By: John Hulsman

Dr. John C. Hulsman is Senior Columnist at City AM, and Founder and Managing Partner of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a global political risk consulting firm. More of John’s work is available on his substack

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As tensions in the Gulf rise, is a war with Iran a possibility?

August 9, 2019

As tensions in the Gulf rise after the seizure of another tanker, is a war with Iran a possibility? Dr John C. Hulsman, life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and president of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, says YES. Of course war with Iran is a possibility, as political leaderships are composed of human [...]
How the Anglosphere philosophy will fuel the new Prime Minister’s foreign policy

August 5, 2019

It is often important to look at a leader’s idols for clues as to what makes them tick. British critics of Boris Johnson, rather than dismissing him as a cut-rate Winston Churchill tribute act, would do far better looking at what it is about the great man that so impresses the current Prime Minister. The [...]
The EU’s new ‘dream team’ portends disaster for the failing bloc

July 22, 2019

The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it perfectly: character is destiny. In the case of the European Union’s recent undemocratic appointment of a comically inept rogue’s gallery as its new Commission president, head of the European Central Bank (ECB), and foreign minister, there is little doubt that come the next crisis, these deeply mediocre individuals [...]
How the US shale revolution changed the face of geopolitics

July 8, 2019

In theory, we all know that major technical revolutions change and fundamentally disrupt the face of the world we live in. In practice, analysts of all stripes are too often glacially slow to realise this process when it is at work, let alone what it means. These events (such as the advent of the mass-produced [...]
The ‘Brics’ concept is a lazy and misguided tool for assessing emerging markets

June 24, 2019

Seen in hindsight, the “Brics” concept was the perfect analytical tool for our lazy age, making one big point that required little thought while ignoring the nuance that is the basis of all good political risk analysis. Coined in 2001 by then Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill, the idea that the rising developing countries [...]
It’s no mystery who is behind the Gulf of Oman attack, or why

June 14, 2019

“Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions.” So wrote Agatha Christie, beloved author of the Hercule Poirot crime novels. At the time of writing, there is a good deal in the foreground that remains [...]
America is changing, and the UK cannot afford to ignore it

June 10, 2019

I cannot begin to estimate how much ink has been wasted on President Trump’s state visit to the UK last week. This is not to dismiss the significance of commemorating the D-Day anniversary, and the immense shared sacrifice of British and American soldiers in liberating Europe. But the rest of the state visit, focusing as [...]
Unilever and the confused priorities of the Davos elite

March 20, 2017

If Angela Merkel epitomises the overrated in terms of international statesmanship, her equal in corporate terms must be Paul Polman of Unilever. As is true with the German Chancellor, it is unfathomable to me that the leader of a major corporation with a record this hapless should be lionised. For the larger point is that both [...]
The UK will get a US free trade deal post-Brexit – but Donald Trump will drive a hard bargain

March 13, 2017

Back in 1783, when Britain signed a trade deal with the fledgling United States as part of the Treaty of Paris which concluded the revolutionary war, the world-class British delegation was infinitely more experienced and better prepared than their novice American counterparts. Sadly, this is not the case today. Fast forward 234 years and Britain’s [...]
Italy’s dying elite is dragging the Eurozone ever closer towards the abyss

March 6, 2017

Venice – The great German novelist Thomas Mann once rightly described this bejewelled city as one of “flattering and suspect beauty, half fairy tale and half tourist trap”. The same can be said for the country of Italy as a whole, where things are rarely as they seem. For the problem with political soap operas [...]

HSBC: City market’s top firm turns to Asia and Middle East

Premiership run-in: Saints and Bath will impact top four

Here We Are, National Theatre, review: Stephen Sondheim musical is more Severance than sing-a-long

By: John Hulsman

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