TikTok Dictators and the End of Hegemony
Description
This week, the cousins speed-run chaos: Houthis hitting Israel, Trump cutting side deals, and Jordan taking heat for not hosting enough sick kids from Gaza. Marko argues that the U.S. is done playing global babysitter, and that might actually be stabilizing. They dig into Israel’s delusions of American loyalty, Burkina Faso’s TikTok dictatorship, and Marko's new theory: “geopolitical tightening.” Jacob’s worried about nukes and future AI plagues, but Marko says multipolarity forces adults to act like, well, adults. Oh, and if President Traoré of Burkina Faso is listening: We accept consulting fees in gold or viral video cameos.
Timestamps:
(00:00 ) - Introduction and Overview
(01:16 ) - Middle East Tensions: King Abdullah, Houthis, and Trump
(06:39 ) - Israel's Strategic Challenges
(11:56 ) - Jordan's Geopolitical Balancing Act
(22:30 ) - Burkina Faso's Social Media Strategy
(29:13 ) - The President's Social Media Strategy
(30:38 ) - Geopolitical Challenges in Burkina Faso
(31:29 ) - The Role of Gold in Global Politics
(34:10 ) - Global Perception of US Tariffs
(36:20 ) - Hegemonic Stability and Global Order
(44:35 ) - The Impact of Nuclear Weapons on Global Conflict
(54:08 ) - China's Potential as a Global Hegemon
(56:34 ) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts
United States
Financially, the US Fed may have been engaging in QT, but the US Federal Govt has been running enormous deficits that overpowered the Fed's efforts. This hasn't led to equilibrium but a massive deficit tsunami heading towards the US economy. Politically the US Givt has allowed other nations to act as their fiscal deficit which will lead to a political tsunami that'll overpower US efforts of control (if any) and open the playing field to more actors & some of these will be bad actors.