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PODCAST

The Axis

The Axis is a weekly podcast that explores the shifting balance of global power. From Washington to Moscow, Beijing to New Delhi, each episode dissects the strategies, rivalries, and alliances shaping our world. Blending clear analysis with accessible language, The Axis connects breaking news with long-term geopolitical trends, helping listeners understand not just what is happening, but why it matters.

news politics

All Episodes

5:26

Signals, Symbols, and War: When Power Rewrites the...

The Axis ·

2026/04/24

In the aftermath of the Islamabad talks, diplomacy appears to proceed even as escalation deepens. This episode explores how negotiations, symbolic acts, and religious language operate within the same strategic field. Drawing on Max Blumenthal’s critique, Lacanian theory, and a striking visual incident involving a profaned religious image, the analysis shows how power does not eliminate the sacred—it redistributes it asymmetrically. Through a Videodrome lens, we examine how signals—diplomatic,...

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6:24

When God Blew the Wind—and When Drones Took the Sea

The Axis ·

2026/04/24

This column draws a parallel between the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the challenges faced by modern naval power in asymmetric warfare. By linking religious symbolism, Lacanian theory, and contemporary geopolitics, it argues that the gap between symbolic belief and material reality has become a defining feature of modern conflict. Chicago-Style Bibliography Blumenthal, Max. “The Islamabad Negotiations Are a Hoax.” YouTube video, 2026. Cronenberg, David, dir. Videodrome. Canada: Un...

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4:58

Iran and the Limits of Power: When the Story Stops...

The Axis ·

2026/04/17

Description A clear and accessible analysis of the Iran conflict as a political and symbolic test for Trump. The piece argues that the issue is not immediate defeat, but a growing tension between his message of control and a reality that remains unresolved, contradictory, and resistant to simple outcomes. Bibliography The New York Times. “Trump’s Iran War Tests the Limits of Control.” April 15, 2026. Larry Johnson. Trump’s Naval Blockade & Ceasefire Collapse.Video analysis, Apr...

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10:49

The New Chilean Administration and the Horror of...

The Axis ·

2026/04/17

Description This column explores how governments can become trapped in their own frameworks of rationality, losing sight of the realities they claim to manage. Drawing on Lacan, Bataille, and Alien, it argues that overconfidence in control blinds power to the forces that exceed it.

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4:36

The Price of Reality: Rationality, Excess, and...

The Axis ·

2026/03/27

Chile’s fuel price increase is being framed as an unavoidable economic reality. But this framing hides a deeper tension. The government is acting rationally in economic terms—reducing subsidies and maintaining fiscal discipline. Yet, as Bataille suggests, reality always includes excess that cannot be fully controlled, and as Lacan reminds us, social stability depends on symbolic meanings, not just numbers. Fuel prices are one such symbol. When they shift abruptly, the issue is no longer just ...

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6:38

Saturation and Disorientation: From Trump to Chile

The Axis ·

2026/03/22

The debate over MEPCO, the fuel price stabilization mechanism, in Chile is not just economic—it reveals a deeper political logic. While mechanisms like MEPCO buffer global volatility, today’s politics increasingly operates through saturation: multiple signals, overlapping reforms, constant movement. In Jameson’s terms, this produces fragmentation without totality; in Lacan’s, a sliding of signifiers without a point de capiton. Citizens feel the effects—rising costs—but cannot map their causes...

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7:10

Will the U.S.-Israel Alliance Attack Kharg Island?

The Axis ·

2026/03/18

The possibility of a U.S.-Israel strike on Kharg Island marks a dangerous turning point in the Iran war because it would shift the conflict from military confrontation to full-scale energy warfare. As the main terminal handling roughly 90% of Iran’s oil exports, Kharg represents the country’s economic lifeline, making it an extremely attractive target for maximum pressure—but also a trigger for maximum escalation. Recent strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field and Tehran’s explicit threats aga...

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8:31

War, Oil, and the Return of Reality

The Axis ·

2026/03/13

The war with Iran is beginning to reshape global geopolitics in unexpected ways. As instability in the Middle East pushes oil prices upward, the United States has quietly eased some sanctions on Russian oil shipments in order to stabilize energy markets. At the same time, reports of a phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin suggest that Washington may be searching for a diplomatic “off-ramp” from the conflict. Together, these developments reveal a deeper reality: despite years of a...

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10:46

Is Trump Running Out of Symbolic Ammo?

The Axis ·

2026/03/07

This analysis argues that modern wars depend not only on military force but also on symbolic authority—the coherent narrative that explains why a war is being fought and what its objectives are. President Donald Trump’s instinct-driven decision-making style has produced shifting and sometimes contradictory explanations for the current conflict with Iran, risking the erosion of the symbolic credibility needed to sustain political support at home and confidence among allies. At the same time, I...

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8:49

Life as Irony: The Capture of Armando Fernández Larios

The Axis ·

2026/01/31

This analysis explores the arrest of Armando Fernández Larios through the lens of irony rather than vengeance. Drawing on Greek mythology—specifically the figure of Actaeon—and on archival records from Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights, the text examines how structures of power can turn back on those who once operated them. The piece reflects on repression, bureaucracy, and accountability, connecting dictatorship-era violence in Chile with contemporary debates about state power and en...

