Trending Now
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 }}
Toppling Maduro would be "the easy part" says former Ambassador
Former US Ambassador to Venezuela James Story warns that removing Maduro would be the easy part—what comes next is the real challenge.
In this clip from Ian Bremmer’s interview with former US Ambassador to Venezuela James Story, the two discuss the risks and realities of a possible regime change in Caracas. While the Maduro government is increasingly isolated and unpopular, Story cautions that the collapse of the regime would only be the beginning of a much larger crisis.
“For 25 years, the institutions in that country have been systematically destroyed,” Story says, adding that Venezuela has become a failed state teeming with criminal organizations like the ELN, Hezbollah, and the Tren de Aragua. Any transitional government, he argues, would have to rely on a military that has long been complicit in repression and corruption. “The easy part would be getting rid of Maduro,” Story says. “The hard work happens after that.”
Drawing on lessons from past US interventions in Iraq, Libya, and Haiti, Story urges careful planning and warns against dismantling institutions too quickly. If the US plays a role in removing Maduro, he says, it must also take responsibility for what comes next: “You break it, you fix it.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
- Regime change in America’s backyard? ›
- Is Trump aiming for regime change in Venezuela? ›
- Can Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado unseat Nicolás Maduro? ›
- Is the US about to invade Venezuela? ›
- Trump wouldn't actually invade Venezuela...would he? ›
- New Venezuela talks: Maduro won, so what’s there to talk about? ›
- Trump’s risky Venezuela strategy, explained ›
Could the US pull another Panama in Venezuela?
In the latest “Ian Explains,” Bremmer traces the US invasion of Panama in 1989. He then asks: how is Venezuela different?
Well, it's bigger, more oil‑rich, more chaotic. With recent US deployments at sea and covert operations inside Caracas, the risk of escalation is real. While regime change may be tempting, Bremmer reminds us that the success of an intervention depends not just on toppling a leader, but on what comes next.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Could Trump have handled the Epstein issue any worse?
Could Trump have handled the Epstein files any worse? Ian Bremmer says the president came close, first opposing the release, then reversing course once it was clear he was losing Republican support in Congress.
“When they’re running you out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like you’re leading the parade,” Ian says of Trump’s Sunday-night flip.
Now Republicans can safely vote to release what’s legally permissible, while Trump’s DOJ delays disclosures by launching new investigations into Democrats named in the files.
It caps a rough stretch for Trump: election losses in multiple states, slipping poll numbers, and public feuds with longtime allies. But when it comes to the Epstein documents themselves, Ian is clear: they will likely contain embarrassing details for Trump, but he does not expect they will show illegal involvement, or the Biden administration would have already acted.
Will "AI euphoria" crash the markets?
Could another financial crash be looming—and would we even see it coming? On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sits down with New York Times journalist and CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin to explore lessons from the Great Depression and the risks hiding in today’s economy. Sorkin’s new book, 1929: The Story of the Greatest Crash in American History, chronicles not just the initial collapse of the stock market, but the string of policy failures that followed—turning a crash into a crisis that scarred a generation.
“We're not going to have another 1929,” Sorkin says, “but I think it's very possible. Actually, I would argue it's almost impossible for us not to have another 1999.” He sees eerie parallels between the past and the present: massive speculative investments, surging inequality, and a public increasingly disconnected from financial realities. But one thing stands out today: silence. Sorkin warns that many CEOs and financial leaders, despite recognizing the risks, are unwilling to speak out publicly. “If we ever get to a moment where we need to make very difficult decisions,” he says, “are there going to be leaders willing to stand up and explain what needs to happen?”
From invisible debt in private credit markets to the unsustainable business models of leading AI firms, Sorkin and Bremmer explore whether we're ignoring the warning signs once again—and what it would take to avert the next big crash.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube.Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Is the AI bubble about to burst?
From 17th-century Dutch tulip mania to the dot-com crash of the early 2000s, financial bubbles have a way of inflating around revolutionary ideas… until confidence collapses. “The internet was real,” Bremmer says. “It was just wildly overvalued.” Could AI be next?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
The surprising similarities between China and the US
The US and China are often cast as opposites: East vs. West, democratic vs. authoritarian, market-led vs. centrally-planned. But according to Dan Wang, author of the new book “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future,” the two countries are more alike than you might realize. Wang joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World to talk about the US, China, and their competing visions for the future. Despite their political and cultural differences, the two superpowers share a restless drive to build, innovate, and hustle—a hunger for the “technological sublime” that pushes both countries toward big projects and ambitions.
But there’s also a more complicated side to that ambition. In China, entrepreneurs are caught between opportunity and uncertainty, never sure when the Communist Party and Xi Jinping’s “smothering love” might smash one of their businesses or punish their success. In the US, tech leaders have more freedom to pursue their goals but still need to cozy up to power in their own ways, courting the Trump administration for favorable policies and legislation. Ultimately, two very different systems have led to strikingly similar ambitions (and anxieties) when it comes to innovation and the race to build the future.
“There is a sense in which these are two great powers,” Wang says, “And that the US and China are the countries that are going to be changing the world.”GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Is the US falling behind China?
Over the last two decades, China has transformed into an engineering state. Its ability to build almost anything—bridges, high-speed rail, entire cities from nothing—has led to record growth, but also domestic challenges and soaring debt. On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sits down with Dan Wang, tech analyst and author of the new book “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future,” to talk about China’s rapid growth, the US-China relationship, and who is winning the race for technological and economic supremacy.
For better or worse, Wang says that China has leaned into a belief that almost anything can be engineered. They’ve invested massively in infrastructure, which has improved life for Chinese citizens in many ways, but the country is also dealing with a stagnating economy and record youth unemployment. China’s “engineering” mentality has led to a stubborn belief that society itself can be built from the top down, Wang says, often to draconian results like the harsh ‘zero Covid’ rules or state crackdowns on the tech sector. Can the US learn from China’s rise and avoid its mistakes?
“China's a country I describe as the ‘engineering state’ because they build a lot,” Wang explains, “They also treat society as a big engineering project, where people are yet another building material that the leadership just want to tweak and destroy if necessary.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube.Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
China has become an "engineering state," with Dan Wang
What can the US learn from the benefits–and perils–of China’s quest to engineer the future? Tech analyst and author Dan Wang joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to discuss his new book "Breakneck," China’s infrastructure boom, and the future of the US-China relationship. Over the last two decades, China has transformed into what Wang calls an “engineering state,” marshaling near unlimited resources to build almost anything–roads, bridges, entire cities overnight. That investment has created astounding growth, but also domestic challenges and soaring debt.
It’s also led to a stubborn belief within the Chinese government that society itself can be engineered from the top down, where the state treats its people like a building material that can be tweaked or destroyed if necessary. Wang and Bremmer dig into all things US-China—the future of the relationship, the surprising similarities between the two countries, and whether Washington can learn from Beijing’s example without repeating its mistakes.
“The Chinese are able to build a lot of things that meet the material needs of the people, namely homes, solar, wind, nuclear, coal plants, roads, bridges, high-speed rail,” Wang says, “And that is something that I want Americans to have as well.”
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