Shows / Multipolarity
Multipolarity
Charting The Rise Of A Multipolar World Order Philip Pilkington is an unorthodox macroeconomist. Andrew Collingwood is an equally skeptical journalist. Lately, both have realised that - post-Ukraine, post-Afghanistan withdrawal - the old, unipolar, US-led world order is in its death throes. In its wake, something new is being born. But what shape will that take? That will depend on a combustible combination of economics and geopolitics; trade and military muscle. Each week, our duo take three…
Episodes
- Multipolarity
The Revolution In Serbia
This week: a tale of two essays. Philip Pilkington is 'live from Belgrade' (almost), as he picks over the embers of the Serbian election. Is this really the…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Dialogues: Anusar Farooqui (Policy Tensor) on why he changed his mind on Hormuz
A gutbuster blockbuster this week: Policy Tensor, our sometime Friend Of The Show , has been taking some serious flak online in recent weeks over his view that…
- Multipolarity
Europe's Weirdest Country Is On Fire (Not France)
Last time Albania blew up it was because the entire country had become embroiled in a Ponzi scheme, led by a gypsy soothsayer. That incident was generally…
- Multipolarity
The Saudis Are About To Pay The Price For Trump's Oil Market Fix
We've been tracking the story for weeks, and now the authorities are waking up to it. The CFTC, the US commodities markets watchdog, is investigating oil…
- Multipolarity
Twelve Tankers Hit: The End of The Hormuz Narrative and the Start Of The Bond Wars
A record-breaking week down in Hormuz, where twelve oil tankers have been hit in a matter of days. Back on Wall Street, the cost of oil has pipped $100 a…
- Multipolarity
Surfing the 'Oil Glut': Satellites, Transponders, and the Commodities Info War
What can we know about the oil that gets through Hormuz? Turns out most of what we know filters through a single data point: a company called Kpler. Before the…
- Multipolarity
Call Time At The Casino: Europe's Bad Bets Come Due
Lately, European leaders seem panicked. By the beginning of July, the EU had begun acting in an increasingly assertive, confident way. On China – they…
- Multipolarity
The Irish Kraken Awakens: British Interests After American Power
Donald Trump’s year of smashing things continues apace. Iran, Greenland, Canada… At some point, there is no more china in the shop for the bull to break. But…
- Multipolarity
Super Size Me II: Malcom Kyeyune on The Burger Theory of History, Revisited
Super-Size Me II. 140 episodes ago, Malcolm Kyeyune launched a piece of verbal artillery into the mess hall of online discourse. The Burger Theory of History…
- Multipolarity
Special Edition: The Horizons
September is here. As the calendar page tugs away, the madness of the dog days of summer blows away. The madness of the autumn is upon us. With the Pina Colada…
- Multipolarity
Two Audio Essays: A Japanese Unwinding vs An Iranian Tightening
Two audio essays, one smouldering fuse. This week, Philip Pilkington takes on a financial cascade emerging from the Japanese Bond situation. Ever since its…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Dialogues: AI and the future of warfare with Steve Hsu
Multipolarity Dialogues is a series of special multipolarity interviews that scan the geopolitical horizon. We talk to some of the sharpest analysts, thinkers…
- Multipolarity
The Pod To End All Pods: Part 3
Coming up this week, last week, and the week before… A massive multi-part episode. The world is shifting in unpredictable ways. The old order is with the death…
- Multipolarity
The Pod To End All Pods: Part 2
The world is shifting in unpredictable ways. The old order dies of smoke inhalation in a dumpster fire. The new one has yet to be lifted out by C-Section. The…
- Multipolarity
The Pod To End All Pods: Part 1
Coming up this week and next week and the week after… A massive multi-part episode. The world is shifting in unpredictable ways. The old order dies of smoke…
- Multipolarity
All Your Base Are Belong To Us, The People’s Carcrash, Our Democracy
You’ve heard of de-Baathification? Now what about de-baseification? The gradual chipping back of US strategic assets in the Gulf as each in turn comes under…
- Multipolarity
Iran: The Oil Price War With Conventional War Characteristics
This week: two audio essays, on one big Iran cluster-frig. In the Collingwood corner: Donald Trump has become an unreadable politician. His credibility has…
- Multipolarity
Slipping and Sliding, Spit and Polish
It’s an oil rush. Fill your boots, fellers, America is releasing its strategic petroleum reserves, ostensibly to see down Iranian pressure. Good news for…
- Multipolarity
Pilkington Vs Collingwood: A Multipolarity Q&A Special
This week on Multipolarity, we’re taking your questions. It’s a Q&A episode, involving queries sent in by our loyal listeners. Questions like: How did you guys…
- Multipolarity
No Deal Is Better Than An Islama-bad Deal, The Godmother, Two Year Keir
Iran’s 14 points: making the world safe for Shia Theocracy. Obviously, Donald Trump putting his John Hancock to the Islamabad Memorandum at Versailles carries…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Dialogues: The Other Superweapon - Adventures In Chinese AI, with TP Huang
Fable — a short fantastical tale with a moral message. For weeks, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei was telling anyone who’d listen that he’d invented an AI so powerful…
- Multipolarity
Strait To Hell, Kim Jong Boom, Armenian Roulette
It’s war in our time. After flirting with peace for a few miserable hours, the US and Iran are back to what they know best: taking uneven chunks out of each…
- Multipolarity
Two Audio Essays: The Escalation Ladder & Weaponised Interdependence
This week: two audio essays. First up, they’re calling it the Poor Man’s Tomahawk. Ukraine is firing up to 2000 long range drones a week into Russia. The…
- Multipolarity
Crossing The Orange Line, Hard Bargain, Sino Silicon
Russia has rained Oreshnik hypersonic missiles on Kiev. Four people killed. 549 missiles apparently shot down. This was a message. The Oreshnik travels at Mach…
- Multipolarity
Huawei With The Fairies, Land of The Falling Bond, Montezuma’s Other Revenge
