Intrigue Explained – Details, episodes & analysis

The Biden Administration takes the trade war with China up a notch by significantly increasing import taxes on a range of Chinese electric vehicle, technology, and medical goods - plus, a brief update on the new Russian offensive in Ukraine.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang*) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

Dmitry's book "Why Politicians Lie about Trade... and what you need to know about it" is now available for pre-order in both Kindle and hardcopy format: https://linktr.ee/WPLaT_book

The TikTok "ban" has been signed into law, so we dive into how it happened, the reasoning behind it, what might happen next and the geopolitics of it all.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang*) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

Dmitry's book "Why Politicians Lie about Trade... and what you need to know about it" is now available for pre-order in both Kindle and hardcopy format: https://x.com/DmitryOpines/status/1771177620643664128?s=20

In an episode sure to do wonders for their inboxes the hosts (who have attended four times between them) try to explain the World Economic Forum's annual Davos meeting, and why everyone keeps shouting about it. All hail the lizard people!

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

Recorded on the 658th day of the Russian escalation, against the backdrop of opposition to Western funding for Ukraine in Washington and Brussels, we take a look at the state of the war and grapple with some of the hard questions facing policymakers.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

It's the first day of COP28 and there's a new fund, controversy about the host and 70,000 people loitering around the coffee stall. We dive into some of the geopolitics.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

Former Australian diplomats John, Helen and Dmitry share some thoughts on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the actors in the region and what may come next.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

Show Notes:

At the end of the episode, John mentions this article by Dr Kate Marvel and this report by the UN Environment program.

Former Australian diplomats John, Helen and Dmitry reflect on the first meeting between President's Xi Jinping of China and Joe Biden of the United States.

We talk about why both sides agreed to a meeting now, who it was a win for, and how businesses may be looking at China as an investment destination.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

Former Australia diplomats John, Helen and Dmitry break down the foreign policy side of AI regulation, including the joint declaration the Bletchley AI Safety Summit and the Biden Administration's Executive Order on all things AI Safety.

We debate whether now is the right time to regulate, the dangers of regulatory capture, and unpack some of the ways AI could transform diplomacy and negotiations.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

James also known as 'Spaghetti Kozak' is an American who has spent more than a year fighting for Ukraine as part of the AFU, and even longer than that fighting all-comers in the Twitter war that has raged since the war started.

In this special bonus episode of Intrigue Explained, Dmitry put to James some of the most infuriating takes and opinions on the Ukraine war floating around the internet.

You can find James on Twitter: @SpaghettiKozak

You can also find his YouTube content on his channel: Spaghetti Kozak Media

In Part 1 of the interview, James and Dmitry had a far ranging discussion about the war, the media, the role of influencers and disinformation and the occasional inevitable reference to Warhammer 40,000.

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About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where two former diplomats (Dmitry Grozoubinski and John Fowler) and the people they know break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter.

James also known as 'Spaghetti Kozak' is an American who has spent more than a year fighting for Ukraine as part of the AFU, and even longer than that fighting all-comers in the Twitter war that has raged since the war started.

In this special bonus episode of Intrigue Explained, Dmitry sat down with James for a wide-ranging discussion of the war, social media, grifters, geopolitics and understanding Russia.

There were also some Warhammer 40,000 references, because we just can't help ourselves.

You can find James on Twitter: @SpaghettiKozak

You can also find his YouTube content on his channel: Spaghetti Kozak Media

In Part 2 of the interview, James and Dmitry tackle some of the most infuriating and erroneous tropes, memes and arguments about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where two former diplomats (Dmitry Grozoubinski and John Fowler) and the people they know break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter.