The Decision Advantage

Pen and Sword: Spies of the Deep with W. Craig Reed

In this episode of the Pen and Sword podcast from RANE, Emily Donahue speaks to William Craig Reed about an event that happened twenty years ago, after the Cold War had ended, and a few months before the US and Russia sent the first crew to the international space station.

The event was the explosion that sent the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk to the bottom of the Barents Sea. William Craig Reed says the tragic accident wasn't the whole story of that event and we can learn much from what happened today. Reed is the former navy diver and fast-attack submariner, and the author of Red November. You can read original geopolitical analysis of the Kursk event, as well as the relationship between Russia, China and the U.S. today on RANE Worldview, the premiere geopolitical publication from RANE. Subscribe today at https://www.ranenetwork.com/worldview-subscribe. 

Essential Geopolitics: What’s Behind the New the New START Treaty?

In this episode of the Essential Geopolitics podcast from RANE, Emily Donahue speaks with Sim Tack, Senior Global analyst. The topic: The US has announced talks with Russia on the New START nuclear arms control treaty in Vienna on June 22. Russia had long been asking for talks to extend the treaty but the US had refused to do so --- unless a new treaty included China. What's changed?

Sim Tack writes for RANE's premiere geopolitical publication, RANE Worldview, where you can access thousands of articles on geopolitics and security. Sign up for RANE Worldview today at https://www.ranenetwork.com/worldview-subscribe. 

Essential Geopolitics: The Saudi Arabia Currency Peg

In this Essential Geopolitics podcast from RANE, Emily Donahue speaks with RANE's Director, Global Energy and Middle East, Greg Priddy about the Saudi currency peg. As Priddy writes in his RANE Worldview article on the topic, "The current collapse in crude prices is again fueling questions over the durability of the hard U.S. dollar currency peg used by Saudi Arabia. Despite the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the peg is likely to survive in the near term. But structural changes in both the global oil market and the Saudi economy means Riyadh will likely devalue its currency at some point in the next five years."

Subscribers to RANE Worldview can read this and many more articles daily from the world's leading geopolitical intelligence team. Get started with your own subscription today at https://www.ranenetwork.com/worldview-subscribe.

Pen and Sword: Yellow Bird with Sierra Crane Murdoch

In this episode of the Pen and Sword podcast from RANE, Emily Donahue speaks with author and journalist Sierra Crane Murdoch about her book Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country. It's a wide ranging conversation about a Native American woman's search for justice. It is the story of Lissa Yellow Bird, who took on her tribe, the courts and her family to uncover the truth about a missing person.

Essential Geopolitics: Protests, Looting and Radical Extremism

In this episode of the Essential Geopolitics podcast from RANE, Emily Donahue speak with global security analyst, Ben West about the impact of COVID-19 and the economic crisis on social protests about racial injustice. Protests were not prompted solely by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Factors intensifying the unrest in 2020 include years of building frustration over police violence against African Americans, extremely graphic video of the initial incident and protests that beget a cycle of shared content that prompts further protests. and  pent up frustration over the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing lockdowns, and inconsistent messaging from leaders about efforts to manage the crisis. All of which contribute to social unrest.

Subscribers to RANE Worldview can read decades of analysis of eaves of social unrest in the US as well as the global community. Subscribe today at https://www.ranenetwork.com/worldview-subscribe. 

Essential Geopolitics: The Lasting Implications of Israel’s Invasion and Withdrawal from Lebanon

In this Essential Geopolitics podcast from RANE, Global Security Analyst, Thomas Abi-Hanna, discusses what's has happened in the 20 years since Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon.

Points include:

Why was Israel in Lebanon in the first place? What factors caused Israel to withdraw after 18 years?
The geopolitical implications of the invasion and withdrawal for Israel, Lebanon and elsewhere?

If you’d like to read Thomas’ analysis of security risks in the Middle East, subscribe to RANE Worldview today at https://www.ranenetwork.com/worldview-subscribe. 

Essential Geopolitics: Why Hong Kong and China Will Continue to Battle

Protests have started again in Hong Kong, after China made a big move. In this Essential Geopolitics podcast from RANE, Asia Pacific Analyst Evan Rees speaks with Emily Donahue about why protests in Hong Kong have reignited and why the will not burn out any time soon. A hint: It's all about Taiwan.

Subscribers to RANE Worldview can read decades of analysis of the Hong Kong / China relationship and get exclusive access to our annual and quarterly forecasts. Get started with your subscription today by visiting https://www.ranenetwork.com/worldview-subscribe. 

Pen and Sword: The Cubans with Anthony DePalma

In this Pen and Sword podcast from Stratfor, a RANE company, Emily Donahue interviews Anthony DePalma, Author of "The Cubans: Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times." With rare access, DePalma discovers and shares stories from people whose lives have been defined by a U.S. embargo and a failed revolution. For 60 years, Cuba's presence on the world stage has been limited to the role of a pawn in the Cold War fight for supremacy between communism and capitalism.

DePalma writes, "I wanted readers to know about the Cubans’ incredible ability to adapt to the most distressing circumstances, giving them a remarkable ability to survive harrowing conditions. That may be their greatest strength as a people. But it is also their gravest weakness because it means they are so busy figuring out a way to survive, they have not attempted to change what is wrong and to set things right. It also is, I think, the reason that the 60-year-old U.S. embargo will never work. If the embargo’s goal is to make conditions on the island so distressing that the people rise up and overthrow the government, the myriad little ways Cubans have taught themselves to survive—replacing motorcycle gas tanks with soda bottles, frying plantain skins so they taste like meat—make that goal unlikely ever to be achieved."

Subscribe to RANE Worldview now to learn more about life in Cuba and its role in the geopolitics of the Americas - https://www.ranenetwork.com/worldview-subscribe.