ReConsider

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Jacob Shapiro joins the show again to take a snapshot of the global geopolitical environment at the turn of the decade.

(Sorry it's late; been a crazy month!)

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It's Iowa Caucus time, which means people make hay by predicting a brokered convention!

...But what is a brokered convention? How does it work? How likely is it?

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Iftah Burman, founder of the Middle East Learning Academy, joins us to go over Iran’s broader role in the Middle East, particularly its operations outside of its own borders: what are its goals, what is the impact, and is Iran succeeding?

Itfah is a Middle East scholar that regularly briefs diplomats, foreign officials, academics, and different levels of young professionals. He also acts as the director of foreign senior-level mission to Israel of US government officials, US military officers, and different think-tank researchers. He’s also deeply involved with education, and regularly gives lectures to students and tour groups seeking broader context and understanding of the complexities in the region. He’s currently working on his PhD, with a dissertation focused on Hezbollah and Syria, but also studies and briefs experts on the Arab-Israeli conflict and Iranian-Western relations. Clearly, a relevant topic right now.

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Jacob Shapiro (cofounder of Geopolitical Futures) joins us today to help us break down what in the absolute heck happened in Iran, what might happen next, and what the heck might be the strategic/geopolitical driver behind it.

We also do a followup about our last episode, where we cover some key errata about our analysis of the UK election that our listeners pointed out for us #humblepie and get a bit of help from Jacob on the implications.

Lots of good stuff :)

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Boris Johnson won big and Brexit is go for launch.

Donald Trump was impeached… and still his popularity holds steady. Heck, he might get re-elected.

Americans and Britons seem to have, within themselves, two incompatible narratives about these men. How is that possible?

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Recently Erik saw an article in which nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says an obsession with looking at GDP has become a problem:

“The world is facing three existential crises: a climate crisis, an inequality crisis and a crisis in democracy,” he writes. “Yet the accepted ways by which we measure economic performance give absolutely no hint that we might be facing a problem.” 

“If we measure the wrong thing, we will do the wrong thing,”

Do we need to reconsider how useful GDP can be as a measure of economic health?

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A few isolated Lebanese protests over a tax on WhatsApp calls have become, perhaps a national revolution, with huge consequences for the region and perhaps even American strategy. Why?

How could such a small thing have such a large potential impact? And how can we possibly spot what "small things" in the world really matter, and which big ones are more smoke than substance?

Getting this one out earlier than normal because the topic is timely!

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.