{"podcast":{"title":"Geopolitical Cousins","slug":"geopolitical-cousins-7251738","podcast_index_feed_id":7251738,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/geopolitical-cousins/","website_url":"https://geopolitical-cousins.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/1345c6ae-b41d-42e6-9fd1-5084f8548ff0/3Egz_32uppCB8TuhRh-V_E0d.png","author":"Jacob Shapiro & Marko Papic","episode_count":79,"summary":"Geopolitical Cousins throws together analysts Jacob Shapiro and Marko Papic for some of the most in-depth, off-the-wall geopolitical analysis in the world.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-18T22:19:48.288419+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738"},"episode":{"title":"Flies to Poop","slug":"flies-to-poop","published_at":"2026-09-18T10:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738/flies-to-poop","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738","url":"https://geopolitical-cousins.captivate.fm/episode/houthi-poop","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/2822f57f-d1cc-4c87-9426-ee5410ac19ec.mp3","summary":"The Houthis have an email address. You send them your ship's name, your transponder number, and they send you back a bank account. It's all very cultured. And the Iranians could have taken oil to $200 back in March but... They didn't. The Houthis could have flattened the East-West Pipeline seven years ago but... They didn't. So when everybody on Twitter is losing their toupees over Brent at 110, ask the better question: not what could happen, but why it hasn't. This is piracy, not jihad. These guys want to get P - A - I - D . Plus: Brussels quietly builds a fake 28th country, and Sam Altman melting GPUs is just regulatory capture in a hoodie. -- Timestamps: (00:00) - Travel-Mode Quick Intro (00:44) - Pipelines Hit and Houthis Return (02:24) - Piracy Logic and Getting Paid (03:18) - Targeting Precision and IRGC Help (05:15) - China Rumors and BRICS Diplomacy (06:50) - Backchannel Talks and US Pullback (09:57) - Oil Prices and Gulf Infighting (12:04) - Midterms Leverage Debate (19:16) - Capabilities Aren't New (23:13) - Energy Diversification Reality Check (24:26) - World Adapts to Tanker Wars (25:07) - EU Speech Reality Check (25:59) - EU Inc and Tax Plans (28:04) - Single Market Stalled (30:19) - Two Speed Europe Shift (31:24) - Telecom Scale Problem (33:45) - Will Europe Execute (34:58) - Why This Time Different (38:20) - Ukraine in the Revival (41:43) - Freeze Conflict Strategy (45:33) - AI Regulation Capture (49:30) - China World Models Next (50:46) - Wrap and Next Episode -- Referenced in the Show: -- Geopolitical Cousins is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com -- Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He spe…","meta_description":"The Houthis have an email address. You send them your ship's name, your transponder number, and they send you back a bank account. It's all very cultured.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3063,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/geopolitical-cousins-7251738/episodes/flies-to-poop/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738/flies-to-poop.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}