From the global financial crash in 2008 to Arab Springs in 2011 to the rise of authoritarian regimes climaxing in the election of a fake-tanned despot to the White House and a compulsive liar buffoon in Downing Street, the past decade and a half has seen the unravelling of political, financial and ecological stability.

What was the first domino?

Share

Academic, documentarian and author, Rupert Russell, thinks we can blame prices. Rupert spent the past few years tracking how speculative markets and the resulting volatility in prices have exacerbated and even caused much of the crises we see around the world.

He joins me to explain how the coffee crash in Guatemala led to the U.S border crisis, how the Arab Springs were caused by a spike in wheat prices, and how the physical effects of the climate crisis are driving vulnerable people into market climate wars, dictated by the speculative whims of bankers in the West.

• Listen on Apple or Spotify

• Watch on Youtube

• Read the interview transcript

• Bonus video out on Friday

© Rachel Donald