The Cosmopolicast

The Ukraine and Iran Symposium


Listen Later

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireberlinski.substack.com

The symposium with Vladislav was a fantastic. But the video that resulted was, again, way longer than anyone could reasonably be expected to watch. It was longer, I think, than I can even upload. I’d been trying for 24 hours to upload an edited version, without success. The system only relented when I cut it down by another half hour.

I just don’t have three more days keep editing this to perfection, and “perfection” would probably take me a few months, anyway, given my still-rudimentary video-editing skills. So I told the AI to edit it however it thought fit.

It made some very odd creative choices. Its B-roll selections, in particular, are peculiar. (The lady sipping pineapple juice? The seat belt shot? Your guess is as good as mine. Good thing it will soon be in charge of our drones.) Midway through, it gives me zombie eyes. Maybe it was trying to compensate for the bad lighting? You’ll see. But it was so adorably proud of its choices that I couldn’t bring myself to criticize—and I didn’t have time, either. I decided that it was what it was, and I’d just put the whole thing up before the discussion was overtaken by events. From the transcript, nothing important was omitted, and that’s the main thing.

Despite the juice-sipping lady, this is very much worth paying for. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. I genuinely think this is a better-informed, higher-caliber discussion than you’ll find elsewhere, and if you want to understand the state of either war—and why they’re happening in the first place—this is an excellent place to start.

Also, please subscribe because I’ve been working really hard. I’m doing my utmost to keep my readers well-informed—and in no way misled. I’d be very glad if you did:

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The CosmopolicastBy Claire Berlinski