Hello there, I'm Chuck Todd and this is the Chuck Todd cast.

So today we wanted to take a few minutes and widen our view, particularly on the issue

of democracy.

We want to do it a bit globally.

The war in Ukraine is still going.

The Russia seems to be making gains on its more modest set of goals.

The Sweet The European Union announced a planned block out about two-thirds of Russian oil

imports by the end of the year, a move that will drive up energy prices even more and

inflation on that continent, and possibly ours.

And the Pacific Australian voters tossed out a conservative coalition that has led the

country for a decade and put labor's Anthony Albanese in as the Prime Minister.

Basically, it was all over climate change.

The headline from President Biden's recent trip to Asia, by the way, was that the United

States is firmly committed to Taiwan's defense as ever.

And oh, by the way, this week, one of the world's biggest cities, Shanghai, RelactStrick

COVID lockdown rules that have been in place since March and also had an impact on our economy.

And the presidential race in Colombia has my attention because that's where an extreme

left wing candidate is facing off against an extreme right wing candidate.

Imagine if Bernie and Trump faced off in the general election, that's what Colombia's

facing.

So, who better to talk about all of this global tumult these days than my guest Ian Brummer?

He's president of the Eurasia Group, the man behind one of my favorite newsletters,

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