Eurasia Group is one of the most important think tanks in the world today. When Ian Bremer speaks, everyone in the world listens. But even when G Zero Media publisher and Eurasia Group board member, one of Canada's most prominent and eminent journalists, Evan Solomon speaks - everyone listens. We talked about this and other topics with Evan Solomon, who points out that the year ahead will be full of challenges.

N1: The biggest risks are things we all know, especially those of us who deal with foreign affairs every day. The United States, the Middle East, Ukraine, but also what your report calls the axis of thieves. But we will talk about that later. Let's start with the United States. You're in New York, the New Hampshire election is happening right now. Donald Trump is almost the winner of the Republican presidential primaries and is going to a rematch with Joe Biden. What is your biggest concern when it comes to Trump 2.0 or Trump's second administration? If he wins, and the polls right now say he will?

SOLOMON: Our biggest risk in 2024, which was shocking, imagine there are many wars and we'll talk about it, the war in Gaza and Israel, Ukraine, Russia, and tensions over Taiwan. There are many potential conflicts. And yet, we place the American verse alone as our greatest political risk. You're right, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee. This race is over. This is the theater now. You usually get a lot of tension. New Hampshire today and then lead up to Super Tuesday. Who will win the caucuses? The primaries are over, almost over. It's just political theater now. This is Donald Trump. Nikki Haley is there, but she will be a roadblock for Donald Trump. And Donald Trump 2.0 is a disruptor, but he is a symbol of the United States against itself. There are no more blue states and red states that exist by themselves. These are the blue and red states that exist in two different realities. They believe in different things. One believes that the election was legitimate. One believes that the elections were not legitimate. They believe in different facts. January 6 was a tourist event. Some believe it was a rebellion. Donald Trump has 91 different charges against him. Some believe it's a conspiracy. Others believe it is the legal system. We live in an America that lives in two different realities. And this reality, this is not a description. The danger is that they are in conflict with each other. And the victims will be precisely those systems that support the peaceful transition of power and democracy, as we saw four years ago again, this time. And if the institutions of the United States weaken themselves domestically, accelerated by artificial intelligence, accelerated by disinformation, and accelerated by all kinds of different partisan forces, imagine what will happen externally, in foreign policy. Thus, the questions about the financing of Ukraine are radically changing. Funding in the Middle East, action against China, all of these things are changing dramatically under a potential Trump administration. So, the USA against itself, both domestically and internationally, is the number one risk internationally.

N1: The end of democracy, they say, that's the catchphrase these days? Could it happen in the United States if he wins this November?

SOLOMON: First of all, democracy is resilient and I think we should be very careful about hyperventilating, “the end of democracy”. Look, the institutions are under attack, but the institutions are very strong. Court systems are strong. The opposition is strong, the media is strong. There are many forces in democracy and this is “not the end of democracy”. The question is, will it be an open attack on the fundamental principles of democracy in the United States, which would be a peaceful transition of power, an attack on the courts? Will Donald Trump go as he says? Again, you should take it literally and seriously. He says I might be a dictator on day one. What does that really mean? What will he do? What can he do? And what kind of system of checks and balances remains? So, I would say that this is not “the end of democracy”. But this was a deep threat to democracy. And we just don't know that if Donald Trump loses, what we saw happen on January 6, there could be another attack on the foundations of democracy, which is very serious. It is a threat to the quintessential democratic experiment that is the United States of America. So, you're right, the stakes are high. There are more moving parts. It is elevated by factors that are very difficult to control. Just the other day, we had the first AI robocall on Biden. So, we have these vectors that we don't know where they're going to hit. So, the United States versus itself, the stakes are very high. But I would warn people if they say “democracy is at an end”. Although these institutions are threatened, we must be careful not to hyperventilate about it. We're not there yet and there's a tremendous amount of resilience.

See more in the video.