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Geopolitical Economy Hour

Radhika Desai

As dizzying yet historically deeply-rooted developments transform the political economy of key countries and the world's geopolitical economy, we provide ongoing analyses of the foundations being laid for a multi-polar world beyond capitalism.

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42 episodes
Avg 54 min
English

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Tuesday · 53 min
Macron vs. The People: Millions Revolt Against War and Austerity in France | Aymeric Monville
France is in revolt. Mass protests against Macron, austerity and war brought 1.6 million people onto the streets in a single day, as students, teachers and the CGT unions push France toward a general strike. Is this the end of neoliberalism in France, and can the movement stop the far right? I am joined by Aymeric Monville, French essayist and political philosopher, to explain why France's crisis is really a class struggle. Over the years, Macron has handed capital around €1 trillion in gifts while doubling military spending for the war in Ukraine and leaving school roofs leaking. The wars in Ukraine, Iran and Gaza, however, divide the French left. Aymeric argues that the European Union and the euro deindustrialised France, and the rise of Marine Le Pen against Mélenchon's La France Insoumise will decide the direction France takes.
Monday · 59 min
Einar Tangen: “America Is in Free Fall” as Iran Fears a Nuclear Strike From an Angry Trump
What happens when a defeated president still controls the world's most powerful military? In this Geopolitical Economy Hour, Beijing-based American commentator Einar Tangen joins me to unpack Trump's crushing midterm defeat and why the US is in free fall, as China sees it. Meanwhile, Trump is not retreating and has made Stephen Miller, a man with ties to white power groups, his chief of staff. Einar explains why an angry Trump, checked at home by a Democratic Congress, will turn to foreign policy, where his power is still largely unchecked, as Iran braces for a possible nuclear strike. We discuss JD Vance blaming the Iran war for the Republican defeat, the MAGA split as Tucker Carlson courts young white men, and the leadership battle facing Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. At the same time, Xi Jinping and Beijing are managing a reckless Washington, and China cannot afford a US collapse.
Sunday · 56 min
Michael Hudson: Western Democracy Was Always a Managed Oligarchy. Now It’s Breaking
Is Western democracy anything more than a managed oligarchy? As the 2026 US midterm elections become the most expensive in American history, I am joined by economist Michael Hudson to ask who really rules in the West. From Poland's constitutional crisis to Elon Musk's half a billion dollars for the Republicans, Hudson traces how oligarchies from ancient Rome to Washington have let everyone vote while making sure those votes don't count. We discuss AIPAC and campaign finance, how the wars on Russia and Iran are driving austerity across Europe, China's alternative of public banking, and the founding of the United States as a slaving oligarchy. It is very difficult to call capitalist societies democratic.
November 5 · 57 min
"Blue Tsunami" FLOODS Trump In The Midterms. But Will Dems End His Wars? David Gibbs & Radhika Desai
A so-called "Blue Tsunami" swept the 2026 US midterm elections and delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump. But will the Democrats actually do anything with their victory? Professor David Gibbs of the University of Arizona joins to look beneath the surface. Gibbs argues this was above all a vote against war, as Americans connected Trump’s Iran war to soaring fuel and food prices. Yet the Democrats, he warns, are just as pro-war as Trump, deeply entwined with the CIA and the military-industrial complex. We ask whether the new progressive and DSA wing, from Abdul El-Sayed to Zohran Mamdani, can break that consensus or will simply be co-opted. The so-called “Brahmin left” that focused on identity politics instead of economics has abandoned working people. If the left fails to mobilize the working class, the right will do it instead.
November 5 · 55 min
Alexander Mercouris: Ukraine Is On The Brink of Collapse; The End of Western Supremacy
Is Ukraine on the brink of collapse, and can Trump, Putin or Europe still end the war? Alexander Mercouris of The Duran joins me for the first time to step back from the daily news and analyse the Russia-Ukraine war as a whole. Alexander explains why this war is unlike any Russia has fought before. It carries an element of civil war over the Soviet legacy, and it pits Russia against NATO and the entire West without a single great power ally. We discuss how the West provoked the war through NATO expansion and the death of the Minsk agreements, as well as how Biden’s plan to break up Russia differs from Trump’s hope of winning it as an ally. Europe, however, after the collapse of its left, is gripped by war fever amid deepening economic stress. As Ukraine’s resistance breaks down, Russia will have to decide whether to cross the Dnieper. Meanwhile, the West faces an ugly peace, with a conflict set to outlast the war.
November 4 · 56 min
Seema Chishti: Modi's Covert Plan To Rig Indian Democracy Before 2029
