Episodes
March 27, 2026
Net Zero dies in the Strait of Hormuz
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – When that artery is threatened, markets do not debate policy frameworks or ESG targets. They react instantly, violently, and rationally. Prices move. Risk premiums surge. Governments scramble. Because the system understands something policymakers have tried to wish away: There is no replacement infrastructure capable of absorbing that shock...
March 13, 2026
The Samson threshold meets the energy century
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – Rising tensions between Iran and Israel expose a deeper geopolitical fault line linking nuclear deterrence, global energy flows, and the explosive electricity demands of artificial intelligence. As data centers reshape power consumption and the Strait of Hormuz remains a critical chokepoint, great power competition and energy stability collide in dangerous ways...
March 6, 2026
Iran, China, and the weaponization of energy is the root cause
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – China itself depends heavily on the uninterrupted flow of Persian Gulf energy. A prolonged disruption would send oil prices soaring and threaten the stability of China’s own economy. This dynamic highlights the delicate strategic balance that defines modern energy geopolitics. Nations simultaneously compete for influence over energy resources while...
Feb. 28, 2026
America’s countermodel to Europe: Energy abundance as grand strategy
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – While Europe constrains energy, the United States has largely expanded it. During the Trump administration, energy independence became explicit national policy. Deregulation, expanded leasing, pipeline construction, and export infrastructure development produced a surge in output that reshaped global markets...
Feb. 20, 2026
The Munich doctrine, Marco Rubio, energy realism, and the reordering of the West
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – Rubio’s address signaled that American foreign policy is being recalibrated around physical reality. Nations rise and fall based on production capacity, military strength, industrial depth, technological leadership—and above all, reliable energy. Energy is not an environmental accessory; it is the master resource that determines economic vitality and...
Feb. 7, 2026
The old order is dead! The reshaping of America and the global order
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – The traditional “legacy” institutions — legacy media, education, law, and cultural arbiters — have become aligned with a single political coalition. This alignment, critics say, is not incidental but strategic: it perpetuates a narrative ecosystem that reinforces partisan outcomes. They argue that the Democratic Party now wields disproportionate influence...
Feb. 1, 2026
Minnesota is not an outlier; it is a preview of what is to come
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – From Davos to Washington, the credibility of Net Zero and Great Reset-style globalism is eroding. Even establishment economists and geopolitical thinkers now warn that technocratic overreach, energy scarcity, and moral absolutism are fueling backlash rather than compliance. When societies are stressed people become governable through fear...
Jan. 24, 2026
The myths, costs, and consequences of industrial wind power
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – Wind power is promoted as clean, reliable, and affordable, yet evidence tells a different story. Intermittency weakens electric grids, environmental damage is widespread, costs continue to rise, and offshore wind projects face mounting failures. This episode examines the technical, ecological, and economic realities behind industrial wind energy and questions its role in a sustainable future...
Jan. 16, 2026
From Venezuela to Greenland: Fortress America in a zero-sum world
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – The episode reframes the debate around Venezuela and Greenland. The point isn’t “power for power’s sake.” The argument is that the U.S. is acting like a state that believes it must secure its near abroad and its strategic interests before rivals do. That logic is not new. It runs through the Monroe Doctrine lineage and shows up explicitly in the...
Jan. 9, 2026
The Trump corollary: Venezuela, Monroe Doctrine, & return of hemisphere power politics
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – If Venezuela represents enforcement rather than rhetoric, what comes next? How should we interpret growing U.S. concern over cartels, transnational crime, human and sex trafficking, and state corruption in countries like Mexico and Brazil? Are these law-enforcement challenges—or national-security threats now falling under the same hemispheric doctrine?
Dec. 19, 2025
Doing nuclear right: A conversation with an architect of VC summer reopening, Jim Little
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – A core theme of the episode is economic impact. Jim walks through how nuclear plants deliver long-term benefits across multiple dimensions: stable tax bases for counties and school districts, thousands of high-paying skilled jobs, sustained regional economic activity, and decades of reliable baseload electricity. He references the Economic Impact...
Dec. 12, 2025
Renewables are dead: The world is scaling up on oil, gas, and coal
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – Renewables have not ushered in prosperity—they have destroyed competitiveness, destabilized grids, and accelerated geopolitical decline. Europe is the test case, and the results are catastrophic. This episode makes the argument plainly: Renewables are dead. Fossil fuels remain dominant. And the nations that accept this reality will...
Dec. 5, 2025
The Ukraine War is lost
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – What you’re watching now is a long, cynical effort by Western elites to hide their own failures behind a forever-war narrative. The same political class that has run Britain, France, Germany, the EU, and Washington into stagnation and crisis is desperate to avoid accountability when the bill for Ukraine finally comes due...
Nov. 28, 2025
High electricity prices in the West are a direct result of unachievable energy-transition targets
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – Todd shows how political fantasies about 100% renewables collide with materials limits, cost structures, and physical constraints. This leads into a breakdown of U.S. power-demand forecasts, referencing new research from Grid Strategies, EPRI, and DOE scenario modeling. All three converge on the same conclusion: the US is entering an era of...
Nov. 21, 2025
The Doomberg interview, the #1 writer on Substack
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – Todd and Doomberg examine how NATO’s leverage is eroding, not because of battlefield conditions alone, but because Europe imports almost all its essential energy, leaving its cost of capital, industrial competitiveness, and geopolitical autonomy dependent on foreign suppliers. Natural gas is the clearest example: high import prices and a lack of...
Nov. 14, 2025
Affordability and why ‘energy’ is everything!
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal – Democratic capitalism depends not just on markets or politics, but on the moral-cultural foundation that enables growth, innovation, and freedom. When the moral-cultural system (climate virtue signalling, identity politics, de-industrialisation) overtakes the economic system, affordability and growth suffer...
Nov. 7, 2025
The interplay of global energy strategy, geopolitics, and risk
Geopower, Energy Realpolitik with Todd Royal - The stakes extend far beyond municipal governance—this election signals how urban energy policy, infrastructure resilience, and geopolitical considerations (from LNG supply to semiconductor-driven data-center demand) are now front-and-centre in big-city contests. With McKinney-based data centre expansions and grid load forecasts pointing to...