The US needs younger presidential candidates
April 25, 2023
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Ian Bremmer takes a look at the week's top stories in geopolitics.
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How will China's stance on ex-Soviet countries impact the war in Ukraine? With the US and others evacuating diplomats, will the West take action to end the violence in Sudan? Finally, should there be a maximum age limit for elected US officials? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
How will China's stance on ex-Soviet countries impact the war in Ukraine?
Not very much. I mean, this was China's ambassador to France saying that the former Soviet republics do not have legal status as sovereign states. By the way, that includes Russia. He clearly was over-exuberantly trying to say that Ukraine isn't really a state. You can be more hawkish than the Chinese line if you're an ambassador. You can't be more dovish, then you're in serious trouble, but this one was pretty embarrassing, and the Chinese foreign ministry actually walked it back pretty quickly. Still though, more interesting is the revealed preference that Xi Jinping has gone quite a long time and still is not reaching out to call or meet with President Zelensky of Ukraine, even though he's very engaged with his bestie on the global stage, Vladimir Putin. That says a lot more about where the peace plan for China is than the statement by this ambassador to France.
With the US and others evacuating diplomats, will the West take action to end the violence in Sudan?
Diplomatic action, yes, though they don't have a lot of influence on the ground in Sudan. That's mostly Egypt, the UAE, the Africa Union. Frankly, it's the East Africa Intergovernmental Organization or Agency for Development. They're the ones that are most important right now in talking, particularly the Kenyan president, who has some personal connection and pretty strong diplomatic capabilities with both sides in Sudan. Also true for my good friend, the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres. He's doing his best as well. No one thinks that this is going to get resolved easily, because these two generals on the feuding sides, fighting sides, really do hate each other, but fortunately, it's not a civil war. There's not an ideological break here, and the population at large is not bound up in the fighting, and that's frankly why it's 400 that are dead right now as opposed to 4,000 or 40,000. I hope that stays the case. Also, a lot easier to get the diplomats out who are insecure embassies than it is the population at large. A lot more civilians from the West in Sudan across the country who are bunkering in at home and very much at risk than the diplomats who are getting out.
Finally, should there be a maximum age limit for elected US officials?
Oh, I don't know. That's kind of a saucy question, right? Because between Trump and Biden, who are the likely nominees, they're going to be 160 running for president, and that's like 1.6 Kissingers. That's a lot. That's a lot of Kissingers, right? So I don't know. I just kind of feel like they're both too old and yeah, Biden has been, in my view, capable of being president. He's not dimwitted. I've met with him, and he does stutter, and he's slowing down physically. Analytically, he's there, but will he still be there for another five years? I think it's too old. Trump, I always viewed as completely incapable and unfit for office back when he was a Democrat. He certainly didn't change when he switched parties, but he's also too old. I want to see some people in their forties and fifties, even sixties running for president. It's a hard job. It's an enormous amount of energy, and these people are... I guess if you're a woman, you can be a little older than if you're a man, because the life expectancy is longer. So I'd probably shift it a little bit, give the women an extra five, but still, it feels to me like Biden versus Trump is not saying great things about America's democracy around the world, and frankly, a majority of Americans don't want those two to be facing each other, but that's probably what we're going to get.
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