Is Narendra Modi trying to subvert Indian democracy? Across India, protests are erupting against the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls, which has overwhelmingly struck Muslims and minorities off the voter lists. Seema Chishti, Indian journalist, joins me to explain how the BJP government is working to control elections in time, space and people through “one nation, one election,” delimitation and mass voter deletions. We trace the real Gujarat model of winning power through Hindutva polarisation and governing for Adani, Ambani and big business. We also look at the economic damage it has left behind, from demonetisation and the GST to privatised education and health, sharply rising inequality and youth unemployment. Chishti explains how Gen Z and the Cockroach Janta Party have broken Modi’s aura of invincibility.
November 2 · 55 min
Pascal Lottaz: The EU Is Destroying Itself. What Comes Next?
Is liberalism the monster of our age? A week after the conference Geopolitics in a Time of Monsters, I am joined by Pascal Lottaz, host of Neutrality Studies, to reflect on what its speakers learned. Pascal explains why thinkers across the political spectrum converged on liberalism as the root of today's chaos, a chaos visited upon the world from the North Atlantic and now turned against Western populations themselves. We examine why Europe's elites serve a transatlantic ruling class over their own people, why the European Union has become a war project beyond reform, and how moralism and expert rule have hollowed out Western democracy.
November 2 · 52 min
Mouin Rabbani: “Without the US, There Would Be No Israel”
Is Netanyahu finished, or has Israel’s Uniparty of genocide already won? Mouin Rabbani, Palestinian analyst and co-editor of Jadaliyya, joins me to break down the 2026 Israeli elections and why they do not change much for Palestine. Netanyahu and Likud lost their majority, but Gadi Eisenkot, a core member of the genocide government until 18 months ago, clearly lost too. Palestinian citizens of Israel turned out in record numbers and won 19 Knesset seats, only to be accused of being bribed by Qatar. Rabbani also believes that a renewed US-Israeli war on Iran is inevitable and imminent. Israel, a US proxy that could not exist without Washington, requires conflict and war to sustain its essence as a settler colony. In the US, however, the Israel lobby enforces American foreign policy rather than making it.
October 30 · 57 min
Laith Marouf: The Resistance Will Redraw West Asia, and Israel Won’t Be in It
Will Trump attack Iran again? The US-Israel war on Iran looks set to return, and Saudi Arabia is losing its war in Yemen. Laith Marouf, founder of Free Palestine TV joins me to explain why Trump held back on Iran strikes even as Netanyahu demanded them. Without its Gulf bases, the US must now strike Iran from Cyprus, Djibouti and Diego Garcia, and it is still waiting for a third aircraft carrier. Laith argues the Iran war is coming whatever the outcome of the US midterm elections. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was forced into Yemen directly after its proxies failed, and Ansar Allah, the Houthis, now hold nearly all of Taiz and are moving on Aden. We also discuss the Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani delegation's trip to Tehran and why the Israeli election changes nothing for Gaza and the West Bank.
October 29 · 37 min
Warwick Powell: How China Is Using Socialism to Build Abundance Quickly
Capitalism's last line of defense is that it innovates best. But what if China has already proven otherwise? Recording live from the Global Governance Initiative conference in Xiong'an, China's brand new city south of Beijing, I am joined by regular guest Warwick Powell. We report on our visits to the energy giant Huaneng and to China Mobile, already trialling 6G, and Powell explains why the "overcapacity" Western media decry is in fact abundance. Meanwhile, monopoly capitalism, built on rents rather than competition, now blocks the very innovation it claims to champion.
October 27 · 59 min
Seyed M. Marandi: If Trump Strikes Iran, Gulf Economies Will Go Up in Flames
Are the US and Israel about to restart their war on Iran? As Netanyahu lobbies for new strikes ahead of Israel's election and Trump weighs the midterms, Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran joins me at the Global Governance Forum in Xiong'an. Professor Marandi explains why Tehran expects the next round to be decisive, whatever its timing, and why Iran will treat any American or Israeli attack as one. This time Iran's response will reach far wider, from Gulf energy infrastructure to American economic assets across the region, with consequences he warns could be worse than the 1930s. We discuss Trump's rage at Iran's refusal to capitulate, the MOU off-ramp he abandoned, and the nuclear threats Western media will not condemn.
October 27 · 53 min
Sergey Glazyev: The World Economy Is Moving East and the West Can’t Stop It
Is the world economy in crisis, or only the Western one? I spoke with Dr Sergey Glazyev, a Russian academician and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, at the Global Governance Initiative Forum in China, held to mark the first anniversary of President Xi's initiative. Having lost its competitive edge to China, the West tore up the very WTO and IMF rules that once kept it in power. We discuss how Russia abandoned the dollar in a single year after its reserves were seized, how China replaced Europe as Russia's main trading partner in just two years, and why Glazyev blames Russia's own central bank more than sanctions for holding growth near 1%. He warns that soaring oil prices could burst the West's AI and derivatives bubbles.
October 25 · 55 min
John Ross: "The West Can’t Kill China, So It Wants China to Commit Suicide"
China entered its 14th Five-Year Plan leading in hardly any industry. It came out leading the world in batteries, EVs, drones and biotech. I am joined by economist John Ross of Renmin University's Chongyang Institute to explain how. The answer is not a miracle ingredient but a high and steady rate of investment. Ross explains why the Western push for China to consume more and invest less would derail its technological rise, and why the US, now the world's largest importer of capital, wants exactly that.
