International Intrigue Audio Edition

Special edition: Afghanistan, August 2021

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Hi hi hi!

This week:

Sadly, what’s going on in Afghanistan right now is just too big to ignore. But instead of rehashing what you've no doubt read elsewhere, this week we've decided to cover two angles you might not have thought about:

  • 📰 The ‘story’ of Afghanistan: how the mainstream media is covering the situation
  • 🙅‍♀️ To ban or not ban the Taliban? Silicon Valley execs have a new problem

    • Before we get started...

    Here’s a round up of content from the last week that we’ve found insightful:

    • For 40 years, Afghanistan has been the laboratory in which superpowers conduct their foreign policy experiments.
    • One senior ‘experimenter’, former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, has admitted he got Afghanistan policy wrong, and reflects on why.
    • In that same vein, a former Pakistani Ambassador to the US thinks his country will regret its decades long support for the Taliban.
    • Commentators have been frothing about how China stands to benefit from the US withdrawal, but we're sceptical that China is actually that thrilled.
    • Putin is likely equally worried. Russia now has a power vacuum in its neighbourhood with significant potential for instability in the 'stan' countries.
    • As for the future of Afghanistan itself, it's sadly no surprise that the Taliban resurgence will affect women the most.
    • And Afghanistan’s already weak economy now has to deal with a run on the banks and the threat of inflation. Is it crypto's time to shine?
    • Lastly, an Australian videographer has decided to stay in Afghanistan. Check out Jordan Bryon's Instagram videos from the past week.


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      International Intrigue Audio EditionBy International Intrigue