THE international political landscape is a pretty bleak place right now. In the Middle East, tremendous trepidation remains as Israel, the region and indeed the world awaits a reaction from Iran and/or Hezbollah over the killing of two of its leaders.

Meanwhile, in Asia, though scarcely making headlines, one of the world’s wiliest autocrats, Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh – the country’s longest-serving female head of state – has been summarily dispatched by angry citizens, leaving this massive country of 170 million people in a dangerous political vacuum. So where then to look for some good news on the international front?

Well, I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest oddly enough the United States. I say this after Kamala Harris’s (below) announcement that straight-talking Minnesotan Tim Walz would be her Democratic running mate for November’s presidential election. It’s probably fair to assume that other than to those with a special interest in American politics, Walz is not exactly a familiar figure.

But among Americans themselves, it’s a very different story given that his background and demeanour are known to many voters there.

That said, Harris’s choice appears to have still surprised many in her party who believed that governor Josh Shapiro, a centrist with a high approval rating in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, would be the frontrunner in the selection process. So why did Harris choose Walz?

Well, to begin with, representing as he does a largely rural district in Minnesota, Walz helps create a bulwark against Republican attacks that Harris is a member of the Californian coastal elite.

What Walz does well is win over rural voters. Unlike Shapiro, Walz admittedly doesn’t bring instant recognition on the ticket in a swing state but does make up for that with a background and manner that could well help Democrats peel voters away from Donald Trump, particularly in the Midwest.

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Walz is the first Democratic vice-president (VP) pick since 1964 not to go to law school and who is part of the second consecutive Democratic ticket (after Biden-Harris in 2020) to not feature anyone with an Ivy League degree, something which hadn’t happened since 1984.

In short, he’s been described as having a “Midwestern nice” appeal even when being feisty on a speaking platform.

This is a politician who has had a “real life” outside the hallowed halls of America’s corridors of power. A candidate who has been a teacher, football coach, union organiser and Army National Guard sergeant, who possesses a folksy, colloquial manner but who can still pack a punch with a candid turn of phrase.

As Trump has shown, many Americans are fond of a straight-talker and for years the Democrats have sought to undermine him using often high-minded political attacks.

But on July 23, two days after Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, Walz in a television interview uttered a critique of the Republicans in his signature conversational manner, saying: “These guys are just weird.”

His jovial put-down was a godsend to the Harris campaign team who sat up and took notice while social media did the rest.

Quips like this delivered in Walz’s inimitable way are what the Democrat campaign needs right now. But Walz brings other more tangible political assets to Harris’s campaign, perhaps the most important of which is that he is loved by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

“Don’t ever shy away from our progressive values,” he told attendees on a fundraising call in late July, adding that “one person’s socialism is another person’s neighbourliness”.

It was a message that went down well – as does his position on the issue of abortion, one of the keynote issues in the coming election. On this, the two are totally in sync.

As the New York Times highlighted a few days ago, Walz has a personal story here too. His two children were conceived through in vitro fertilisation, the fertility treatment a few conservatives – including a majority of the Alabama Supreme Court – have hoped to ban.

Along with Illinois, Walz’s state of Minnesota has become a Midwestern haven for women from surrounding states with greater restrictions.

After winning full control of Minnesota’s statehouse in 2023 for the first time in a decade, Walz pushed through a raft of progressive laws and his state codified abortion rights.

There are other more recently pressing issues too in which he has stuck out from the pack that will sit comfortably with Harris, Gaza being the most obvious.

In contrast to Shapiro, his rival for VP pick, Walz has stayed relatively quiet on the issue of Gaza. While this will not please all, it’s a far cry from Shapiro who is a strong supporter of Israel and a critic of student encampments at universities across the US. Sensing a weakness here, Republicans of course have sought to accuse the Democrats of snubbing Shapiro because he is Jewish.

BUT Walz’s position on Gaza also provides clues as to his stance on a key area for a potential vice-president – foreign policy. In a recent interview, he called out Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban as a dictator, in contrast to the Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance who sees Orban as something of a role model.

Some of Walz’s views on foreign policy might be gleaned from a speech he gave in 2007, when he criticised the Bush administration for its focus on security and its neglect of international diplomacy.

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Every politician of course has their detractors and critics and Walz is no exception. No doubt Republicans will do all they can to prise his vulnerabilities open, from Walz’s delay in 2020 to send in the National Guard to quell riots in Minneapolis, to criticism and allegations by the state’s independent legislative auditor that his administration mishandled money during the Covid pandemic.

For the moment, the Trump campaign has attacked Walz as a ”radical leftist,” and certainly there’s little doubt that his choice as Harris’s running mate has the Republicans twitchy.

According to Mary Trump, the estranged niece of the former president, her uncle is “terrified” of Walz who she described as “a normal American who cares about helping other Americans”.

Whether voters agree remains to be seen, but so far Walz seems to be going down well in the polls. I for one like the cut of his political jib, not least for the refreshing change he brings to American politics.