October 25 · 37 min
REVEALED: How Trump Plans To Steal The Midterm Election | David Gibbs & Radhika Desai
With the US midterms less than two weeks away, Trump's poll numbers are cratering. Can he hold on, or will he try to steal the election? Professor David Gibbs, economic historian at the University of Arizona, joins me to explain why Trump's presidency has failed on its own terms. The self-styled peace president raised inflation and launched a war on Iran that never had public support, a first since 1945. We examine Trump's potential efforts to tilt the vote, from voter suppression to purging the military. The Democratic establishment, however, continues to fear its own socialists more than Trump and is unlikely to end the wars even if they are elected. Whoever wins, the empire's crisis will continue.
October 21 · 45 min
Michael Hudson: NATO And Europe Can't Win In Ukraine, So Why Won't They Stop?
Ukraine's position is becoming untenable, and now even Trump has cut a diesel deal with Putin and called for a new president in Kyiv. Yet Europe's leaders refuse to stop. Why? Professor Michael Hudson joins me to explain how the wars on Russia and Iran form a single US campaign over the world's oil. We discuss why Europe's war has become performative, a cover for shovelling money to big corporations while waging a class war on Europe's wage earners. With Germany, France and Italy heading to the polls in 2027, can NATO and the EU can survive the decline of the West?
October 21 · 55 min
Brazil’s Election Is a Battle Against US Empire | Sarah Vivacqua & Afonso de Albuquerque
Brazil's presidential runoff has become a battle between the people and the algorithm. After Flavio Bolsonaro edged out Lula in the first round, millions poured into the streets to overturn the result. I am joined by journalist Sarah Vivacqua and Professor Afonso de Albuquerque of Fluminense Federal University to examine the forces backing Bolsonaro, from Meta's suppression of pro-Lula content to US-cultivated neo-Pentecostal churches. We discuss why Brazil's critical minerals make it a prize in Washington's contest with China, and why even sections of the military fear a Bolsonaro victory. Whatever the outcome, Albuquerque argues, Brazil will emerge stronger as the empire meddling in its politics decays.
October 20 · 54 min
K.J. Noh: Is Washington Preparing South Korea to Be the Next Ukraine?
For 76 years, the United States has controlled South Korea’s military, and it still refuses to give it back. Regular guest K.J. Noh joins me to explain how Washington is preparing South Korea to be its Ukraine against China, even as South Koreans push back and President Lee Jae-myung moves to reclaim his army. We also discuss North Korea’s hard-won nuclear deterrent, and why US faith in “usable” nukes brings the world closer to the threshold.
October 17 · 55 min
Sushant Singh: Can Modi Survive India's Gen Z Revolt? Top Indian Journalist Explains
India's streets are seething. For the second time in a few months, the young people of the Cockroach Movement are shaking the foundations of Modi's rule. Is this the beginning of the end for Modi? I am joined by Sushant Singh, consulting editor of Caravan Magazine and lecturer at Yale University, to examine the electoral roll revisions behind the uprising, exposed when the Indian Express revealed that two election commissioners had opposed their own chief's unilateral moves. According to Singh, in a deeply unequal country like India, the vote is the only equality its citizens have. Modi, however, has answered this deep political crisis with paramilitaries and a capital under siege. With India's institutions hollowed out, the youth have nowhere left to turn but the streets.
October 17 · 42 min
The Truth About Dedollarization: Why BRICS Are Not Ready For It | Radhika Desai
The truth about dedollarization is that it is unfolding but without a concrete plan. In this explainer, I argue that the dollar system is collapsing under its own contradictions while alternatives from the Global South have stalled. Lacking an empire like Britain's, the US could supply dollars only through deficits and, later, financial bubbles. Today the Federal Reserve is trapped between inflation and said bubbles. The real obstacle to alternatives, however, is the world majority's elites, who park their speculative wealth in the dollar system.
October 13 · 51 min
Warwick Powell: "OpenAI Could Run Out Of Cash By Next Year"
Why are the AI promoters who spent months resisting regulation suddenly asking for it? Warwick Powell, adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology, joins me to connect the doomsaying about AI destroying humanity, the new appetite for regulation and the postponement of OpenAI’s much-trumpeted IPO. With capital expenditure soaring and analysts seeing no pathway to profitability, these firms have every reason to seek protective cover from government, while open models from China that are almost as good and far cheaper cannibalise their market. He underscores the severity of the Dutch disease pulling workers and materials out of the rest of US construction and into data centres. In capitalism, the system adopts AI as a labour-replacing device replacing an ever-increasing number of workers. Courts in china, however, have prohibited laying workers off if they are substituted by AI. Now more than ever, we need to transfer ownership of the means of AI production from billionaire capitalists to the masses.

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