Youtube - https://youtu.be/4MWFzPXQPY8

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Taiwan is the greatest geopolitical question of the 21st century says Kerry Brown,  sinologist, and former Diplomat to the British Embassy in Beijing. 

He is, I am thrilled to say the guest on todays podcast. A sinologist is a scholar and expert of China, its language, history, politics, and culture - and the theme today is top to bottom the myriad questions looming over one of the largest political issues for China… Taiwan. 

Kerry published a book last year called The Taiwan Story: How a Small Island Will Dictate the Global Future. It is marvelous, and my hope was to do as much justice to the various questions which Kerry approaches Taiwan with as possible in a brief podcast.

The big questions being, the economy, given Taiwan’s semi conductor supremacy with its home grown TSMC, the perplexing idea that Xi would view Taiwanese reunification as the most significant achievement to his legacy, how a more fractured, less unified global order creates lots of wiggle room, Taiwan’s history, and that despite having 95% Han ethnicity, what is it about Taiwan which makes them a distinctly different culture to China, Kerrys feeling for the inevitability of an attempt at reunification and lots more between those cracks. 

00:00 - Kerry Brown
01:20 - Big Opportunity For China
04:13 - Brief Taiwan History
07:33 - TSMC
24:09 - What China Thinks Of Taiwan
37:42 - Taiwanese Identity & Culture
50:14 - It’s All Xi
52:35 - Opinions Of Taiwan
58:30 - Kerry’s Life Work
1:06:00 - Kevin Rudd & Australia
1:16:30 - Indonesia & Serendipity


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Youtube - https://youtu.be/G6EIYURdSOA

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Robert Kaplan has been sighted as one of the most influential geopolitical thinkers of the modern era. The Revenge Of Geography, Surrender or Starve, Balkan Ghosts, Asias Cauldron, The Tragic Mind, and so on, I counted 18 books so far with his most recent being - Waste Land: A World In Permanent Crisis.

I’ve listened to many of his books at this point, I found Revenge Of Geography a few years ago whilst preparing for my interviews with Tim Marshall. 

00:00 - Robert D. Kaplan
00:54 - Deterioration Of The Rules Based Order
08:34 - Utopian Versus Tragic Leaders
14:32 - Geographies Role In Shaping Geopolitics
23:05 - Writing For History Or Influence?
25:13 - Australia
28:46 - A Position Robert Holds That Folds Against The Status Quo


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The following is with german political scientist, former beer brewer in the Congo, and author of How Tyrants Fall - Marcel Dirsus

Marcel interviewed coup leaders, dissidents and soldiers to write about the workings and malfunctions of tyrants. Because while the individual personas, eccentricities and reputations might make them all distinct from one another, there are more threads that draw disparate dictator's together than don’t.

I think this excerpt from the book sums up the essence of Marcel’s work and as well, the themes in todays podcast.

“The most powerful tyrants on earth are condemned to live their life in fear. They can make their enemies disappear with a snap of their fingers. They, their families, and their acolytes may control entire countries from the luxury of their palace, but they also have to spend their every waking hour plagued by the fear of losing everything. No matter how powerful they become, they cannot pay for or order that fear to disappear. If such tyrants make one wrong move, they will fall.”

So the interview is about the workings of various tyrants around the world, both living and dead. 

I ask Marcel in the about applying a prisoners of geography lens to this topic, china and the case for dictators not being all bad all the time, marcel’s rogues gallery of tyrants and as well, Marcel offers a raw reflection of the potential future of authoritarianism in the USA particularly because of the astounding moves made so far under trump. This was recorded the day after the US inauguration.

