Yesterday I had E.M. Burlingame on the podcast to talk about the fast start to 2026 as far as geopolitics and financial markets. We touched on everything from Venezuela, to the Middle East and China, as well as the current political situation in the US. We also got into some of the changes happening in financial markets, and what we could see long-term as far as a complete change in the financial system. You can find E.M.’s Substack below, but he’s also worth a follow on Twitter.

Podcast Summary

* Recent events in Venezuela, what comes after Maduro, and how it impacts other parts of the world.

* Why he thinks Cuba will change on its own, and the potential for the US to buy Greenland.

* How certain factions think that Europe is planning for war against the US through Canada, and how Alberta and a potential secession factor in.

* Why he’s keeping an eye on Iran and Israel and the Middle East, and the current state of Iran, and the ongoing regime change efforts.

* Recent events in Ukraine, the use of another Oreshnik missile, and why a chain of geopolitical events can happen in bursts before pausing for a bit of a reset.

* What to watch for at next week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

* The power struggle going on in China, and why they are likely to be the center of gravity in that region of the world moving forward.

* China’s economic system of political capitalism and how the US used to have a similar system before 1971.

* What the next year holds for the US, and why deportations are a twenty to thirty year problem.

* The setup for the midterms this year, and the multiple dimensions of the current political situation.

* Why it’s important to focus on the local level, and the importance of the next generation of young men.

* The tremors that are becoming more obvious in the financial system, and why the City of London’s ability to price metals (not just gold and silver) is breaking.

* Why all metals will probably continue to increase in price, and why he thinks they will try to prop up the broad equity market.

* How stablecoins could be used to link the debt market to the rest of the economy.

* Why we could see a return to the gold standard in a tokenized system, but why we are probably going to try a tokenized form of cryptocurrency first.

* Book Recommendation: The Financialist Kill Chain by E.M. Burlingame.

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