Geopolitical Horizons

2024 will be a bumper year for elections. There are scheduled to be 76 national elections, across the world, with over 4 billion people going to the polls. Some of the world's most powerful nations will have elections next year as well as a number of strategic nations. The outcome of many of these will have global repercussions and will shape relations into the 2030s.

It's been over a month since the events of 7th October where a number of Palestinian resistance groups launched an assault into Southern Israel. Israel responded with a broad invasion of the Gaza Strip and the images that continue to beam out have led to much criticism of Israel, due to the mounting civilian casualties.  What is Israel's end game?  Is the two state solution dead? Has public opinion turned against Israel? Who’s winning the information war? 

It has been over a week since the events of 7 Oct, where various groups from the Gaza Strip carried out an audacious operation into Southern Israel. Hamas and various other groups captured army bases, hostages and soldiers. Israel is still shocked and they have called it there 9/11 and a ground invasion of the Gaza strip is imminent. This will have major implications for the region and beyond and in this podcast we unpack it all.

The Middle East seems to always be in the news. From monarchies, to oil, to war to terrorism. Very rarely does a day go by without the Middle East being in the news. On amazon.com the Middle East is the most written about topic. How do we make sense of this complex region? Who are the key players? What are the long-term trends? 

With its countless ethnic groups, tribes, languages and nations, Africa is not just a huge continent but a very diverse one. The countries in Africa share a history of foreign exploitation and a legacy of poverty and corruption as well as stifled political development that has prevented the African people from capitalising on their economic potential. In this podcast we look at the geopolitics of Africa.

Semiconductors are fast becoming the oil of the 21st century. They are what allow us to get all the power and speed in things like smartphones, tablets, digital TVs, wireless communications infrastructure, network hardware, computers and many more devices which have smart capabilities. The supply chain for semiconductors is critical, similar to how the supply chain for oil was in the 20th century. Last Year US president Biden placed an embargo on the export of advanced semiconductor chips and equipment to China and so now there is in effect an arms race on semiconductors. 

The war in Ukraine has just passed its 18-month anniversary. It was on 24 February 2022 when Russian troops crossed into Ukraine beginning Europe's first interstate war since WW2. Since then, the west has provided military and economic support to Ukraine whilst Russia has been trying to conquer territory and grind out a victory. 

It was two years ago on August 15th, when the Afghan people prevailed against another empire as the US got up and left the mountainous country after a disastrous two decade occupation. The Taliban have been busy trying to rule over the nation and trying to solve the myriad of challenges. How have they fared 2 years on? 

The ancient Greeks, Romans, the place of the reformation and the enlightenment. The region that found the new world and colonised the world, for the last 500 years Europe defined the world. In this podcast we begin by looking at the regions of the world, beginning with Europe 

There is lots of chatter about the demise of the dollar, especially since the US placed unprecedented sanctions on Russia. Many US commentators are talking about the end of the dollar's dominance as a number of US allies trade with China in currencies that do not include the dollar. It seems not a day goes by without China's currency, the Yuan being in the news. The recent gathering of the BRICS organisation revealed they are considering launching a new currency. Many consider BRICS will replace western institutions such as the G7 and the IMF. So are the days of the US created financial order numbered?