War and Peace in 2025, with Clarissa Ward and Comfort Ero
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, and welcome to the GZERO World Podcast. This is where you'll find extended versions of my interviews on public television.
How does 2025 compare to past years in terms of global conflict activity?
I'm Ian Bremmer, and today, instead of zooming in on a single issue, we're looking back on 2025 and taking stock of a world increasingly defined by conflict. Two major wars dominated the news this year, Gaza and Ukraine, for good reason. They transformed global politics, they triggered humanitarian crises, and they reshaped alliances. But while Ukraine and Gaza captured our attention, nearly 60 other wars and armed struggles have been raging around the world. It's the most active period of conflict since the end of World War II. Some are decades-long battles, like Myanmar's devastating civil war. Others are more recent, like the surge of terrorist insurgent groups in Africa's Sahel. But each is a symptom of a broader global order that's breaking down, driven by weakening institutions, regional rivalries, climate shocks, and failing states.
And the toll is enormous. Governments are pouring record sums into military spending instead of education and health care. There are more forcibly displaced people now than at any point in recorded history. Global trust is evaporating. That all has consequences. So today, we are shining a light on global conflict in 2025, both the headline-making wars and the ones the world has overlooked. We're asking how we got here and what might keep our fragmented world from breaking apart. To help, I'm joined by two people who see the world's biggest conflicts up close. CNN's chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, and Comfort Arrow, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group. Let's get to it.
The GZERO World Podcast is brought to you by our lead sponsor, Prologis. Prologis helps businesses across the globe scale their supply chains with an expansive portfolio of logistics real estate and the only end-to-end solutions platform addressing the critical initiatives of global logistics today. Learn more at Prologis.com.
Crystal Ward, thanks for joining us on GZERO.
Thank you for having me.
We all see you from various places around the world, frequently places that we are not going to attend ourselves and appreciate that hard work. Tell me, in the context of you covering in person some of the most heart-wrenching global stories of conflict and dismay, what has hit you the hardest over the past year?
The thing that has hit me the hardest, which perhaps is not obvious to many people around the world, is the fact that as international journalists, we're still not able to get inside Gaza and report from on the ground. There have been some opportunities for journalists to go into the so-called yellow zone of the Gaza Strip, the 53% of it that is under the control of the IDF.
They're still embedded, though, with the idea.
They're embedded with the idea. And what's crucial. And again, I think a lot of people don't realize this. You cannot talk to Palestinians if you go in with the idea for pretty obvious reasons. Right. So what that means is that we are really playing catch up constantly, trying desperately to put together the pieces of the puzzle together. We obviously are working closely with Palestinian journalists on the ground who have been doing heroic and courageous work. But now that there's a ceasefire, which really had been the ostensible reason given by the IDF for not allowing international journalists in. And I should add, there have been regular infractions and it's still a dangerous, volatile situation on the ground.
But still. The reason that was articulated, security no longer really holds. And so it's very frustrating for those of us who have been covering this story very closely, obviously since October 7th, but for decades beforehand as well, to not be on the ground reporting firsthand and crucially talking to Palestinians and platforming those voices.
So there's a ceasefire in place. The Israelis continue to occupy roughly half of Gaza, but they don't occupy the other half. What's the reason given?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:09
2
How does 2025 compare to past years in terms of global conflict activity?
0:09–21:32
3
Why are journalists being denied full access to Gaza and what does that mean for reporting?
21:32–44:06
4
What have limited journalist embeds into Gaza revealed about the scale of devastation?
44:06–51:52