GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Katrina Manson, Bloomberg defense tech reporter and author who covered Project Maven, walks through the Pentagon's rush to embed AI in warfighting. She outlines Project Maven’s origins, Silicon Valley and contractor roles, rapid rollout of AI targeting and autonomous systems, and the risks of overtrust, hallucination and escalation in battlefield AI.

Michael Bustamante, a historian at the University of Miami who studies Cuban history and U.S.-Cuba relations. He discusses Cuba’s severe economic collapse and daily hardships. He explains migration, remittances, and coping strategies. He examines likely U.S. policy paths, the limits of opposition on the island, and whether economic deals could reshape power.

Jonathan Cheng, Beijing bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal and author of Korean Messiah, draws on on-the-ground reporting about the Kim dynasty. He discusses North Korea as a religiously framed state centered on a god-king. He talks about how nukes became Pyongyang’s insurance, visible succession planning for a young heir, and shifting regional alignments with China and Russia.

Gita Gopinath, Harvard economist and former IMF deputy leader, offers a concise take on how the Iran war is reshaping global economics. She discusses rising energy-driven inflation and fragile growth. She highlights long-term structural damage from trade fragmentation, uneven national exposures, and how AI and China’s strategies fit into a more regionally divided world.

Ivan Krastev, political scientist and chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, unpacks Viktor Orbán's role as a linchpin of Europe’s new right. He discusses Orbán’s ties to China and Russia, his 19th-century nationalist roots, and why upcoming Hungarian political shifts could ripple across EU policy, Ukraine, and international alignments.

Rahm Emanuel, former congressman, Obama chief of staff, Chicago mayor and ambassador, brings decades of public service perspective. He argues the Iran conflict is a presidential choice and examines US isolation from allies. He warns about China watching American dysfunction and discusses how domestic politics complicate foreign policy and rebuilding allied trust.

Thomas Wright, Brookings foreign policy expert and former NSC senior director, breaks down the widening war in Iran. He maps competing U.S., Israeli, and Iranian endgames. He explores risks of fragmenting Iran, regional spillovers, and how global powers and cutting-edge tech like AI factor into the conflict’s trajectory.

Scott Lincicome, a trade policy expert from the Cato Institute, and Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize–winning economist and NYT columnist, debate the fallout from recent tariff rulings. They discuss legal challenges and potential huge refund claims. They dissect how tariff politics clash with consumer behavior and what this means for U.S. trade, business strategy, and upcoming midterm political dynamics.

Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow and Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment, offers a compact portrait of Tehran’s moment of peril. He walks through leadership uncertainty and why many insiders wait for Khamenei’s passing. He discusses Iran’s diplomatic isolation, deep but fraught ties to China, and the regional dynamics that shape potential conflict.

Michael Froman, former U.S. Trade Representative and current CFR president, offers sharp expertise on trade and diplomacy. He discusses how a power-first U.S. approach is reshaping global order. Short takes cover allies hedging, tariffs used without restraint, Europe’s need to scale defense and innovation, and shifting U.S.-China dynamics.