According to former London banker and math genius Gary Stevenson, we are in the middle of a major economic crisis — but not one marked by a sudden shock like a stock market crash. He believes an economic crisis can look like house prices that just keep rising.

Together with political scientist Maria Repnikova, we dive into the world of soft power. In her book *Chinese Soft Power*, she explores how China no longer seeks to persuade the world through force, but through attraction — power that bubbles up from below rather than being imposed from the top down. Soft power is often associated with tender-hearted leaders gently stroking their subjects with a velvet glove. Nothing could be further from the truth.

According to author and investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein, Big Tech and governments will increasingly join forces to control — and ultimately oppress — populations. He argues that all of Palestine has effectively become a laboratory for the surveillance industry. The notion that every Palestinian poses a threat has become so mainstream that everyone must be monitored. To keep that system running, Israel has for years received assistance from Big Tech, including one of the world’s fastest-growing tech companies: Palantir — named after a seeing stone with prophetic powers from *The Lord of the Rings*.

The AI industry is a growing bubble. Investments in companies building AI applications are hot — very hot. The question is where we are on the wave right now. Is it nearing its peak, with the AI bubble about to burst, or are we still far from that point? From Shanghai, Chinese economist Andy Xie analyzes and comments on the relationship between the American and Chinese financial markets for outlets such as *Bloomberg* and the *South China Morning Post*. His analyses are often seen as contrarian and provocative. “America’s idea of winning is to create a God. That God will live in San Francisco. And the God works for America,” says Xie.

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