00:00 - Marcel Dirsus
01:40 - Economist's Book Of The Year
03:55 - Serendipity & The Congo
11:35 - Prisoners Of Geography Lens
17:17 - Singapore A Dictatorship?
20:10 - China
27:50 - Saudi & MBS
30:43 - Marcel's Unconventional Idea's
34:15 - Geographical Concentration Of These Regimes
39:10 - Tipping Point (When Regimes Collapse)
49:10 - Rogues Gallery Of Tyrants
53:25 - The Leader Who's Coming Closest To Power
56:46 - Does Global Order Sustain Or Undermine These Regimes?
1:00:25 - Trump's Chances At Dictatorship
1:07:40 - Bullish & Bearish Country


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Gregory Zuckerman is one of the Wall Street Journal GOATS and as well has authored plenty of wonderful books. He pulls back many of the hidden curtains of wall st. The big egos, the big enigmatic personalities, and naturally as well, the big brilliance behind these masters of the universe types. None for emblematic than Jim Simon’s, the central character of todays podcast.

Theres a podcast called, Acquired, which did a fantastic episode of RenTech (if you want more), the boys over there also relied heavily on Greg’s work to put the episode together. 

00:00 - Gregory Zuckerman
01:27 - Secrecy All The Way Down
06:27 - Acquired
08:02 - Obscure Datasets
15:07 - It Will Take Longer Than You Think
20:04 - Jim’s Eye For Talent
22:27 - Discoveries From Within RenTech
28:54 - Greg's Admiration For Jim & 50+ Year Olds Making It
35:27 - Nassim Taleb
39:01 - Consequences Of Size
41:47 - Acquired Podcast & Bob Mercer
44:07 - Politics Infecting Interpersonal Dynamics
46:07 - Super Quants Can’t Recreate RenTech
50:47 - Journalism As Sales
53:17 - How Does One Conduct A Good Interview?
57:37 - The Most Important Question About RenTech Noone Asks
59:13 - Decline Of Journalism
1:11:14 - The Role Of Serendipity In Greg’s Life

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Youtube - https://youtu.be/EF-yONBmGa8

Bradley's #51 Curious Worldview Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cHyTyId6UbBrBM1nbDt9q?si=faZKIDlQRGCH8iQW4k2uwQ
 
Bradley's #51 Curious Worldview Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/se/podcast/51-bradley-hope-billion-dollar-whale-blood-oil-project/id1540424160?i=1000539362238&l=en-GB

Whale Hunting Podcast (Highly Recommend) - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whale-hunting/id1718751733

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Bradley Hope returns to the podcast.

By far the highest production value I’ve ever done. We recorded this together in Bradley’s studio in London. It’s TV quality stuff so refer to youtube for this one. 

And the podcast was as much in 90 minutes that we could possibly do around his book, Blood and Oil. 

The co-author of which, Justin Scheck has also been a previous guests on this podcast. 

Blood and Oil is the story of MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, who is the crown prince and most powerful person in Saudi Arabia, he is as well, the singular vision responsible for most of the good but as well, most of the bad that Saudi Arabia has been responsible for since about 2017.

Some of the things that stand out from this episode that I would encourage you to stay around for include…

•  the Shiek Down, this brazen transference of power and wealth which MBS oversaw.
• Bradley’s take on the supposed sports-washing this region has been all over the news for, specifically here, referring to football and golf.
• The US/Saudi relationship
• NEOM
• And in between all of that a sense for MBS as told through the reporting and journalism of one of the best.

00:00 - Bradley Hope
02:30 - The Region - Oil, Religion, History
06:45 - Sovereign Wealth Funds
08:50 - Religious Divide Between Gulf Nations
010:41 - Saudi Arabia Young Country
13:40 - Understanding MBS
19:40 - The Shiek Down
27:35 - MBS & Risk
30:58 - MBZ - UAE
33:40 - Bradley’s Contrarian Take On Sportswashing
43:07 - Geopolitical Significance Of The Region
51:10 - Consultancies (McKinsey, etc) In Saudi
55:23 - NEOM
1:00:10 - Journalist Craft
1:05:15 - Has MBS Read Bradley’s Work & Does Bradley Still Love Journalism?
1:08:30 - Bradley Reflects On Changing Media Landscape
1:13:50 - Mecca & Medina
1:15:10 - Misunderstood Parts Of Saudi & Emirates

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Youtube - https://youtu.be/TQVWUdFibC8

The Profiteers - https://www.amazon.com/Profiteers-Business-Privatizes-Profits-Socializes/dp/1541703529

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Christopher Marquis spent 10 years as a professor at the Harvard Business School, he’s also worked as a professor at Cornell, the Harvard Kennedy School and is currently a professor at the Judge Business School in Cambridge, where I was lucky enough to record this in person with him.

