GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

It’s been 50 years since the fall of Saigon, but the impact of the Vietnam War still reverberates across generations and continents. On the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and historian Mai Elliott—two writers whose lives were shaped by the conflict. Nguyen, author of the bestselling book and TV series "The Sympathizer," recounts growing up in a tight-knit refugee community in California, where “melancholy, rage, anger, bitterness, sadness—the whole gamut of emotions” defined the postwar experience. Elliott, who interviewed insurgents during the war, came to see its human cost up close, saying, “I didn’t care who won the war by the end of it—I just wanted it to stop.” But the episode is not just about the past. It’s also about Vietnam’s present—and future. The country has become one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies and most strategically important players, carefully navigating a relationship with China and the United States. “If Vietnam gets too close to China, it could lose its country,” Elliott explains. “Too close to the US, and it could lose its regime,” Nguyen adds that while tensions remain between the Vietnamese state and its diaspora, Vietnam’s diplomatic pragmatism is rooted in a thousand-year history of resisting Chinese domination while embracing growth opportunities. As Washington and Beijing compete for influence in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is charting its path—one shaped by memory, resilience, and the long shadows of war. Host: Ian Bremmer  Guests: Viet Thanh Nguyen and Mai Elliott   Subscribe to the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast [https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-world-podcast/] on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gzero-world-with-ian-bremmer/id1294461271], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/13QW2sLPCjVbdDE6fmJCNf], or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

What will it take to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? President Trump is pushing hard for a ceasefire deal, but is Vladimir Putin actually interested in negotiation? On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer is joined by former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba for a sober assessment of the war with Russia—and what it will take to end it. Kuleba resigned last year amid a cabinet shuffle, but spent years at the heart of Ukraine’s diplomatic fight for survival. As long as Russia believes it can win the war, he says, Putin will never compromise on a meaningful ceasefire deal. That won’t change until the Kremlin faces serious pressure from the White House, which so far has seemed to only offer incentives to Moscow, while punishing Kyiv, according to Kuleba. So is Trump ready to get tough on Putin? And what is Ukraine prepared to offer Russia in return to bring the fighting to an end? Bremmer and Kuleba discuss Putin’s goals in the war, the Trump administration's negotiation strategy, and what it will take to finally bring peace to Ukraine.   Host: Ian Bremmer Guest: Dmytro Kuleba Subscribe to the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast [https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-world-podcast/] on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gzero-world-with-ian-bremmer/id1294461271], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/13QW2sLPCjVbdDE6fmJCNf], or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

What does global energy transition look like in a time of major geopolitical change, including rebalancing of trade? In this special episode of "Energized: The Future of Energy”, host JJ Ramberg and Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel talk to Arjun Murti, partner at Veriten and founder of the energy transition newsletter Super-Spiked. They discuss the impact of President Trump’s new energy policies, the role of North America in the global energy transition, and the possible impact of tariffs and trade tension on the energy sector. Host: JJ Ramberg and Greg Ebel  Guest: Arjun Murti Subscribe to the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast [https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-world-podcast/] on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gzero-world-with-ian-bremmer/id1294461271], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/13QW2sLPCjVbdDE6fmJCNf], or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

For a special edition of the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers to get his economic assessment of President Trump's unprecedented imposition of tariffs, which has sparked an escalating trade war.  "I don't see this as a rational way of either pursuing the objective of strengthening US manufacturing or the objective of reducing other countries' trade barriers," Summers tells Bremmer. "This is probably the worst, most consequential, self-inflicted wound in US economic policy since the Second World War." Summers, who was also at one point the President of Harvard University, is especially astonished by the lack of backbone that certain institutions, from universities to law firms, have shown when it comes to standing up against the Trump administration. "History will record of the United States establishment at this moment, that it allowed itself to be especially cowed...If Harvard is not prepared to speak up... it's hard to imagine who will." Host: Ian Bremmer Guest: Larry Summers     Subscribe to the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast [https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-world-podcast/] on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gzero-world-with-ian-bremmer/id1294461271], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/13QW2sLPCjVbdDE6fmJCNf], or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer is joined by the most prominent opposition leader in Venezuela, María Corina Machado. Machado has a long political history as a center-right opposition figure in Venezuela, but she became the leader of that opposition during the presidential election last summer. That’s when the regime-friendly electoral council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner, despite widespread allegations of fraud and international condemnation from the US and Europe. But this is more than just a Venezuela story, it’s an American one, too. The Biden era saw an unprecedented influx of Venezuelan migrants to sanctuary cities. Under President Trump’s administration so far, thousands of Venezuelans have been arrested, and many have already been deported. Some of them, purported gang members, were shipped off to a black hole of a prison in El Salvador. And in recent weeks, Trump has canceled Venezuelan oil licenses and threatened steep sanctions and tariffs on Maduro’s regime. Host:  Ian Bremmer Guest: María Corina Machado     Subscribe to the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast [https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-world-podcast/] on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gzero-world-with-ian-bremmer/id1294461271], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/13QW2sLPCjVbdDE6fmJCNf], or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.