• Ukraine continues its fight 🇺🇦

• Covid is still with us

• 5,000 planets and counting!

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Nikolaj claims he's still in Paris, not in Ukraine, but Bill isn't sure...

• Blame the West for the invasion? 

• Triple vaxxed? ✅ Covid? ✅ DOUBLE COVID? ✅

• In the good news - vaccines work, people. Get one. Hell, get more.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Well, one more horseman of the apocalypse is upon us. 

• We stand with Ukraine 🇺🇦.

• Masks are coming down, but the covid risk for many is low.

• The whales shall soon rule us all.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• It's hard to quit the 'rona

• US politics is awesome

• Australians are hard core

• Looking for good news wherever you can find it

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Bill & Nikolaj

• In this New Year's Eve episode, we celebrate the purely awesome, truly spectacular year that was 2021.

• Nikolaj got the 'rona! And it's coming for us all. But get vaccinated, and you'll likely be fine!

• China's crackdown on Hong Kong continues, and Bill continues to worry about war over Taiwan.

• Some predictions for 2022

Thanks for listening, and Happy New Year, everyone! 🎉🥳🍾

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Bill & Nikolaj

• We struggle to make Biden quotable, but you can't say we didn't try.

• A report out of France details decades of abuse of children by the French Catholic church.

• Starting to learn to live with covid and the real causes of covid vaccine reluctance.

• Keep your eyes on Taiwan as a tripwire to US-China conflict.

• And jeez, after such a depressing list, don't worry - we're arming robot dogs. We'll all be safe now!

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏻

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Thanks to a nuclear-powered sub deal between the US and Australia, we have the latest example of things slowly brewing into a low-level conflict between the US and China. Can we call it Cold War II yet?

• The Wall Street Journal has a new series of articles on how Facebook either can't or won't control the bad effects it creates. Maybe it can't be controlled at all?

• And we came this 🤏🏻 close to not talking about covid for once. But alas. How do you determine your personal - and the societal - level of acceptable risk?

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏻

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Searching for good news, we find a country that has achieved top-level vaccination rates. Only to not open up again!

• Learning to live with covid.

• Afghanistan is bad, but don't lose sight of how bad it could get in East Asia.

• For crying out loud, we needed more good news. Your computer might - maybe, just maybe - be making you a bit richer on paper!

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏻

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Ah, delta, we're just getting to know you. But ffs, people - get vaccinated.

• Afghanistan - the end or just a pause between American adventures?

• More Afghanistan - no one, nobody, and not one person will be held accountable for any of it

• Elon Musk is making friendly robots. Well, his team is. And have you seen his team? Need more team.

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏻

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Just one topic, really - Singapore! Nikolaj is back in Europe now, and Bill is back in the US, of course. Time for some reflection on our time in SG and Asia.

• Singapore is the freest unfree place you'll ever see. Western-style politics and civil liberties are missing, but the place works - and works for most everybody. (We thought it wasn't supposed to be that way...)

• The live-in Foreign Domestic Worker/maid/helper system was bizarrely great. We admire these ladies immensely.

• Should we be upset to be called ang mohs?

• We're pretty sure we were spied upon.

• The Chinese Community Party could do worse for models going forward.

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏻

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Catching up on covid - vaccines are getting there, but the variants are coming. Who's fault is it this time?

• Under Biden's presidency, the US and Europe - the "western democracies" - begin to get on the same page again. 

• Facebook bans Trump for two years. But it's not "censorship" if the government doesn't do it.

• Singapore no more. Foreign Influence is about the join the Atlantic axis.

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏻

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Bill & Nikolaj

• We allows ourselves just a bit of covid optimism, given the success of the vaccines so far. 💉 Now we just need to focus on the entire globe.

• The crackdown on Hong Kong continues in China as the government bans remembrances of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. So many crackdowns.

• Facebook bans Trump for two years. But it's not "censorship" if the government doesn't do it.

• We wade into the controversy over race by standing firm on the idea that universalism is the answer to racism. And it's tough to be in that space in modern politics.

• We wade into the very simple, easy-to-fix Israel-Palestine conflict. We came *this close* 🤏🏻 to solving it.

• Finally, UFOs are real! 👽 Supposedly. But that doesn't mean it's aliens. And why are the pictures always so blurry?

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏻

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Happy Mother's Day to all whom it may concern! And a special thank you to our own two special "birthing people". 

• We've all survived the Chinese spaceship apocalypse, as the Long March 5B booster rocket fell into the ocean somewhere just southwest of India. Well, at least that's what we're told.