Donald Trump took Elon Musk and Jensen Huang to Beijing with him for 48 hours. But rather than the frat boy big weekend of their autistic dreams, the trip…
- Multipolarity
Two Audio Essays: The Oil Infrastructure Breakdown & How Epstein Could Bring Down The British Bond Markets
This week: a tale of two audio essays. Philip is going deep dive on the coming oil crisis. He sees a two-wave format emerging. The initial wave - dropping in a…
- Multipolarity
Merz Sadist Bends, Bond Villain, Slick Dealing
Remember Olaf Scholz? Just about? Remember when he sunk to the lowest opinion poll rating in German political history? Well the good news for anonymous…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Dialogues: George Yeo On How Singapore Navigates Between China and America
After weeks of Iran drumbeats - time for something a bit different. George Yeo is the former Foreign Minister of Singapore Educated at University of Cambridge…
- Multipolarity
Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday, It's A Kind Of Magyar, New York Slop Exchange
The hot question this summer: Can you bring your own jerry can of diesel onto an EasyJet? As all the major airlines begin to cancel flights, bump surcharges…
- Multipolarity
New Kid On The Blockade, Tisza Trailer
Trump blockades a blockade. The world holds its breath: will the Iranians blockade the blockade of the blockade? Are we destined for battleship Tetris piling…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Dialogues: Malcom Kyeyune on The Annihilation Gamble
Annihilation - no more. On Tuesday, the world was saved at five minutes to midnight. For the next two weeks, at least… But while the power plants are safe for…
- Multipolarity
Premium Multipolarity: Iran On The Home Front - Europe Under Economic Siege
1973. Beyond the war, we’re hacking into the coming implications of the major energy crisis that’s brewing - as the last tankers to leave the Gulf trundle into…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Dialogues: The Middle East Is Being Re-Made, But Not In The Way America Thinks with Policy Tensor
Multipolarity Dialogues is a series of interviews that scan the geopolitical horizon. We talk to some of the sharpest analysts, think as an experts about how…
- Multipolarity
The Art of War, Closing The Gap, Six Finger Discount
The dog that didn’t bark. China is cooling its heels on the war in Iran. As America’s entanglement deepens, it’s not Sun Tzu they’re turning to, but the wit…
- Multipolarity
Special Edition: Dire Straits
As Iran smoulders, ships burn in Hormuz, and TACO traders search for signal in the thunderous noise, we’re celebrating the end of the world in the only way we…
- Multipolarity
Welcome To Gulf War 3 With Malcom Kyeyune
The Netherlands has its youngest ever Prime Minister. Liberal technocrat Rob Jetten is also openly gay - a big win for diversity. But can the VVD survive in…
- Multipolarity
El Dumbo, Tariff-ying, Rear Lagarde Action
The US State Department advised its citizens in Northern Mexico to ‘shelter in place’, as the cartels took their reprisals, following a major Mexican security…
- Multipolarity
Big Trouble In Little Marco, Losing Their Shahed, To The Viktor The Spoils
At the Munich Security Conference, Marco Rubio offered Europe a peace in our time. The Americans sprayed on the charm. But looking between the fine words, it…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Dialogues: Iran From The Inside
Firas Modad is back for his second turn on the pod. After talking about Neo-Ottomanism last time, he is turning his attention to Iran, and its faltering…
- Multipolarity
Two Audio Essays: Bessent’s Big Gold Short and TACO Revisited
Today we bring you two audio essays from your favourite geo-political podcasters. First up Philip is looking at the recent attempt to short the precious metals…
- Multipolarity
Special Edition: Japanese Bonds and the Unwinding of the Global Financial System
After Greenland, the rupture in the Transatlantic Alliance was made visible at the WEF conference in Davos. Mark Carney said the quiet bit aloud. But the real…
- Multipolarity
Special Edition: Amerikanets on the Venezuela Shadowplay
In 1991, the philosopher Jean Baudrillard published a series of essays in Libération and The Guardian entitled The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. Baudrillard's…
- Multipolarity
Not Without My Shah, Green Eyed Monster, Fed Up
Reza Pahlavi is packing his toothbrush again. As protests grow in Iran, the exiled Crown Prince has been popping up for media appearances, from his home in the…
- Multipolarity
The Day After The Revolution: Venezuela’s Coming Chaos
They got the Ace of Spades. The annual dictator kidnapping season got underway in fine style this week as the US bagged a big one, 1.9 meter Nicolás Maduro…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: The Final Night
And to all a good night. Need a last minute gift? Or want to treat yourself to something you actually want? You can get special paywalled premium episodes of…
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Thirteen
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Twelve
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Eleven
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Ten
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Nine
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Eight
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Seven
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Six
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Five
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Four
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Three
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day Two
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Multipolarity Advent Calendar: Day One
Every day until Christmas, Philip and Andrew open a window, revealing an object that speaks to the geopolitical year that was.
- Multipolarity
Premium Edition Teaser: Why The Special Relationship Is Over
The Special Relationship: from Britain defaulting on its loans in the 1930s, to Suez, to Falklands, to the War on Terror, to Trump patronising Starmer at the…
- Multipolarity
The Six Ages Of China
The common story of modern China’s development is that it has two ages: Mao, and reform. The truth is there are at least six internally coherent economic eras…