Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through politics, economics, current events, and cultural movements of the day, all from a global perspective.
Episodes
Thursday Jan 23, 2020
Thursday Jan 23, 2020
Happy Lunar/Chinese New Year! Chun jie kuai le! 春节快乐！
Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- As China prepares to celebrate its biggest annual holiday, the Lunar New Year, the country and the world face a growing coronavirus epidemic. Not very humorous
- Reflecting on Davos, the annual gathering of world's rich and powerful
- An extended conversation with Bill Pazos, COO of Air Carbon Exchange in Singapore, on cap-and-trade solutions to climate change
- And a twist on our usual happy news, wishing you gong xi gongxi!
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. That includes our new Facebook page, where you can continue to the conversation with us! https://www.facebook.com/foreigninfluencepodcast/
Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!
Bill & Nikolaj
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
Happy 2020! 🎉🎉🎉
Kind of, anyway.
Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- The US assassinates an Iranian leader, and Iran strikes back. It's gonna be fine, FINE.
- The stories we tell ourselves to get ramped up for war and invasion
- China stands to benefit from renewed chaos
- And the good news, including marijuana legalization in Illinois?
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!
Friday Dec 20, 2019
Friday Dec 20, 2019
Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- Trump's impeachment is done, but the fun is just beginning in the US Senate
- India's pro-Hindu law and the global rise of ethic nationalism
- A conversation with US Midwest farmer Bill Hickey on surviving the trade war and living in Trump country
- All that and a happy holidays to you all!
For more on India's new law and the protests that have resulted:
And for more on the Phase 1 trade deal between the US and China:
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Please remember that, if you like what you hear, sharing is caring. 🙏 Thanks for listening!
Wednesday Dec 18, 2019
Wednesday Dec 18, 2019
Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- A fascinating conversation with Amit Prothi, recently of the 100 Resilient Cities project, on how urban areas can survive and thrive in the future
- Humanity is officially an urban species and what that means
- Can greenhouse gas emissions be limited, or is it time for geo-engineering
- Quick hits on the fast-moving news of the UK elections and the impeachment of Pres. Donald J. Trump
- All that and our usual dose of good news
To find out more about the 100 Resilient Cities project:
https://www.100resilientcities.org/
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!
Wednesday Dec 11, 2019
Wednesday Dec 11, 2019
Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- The Afghanistan Papers show we've all been lied to about the war
- UK bollocks and the impact on Europe
- A conversation with entrepreneur and writer Thomas Jestin on inequality, alternatives to GDP, and how tech is providing and will provide for a better world
- That and our usual dose of good news, which is so much optimism and happiness that we almost can't stand it
To find the Washington Post stories on Afghanistan:
To find Thomas Jestin's article and more about him:
http://livewithai.org/ai-makes-technological-progress-fast/
And a couple other items we mentioned:
https://andrewmcafee.org/more-from-less/overivew
https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!
Friday Dec 06, 2019
Friday Dec 06, 2019
Join American Bill Poorman and Dutchman Nikolaj Groeneweg, living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- Articles of impeachment shall be
- France Strikes! Part Un: Macron and Trump mix it up at the NATO summit, while we explore the purpose of NATO
- France Strikes! Part Deux: Macron faces a general strike at home
- The tech now exists to reconstruct how someone looks just from their DNA. 😯 And of course it's being used for nothing but good purposes
- It's been a brutal winter in Singapore with temps only modestly hot
- That, more, and our usual dose of happy news!
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
Join an American (Bill Poorman) and a Dutchman (Nikolaj Groeneweg), living in Asia, as they take you on a humorously serious and seriously humorous romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- Facebook, Google, and other social media platforms - or is that publishers?
- "Illinois Nazis. I hate Illinois Nazis." - Jake & Elwood
- The excerpted future of podcasting
- Confronting China exactly the wrong way
- And our usual dose of happy news!
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!
Monday Nov 18, 2019
Monday Nov 18, 2019
After a short hiatus traveling the region and covering events, hosts Bill Poorman (the American) and Nikolaj Groeneweg (the Dutchman) are back to take you on a romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- The unrest in Hong Kong worsens, and it's hard to see where it's all going
- Protest is going worldwide
- Tech and entrepreneurship might offer some answers
- The Trump impeachment goes public
- And our usual dose of happy news! (Lord knows we need it.)
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!
Friday Oct 25, 2019
Friday Oct 25, 2019
Hosts Bill Poorman (the American) and Nikolaj Groeneweg (the Dutchman) take you on a romp through the week's international news! In this week's episode:
- China's trumping the U.S. in rich people and unicorns
- Trump is not always wrong about everything, and that's the worst possible thing
- WeWork pays its founder millions of bucks to go away
- Tech news, including algorithms building racism into health care and the the nuclear arsenal enter the 21st century
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!
Wednesday Oct 16, 2019
Wednesday Oct 16, 2019
Hosts Bill Poorman (the American) and Nikolaj Groeneweg (the Dutchman) are flying solo again on this one. In this week's episode:
- Bill is fresh off the latest Democratic party debate, and he's none too impressed with some of what he saw
- The NBA and other American companies are knuckling under to China, and that ain't good
- Your job and life will not be the same once AI gets here, says Nikolaj
- But that's not nearly as bad as the squirrels playing chess
Reach out to us at hello@foreigninfluencepodcast.com or through social media. Thanks for listening!