• The Elements of Power - Nicolas Niarchos
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Previous guests on the podcast similar to this!

• Nicolas Niarchos First Appearance On The Pod
• Tim Butcher - Blood River (CLASSIC EP)
• Adam Hochschild - King Leopold's Ghost
• Jon Lee Anderson - New Yorker Staff Writer, A Life Of Adventure

Podcast Starter Packs

• Offshore Finance/Kleptocracy & Money Laundering
• Geopolitics/Economics/Economic Development
• Explorers & Adventurers
• Investigative Journalists

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In this episode, New Yorker journalist Nicolas Niarchos discusses the supply chains behind the clean energy transition from child miners and Chinese-owned mega-mines to the coming global scramble for critical minerals.

I’ve been eagerly anticipating his new book, and I reckon it is tailor made for this podcast. It’s the history of cobalt it’s extraction and it’s applications and shows how a single mineral has reshaped geopolitics, powered the rise of China’s technological superiority, and further locked millions of Congolese into one of the most brutal extraction economies on earth.

This is a story that begins with King Leopold the second the original plunder of the Congo but then runs through Cold War dictatorships and kleptocracy, and ends with Apple, Tesla, BYD, and the race to dominate the future of energy.

It’s Nic’s second appearance on this podcast on a similar subject, therefore we avoided to go-over all the same ground as last time. The first episode was about his New Yorker piece on artisanal mining in the Congo, his arrest in the Congo and the foundations for his worldview in covering this issue.

Today we go into his new book. Inside the mines of Katanga, inside the rise of China’s battery empire, inside the corruption that still governs Congo’s political system, and inside the coming resource wars that will define the next half-century.

• Eighty percent of the world’s cobalt now comes from the Congo.
• Most of it is controlled by Chinese companies.
• As much as 20% of it is still dug out of the ground by hand.
• Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, is expected to have 40,000,000 people by 2050.

And the world is about to need more of what’s beneath their feet than ever before.

On The Trail Of Genghis Khan - Tim Cope (Book)

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Previous guests on the podcast similar to this!

Jack Weatherford - Genghis Khan & The Making Of The Modern World

Robyn Davidson - Australian Living Legend. Documenter Of Nomads.

Jon Lee Anderson - New Yorker Staff Writer, A Life Of Adventure.

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Tim Cope underwent a three year journey traversing the entire Eurasian steppe, starting in Karakorum, the old Mongolian capital, westwards through Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and finally Hungary until he reached the Danube river.

The journey took him three years to complete and 4 horses. He picked up a dog along the way, and his journey saw him robbed, threatened, welcomed and exposed to murderous heat and cold.

I first wrote to Tim 4 years ago… so we’ve maintained a very spotty correspondence in anticipation for today.

Tim Cope is is an Australian adventurer, author, filmmaker, photographer, expedition guide - a fluent Russian speaker - a bloody good writer and someone generous enough to offer me their time and invite me into their home here in rural Victoria.

Timestamps.

00:00 - Tim Cope
02:50 - The Magic Of The Steppe
10:10 - Tim's Coma & Writing
13:15 - Tim's Backstory
24:50 - On The Trail Of Genghis Khan
33:01 - The Eurasian Steppe
37:41 - The Decline Of Nomadic Cultures
46:27 - Entering Into Kazakhstan & Finding A Dog
1:02:55 - Tim's Growing Reputation On The Steppe
1:10:50 - Alcoholism On The Steppe
1:19:12 - Abandoned Goldmine For The Winter
1:38:45 - Prostitution
1:50:00 - Tim's Father Passing Away
2:05:46 - Hungary
2:12:30 - The Problem Of Fitting Back In
2:24:50 - Success & Book Publishing
2:31:00 - How Mongolia Has Changed
2:44:10 - Tim's Evolving Thoughts On Both Russia & Ukraine

The Men Who Killed The News (Book)

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Eric Beecher is a veteran journalist, editor and entrepreneur whose experienced first hand the dramatic evolution of the previous 40 years of media.

From broadsheet’s to TV to the internet to facebook, podcasts, now AI. Eric has been across all these, both an employee and employer as the business models were repeatedly shaken and recast.

And he asks, what is the cumulative damage when owners of journalism place profits and power over civic responsibility and decency.

That book is called, ‘The Men Who Killed The News’ and series a history of media moguldom, the perennial story of power and influence chipping away ever so gradually, the role good journalism esteems in helping us make sense of the world. It’s not nostalgia for the good old days, but rather an attempt to understand how we got here, and whether there is anything that can be done about it.

Eric was formerly the youngest editor at the Sydney Morning Herald before being recruited by Murdoch himself to run at the time, his latest media acquisition, before resigning sighting ethical differences.

Eric runs today alongside his colleagues, Crikey, The Mandarin and SmartCompany. Eric is a major architect of modern Australian independent media, and it is my pleasure to welcome him to the podcast.