when you buy a bottle of “italian” or “spanish” olive oil, there’s a decent chance it came from tunisia.

the oil, that is, not the label.

in this episode, we trace the path of tunisia’s most important export from ancient olive groves to supermarkets worldwide and unpack how global trade rules, branding power, and consumer habits keep countries like tunisia invisible on the shelf.

it’s not just about olive oil. it’s about who gets to create value, and who gets to claim it.

in september 2024, albania’s prime minister announced a plan to create a new sovereign state inside tirana, the capital of the country.

a spiritual microstate, run by the bektashi order, a sufi-inspired religious group. it sounded symbolic. maybe even strange. but it was real.

in this episode, we break down what the bektashi proposal actually is, where it came from, and why it’s raising questions. about power, corruption, religious identity, and what happens when politics uses faith to sell a bigger story.

most people in ulaanbaatar don’t live in apartments, they live in ger districts.

entire neighborhoods built from traditional yurts, often without sewage, piped water, or reliable heat.

in this episode, we look at how the collapse of the soviet union, climate disasters, and decades of underinvestment led hundreds of thousands to settle on the city’s edge, and why those areas are still waiting for the basics.