It was quite a neat experience actually, after we did the interview, Christopher treated me to a lunch in one of the Cambrdige college halls where in proper Friday British fashion, a perfect Fish and Chips was served.

Christopher has authored three books, but the subject of this interview was his latest… Profiteers, How Business Privatizes Profit and Socializes Cost.

Some of you may have noticed a recurring question around ‘negative externalities’ in several of my interviews this year… particularly with Johan Norberg most recently. Well, Adam Lantz, who listens to this podcast reached out to me in response to the JOhan interview and said. If you really wanty to talk externalities, than you’ve got to talk to this guy.

Johan Norberg Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ujVUlq3BbhTDBhBFnaR5S?si=46b8333b866341da
Johan Norberg Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/johan-norberg-does-capitalism-fail-to-price-in-negative/id1540424160?i=1000671395087

And so I wrote to Christopher immediately, read his book, booked the flight and was greeted with so much generosity and hospitality it was a bit of a pinch myself moment, because even though this podcast creates 0 dollars in revenue, it’s instead introducing me to a wealth of experience.

This episode with Christopher is negative externalities all the way down… with specific attention to plastics, agriculture and clothing.

00:00 - Christopher Marquis
02:27 - The Externality Iceberg
07:57 - The Plastic Iceberg
14:47 - Can A Free Market Price These Negative Externalities?
26:04 - Agriculture Iceberg
41:07 - We Consume Via Our Means Not Our Morals
42:41 - Clothing Iceberg
52:33 - Egregious Cases Of Greenwashing
54:39 - Zoom & Netflix? Externality?
1:07:22 - The Jevons Paradox
1:08:43 - Just Speed Bumps On The Way To Prosperity?
1:12:35 - Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, What Are The Right Questions?
1:16:57 - Serendipity In Christopher's Life

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https://freegubad.com/
Zhala X - https://x.com/BayramovaZhala

Zhala Bayramova is a human rights lawyer and child of political prisoner and human rights defender Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu. 

I met Zhala recently at Bill Browders, Magnitsky Awards, where Zhala won youth activist of the year. 

Her legal status is that of a political refugee in Sweden, having been horrifically beaten during protests in Azerbaijan, a country she is afraid she will never be able to return to.

Her father was repeatedly arrested for investigating corruption within the oil industry of Azerbaijan, until In the autumn of 2023 he decided to take the risk and visit his seriously ill mother in Baku, upon arrival, he was beaten by local police, as was his wife and Zhala’s mother. Then Gubad was arrested under trumped up charges of money laundering and subsequently thrown into pre-trial detention. His case was later postponed indefinitely, but he remains under house arrest and is being denied critical medical attention which in any other circumstance might save his lfie. Zhala, together with her brothers and mother, are leading a global campaign for his release.

Zhala is an absolute force, and it is my privilege to have her as a guest on this podcast.

James Robinson is winning the Nobel Prize for Economics this year alongside his co-author Daron Acemoglu and fellow economist, Simon Johnson.

This is obviously extremely exciting for him, but as well selfishly, rather exciting for me… because in episode 24, James Robinson was one of the first people I ever interviewed for this podcast. 

James co-wrote an outrageously successful book in 2012 called - ‘Why Nations Fail’ - which is the work for which James has won the Nobel Prize and as well, was the subject of this interview. 

Why Nations Fail introduces an extractive versus inclusive institutions framework that does an unreasonable amount of heavy lifting to explain the distributed economic prosperity between countries.

