Thank you J. Timothy Damiani, MD, Karen C-Collector of Books📚🧿♒️, Natalie Lago, Martinique Akinfosile, and many others for tuning into my live video with Eric Czuleger! If you want to participate in the Lives, ask questions of the guests I bring on, etc., do us both a favor and subscribe now and make sure Reality Studies isn’t getting filtered in your inbox. That way you can join me for my next live video in the app:
Audio versions of this episode can be found here on Substack, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
My guest today is Eric Czuleger.
Eric Czuleger is a geopolitical analyst and journalist who has worked across 45+ countries. Trained under George Friedman at Stratfor, he holds a Master's in National Security from the RAND School of Public Policy and an MSt in Creative Writing from Oxford. He is the author of You Are Not Here: Travels Through Countries That Don't Exist. A returned Peace Corps volunteer (Albania, 2011–2013) and former ambassador from Liberland to Somaliland, he splits his time between Tirana, Albania and Los Angeles.
Eric also runs The Under Report, which you should subscribe to here!
Viktor Orbán is widely regarded as having written the playbook for ‘illiberal democracy’ that has been used by those aspiring to turn democracies into autocracies—including Donald Trump. But last week, he lost the election—and miraculously, actually stepped down. What should we make of all this? What does it mean for Hungary, the EU, and the world? I chat with friend of the pod Eric Czuleger to find out.
We also spend some time at the end discussing Iran—and though the news has swerved a bunch since then, the gist remains the same: the Strait of Hormuz Crisis is going to hit us hard.
Another episode you might like:
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CREDITS: This podcast is edited and produced by Adam Labrie and me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also directed, shot, and edited the video version of the podcast, which is available on YouTube. The podcast is presented by Reality Studies. If you appreciate the work I’m doing, please subscribe and share it with someone you think would enjoy it.
Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Past conversations include Taylor Lorenz, Lisa Messeri, Legacy Russell, William E. Rees, Renée DiResta, and more. Here is another recent episode with Lee Buck on the hows and whys of decarbonization:
