Hidden Forces

Nathaniel Whittemore, host of "The Breakdown," offers deep insights into the recent collapse of Terra Luna and its stablecoin UST, revealing the vulnerabilities in the crypto market. He discusses the broader implications for young investors navigating financial inequality and the urgent need for regulatory scrutiny. The conversation also touches on the evolution of crypto perspectives, the challenges faced by newcomers, and the dynamics behind stablecoins' rise and fall. Whittemore emphasizes the cultural factors driving investor behavior amidst this turbulent landscape.

John Mearsheimer, a leading voice in international relations from the University of Chicago, joins Stephen Walt, a prominent scholar at Harvard, to discuss great power competition. They delve into the implications of Russia's actions in the Ukraine conflict and critique the limits of American hegemony. The conversation highlights the differences between offensive and defensive realism, the complex dynamics of U.S.-Russia relations, and the importance of public sentiment in shaping foreign policy. Their insights challenge elite narratives and advocate for a more nuanced geopolitical understanding.

In Episode 247 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jeff Currie, global head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs and an expert on commodity markets, commodity dynamics related to corporate risk management & geopolitics, and how to invest strategically in what Jeff Currie believes is a “commodity supercycle.” Currie is a fountain of knowledge and uniquely good at breaking down the market dynamics and material importance of an industry that incorporates every single aspect of the global economy from capital markets, to supply chains, to international politics. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for businesses and governments who need to navigate and plan for a future that is going to look radically different from anything that we have seen in a very long time. They are also crucial to understand for anyone managing money, as are the forces currently at work in the real economy and how multiple cycles of underinvestment, rising costs of capital, deglobalization, and wealth inequality to name just a few, are converging to create the greatest period of financial, economic, and political change in a hundred years. Fortunes will be made and many more will be lost during this period, and today’s conversation with Jeff is meant to provide yet another important piece to understanding this very big puzzle. You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 05/04/2022

In Episode 246 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Michael Anderson and Vance Spencer. Michael and Vance are the founders of Framework Ventures, a crypto-native venture capital firm with a team of technologists, researchers, and investors that actively build alongside the companies and protocols in which they invest. They were on the podcast two years ago to discuss their thesis on the opportunities in decentralized finance and they are back on today to talk about blockchain gaming and their latest, big bet on the future of the crypto industry. We are huge fans of these guys. They’re thoughtful. They’re passionate. And they’re native. They’ve grown up in this space and their investment philosophy and framework reflect this. Besides discussing the opportunities in gaming, Michael and Vance also share elements of their approach to investing in crypto, how they source deals and outcompete legacy venture funds with deep pockets in an industry that is long on capital but short on know-how: the type of know-how that results from a philosophy of active participation running nodes, staking assets, providing security reviews, building tools, and participating in network governance. Our objective in bringing you this conversation is to give you a roadmap for investing in what can often feel like an intimidating and rapidly changing space that we believe will nonetheless produce some of the biggest value generating opportunities in software and some of the most rewarding opportunities for cultivating monetizable online experiences and collaboration on the Internet. You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/20/2022

In Episode 245 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Grant Williams. Grant is the host of the Grant Williams Podcast and the author of the “Things that Make You Go Hmmm…” newsletter, which you can find at Grant-Williams.com. We are grappling with what will turn out to be the greatest socio-economic and political changes in one hundred years. What these changes will mean for the future of democracy, civil society, and the viability of capitalism are what today’s conversation is all about. How you choose to position yourself in anticipation of these changes is one of the most important challenges you will ever face as an investor and sovereign individual. This episode is meant to help you work through those challenges and guide you through the changes to come. You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/18/2022