• Covid continues to ravage India and South America. With a surplus of doses in the US, maybe it can start helping out.

• A critical pipeline that supplies half the gas (petrol) and diesel to the east coast of the US shut down after a cyberattack. Why in the hell is this system attached to the internet?

• The United Kingdom held elections. Now we have to think about whether Scotland will leave the UK for the EU. Good times. Thanks, Brexit!

• And some good news - the US might really, kind of, possibly leave Afghanistan. Breath held...

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Bill & Nikolaj

• India is experiencing a horrific covid outbreak, but the efficacy of the vaccines is really good. If only we can get them to where they are needed.

• A good verdict in the case of George Floyd - murder and manslaughter convictions for the police officer involved. But there's so much more to do with re-designing policing - including getting rid of all the guns! But don't worry - there's an even worse idea being deployed - biased robot police dogs!

• There was so much good news this week we ran out of happy music. The US was back to the climate table in time for Earth Day. Plus, toilet paper sales are down, and distilleries are getting back to making whiskey instead of hand sanitizer!

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Bill has had his first dose of vaccination, and he feels fine. But the battle ain't over people. Hold it together.

• If ongoing pandemic isn't enough to get your blood going, how about war in Asia? It doesn't get a lot of coverage in the west, but China and the US continue to escalate tensions in the South China Sea. Not good. Repeat, not good. But hey, we can still laugh, can't we?

• Nikolaj has started processing academic papers for the small-brained, like Bill. Find the explanations on LinkedIn and YouTube. This time - how to tackle bias by building better algorithms.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• High level US and Chinese officials met for the first time since Biden took office, and it was quite the argumentative spectacle. 

• In a somewhat funny, but also somewhat scary and cringeworthy moment, Pres. Biden tripped up the stairs to Air Force One three times. 

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Biden announces "America is back". Is that good news? 

• American credibility and empire and allies and promise.

• From Paris to Peoria? Say, yes!

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Bill & Nikolaj

• De-platforming people - talking them offline is a serious issue. Isn't it? 

• Comparing US vs European concepts of freedom of speech and freedom of expression

• Capitol policeman says thanks, but f*ck you for being there.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Seriously, what the hell else are we going to talk about? There was an insurrection - not hard to call it an attempted coup - in the US this week by Trump supporters. Seriously 2021? We couldn't get one good week?!

• Processing the details, events, and outcomes of the insurrection. Including with the Animaniacs!

• Revolutions aren't for lightweights.

• There needs to be accountability and consequences.

• Enlightenment values themselves - liberty, equality, brotherhood, reason - are all under threat now. With authoritarian regimes ready to throw them into the dustbin of history. Good times!

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Bill & Nikolaj

• It's our end-of-the-year show! We still don't know where the crab people are, but we're sure they're delicious.

• According to scientists and historians, 2020 hasn't even made it on the list of worst years (yet). We have the objective answer to when you really didn't want to be alive.

• We invoke the Power of the Jinx to make sure 2021 will be better.

• We remember the long-term trends that will really shape life going forward.

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Stay safe, and be nice to one another!

Bill & Nikolaj

• The Supreme Court joins the Deep State

• The US is making being a Third World country great again

• In a related manner, Nikolaj has just about had it with the US

• The GOP has done caught the crazy

• In the good news, we have a vaccine! We're absolutely certain it will go to the needy first.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Fun with the War on Christmas and various Trump Cult highjinks

• The cash machine that is tearing the fabric of American democracy

• This could all get pretty dangerous, actually

• #flattenthecurve. Please.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Pretty much the entire Eastern Hemisphere has signed a new free trade agreement and brought covid under control. They're moving on while the West is a giant basket case.

• American democratic institutions are being deeply wounded by Trump and his enablers. Quite the international inspiration.

• One tiny bit of good news. Can't say we didn't try.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• The presidential race has been called for Biden/Harris, and we're breathing a sigh of relief. But it still feels tenuous until Trump concedes.

• The sheer joy that was the “press conference” at the “Four Seasons” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• We’re concerned that the underlying problems will not be addressed, especially issues of inequality and especially by the Democrats. And Andrew Yang backs us up.

• Given the closeness of the race - and in the interests of domestic peace - Americans need to try to understand one another. But man, some Trump supporters make it hard, especially the conspiracy theorists. 

• And just in case it bears repeating, the good news is the Biden/Harris win.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Count all the votes! As expected, Trump is trying to prevent all the votes from being counted. Bernie called it.

