We've been tracking the story for weeks, and now the authorities are waking up to it.

The CFTC, the US commodities markets watchdog, is investigating oil futures bets that appeared to be timed perfectly to profit from President Trump's statements related to the Iran War.

There is an obvious domestic political angle to the return of the Democrats to power after the midterms But there are longer term implications, too: breakdowns of price discovery, untrustworthy markets, rampant corruption among the US political elites — it all speaks to a Third World-isation of their political economy.

Meanwhile, after chivalrously riding to the defence of Trump's targeted oil price, the Saudis are now taking a pasting at the hands of the Houthis.

This puts the Saudi economy itself at risk: politically, it is unable to devalue the Riyal. But without sufficient oil exports, its trade account would have to be financed somehow: either by debt or selling Treasuries.

It all signals coming political instability in the Kingdom. Is this most rock-solid of Gulf regimes finally on the slip-slide?

All of which still leaves a question dangling: why did MBS make such a foolish decision to start this war? Was he given bad advice? Or was he, in fact, 'tricked', by a sophisticated intelligence operation?

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Multipolarity is a long-running alt-geopolitics brand, starring the economist Philip Pilkington, and the journalist Andrew Collingwood. In January 2023, we began with the slogan ‘Charting the rise of the multipolar world order’. And we’ve hardly struggled for material since.

Each week, our duo take three key stories affecting the global balance of power, and explain what each means for the coming multipolar era. Increasingly, they’re joined by guests from across the spectrum: technologist Steve Hsu, journalist Malcom Kyeyune, strategic analyst Amerikanets, or academics like Warwick Powell and Glenn Diesen.

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