The World Unpacked
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The World Unpacked
The World Unpacked is a weekly podcast where insiders, intellectuals, and iconoclasts dive deep into the most pressing global issues. In a time of violent convulsions and heady new possibilities, host Jon Bateman mixes it up with the thinkers making sense of what’s happening and the power brokers bu...
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282 episodi
Data Centers Are Fine, Actually
Data centers may be the most controversial objects in America. They’re blamed for draining water reservoirs, stressing electrical grids, and driving u...
How Europe Fights Russia Without the U.S.
NATO’s future remains in doubt as Donald Trump again threatens to pull U.S. troops from Europe. But the practical stakes of these debates aren’t alway...
How Iran Can Get Nukes – on Trump's Watch
The U.S. and Israel just fought a second war over Iran's nuclear program—and one of the world's leading nuclear experts says America lost. Iran's uran...
How a U.S.-China War Would Unfold
A U.S.-China war over Taiwan would be catastrophic for all sides and the world. Preventing such a war requires understanding how it might unfold—from...
In the New Middle East, No One Is In Charge
The wars unleashed by October 7th have left the Middle East deeply fractured—Iran battered and defiant, Gaza destroyed, Israel militarized, the Gulf i...
Is Silicon Valley Corrupting Stanford?
Theo Baker is no ordinary college senior. His student newspaper articles brought down Stanford’s president. Now he’s written a book about the making o...
Putin Is Losing His Grip on Russia
Russia’s surprising recent Internet shutdown did more than disrupt daily life: it also crippled the regime’s own communications and propaganda. It’s o...
What to Know Before Trump Attacks Cuba
There’s been remarkably little public debate about a potential U.S. attack on Cuba. President Trump said last week that he “will be taking over” Cuba...
Can This Orb Kill AI Bots?
AI-powered bots and slop content are everywhere now, making it harder to tell who’s human. Will the Internet become so bot-ridden that it’s simply unu...
Elon Musk Is Reinventing Capitalism
Elon Musk is one of the most influential figures of our era. He remade the space, car, social media, and AI industries. He shaped the Ukraine War. ...
Why Orbán Lost and What Happens Next
The world is still making sense of Viktor Orbán’s historic election loss in Hungary—a small country with outsized global significance. Why were Orbán...
Inside the Hidden World of Think Tanks
Think tanks—the non-profit research centers that try to influence policy—are strange and mysterious places. Depending on who you ask, think tanks are...
What Trump Really Wants From China
President Trump was meant to fly to Beijing this week for major trade talks, but instead he’s staying home to manage the Iran War. It’s an apt metapho...
Inside the Pentagon’s AI War Machine
The U.S. is fighting its first full-scale AI war in Iran — but key details remain largely hidden from Americans and the world. Which military decision...
Did Trump Kill International Law – Or Was It Already Dead?
The Iran War marks the second time in two months that Donald Trump decapitated a country without real legal justification. But is this any different...
Who’s Running Iran?
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed almost a week ago — so who’s running the country? Will Iranians seek change in the streets, despite the...
Trump’s Two-Front Battle With Europe and Iran
Just weeks after ousting Venezuela’s leader, Donald Trump is now courting crises on two other continents. Trump’s quest to own Greenland continues to...
Epstein’s America: How Modern Corruption Works
In this episode of The World Unpacked, Sarah tells host Jon Bateman why systemic corruption looks nothing like how we picture it, how anti-corruption...
How a Progressive POTUS Would Change the World
The same populist forces that brought Donald Trump to office could also enable a politician from the progressive left to succeed him. How would a pres...
How Economists Failed America
Americans have been deeply dissatisfied with the economy for many years, even as standard metrics continue to show strength and prosperity. This gap b...
How Smart Bombs Enable Dumb Wars
The Paveway bomb, invented by Texas Instruments in the 1970s, was the first truly precise munition. It revolutionized America’s air campaign in Vietn...
The Global Race to Reinvent Meat
You’ve probably heard of “lab-grown meat,” the sci-fi-sounding idea of 100% real meat made without animals. Yet few people understand how close this v...
Every War Is Now a Drone War
Drones are no longer the future of war. They’re now a defining weapon in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and beyond—altering the course of conflicts and reshuff...
Testing the Case for Regime Change in Venezuela
The Trump administration apparently seeks regime change in Venezuela and may soon attack the country. But American leaders have so far refused to open...
Decoding Trump’s Foreign Policy Blueprint
The new U.S. National Security Strategy is the clearest and boldest statement of President Donald Trump’s global vision. It reveals U.S. plans to domi...
AI’s Biggest Skeptic Sees a Bubble
The AI boom is the biggest investment mania in decades, channeling trillions of dollars into data center infrastructure. If investors bet right, they...
Why Information Refuses to Be Controlled
We’re living through an era of information disruption. Novel technologies like AI and social media are unleashing pent-up social and politica...
Trump’s $200 Billion Tariff Showdown at the Supreme Court
On November 5, the Supreme Court heard the most globally consequential oral arguments in years as Trump’s trade war faces a final legal reckoning. The...
"A House of Dynamite” Writer on How Nuclear War Works
A House of Dynamite, a new Netflix film, may be the most realistic depiction of a nuclear crisis ever made. Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim partnered with...
Inside MS-13, the Gang That Swallowed a Country
MS-13 brought El Salvador to its knees and has spread to a dozen other nations, doing battle with presidents as much as rival gangs. Yet despite its i...
Trump’s Foreign Aid Cuts Aren’t What You Think
The end of USAID was among the biggest early controversies of President Donald Trump’s second term. The world watched in horror as Elon Musk’s DOGE to...
Did the Bolsonaro Trial Really Save Brazil's Democracy?
Brazil’s Supreme Court has just convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup to nullify his 2022 election loss. The country’s judici...
Will AI Kill us All? Nate Soares on his Controversial Bestseller
Nate Soares is one of the world’s leading AI “doomers” and co-author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All—the Ne...
Trump’s Greenland Fixation and the China-Russia Strategic Opportunity in the Arctic
In this episode of The World Unpacked, host Isaac Kardon is joined by Alexander (Sasha) Gabuev, Director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berl...
The New Geopolitics of Subsea Cables
Subsea cables carry 95% of the world’s data—but remain largely invisible in global policy debates. In this episode, Isaac Kardon is joined by Carnegie...
Party-State Capitalism: China's Communist Party and Rule by Market
How should we understand China’s unique variety of party-state capitalism? In this episode of The World Unpacked, Isaac Kardon sits down with Dr. Meg...
Why We All Need to Care About Nukes Again
The world is entering a new nuclear age—one defined by proliferating arsenals, eroding arms control, and rising geopolitical tensions. In this episode...
How China Is Reshaping International Security Cooperation
As U.S.-China tensions deepen, Beijing is carving out a new role for itself—not just as an economic powerhouse, but as a global security player. What...
Outposts of Influence: Great Power Competition and Overseas Military Bases
In this episode of The World Unpacked, Isaac B. Kardon sits down with Ashley J. Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and Senior Fellow at the Carn...
Can the U.S. Rebuild Its Maritime Power? Competing with China and Cooperating with Korea
In this episode of The World Unpacked, Isaac Kardon is joined by Darcie Draudt-Véjares to explore how the shipbuilding industry is reshaping global se...