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This podcast came after a whirlwind few weeks for the Crowd– Damir returned from his odyssey through the Balkans, and Shadi was the recipient of several Twitter pile-ons. Oh, and the Queen died.

Before getting to all that, though, we ramble through a potpourri of other subjects. Damir gives relationship advice.  Shadi tells us why he's against pets and hiking. A conversation about whether animals have souls turns into a discuss of creationism and free speech, touching on some recent arguments in the pages of The Atlantic.

We also continue our conversation about national conservatism from last week, addressing statements made by national conservatives about the nature of rights in the international system. Are rights only real if they're enforceable? And if not, should the very concept be thrown out the window?

In the full episode (for subscribers only) Damir discusses some of the takeaways from his trip to the Balkans: what he saw on his travels made him wonder whether authoritarians like Vladimir Putin imposed themselves on unwilling societies, or if "the people" were more active participants in the process. In other words, are the Russian people as victimized as Western media makes them seem? Finally, Shadi shares his surprise at Britons; depth of feeling for their monarch, as well as his thoughts on what role monarchs play in Western democracies.