In Episode 244 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with the always congenial, yet uncompromisingly opinionated chicken, Doomberg. Doomberg’s expertise in heavy industry makes him the perfect guest to discuss what’s happening in energy and commodity markets. So, it’s no surprise that he and Demetri talked about this, as well as the investment opportunities in uranium, which Doomberg has written about extensively in his most recent post on substack titled “Sitting Down With Sprott.” The two also discuss the renewed lockdowns in Shanghai, how they compound existing global food and supply chain issues, and how those issues are part of a larger set of challenges that will lead to food shortages, particularly in the developing world. This has implications for everyone on the planet, even the developed countries, but especially the Europeans who will experience even more migratory pressure from Africa and the Middle East. This adds to the destabilizing political forces that we’ve described so many times on this podcast. this  part of the episode along with a discussion about the future monetary system are all in the second half of their conversation, which is available to premium subscribers only.  You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s episode by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/11/2022

In Episode 243 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with investor and financial historian Russell Napier. Russel was on the podcast a year ago for a conversation about his book on the Asian Financial Crisis and “The Birth of the Age of Debt.” Today’s episode picks up where that conversation left off, building on the foundations of the post-Bretton Woods system of flexible exchange rates and dollar hegemony to speculate on what comes next—on what the new order that is now being born will look like, how it will operate, and what its implications will be for economies, industries, portfolios, and the role of the dollar in the new, international monetary system. It’s a conversation about inflation, war, and how to position oneself for a new world where old assumptions about monetary policy, risk-taking, and the power and influence of governments to shape economic opportunities will need to be radically rethought. Understanding who the winners and losers of this new economic and political order will be, as well as the asset classes, industries, and companies that will benefit from it is an imperative for investors. This conversation is meant to help you develop the mindset and strategies that you will need to navigate this new world. You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/07/2022

In Episode 242 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas shares an appearance he made on “The Realignment” podcast a week before the invasion of Ukraine. Demetri spoke to the seriousness with which he views the information problem and the information war that we’re all combatants in today, the move from unipolarity to a world of disorder, as well as the spiritual deadening that he feels we’ve all been living through. He also discusses the need for both a national purpose and a sense of self that is inclusive, communal, and forgiving of our individual shortcomings—a sense of self that makes space for the imperfections of a human life. The world that we are living in today is not the world that most of us grew up in and the next few years are going to be crucial in determining how we want to face the challenges of this new world and more importantly who we want to be coming out the other side of it. What matters to us? Who are we, beyond the carefully curated exteriors that we present on our social media feeds? What do we deem worth fighting for? That’s a question we have yet to answer and haven’t had to answer for a very long time. This is a luxury we can no longer afford. You can access the full episode and transcript to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 02/16/2022

In Episode 241 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Chris Painter, a globally recognized leader and expert on cyber security who has been at the vanguard of U.S. and international cyber issues for over thirty years—first as a prosecutor of some of the most high-profile cybercrime cases in the country and then as a senior official at the Department of Justice, FBI, the National Security Council, and the State Department. He’s responsible for having established the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues and served as Senior Director for Cyber Policy in the National Security Council. With the Biden administration reiterating prior warnings that the Russian Government is exploring options for conducting cyberattacks against the United States in response to sanctions levied against the Russian economy, we wanted to help bring all of you up to speed on exactly what those warnings are, what steps are being taken to minimize the damage they may cause, and what the range of possible responses by the U.S. government will be depending on the nature and targets of those attacks. This conversation is meant to give you the information that you need in order to best prepare yourselves and your businesses for what might be coming next, so that you remain ahead of the curve as events evolve and as the collateral damage of the war in Ukraine potentially widens. You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 03/24/2022

In Episode 240 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jon Wolfsthal, a veteran of the national security establishment who has served as both special assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs and senior director at the National Security Council for arms control and nonproliferation. He’s been involved in almost every aspect of U.S. nuclear weapons, arms control, nonproliferation and security policy during his 30-years of working on issues of national security. This episode is an exploration of US and Russian nuclear doctrine and decision-making protocols. It’s a conversation about how people and institutions in both the United States and Russia think about nuclear war and escalation management, acknowledging that nuclear war would be an unimaginable horror that no rational person would actually want. Today’s conversation is meant to give you the information you need to wrap your arms around what may instinctively feel like a hopelessly scary and irrational situation, so that you can develop the composure you need in order to deal with it. You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 03/21/2022