• Even if Biden wins, it's a hugely disappointing result since it's clearly not a repudiation of Trump, his performance in office, and his values.

• We've long thought the present and future of western values were on the ballot in the US this time. Elsewhere, Pres. Macron of French is doing his part to stick up for them.

• China could still have an opening to dominate the 21st century.

• For the song we finish the episode with, check out March of the Mindless by Casper.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Bill has voted. He had to wait an hour-and-a-half to do so, and Nikolaj just can't understand how that's possible.

• Lying and politics - We have global issues of trust in government. Do politicians lie, or do we want to be lied to? Or is politics basically just impossible?

• And we have fun with "hydrosonic" weapons. That is, until war breaks out in Asia...

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Paris faces attacks of freedom of expression - again.

• Europe is going under a new lockdown, the US never got it together, but Asia and the Pacific countries are coming out on top.

• And this time we have some fun with tape we like from this past week.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• The continuing saga of Trump getting the covid.

• How patient should you be with anyone who still supports Trump?

• Trump and the US's loose rhetoric against China stokes fear of war in Asia. 

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Well, we thought we'd be discussing the US presidential debate, but then Trump got the covid!

• With current international trends, Europe is increasingly on its own - for its well-being, security, and keeping the Enlightenment project alive.

• Bill makes is official presidential endorsement. If you're a US citizen, register to vote NOW. 

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Coronavirus chaos continues in the US, with the Trump administration seizing control over health science and anti-mask rallies that leave Bill questioning if it's reality or Comedy Central.

• We mourn the passing of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by completely confounding Nikolaj on how any political system could seriously be designed this way.

• Good news: Pumpkins!

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Early on in FI we discussed the protests in Hong Kong and how we felt they were a front line in the defense of civil liberties in the 21st century. Unfortunately, things have not ended well. And it's precipitating a broader realignment in Asia.

• China and the US could be headed toward a confrontation over Taiwan and in the South China Sea unless cooler heads prevail.

• Neural pigs! On treadmills! That is to say, Elon Musk held a live demonstration of a new technology his company is developing called Neuralink, that directly connects a brain - in this case, a pig's - with a computer. Cyborgs aren't far away.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Bill despairs at finding a common truth for Americans, while Nikolaj is just baffled by the entire spectacle. Conspiracy theories are running rampant, but it doesn't matter because we only believe people like us, anyway.

• Parliamentary-style politics might help save the day. Or at least we could feel a little better casting our vote.

• And this is a real emergency - our source for good news is running dry! Way to go, 2020.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• We're back after all the baloney Bill had with moving back to the US. 

• US presidential politics holds its conventions.

• In the good news, the dogs are taking our jobs. 🤔

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Bill and Nikolaj record in the same studio for the last time in the foreseeable future. 

• The US, the Netherlands, France - everyone in the West seems to be giving up on fighting SARS-Cov-2.

• Somewhere along the line masks became controversial, and we're still confused. Stupid science.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Protests against police violence against blacks continue in the US, and police are using ugly tactics against protestors.

• Singapore is preparing to require people to put on a wearable tracker when they go out in order to improve covid-19 contact tracing.

• The international reputation of the US is on the ballot.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Cities across the United States are exploding with protests and riots over the death of a black man, George Floyd, at the knee of a white police officer. Racial disparities in policing and the culture wars in the US over them are, sadly, nothing new. 

• Singapore might be one example of a country that prevents racial tensions through its media and housing policies, but those interventions are unlikely to get support in the west.

• The US passes a grim milestone of 100,000 dead from covid-19, but on a per capita basis, it still trails behind.

• In a hint of international news, Europe is stuck in the middle of the US-China standoff over 5G technology and Huawei.

• The good news, including SpaceX's successful launch of humans into space from US soil, an example of police de-escalating, and turning 100 with a cook, frosty American (definitely not European) beer.

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Bill & Nikolaj

• China lays the groundwork for a final crackdown on Hong Kong

• Reflecting on the privileges and restrictions of being an expat, based on this NYT article.

• Masks become a culture war icon, and we're baffled

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Bill & Nikolaj

• Once burned, twice shy - Asia's experience with SARS 1 and especially Korea's recent experience with a MERS outbreak (also a coronavirus) led South Korea to put the legal and technical infrastructure in place to fight a novel coronavirus.

• It involves an extensive use of already collected commercial data - like mobile phone location information and credit card transactions - to track precisely where infected people were. It does not involve a dedicated tracing app.

• Koreans are generally on board individually and as a society with doing what it takes to fight epidemics, but they don't like lockdowns anymore than anybody else.

