15, 2026
The next phase of AI is physical
April 15, 2026
How AI offsets Trump’s tariffs...for now
April 14, 2026
Hard number: School shooting in Turkey
April 14, 2026
Has far-right populism peaked in Europe?
April 14, 2026
Hungary’s Orbán concedes election defeat
April 13, 2026
GZERO Series
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer
Puppet Regime
Quick Take
ask ian
Ian Explains
GZERO Reports
GZERO Europe
The Debrief
© 2026 GZERO Media. All Rights Reserved | A Eurasia Group company.
GZERO Daily: our free newsletter about global politics
Keep up with what’s going on around the world - and why it matters.