Geopolitical Cousins

About Geopolitical Cousins

Geopolitical Cousins throws together analysts Jacob Shapiro and Marko Papic for some of the most in-depth, off-the-wall geopolitical analysis in the world.

Publisher

Jacob Shapiro & Marko Papic

Category

business · comedy · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

14 Mar 2025

Latest episode

2 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

84 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Nov 2026

   The Strongman Loser

   Mailbag episode next week!!! This week - Elections. Everywhere. Everybody wants a strongman story but the strongmen keep losing and going home! Lula came back from behind against Flávio Bolsonaro. Israel turned out 77.7% of their entire voter base and still nobody has 61 seats. The US is about to do some real soul-searching, and Cousin Matt Gertken of BCA Research joins the cousinly love to call the Senate. My cousin in Christ, polls can't model turnout. And this year, turnout is angry. Important Notes: Serbia held a snap parliamentary election on October 25. The Student List, a slate of non-party experts assembled by the movement that formed after the November 2024 canopy collapse at Novi Sad's railway station, won a majority of the 250 seats. Aleksandar Vučić, who had stepped down as president in September to lead his party's campaign, conceded that night. Brazil's runoff was the same day. Lula, who trailed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, Jair's son, in the first round, won about 51.7% to 48.3%. Flávio has disputed the result. Israel voted on October 27. Turnout was 77.7%, the highest since 1999. Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats, the opposition around Gadi Eisenkot about 48 and the Arab parties 19, so no camp has the 61 it needs to govern. Timestamps: (00:00) - Intro/Welcome (01:03) - Serbia's students beat Vučić (06:59) - Strongmen, autocrats and who leaves office (13:14) - Brazil and the "strongman loser" (30:33) - Israel: record turnout, no majority (43:51) - Geopolitical QE and Israel's next decade (51:46) - Where polls come from (55:43) - Quick-fire Senate predictions (01:07:28) - Final thoughts: the midterms and 2028 -- Referenced in the Show: Matt Gertken - https://www.bcaresearch.com/strategists/matt-gertken (https://www.bcaresearch.com/strategists/matt-gertken ) Elections - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth) -- Geopolitical Cousins is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com (https://audiographies.com) -- Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today’s volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world. Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.com (https://jacobshapiro.com) Jacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416) Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShap (https://x.com/JacobShap) Jacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe (https://jashap.substack.com/subscribe) -- Marko Papic is a macro and geopolitical expert at BCA Research, a global investment research firm. He provides in-depth analysis that combines geopolitics and markets in a framework called GeoMacro. He is also the author of Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future. Marko’s Book & Newsletter: www.geopoliticalalpha.com/marko-papic (https://www.geopoliticalalpha.com/marko-papic) Marko’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-papic-geopolitics/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-papic-geopolitics/) Marko’s Twitter: https://x.com/Geo_papic (https://x.com/Geo_papic) Marko’s Macro & Geopolitical Research at BCA: https://www.bcaresearch.com/marketing/geomacro (https://www.bcaresearch.com/marketing/geomacro)

2. 

   26 Oct 2026

   Orgy of Aneurysm

   Look, France has had a riot in the streets every few years this century. Pensions in '95. The banlieues in 2005. Students in 2006, pensions again in 2010, the Yellow Vests, pensions again in 2023. In May '68 the president flew to Baden-Baden and nobody could find him. This is not the end of France, because it's the most French thing ever. Try: data centers eating the world's capital, energy eating paychecks, two wars nobody voted for. Something has to give. Jacob thinks it's your grandmother's pension. Marko thinks it's guns. -- Timestamps: (00:00) - Intro/Welcome (01:25) - The movies somebody should make (17:09) - Geopolitical video games (18:57) - Is this France's 1968? (19:52) - A century of French protests (25:45) - Giscard techno and the Le Pen scenario (29:47) - Workers, AI and why geopolitics isn't a trade (33:30) - It's energy, not AI (38:54) - Elite overproduction (44:30) - The big short (53:08) - Who gets cut first (59:40) - Iran, Ukraine and the wars of choice (01:09:05) - Trump's tragic flaw -- Referenced in the Show: GiscardPunk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKhnDzRgsW8 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKhnDzRgsW8 ) -- Geopolitical Cousins is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com (https://audiographies.com) -- Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today’s volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world. Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.com (https://jacobshapiro.com) Jacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416) Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShap (https://x.com/JacobShap) Jacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe (https://jashap.substack.com/subscribe) -- Marko Papic is a macro and geopolitical expert at BCA Research, a global investment research firm. He provides in-depth analysis that combines geopolitics and markets in a framework called GeoMacro. He is also the author of Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future. Marko’s Book & Newsletter: www.geopoliticalalpha.com/marko-papic (https://www.geopoliticalalpha.com/marko-papic) Marko’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-papic-geopolitics/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-papic-geopolitics/) Marko’s Twitter: https://x.com/Geo_papic (https://x.com/Geo_papic) Marko’s Macro & Geopolitical Research at BCA: https://www.bcaresearch.com/marketing/geomacro (https://www.bcaresearch.com/marketing/geomacro)

3. 

   14 Oct 2026

   Après Trump

   Three hundred thousand tons of diesel (tons, not barrels) is what Trump says he extracted from Putin. The deal is easy to mock, but it’s worth understanding why it happened. Diesel is at record highs, and every European leader publicly condemning the move is privately relieved somebody finally told Zelenskyy to stop hitting Russian refineries. What the 5D-chess crowd misses is simpler: Ukraine and Iran are now the same war, because diesel trades globally and two kinetic conflicts are squeezing the same supply. From there, the harder question- what comes after Trump? America still wins gold, but it needed a Cameroonian center to beat a team of pudgy Serbs. The games are tighter now. -- Timestamps: (00:00) - Welcome (01:02) - Paris Market Fire (02:27) - Trump Diesel Deal Readout (03:55) - Energy War and Hormuz (08:39) - Zelensky Leverage and Midterms (21:14) - After Trump and Multipolarity (37:53) - Limited Force Iran (38:50) - Trump Strategy Document (39:48) - Neocons Versus Deals (42:24) - America Behind Curtain (43:54) - Regime Change Values (50:53) - After Trump Realism (52:46) - Houthis Scenario Menu (54:05) - Trump Houthi Deal (56:58) - Regional Wildcards (01:00:28) - Houthi Strategy Shift (01:01:14) - US Reacts Not Leads (01:02:16) - Voters And Israel Test -- Geopolitical Cousins is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com (https://audiographies.com) -- Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today’s volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world. Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.com (https://jacobshapiro.com) Jacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416) Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShap (https://x.com/JacobShap) Jacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe (https://jashap.substack.com/subscribe) -- Marko Papic is a macro and geopolitical expert at BCA Research, a global investment research firm. He provides in-depth analysis that combines geopolitics and markets in a framework called GeoMacro. He is also the author of Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future. Marko’s Book & Newsletter: www.geopoliticalalpha.com/marko-papic (https://www.geopoliticalalpha.com/marko-papic) Marko’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-papic-geopolitics/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-papic-geopolitics/) Marko’s Twitter: https://x.com/Geo_papic (https://x.com/Geo_papic) Marko’s Macro & Geopolitical Research at BCA: https://www.bcaresearch.com/marketing/geomacro (https://www.bcaresearch.com/marketing/geomacro)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

6,823

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

319 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 73 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

96

Social presence

0

YouTube

74

Engagement

51

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