Thanks for listening!

To read some of Mark's coverage of covid-19 outbreak, check out these links:

• How South Korea prevented a coronavirus disaster—and why the battle isn’t over
• Coronavirus contact-tracing apps: can they slow the spread of COVID-19?
• The Hacker Who Exposed South Korea's Deadly Epidemic

Also, please sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch. We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

And remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Stay safe, practice social distancing, and be nice to one another!

Bill & Nikolaj

• Staying in is hard for some people.

• What it takes to make the necessary trade-offs between the public health crisis and the economic crisis.

• The danger from the virus is a class issue.

• America the leader of the world? Not according to everybody else.

• And as we always do, some good news. It involves llamas and goats. What's not to like?

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

Also, please sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch. We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Stay safe, practice social distancing, and be nice to one another!

Bill & Nikolaj

It's the Foreign Influence Podcast, in which American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg - in defiance of all things corona - take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international events! This week:

• Once Pres. Trump casually mused about people injecting disinfectant to fight covid-19, we just couldn't take it anymore.

• We survey other world leader responses.

• China is cracking down under the shadow of covid.

• And as we always do, some good news. More of an attempt this time, really.

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

Also, please sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch. We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Stay safe, practice social distancing, and be nice to one another!

Bill & Nikolaj

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

Also, please sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch. We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Be safe, don't panic, flatten that curve, and be nice to one another.

Bill & Nikolaj

• Singapore has at last joined much of the rest of the world in lockdown, or as they're calling it here, "circuit breaker".

• A conversation with Keith Mernovage from Detroit, Michigan, USA. We got to know Keith here in Sunny Singapore, but he moved back to Detroit, which is rapidly become the next covid-19 outbreak hotspot in the US. 

• And as we always do, some good news. This time, a website recommendation - Artis Ventures is trying to keep track of all of the medical innovations underway to stop the coronavirus. 

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

Also, please sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch. We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Be safe, don't panic, flatten that curve, and be nice to one another. 

Bill & Nikolaj

• Singapore has at last joined much of the rest of the world in lockdown, or as they're calling it here, "circuit breaker".

• A conversation with Keith Mernovage from Detroit, Michigan, USA. We got to know Keith here in Sunny Singapore, but he moved back to Detroit, which is rapidly become the next covid-19 outbreak hotspot in the US. 

• And as we always do, some good news. This time, a website recommendation. 

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

Also, please sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch. We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Be safe, don't panic, and flatten that curve with social distancing. Modern medicine is working hard to catch up!

Bill & Nikolaj

• Our friend, Adam Hodgkins, talks to us about his being infected with SARS-Cov-2 and coming down with covid-19. Adam became sick not long after returning to Singapore from the UK and has been in hospital and isolation now for a couple weeks. His wife, who is asymptomatic, has been serving a stay-at-home order, as well. We discuss what happens while being treated and the emotional toll it can take.

• And in this week's good news, Nikolaj and Bill reflect on how, in times like these, fear = bad and nice = good.

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

Also, please sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch. We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Be safe, don't panic, and flatten that curve with social distancing. Modern medicine is working hard to catch up!

Bill & Nikolaj

• The WHO now says Europe is the global epicenter of the covid-19 outbreak. We talk to German technology journalist Christina zur Nedden, who is on lockdown in Austria, about conditions there - and about what this might mean for our freedoms going forward. 
• China is offering aid to Europe in dealing with the outbreak, while the US seems determined to destroy its relevance on the world stage - and to abandon long-term friendships.
• And as we always do, we bring on the good news - this time focusing on developments surrounding the covid-19 outbreak that give us hope - neatly summarized in a newsletter Nikolaj has begun!

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where we can continue to the conversation.

Also, there's more than we can possibly cram into any given episode. So sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch! We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

Be safe, don't panic, and flatten the curve by practicing social distancing in order to give our modern medical systems time to beat the virus!

Bill & Nikolaj

• In the midst of the Europe's growing struggles with the coronavirus covid-19, the Trump administration takes time to throw them under the bus.
• An update on life in the second worst hit country in the world, Italy, with friend of the show Omar Osman.
• A perhaps premature, but likely not, eulogy for the 2020 Bernie Sanders campaign in the US.
• And of course, our usual dose of happy news. The modern track record with defeating disease is holding up.

