International Intrigue Audio Edition: Recent Episodes
International Intrigue
The audio version of the weekly International Intrigue newsletter. Each week, two former diplomats cover two important foreign affairs stories you might have missed, and tell you why they matter. Subscribe to the Newsletter for links and extra features!
internationalintrigue.substack.com
Welcome to the final edition of International Intrigue ‘1.0’. If you’re a first time reader, or if you missed our announcement last Friday, things are about to change around here, and we couldn't be more excited about what’s ahead.
As promised, this week we bring you a very special Q & A edition. We received ~25 questions via email and Twitter, so we could only pick some of them to answer.
Highlights include:
- What is the biggest mistake in foreign policy in the 21st century?
- What’s the significance of expelling an ambassador?
- What’s your most embarrassing moment as a diplomat?
If you’re wondering how you can support us, we have a simple answer: please tell everyone you know about International Intrigue. The more people who find our work, the more likely our big plans for the future will be a raging success!
🧠 Don't forget you can go right here to read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter 👈 there, and here follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
This week we’re delighted to be supported by: explore the frontier of business, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs with the Token MBA.
This week we can’t help but cover the US-UK-Australia-but-most-definitely-not-France nuclear submarine deal:
- 🌊 What is it and why does it matter?
- 🙈 Was it a result of really bad diplomacy?
🧠 Don't forget you can go right here to read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter 👈 there, and here follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
This week we're sponsored by... ourselves! We're looking for launch partners for our new product. If you'd like more info, get in touch here.
COP 26 is just a few weeks away and climate change is a central focus at the UN General Assembly's gatherings this month. So this week, we bring you a special edition:
- 🍃 The geopolitics of energy: how the transition to renewable energy will change the world.
🧠 Don't forget you can go right here to read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter 👈 there, and here follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
This week we're sponsored by The Daily Upside - Get More Than News. Get Insights.
This week's edition:
Lately we’re seeing the US-China relationship increasingly called a ‘Cold War 2.0’. So this week we ask:
- 🥶 What does ‘Cold War 2.0’ really mean, and does it matter?
🧠 Don't forget you can go right here to read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter 👈 there, and here follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
☕ This week we're sponsored by Morning Brew.
There's a reason over 3 million people start their day with Morning Brew - the daily email that delivers the latest news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Business news doesn't have to be dry and dense... make your mornings more enjoyable, for free. Check it out here.
This week's edition: Germany goes to the polls on 26 September and for the first time in 16 years their Chancellor will definitely not be Angela Merkel. This week we bring you:
👉 Your guide to the German election: modern Germany, where it’s going, and why it matters to the world.
- 🍻 Part 1: The making of modern Germany
- 🥨 Part 2: The election and Germany’s future
🧠 Don't forget you can go right here to read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter 👈 there, and here follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
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.
🧠 Don't forget you can go right here to read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter 👈 there, and here follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Hey y'all! Having a good week? We hope so! Don't you ever forget you can go right here to read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter 👈 there, and here follow on John on Twitter!
This week:
- ⛪ The Pope's diplomacy: what can the Pope teach us?
- 👩⚖️ Mexico vs Gunmakers: trying to dam the Iron River in a courtroom.
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Welcome!
Go here to read the newsletter on your phone, here to subscribe to the newsletter, and here follow on John on Twitter!
This week:
- 🐫 Modern Tunisia: ten years after the Arab Spring.
- 💪 Antifragile foreign policy: how to live in an unpredictable world.
Here's the antifragile video explainer I mentioned in the second story.
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Friends! Welcome!
Go here to read the newsletter on your phone, here to subscribe to the newsletter, and here follow on John on Twitter!
This week:
- 🦃 Turkey's new empire: is Erdoğan overreaching?
- 🌪 Is the world getting more volatile? John answers a sceptical friend's questions.
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
If you've got 4 minutes to spare, please take our survey so we can make Intrigue better for you.
No unifying theme this week, in fact, two stories about as far apart as you can get:
- 🍜 South East Asia: an overview of one of the world’s most important regions.
- 🤯 Zero-knowledge proofs: how complex mathematics could prevent a war.
Don't forget, you can read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
This week we take a look at how not to transfer power in a country:
- 🌴 WTF just happened in Haiti?
- 🐫 Afghanistan: after America’s adieu
Don't forget, you can read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
This week:
- How the next world war could start: freedom of navigation under international maritime law.
- How the next world war could be avoided: is deep-sea mining the answer to our rare earth problems?
Don't forget, you can read the newsletter on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
This week:
- 🧩 2021 so far: three themes thus far, and what we’re watching for in the second half of the year.
This week we are going to experiment with a shorter edition. We thought it would be interesting to pause and connect the dots for the first six months of 2021. Please tell us what you think of this shorter, one-story format. Your feedback will help us build International Intrigue 2.0 over the summer!
Don't forget, you can read this edition on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on John on Twitter!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Apologies for the delay and the sound issues this week Intriguers! The technical gods were not our friends. Back to normal next week!
Don't forget, you can read this edition on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on John on Twitter!
This week:
- Tanzania: Belt and Road and the Bagamoyo Port
- Did a Chinese spy catcher defect to the US in February?
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded. Thank you.
Until next week!
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Read this edition on your phone, subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on John on Twitter!
Well loyal Intriguers, another week two more global affairs stories for you.
This week:
- 🍎 Hong Kong: a fresh crackdown on Hong Kong’s remaining free press.
- 🔥 Unrest in Colombia: tax protests spiral out of control.
Let us know what you think of our work. We love feedback and it helps us get better. How you ask...?
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded. Thank you.
Also - first one to successful send us a voice note using the tool below 👇 will get a special prize!!
