Rana Foroohar explains why the Arctic has become the most consequential geopolitical theater in the world, with great powers competing over trade routes, resources, and military dominance.

Logan Wright, author of Broken China, explains why China's economic slowdown is rooted in its financial system, and an unprecedented credit expansion finally coming to an end.

Harper Reed and John Borthwick on the risks posed by AI agents, the danger that safety narratives become instruments of regulatory capture, and the AI arms race between the US and China.

Marieke Flament and Nicolas Colin on why we are in the cusp of a great financial reset, the central role of dollar-backed stablecoins, agents commerce, and programmable money in that transformation.

Yaroslav Trofimov on CIA director John Ratcliffe's recent visit to Moscow and rumors that Russia is planning an attack against NATO.

Henry Farrell explains how the infrastructure underwriting America's empire is buckling and what the collapse of the liberal, rules-based order means for the global economy and international security.

Hidden Forces · Episode

Mark Galeotti discusses the war in Ukraine, the risks of NATO involvement, and the escalatory paths and deepening dependency on Beijing that will define Russia's place in the emerging global order.

Pulitzer-winning journalist and technologist John West describes the impermanence of the Internet, the forces shaping it, and how AI could further remake our relationship to it and to ourselves.

Cory Doctorow on why the AI enshittification bubble may prove more disastrous than the 2008 financial crisis and where the value in AI will accrue once it bursts.

Groyperism's Spread Among Generation Z Conservative Apparatchiks Is Real