Geopolitical Economy Report

What will Donald Trump's second term as US president mean for the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine and Israel's war on Gaza? How will his tariffs affect the economy? To discuss, political economist Radhika Desai is joined by Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNQztns8C9U This is part of the show Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the program here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP

BRICS keeps expanding. As a new full member, it added Indonesia, the 4th most populous country with the 7th largest economy on Earth. BRICS now has 10 members and 8 partners. Together they make up 41.4% of global GDP (PPP) and roughly half the world population. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIDWOWHW-cU Sources and links here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/01/07/brics-adds-indonesia-member-economy/ Check out our related report on BRICS' plan to challenge US dollar domination by creating a multi-currency financial system: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/10/19/brics-russia-multi-currency-system-us-dollar/ Topics 0:00 BRICS expansion 0:51 Map of BRICS membership 1:11 List of BRICS members & partners 1:47 BRICS share of world economy 2:27 BRICS vs G7 3:44 Indonesian economy bigger than UK & France 4:41 Indonesia's BRICS invitation 6:05 Global South cooperation 6:56 China supports Global South 7:29 Non-Aligned Movement & Bandung Conference 8:31 US-backed coup against Sukarno 8:58 CIA-sponsored massacres 9:53 ASEAN prefers China over USA 11:07 Philippines allies with USA 12:08 Indonesia calls China & Russia friends 13:52 China is Indonesia's largest trading partner 14:17 China is ASEAN's largest trading partner 14:39 Nickel production 15:32 Indonesia industrializes with China's help 21:53 BRICS cooperation 23:43 De-dollarization 24:46 Outro

The US stock market is in "the mother of all bubbles", with the market capitalization of publicly traded companies at 206% of GDP. This is higher than the dot-com bubble of 2000, and even the peak of the crash of 1929. Meanwhile, just 25 companies make up over half of the weight of the S&P 500, and the Magnificent 7 Big Tech monopolies are 35% of the market cap of the index. However, the US economy was built upon this financial house of cards, and politicians are profiting from it. Ben Norton explains the dangers. VIDEO with charts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rguHublkxCQ Topics 0:00 American exceptionalism 0:53 US stock market is over 60% of world 1:16 USA is 74% of MSCI World Index 2:10 Top 25 companies in world 3:29 Exorbitant privilege of US dollar 4:59 S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices 6:07 Magnificent 7 6:50 Just 25 companies make up 50.3% of S&P 500 8:26 Tesla is insanely overvalued 12:03 Big US companies are really financial firms 13:11 How to measure a bubble 14:15 Buffett Indicator (market cap to GDP) 15:57 Public & private equities to GDP 17:00 How the US government inflated the bubble 21:10 Richest 10% of Americans own 93% of stocks 22:23 Warren Buffett's warnings 23:56 Berkshire Hathaway dumps stocks 26:32 Jeff Bezos sells Amazon shares 27:22 Mark Zuckerberg sells Meta stocks 27:40 Elon Musk sold Tesla shares 28:08 The "greatest bubble in human history" 30:27 Alan Greenspan and "irrational exuberance" 31:16 Fears of "pent-up exuberance" 32:19 P/E ratios 33:41 Irrational investing 34:54 Donald Trump's tax cuts help the rich 37:54 Trump and Ronald Reagan 39:04 Trickle-down economics 41:16 Wall Street fills Trump's cabinet 42:02 Financialization of US economy 43:44 Will Trump reverse de-industrialization? 45:38 Real estate & homelessness 46:38 US dollar 47:34 Wall Street vs Main Street 49:06 Outro

The United States spent decades trying to overthrow the Syrian government, before succeeding in 2024. A declassified CIA document from 1986 outlined US plans for regime change. The blueprint was almost exactly what happened in the proxy war that started in 2011. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKXxKCm1psU How the US military supported the Syrian rebel offensive that toppled the Assad government: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/12/23/us-military-syria-rebels-assad/ Topics 0:00 Overthrow of Syrian government 0:38 CIA document from 1986 2:25 CIA exploited religious sectarianism 3:58 Installing a pro-Israel regime 5:17 Arab nationalist government had "grudging respect" 5:57 Syria's state-led economic model 7:11 Rebels pledge neoliberal shock therapy 8:09 Muslim Brotherhood 9:45 US wanted "business-oriented" regime 10:43 Proxy war on Syria 12:15 Outro