Foreign Influence

Foreign Influence

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Foreign Influence episodes

  • Fighting Climate Change Using Carbon Markets • Coronavirus in China • Davos Blues

     

    Happy Lunar/Chinese New Year! Chun jie kuai le! 春节快乐!

    Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • As China prepares to celebrate its biggest annual holiday, the Lunar New Year, the country and the world face a growing coronavirus epidemic. Not very humorous 
  • Reflecting on Davos, the annual gathering of world's rich and powerful
  • An extended conversation with Bill Pazos, COO of Air Carbon Exchange in Singapore, on cap-and-trade solutions to climate change
  • And a twist on our usual happy news, wishing you gong xi gongxi! 
  • Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. That includes our new Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us! https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/

    Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!

    Bill & Nikolaj

    48 min
  • World War III-ish • Mythmaking & the Middle East • Happy China

    Happy 2020! 🎉🎉🎉

    Kind of, anyway.

    Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • The US assassinates an Iranian leader, and Iran strikes back. It's gonna be fine, FINE.
  • The stories we tell ourselves to get ramped up for war and invasion
  • China stands to benefit from renewed chaos
  • And the good news, including marijuana legalization in Illinois? 
  • Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!

    32 min
  • Impeachment ✅ • India & Global Nationalism • US Farmer Bill Hickey in the Trade War Trenches

    Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • Trump's impeachment is done, but the fun is just beginning in the US Senate
  • India's pro-Hindu law and the global rise of ethic nationalism
  • A conversation with US Midwest farmer Bill Hickey on surviving the trade war and living in Trump country
  • All that and a happy holidays to you all!
  • For more on India's new law and the protests that have resulted:

    https://on.ft.com/2EyfGW5

    And for more on the Phase 1 trade deal between the US and China:

    https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3042809/chinas-trading-partners-wary-phase-one-deal-while-analysts

    Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!

    31 min
  • Amit Prothi on cities and climate change • Quick hits: Brexit & Impeachment • Good News

    Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • A fascinating conversation with Amit Prothi, recently of the 100 Resilient Cities project, on how urban areas can survive and thrive in the future
  • Humanity is officially an urban species and what that means
  • Can greenhouse gas emissions be limited, or is it time for geo-engineering
  • Quick hits on the fast-moving news of the UK elections and the impeachment of Pres. Donald J. Trump
  • All that and our usual dose of good news
  • To find out more about the 100 Resilient Cities project:

    https://www.100resilientcities.org/

    Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Thanks for listening!

    54 min
  • The Afghanistan Papers • The UK Votes • Thomas Jestin on Inequality, GDP, and Tech Optimism

    Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • The Afghanistan Papers show we've all been lied to about the war
  • UK bollocks and the impact on Europe
  • A conversation with entrepreneur and writer Thomas Jestin on inequality, alternatives to GDP, and how tech is providing and will provide for a better world
  • That and our usual dose of good news, which is so much optimism and happiness that we almost can't stand it
  • To find the Washington Post stories on Afghanistan:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

    To find Thomas Jestin's article and more about him:

    http://livewithai.org/ai-makes-technological-progress-fast/

    https://www.thomasjestin.com/

    And a couple other items we mentioned:

    https://andrewmcafee.org/more-from-less/overivew

    https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix

    Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Thanks for listening!

    51 min
  • Articles of Imp • France Strikes I: Macron at NATO • France Strikes II: It's General • Rendering faces from DNA

    Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • Articles of impeachment shall be
  • France Strikes! Part Un: Macron and Trump mix it up at the NATO summit, while we explore the purpose of NATO
  • France Strikes! Part Deux: Macron faces a general strike at home
  • The tech now exists to reconstruct how someone looks just from their DNA. 😯 And of course it's being used for nothing but good purposes
  • It's been a brutal winter in Singapore with temps only modestly hot
  • That, more, and our usual dose of happy news! 
  • Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Thanks for listening!

    25 min
  • Social media platforms as publishers • Future of podcasting • Confronting China

    Join an American (Bill Poorman) and a Dutchman (Nikolaj Groeneweg), living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • Facebook, Google, and other social media platforms - or is that publishers?
  • "Illinois Nazis. I hate Illinois Nazis." - Jake & Elwood
  • The excerpted future of podcasting
  • Confronting China exactly the wrong way
  • And our usual dose of happy news! 
  • Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Thanks for listening!

    22 min
  • Hong Kong Unrest • French Zest • Tech is the Best • Trump Fest

    After a short hiatus traveling the region and covering events, hosts Bill Poorman (the American) and Nikolaj Groeneweg (the Dutchman) are back to take you on a romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • The unrest in Hong Kong worsens, and it's hard to see where it's all going
  • Protest is going worldwide
  • Tech and entrepreneurship might offer some answers
  • The Trump impeachment goes public
  • And our usual dose of happy news! (Lord knows we need it.)
  • Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Thanks for listening!

    33 min
  • China Bucks • Trump's Not Always Wrong and That's Bad • We(outta)Work • Nuclear Floppy Disks

    Hosts Bill Poorman (the American) and Nikolaj Groeneweg (the Dutchman) take you on a romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

    • China's trumping the U.S. in rich people and unicorns
  • Trump is not always wrong about everything, and that's the worst possible thing
  • WeWork pays its founder millions of bucks to go away 
  • Tech news, including algorithms building racism into health care and the the nuclear arsenal enter the 21st century
  • Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Thanks for listening!

    29 min
  • US Dems Debate • Knuckling Under to China * AI's Gonna Getchya

    Hosts Bill Poorman (the American) and Nikolaj Groeneweg (the Dutchman) are flying solo again on this one. In this week's episode:

    • Bill is fresh off the latest Democratic party debate, and he's none too impressed with some of what he saw
  • The NBA and other American companies are knuckling under to China, and that ain't good
  • Your job and life will not be the same once AI gets here, says Nikolaj
  • But that's not nearly as bad as the squirrels playing chess
  • Reach out to us at [email protected] or through social media. Thanks for listening!

    21 min

About Foreign Influence

From the publisher's feed

Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through politics, economics, current events, and cultural movements of…