{"podcast":{"title":"Multipolarity","slug":"multipolarity-5951710","podcast_index_feed_id":5951710,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/multipolarity/","website_url":"https://multipolarity.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/4ec861e1-b9d1-4821-8e0e-859f3ad2e7b3/6qNVpAP8jM0ohVS4NVesEHAO.jpg","author":"Multipolarity","episode_count":190,"summary":"Charting The Rise Of A Multipolar World Order Philip Pilkington is an unorthodox macroeconomist. Andrew Collingwood is an equally skeptical journalist. Lately, both have realised that - post-Ukraine, post-Afghanistan withdrawal - the old, unipolar, US-led world order is in its death throes. In its wake, something new is being born. But what shape will that take? That will depend on a combustible combination of economics and geopolitics; trade and military muscle. Each week, our duo take three off-radar news stories and explain how each is shaping our multipolar reality.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/multipolarity-5951710"},"episode":{"title":"Merz Sadist Bends, Bond Villain, Slick Dealing","slug":"merz-sadist-bends-bond-villain-slick-dealing","published_at":"2026-05-07T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/multipolarity-5951710/merz-sadist-bends-bond-villain-slick-dealing","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/multipolarity-5951710","url":"https://multipolarity.captivate.fm/episode/merz-sadist-bends-bond-villain-slick-dealing","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/6613573d-bd5d-45e4-9fcc-9fb1392957a0.mp3","summary":"Remember Olaf Scholz? Just about? Remember when he sunk to the lowest opinion poll rating in German political history? Well the good news for anonymous hopeless former Chancellors is that the next beige technocrat in charge of Germany has just beaten his record. Plunging to 89% dissatisfied – with only 11% satisfied. Even with Macron as the most unpopular President ever, Starmer the least popular Prime Minister, Merz is more unpopular still. Our lead question this week is very simple: what the flaming fuck is going on in Germany? Meanwhile, more news just in on Europe’s cordless bungee ride: UK bond yields have spiked again. To 5.3% - the highest rate since 1998. They can’t go any higher – right? In the four years since the Truss contagion blew up the markets by hitting 5% and toppled the government, it’s a good thing the UK Treasury used that period to stop running massive deficits… right? Finally, the global oil market is beginning to resemble Argentina under Kirschner. You’ve got your official prices; and then your real prices. As reality continues to diverge from the markets, we’re asking: who is this mysterious Whale of Hormuz who keeps on fiddling with the international price mechanism? Of course, this being a pay week, you’ll need to sign up on Patreon or Substack if you want to hear that bit - only the real heads get to dine on the whole hog. That’s easily done - simply go to Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/multipolarity) or Substack (https://multipolaritypod.substack.com/) and sign up. It’s 8 or 12 dollars respectively, and you can cancel any time you like….","meta_description":"Remember Olaf Scholz? Just about? Remember when he sunk to the lowest opinion poll rating in German political history? Well the good news for anonymous ho…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":675,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/multipolarity-5951710/episodes/merz-sadist-bends-bond-villain-slick-dealing/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/multipolarity-5951710/merz-sadist-bends-bond-villain-slick-dealing.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}