And just fair warning, it is one of the first interviews I ever did, so it may feel quite a bit different to those more recently - but bare with me and endure my enthusiasm as James reveals where the catalyst for the inclusive/extractive framework comes from, a very hot take on corruption, James’s work as a developmental economist and a whole lot more. 

It’s also been a while since Ive made a general appeal for pumping that good juice. But if a Nobel Prize winner isn’t a reason why, then there aren't any left. The ability for me to get the guests I want, and grow the show as I ambition, is all downstream of how many followers on Apple and Spotify I have, but as well, how many reviews on Apple and Spotify I have. So I ask, hat in hand, to please bring that Christmas cheer and pump a 5 star review into whichever platform it is that you listen on.

Jack Weatherford returns to the pod which marks a pretty sentimental moment for me (links are at the bottom of this email, before the transcript snippet).

Jack’s first appearance was #19 of the podcast. To this day, it’s my favourite podcast I’ve ever recorded. These are links to the first appearance. 

Jack Weatherford #19 on Spotify

Jack Weatherford #19 on Apple

Jack Weatherford #19 on Youtube

But four years ago, when I had just started this podcast, I had written to Jack telling how I was listening to the final chapters of his book while walking across sand dunes in Merghouza, (a desolate slice of the Sahara in south west Morocco). The chapter was making the case for how the plagues viral spread was downstream of the Mongols connectivity of the modern world. 

I wrote that I was keen to interview him for this podcast that I had just started. 

There were lots of rejection for a while in the first few years and I had no expectations he would even get back to me. But to my surprise he did, and it was an emphatic yes. 

We corresponded a bit over email, recorded a 4 hour discussion, of which 3 where published And it was as much a dedication to Mongolia as it was Genghis Khan and the Mongols. 

And I’ve waited in the years since to see him appear on Rogan, Fridman, Tim Ferriss or even a Dan Carlin addendum, since these are all blokes who have openly praised and spoken about Jack’s work many times. 

But so far, nothing, although it looks like one of them may correct this, which Jack may or may not give away at the end.

But onto this episode today. 

Jack has just published his final instalment on the Mongols, his fourth book on the topic. It’s called Emperor Of The Seas and it’s about Genghis’s grandson, Kublai Khan, who expanded the Mongol territory beyond the dominion his grandfather conquered 50 years before him. Kublai folded into the Khan empire the fertile agricultural lands of south China, repurposed that fleet and the expertise along with and expanded the Khan empire beyond the oceans. Mongols sitting on horseback, atop goat skins, riding wooden ships. 

Jack Weatherford #190 Of The Curious Worldview Podcast on Youtube

Emperor Of The Seas - Jack Weatherford

Nat Eliason is an absolute legend. 

I’ve been subscribed to his newsletter, following his tweets, and listening to his interviews for what feels like years now.

He’s a prolific online writer who recently published his debut book, a memoir of a crypto side quest he spiralled deep down into which is serves as revelatory for the sheer insanity that is crypto. It’s meme coins, making loads of money, losing it, secret discord servers, exit liquidity and all the rest that foreshadows the same stuff happening now. 

Crypto is back in the news, and therefore so is Nat’s book - Crypto Confidential - which is a must read if you want to get a sense for, or contribute to, the mania.

However, writing is Nat’s circulatory system, so we ended up speaking half about books and half about crypto. When you check out the episode, navigate the timestamps if you wanna skip the writing stuff and go straight to crypto.

Before I leave you with Nat, he’s got this tremendous call to action on his Substack that I wanted to share here…

“Among my strongest life goals is to write something worthy of outliving me”

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Nat Eliason Substack

----

00:00 - Who Is Nat Eliason?
01:08 - Serendipitous Anecdote
02:58 - CRYPTO: Crypto Mania
12:23 - Writing
18:05 - AI Helping Writers (Great Metaphor)
24:48 - Great Story Telling Less Great Writing
34:08 - Taleb's Influence
41:08 - Book Publishing Market (VC Metaphor)
1:00:33 - CRYPTO: Crypto From All Sides. Crazy Stories. Current Market, Ideological? The Future.

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