This Week in Geopolitics Haisean

That’s what this show is. He does a good job of laying out incontrovertible facts that help one build their own picture, but a lot of his conclusions put his youthful inexperience on display. For example, saying the USA should default on its debt because “we can’t pay it”. That is utterly ridiculous; as if it’s supposed to be paid off at some point in time lol. Then, saying Russia will just destroy critical infrastructure and win the war… how well has that worked out? Russia can barely land 5% of its missiles due to Ukraine’s robust air defenses. We can’t afford to help Ukraine? Any seasoned geopolitical analyst will easily be able to explain that this war is nearly an order of magnitude cheaper than the cost of deterring an unscratched russian military supported by the prewar Russian economy. All in all, I enjoy listening occasionally because the podcast is a lens into that “alternative” thought space, but take what he says with a grain of salt.

Update: how can you seriously think Russia could take on NATO, especially now. Please explain.

World news is complicated, so I try to get my fill from reputable sources, not some anonymous high school kid with a cheap microphone. He has passion and the ability to sort real events from disinformation, but his ability to draw conclusions and articulate relationships between headlines are, charitably put, immature. With respect to the war in Ukraine, he appears unaware that he is parroting Russian propaganda with takes like "Russia's an unbeatable superpower, it's America's fault for making Ukrainians think they ever had a chance, 'they' lied to us that Ukraine would win." If you want more sophisticated takes, check out Peter Zeihan, Ian Bremmer, or George Friedman. If you want to listen to propaganda, at least Tucker Carlson has higher production quality.

While I can appreciate another younger person having a passion for Geopolitics, this guy has absolutely no idea what he is talking about most of time. Through his cringeworthy forced half laughs at times, to make it sound like he knows what he is talking about, he manages to sound like a high schooler who regurgitates someone else’s completely uninformed opinion. He does do enough research to have a fleeting idea of what’s going on in a particular region, but then absolutely squanders any appearance of competency when he gives his insight on what’s happening. It is certainly entertaining to listen to though, definitely a good laugh.