Until next week!
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Subscribe to the newsletter here, and follow on John on Twitter!
Well loyal Intriguers, we've got a very Special Edition for you this week...
🌑 The Rise and Fall of Darkside
- what is ransomware-as-a-service?
- why might outsourcing hacking be a smart geopolitical strategy?
- and what does regulating cryptocurrencies have to do with any of it?
We promise you this is a cracking edition - it's a little denser than usual, but we're really proud of it.
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below. And we really appreciate your feedback, so fire away!
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded. Thank you.
Also - first one to successful send us a voice note using the tool below 👇 will get a special prize!!
Until next week!
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Subscribe to the newsletter here, and follow on John on Twitter!
This week:
- 📜 The G7 tax agreement: now aren’t you glad we try to make this newsletter funny?
- 🏅 The Tokyo Olympics: should the show go on?
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded. Thank you.
Until next week!
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
📧 A warm welcome to our 21 intriguing new subscribers this week! If you’re not subscribed, you can join us here.
This week:
- 👑 Iran's upcoming elections: who will claim the Iran throne? (1:12)
- 🔎 Analysing an analyst: Ian Bremmer and our big tech future (6:50)
Please rate and review our podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
NB: we promised we’d give you the results of last week’s prediction game. We’re breaking that promise and delaying the results for a week. Over 50 of you have answered already, but we think we can get a few more. You can still ⚡ make your prediction here! ⚡.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
📧 A warm welcome to our 39 intriguing new subscribers this week! Join our growing community of curious folks interested in global affairs by subscribing here.
This week:
- ✈ A Ryanair plane-jacking in Belarus: another glimpse of a more chaotic future (1:33)
- 🎱 Five big questions: test your predictions against the wisdom of the crowd, and us. (6:59)
Crowd forecast: Will there be a major cyber attack on critical infrastructure in a G7 country before December 31, 2021?
⚡ Make your prediction here! ⚡ (only takes five seconds)
✒ Please rate and review us in Apple podcasts here. We've got 4 five star ratings, we'd love a few more!
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded. Thank you.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Happy Friday! As promised, a little bonus tidbit for you loyal friends of Intrigue.
Helen spent three years as an Australian diplomat in Israel. In a very informal discussion, we discuss this week's Israel & Palestine newsletter that went out on Wednesday:
- Helen talks about living in Israel and what it was like to visit Gaza
- Israeli domestic politics, Jerusalem, and the life of Arab Israelis
- How she felt writing about these issues this week
If you like this little bonus chat, let us know. We enjoyed recording it and we'd love to do more if people enjoy them!
You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
Please give us five stars on Apple Podcasts! (Apparently it helps new listeners find us).
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
This week:
- 🕊 Israel-Palestine: from ancient times to now (2:17)
- 🕊 Israel-Palestine: from now and into the future (11.06)
Check out the newsletter here.
We're giving over this week’s edition to the Israel & Palestine conflict. During Helen’s three years as a diplomat in Tel Aviv, she developed unique insights and a deep understanding of the issues. While we generally avoid very mainstream news, we think that we can tell you something you haven't already heard.
Also, we've had multiple requests to cover it (looking at you Policy Fellow at Perth USAsia!). We are nothing if not customer focused.
It’s a serious understatement to call the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a divisive topic. Sort of like writing about whether the dress is blue or gold but you know, more serious. So we've decided not to link to any outrageous material showing one side doing something awful to the other - you can find plenty of that yourself on the internet. We hope you’ll read this week’s edition in the spirit it’s intended - as a genuine effort to contextualise the conflict to help you arrive at your own conclusions.
We’ll also be including an extra goodie in our audio feed this week - Helen will talk candidly about her experience in Tel Aviv and how she approached writing the following piece.
👋 Say hi by tweeting us @intintrigue, replying to this email, or dropping a comment below.
📢 Please share our work! We’ve even prepared a tweet for you to share if you’re so minded. Thank you!
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | Will Scotland become independent for the first time since 1707? The CIA tries to predict the future through superforecasting. What is it?
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan go to war (sort of) and get reprimanded by Putin | Geopolitical analyst Dan Wang has very thoughtful things to say about the future of China
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | A build up of military equipment on the Russia Ukraine border, and the 'out there' idea of building a digital first country.
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | We’re still having conversations about our friends and family round. If you’d like to get involved send us a Twitter dm at @intintrigue. We’d love to hear from you!
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | The Iran nuclear deal under pressure & Intel's game-changing keynote
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | We're fundraising!
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | 🚢 Googles can ship captains drink on the job?
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | 🏀 Everyone's extra mad this March
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | 🧣hey Siri how much are feather boas?
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | 👑 #AbolishthemonarchyexceptfortheQueen
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | This week we bring you a special 'Future Edition'. We've taken a look at two big trends in global affairs and asked how they might mean for us all in the future: At 0:50 - 💣 Mercenaries and the privatisation of force: might companies and the ultra-rich wage private wars in the future?
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | This week: 🏛 Time to take ‘govtech’ seriously - why start-ups might hold the key to rebuilding trust in government. 🚰 Water: the new petroleum - but we can avoid conflict over if we’re smart. 💰 Thank you for the responses about paid sponsorships!
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Listen now | Good morning! A warm welcome to our 41 new subscribers - we're delighted you've joined us and can't wait to hear what you think of International Intrigue. Unless you don't like it; you can keep that to yourself. We're big believers that governments should be less risk averse when it comes to communicating with the public. But we honestly didn't think we'd have to caveat that with: "unless you're the CIA trying to cash in on good Valentines Day vibes".
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message
Get on the email list at internationalintrigue.substack.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/internationalintrigue/message