Curious Worldview (Spotify)

Curious Worldview (Apple)

Tim Butcher Episode (Blood River Congo) -

King Leopold's Ghost Book - https://www.amazon.com.au/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Adam-Hochshild/dp/0618001905

From 1885, for 13 years, one man, King Leopold II, owned, as his personal property, one of the largest pieces of geography on earth. The Congo is four times larger than France, it’s bigger than India, it’s bigger than Texas, Alaska, California & Montana combined - the equator runs right through it’s middle and makes it the second largest rainforest on the globe - it’s impossibly rich in resources, and desperately poor in economics. In those 13 years of private ownership, Leopold oversaw potentially one of the most brutal regimes of extraction the world has ever known. The population was estimated to have halved in those 13 years, more than 10 million deaths. It was an exploit in mass slavery, mass death, bodily mutilation and mass extraction. Ivory and wild rubber were in high demand, and so under the guise of media manipulation and PR mastery, Leopold convinced the world that these goods were in fact being traded with, rather than extracted from, the Congo.
The horror, however, could only be concealed for so long. A fella by the name of Ed Morell who worked for a shipping company in Liverpool noticed the bounty of ivory and rubber arriving from the Congo, with only men and arms making the journey back. His suspicion grew, he found accounts from missionaries and others who had been, and mounted a campaign to undermine the constant wall of propaganda Leopold had financed.
In 1908, the Belgium state purchased the Congo off Leopold… where the country remained a colony of Belgium until 1960.
And for a myriad of reasons, for which we address in the podcast, the Congo today is still on the back foot. Kinshasa, the capital city already has a bigger population than Paris, and is projected to be as much as 40,000,000 by 2050. The Congo today is among the most resource rich nations on earth, but among the least developed. It still attracts the same predation for extraction as it ever has, although all together less forceful and less violent
The man I speak with on the podcast today wrote the definitive history of this period. His name is Adam Hochschild, he’s an author, journalist and historian and wrote in 1998, 'King Leopold's Ghost'.

Curious Worldview Podcast (Spotify) - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6vofLaGavfQEEGkkSmwlTi?si=0vc-V65-Qref_ZlZdj--tg

Curious Worldview Podcast (Apple) - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/axel-humlesj%C3%B6-money-laundering-is-the-biggest/id1540424160?i=1000700665617

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Axel Humlesjö is a Swedish journalist against which money laundering, the plumbing of offshore finance and the cancerous nature of dark money, continuously crash up against.
Axel was a part of the team that uncovered systematic money laundering activities with Swedbank in the Baltics. Part of the team behind the series - The Shadow War - which exposed Russian espionage activities in the Nordics and led to the expulsion of five Russian spies from Sweden. Many other stories as well, but of course co-author of his debut book, The Honey Trap which explores Swedbank's involvement in one of the world's largest money laundering scandals and details this extensive operation for how the Russian security service uses sparrows and other means to honey trap and acquire kompromat on a broad slew of people. Honey traps were used directly to illicit compromising material to infiltrate Swedbank.
This podcast goes into Axel’s views on the evolution of journalism in a globalised world, and the significant role that money plays in shaping political landscapes. He goes as far to say it is the single biggest societal issue facing Europe and how intertwined money laundering is with currying foreign influence.
This was recorded in person in Stockholm with Axel last December, it was the last interview I recorded before I left the country.

Curious Worldview Podcast (Spotify) - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4EQW5Ylr4lrqLUyj5V0oiA?si=xWxWWkbbTUqoDN5JeyRLtw

Curious Worldview (Apple)

Philippe Gijsels Book - https://www.amazon.com/World-Economy-Trends-superinflation-hyperinnovation/dp/9401409013

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The following is with Philippe Gijsels, the Chief Strategy Officer at BNP Paribas Fortis - he co-wrote a book last year called The New World Economy in 5 Trends - which within, reveals much of the new map we now inhabit, especially in light of the perplexing chaos of spearheaded by America’s sloppy leadership in the last weeks.
Philippe is an erudite bookophile and a banker, a combination that seems not uncommon among the best investors. He and I have been speaking since last year in anticipation of recording this podcast today. I hope you enjoy it.
I wanted to get the interview into the meat of the book as quickly as possible, therefore, took more liberties with editing than I usually do and have excised a part of the podcast to the end of the discussion. The excised component was an explanation and brief discussion on the idea of Reflexivity.
Consider leaving this 5 stars on Apple or Spotify - nothing does more to drive the show to new viewers.