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us: https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/

Also, there's more than we can possibly cram into any given episode. So sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch! We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us. Find it at: https://foreigninfluence.substack.com/.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

And if you want to go one step further, we now have a Patreon page. We would appreciate any support you can afford. https://www.patreon.com/foreigninfluence

Be safe, don't panic, keep washing those hands, and for crying out loud, don't shake them! 🤛🙏👋 or even 🖖, but certainly not 🤝.

Bill & Nikolaj

• Covid-19 continues quickly, and we're becoming resigned to that. (Some of the data we mention are already out of date.) It just feeds the ennui... 
• Recently, the western nations got together at the Munich Security Conference. The US says the west is winning. We're not sure what that means.
• Amidst the gloom, a positive story! Bill interviews Naveen Sikka of TerViva, an AgTech startup working to develop an ancient tree species into a new, non-GMO food crop. Yeah, we said "AgTech startup". Not everything is IT. https://www.terviva.com/ Many thanks to The Yield Lab, www.theyieldlab.com, an AgTech accelerator, for the tip.
• And of course, our usual dose of happy news. AI might have begun to crack antibacterial resistance. 

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us: https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/

Also, there's more than we can possibly cram into any given episode. So sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch! We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us. Find it at: https://foreigninfluence.substack.com/.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

And if you want to go one step further, we now have a Patreon page. We would appreciate any support you can afford. https://www.patreon.com/foreigninfluence

Take care, DON'T PANIC, and keep washing your hands!

Bill & Nikolaj

• Coronavirus ain't going away, so all we've got is gallows humor
• US politics is feeling the Bern, even though Europeans might call it a mild warming
• A fantastic conversation with Alan Soon of Splice Media, a company dedicated to empowering journalism start-ups and entrepreneurship in Asia, with global lessons to teach. According to Alan, we're in a new golden age of journalism, even though some traditional outlets are struggling. https://www.splicemedia.com/
• And the usual dose of happy news! This time the fires in Australia are finally going out. But those koalas...

Thanks for listening!

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us individually on Twitter, but also check out our FI Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us: https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/

Also, there's more than we can possibly cram into any given episode. So sign up for our newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch! We'll have links, more info, and commentary from us. Find it at: https://foreigninfluence.substack.com/.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

And if you want to go one step further, we now have a Patreon page. We would appreciate any support you can afford. https://www.patreon.com/foreigninfluence

Take care, and still wash your hands!

Bill & Nikolaj

• Coronavirus in Singapore
• The legitimacy of the Communist Party in China is challenged by the virus
• US politics is its own special form of shitshow
• And some happy news, including altruistic cats (didn't see that coming)

Thanks for listening! Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us on Twitter, but also check out our Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us: https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/

Also, there's more than we can possibly cram into any given episode. So we're launching a newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch! Sign up to get links from the show, more info, and commentary from us. Head over to https://foreigninfluence.substack.com/ to sign up.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏

And if you want to go one step further, we now have a Patreon page. We would appreciate any support you can afford. https://www.patreon.com/foreigninfluence

Take care, and wash your hands!

Bill & Nikolaj

• The novel coronavirus out of Wuhan, China continues to spread, and all Bill wants is an antibacterial wipe for his phone
• Keeping a proper assessment of risk in your head is really hard
• The animals don't ask to be eaten
• Diseases have shaped human history
• China has imposed quarantines of cities equalling entire countries
• And our twisted take on happy news - Brexit is finally here!

Thanks for listening! Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. You'll find us on Twitter, but also check out our Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us: https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/

Also, there's more than we can possibly cram into any given episode. So we're launching a newsletter - the Foreign Influence Dispatch! Sign up to get links from the show, more info, and commentary from us. Head over to https://foreigninfluence.substack.com/ to sign up.

Please remember that, if you like what you hear or read, sharing is caring. 🙏 

Bill & Nikolaj

Happy Lunar/Chinese New Year! Chun jie kuai le! 春节快乐！

Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

• As China prepares to celebrate its biggest annual holiday, the Lunar New Year, the country and the world face a growing coronavirus epidemic. Not very humorous 
• Reflecting on Davos, the annual gathering of world's rich and powerful
• An extended conversation with Bill Pazos, COO of Air Carbon Exchange in Singapore, on cap-and-trade solutions to climate change
• And a twist on our usual happy news, wishing you gong xi gongxi! 

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. That includes our new Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us! https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/

Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!

Bill & Nikolaj

Kind of, anyway.

Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:

• The US assassinates an Iranian leader, and Iran strikes back. It's gonna be fine, FINE.
• The stories we tell ourselves to get ramped up for war and invasion
• China stands to benefit from renewed chaos
• And the good news, including marijuana legalization in Illinois? 

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!

• Trump's impeachment is done, but the fun is just beginning in the US Senate
• India's pro-Hindu law and the global rise of ethic nationalism
• A conversation with US Midwest farmer Bill Hickey on surviving the trade war and living in Trump country
• All that and a happy holidays to you all!

For more on India's new law and the protests that have resulted:

https://on.ft.com/2EyfGW5

And for more on the Phase 1 trade deal between the US and China:

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3042809/chinas-trading-partners-wary-phase-one-deal-while-analysts

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!

• A fascinating conversation with Amit Prothi, recently of the 100 Resilient Cities project, on how urban areas can survive and thrive in the future
• Humanity is officially an urban species and what that means
• Can greenhouse gas emissions be limited, or is it time for geo-engineering
• Quick hits on the fast-moving news of the UK elections and the impeachment of Pres. Donald J. Trump
• All that and our usual dose of good news

To find out more about the 100 Resilient Cities project:

https://www.100resilientcities.org/

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• The Afghanistan Papers show we've all been lied to about the war
• UK bollocks and the impact on Europe
• A conversation with entrepreneur and writer Thomas Jestin on inequality, alternatives to GDP, and how tech is providing and will provide for a better world
• That and our usual dose of good news, which is so much optimism and happiness that we almost can't stand it

To find the Washington Post stories on Afghanistan:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

To find Thomas Jestin's article and more about him:

http://livewithai.org/ai-makes-technological-progress-fast/

https://www.thomasjestin.com/

And a couple other items we mentioned:

https://andrewmcafee.org/more-from-less/overivew

https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• Articles of impeachment shall be
• France Strikes! Part Un: Macron and Trump mix it up at the NATO summit, while we explore the purpose of NATO
• France Strikes! Part Deux: Macron faces a general strike at home
• The tech now exists to reconstruct how someone looks just from their DNA. 😯 And of course it's being used for nothing but good purposes
• It's been a brutal winter in Singapore with temps only modestly hot
• That, more, and our usual dose of happy news! 

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• Facebook, Google, and other social media platforms - or is that publishers?
• "Illinois Nazis. I hate Illinois Nazis." - Jake & Elwood
• The excerpted future of podcasting
• Confronting China exactly the wrong way
• And our usual dose of happy news! 

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• The unrest in Hong Kong worsens, and it's hard to see where it's all going
• Protest is going worldwide
• Tech and entrepreneurship might offer some answers
• The Trump impeachment goes public
• And our usual dose of happy news! (Lord knows we need it.)

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• China's trumping the U.S. in rich people and unicorns
• Trump is not always wrong about everything, and that's the worst possible thing
• WeWork pays its founder millions of bucks to go away 
• Tech news, including algorithms building racism into health care and the the nuclear arsenal enter the 21st century

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• Bill is fresh off the latest Democratic party debate, and he's none too impressed with some of what he saw
• The NBA and other American companies are knuckling under to China, and that ain't good
• Your job and life will not be the same once AI gets here, says Nikolaj
• But that's not nearly as bad as the squirrels playing chess

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• Nile Bowie's Five Points
• The recent history of Hong Kong as the City of Protest
• Where this might all be headed
• In a new segment, finishing on a positive note in these tense times

Find more from Nile Bowie at https://www.asiatimes.com/ or at https://nilebowie.blogspot.com/.

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluecepodcast.com or though social media. And remember, sharing is caring. :-) Thanks for listening!

• It's totally okay now for foreign governments to meddle in US elections. (We're fans of foreign influence here.)
• Boris gets bounced again on Brexit - this time by the EU.
• The violence in Hong Kong goes from bad to worse, and where is it all headed?
• Saudi Arabia is America's best friend - because they pay it to be.

Find out more about Teymoor Nabili at http://teymoornabili.com/

Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!

• The impeachment of Donald Trump is upon us!
• Greta Thunberg and how do we get moving on global warming
• The war's getting cold with China
• Political and private success in our post-truth world
• A sad day in Star Trek geekdom

And more!

• It's. still. hazy.
• Another Middle East War? Sure. Why not.
• Women should take the lead - with just a dose of skepticism
• The most famous robot overlord has a long way to go

Thanks for listening!

• The deep fake AI arms race and the death of truth
• India goes to the south pole of the Moon - almost
• Brexit and the Continentals
• Hong Kong, the future of democracy, and using propaganda to monetize our podcast
• It’s hazy here in Singapore. We think.

Thanks for listening!