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4:33

When “Saving Order” Means Destroying the Thing Itself

The Axis ·

2026/01/27

This analysis connects a key moment in Aliens — the decision to “nuke the colony to save it” — with Mark Carney’s Davos speech on the rupture of the global order. It explores how preventive violence, emergency thinking, and the promise of decisive action often mask a deeper problem: the willingness to destroy institutions, places, or people in order to preserve an abstract idea of stability. From science fiction to geopolitics, the text shows how the fantasy of control replaces judgment — and...

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7:25

Power That Spreads Too Thin

The Axis ·

2026/01/17

This analysis explores how global power is changing in the 21st century by looking at two quiet but important shifts: the rise of new research centers and the growing struggle over critical minerals. It explains why modern power depends less on control and more on long-term systems such as universities, supply chains, and international cooperation. Using the idea of imperial overstretch, the text shows how great powers can weaken not through sudden collapse, but by spreading themselves too th...

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7:39

Greenland and the Return of Coercive Power Politics

The Axis ·

2026/01/12

This analysis examines the global consequences of a hypothetical U.S. seizure of Greenland, focusing on how such an act would reshape strategic calculations in Russia and China. Building on recent warnings from the International Crisis Group and Chatham House, the text argues that Greenland is not merely a territorial dispute but a stress test for the post-1945 international order. If Washington were to override Danish sovereignty, it would normalize coercive “gunboat diplomacy,” weaken NATO’...

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4:26

Venezuela, Ukraine, and the Fragile Logic of Peace

The Axis ·

2026/01/06

In this episode, we examine how recent U.S. actions in Venezuela may reshape the global context in which peace talks over Ukraine are taking place. Moving beyond headlines and geography, the analysis explains how precedent, power, and narrative influence diplomacy. We explore why Ukraine faces a strategic dilemma, how Russia can exploit perceived double standards, and how the normalization of force by great powers complicates negotiations. The episode argues that even distant conflicts can al...

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5:03

What Is the Monroe Doctrine?

The Axis ·

2026/01/05

This episode explains the Monroe Doctrine, a foundational principle of U.S. foreign policy first declared in 1823, and traces how its meaning has changed over time. It shows how a doctrine originally designed to prevent European intervention in the Americas gradually evolved into a tool used to justify U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere. Using recent events and contemporary political discourse as context, the text helps students understand the historical origins, transformations, and cu...

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9:16

2025: The Year the World Lost Its Centre

The Axis ·

2025/12/29

2025 did not bring resolution, but suspension. In this year-end reflection, The Axis looks back at a world where wars stalled instead of ending, power circulated without legitimacy, and peace became a matter of language rather than guarantees. From Ukraine and Gaza to Europe’s uneasy rearmament and America’s growing unpredictability, the episode traces a deeper pattern beneath the headlines: a global order that did not collapse, but quietly lost its center. Rather than offering closure or pre...

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9:17

Is Donald Trump Running Out of Power? Domestic Decay,...

The Axis ·

2025/12/20

This episode explores a central paradox of 2026: global instability is accelerating just as Donald Trump’s political power appears to be weakening. Using Francis Fukuyama’s argument that Trump has already reached “peak power,” we examine how domestic resistance, electoral headwinds, and institutional pushback are eroding his ability to govern—even as his policies continue to fuel conflict at home and abroad. Drawing on recent analyses from the Council on Foreign Relations, Chatham House, and ...

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18:12

A Dangerous Pivot: Why the U.S. Is Risking Its Own Power

The Axis ·

2025/12/15

This episode unpacks the seismic shift in U.S. foreign policy revealed in Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy. It explains how “America First” reshapes alliances, unsettles Europe, reassures autocrats, and risks weakening the foundations of U.S. global power. Bibliography – National Security Strategy of the United States of America (2025). The White House. – Emily Harding, “The National Security Strategy: The Good, the Not So Great, and the Alarm Bells,” Center for Strategic a...

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12:44

Casablanca 2025: Europe, Russia and an America That...

The Axis ·

2025/12/06

This week’s analysis looks at the future of Europe and Russia in a moment that feels similar to the film Casablanca. While Russia shows military strength and active sabotage in Europe, it also faces deep long-term weaknesses. At the same time, the United States is divided: part of America continues to defend Europe, while the MAGA movement prefers nationalist politics and even supports far-right groups inside the EU. Europe is now deciding whether it should keep depending on the United States...

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16:08

The Fox, the Hedgehog, and a Bad Peace: This Week’s...

The Axis ·

2025/11/30

This analysis explores the unfolding Ukraine peace negotiations through the lens of Archilochus’s metaphor of the fox and the hedgehog. The U.S.–Russia 28-point proposal, pushed by Donald Trump, is dissected as a tactical, transactional “fox” document—rich in clauses, deals, and improvisations—while Vladimir Putin’s approach is interpreted as the relentless, single-minded logic of the “hedgehog,” focused on Ukrainian subordination and territorial control. The text explains the differences bet...

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39 results

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