Ian Bremmer

I love my country.

I consider myself patriotic.

But I don't in any way think that the United States is a repository of truth in ways that other countries cannot be and are not.

And I think that's essential to be effective as an international relations specialist.

There are a lot of people that don't feel that way.

And those are people that would not make good political scientists.

They should do other things, right?

Which, I mean, because everyone has different skill sets.

I would not be a great economist.

I wouldn't be a great accountant.

I'm not a great manager of people.

So I'm not a great chef, right?

I'm a horrible basketball player, on and on and on.

So first of all, recognizing what you're good at.

There are a lot of people that are actually very good at being thoughtful and considered on a whole range of issues, but aren't on a few that they feel really personal about.

I'll give you a small example.

My mother was of Armenian lineage, and I used to study the Soviet Union and then the 15 countries that came out of the Soviet Union when it collapsed.

And I never focused on Armenia.

And the reason I didn't, and I didn't write about Armenia, even though I was writing about all these other places for a long time, because I felt like I was kind of biased.

And I felt that way because when my family members were talking, like my grandma would talk about Turkey, that was like a country that committed genocide against like her people.