Rana Foroohar is Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor at the Financial Times, based in New York. She is also CNN’s Global Economic Analyst. Her first book, “Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business,” was shortlisted for the Financial Times McKinsey Book of the Year award in 2016. Her second book, “Don’t Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles – And All of Us,” released in 2019, was named Porchlight Business Book of the year. Her third book, “Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World,” was published by Crown in October 2022, and was one of Kirkus’ best non-fiction books of 2022. Her fourth book, “Sea Change: America’s New Great Game in the Arctic,” will be published on October 6th, 2026 by Crown. From 2022 to 2023, Foroohar ran the MA program in economics at the Columbia Journalism School, where she developed a curriculum on post-neoliberal economics and media. Prior to joining the FT and CNN, Foroohar spent 6 years at TIME, as assistant managing editor and economic columnist. She also spent 13 years at Newsweek, as an economic and foreign affairs editor and a foreign correspondent covering Europe and the Middle East. She is the recipient of the German Marshall Fund’s Peter Weitz Prize for transatlantic reporting, and has received awards and fellowships from institutions such as the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), the Newswoman’s Club of New York, the Johns Hopkins School of International Affairs and the East West Center. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and sits on the board of the Open Markets Institute. Foroohar graduated in 1992 from Barnard College, Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, the author John Sedgwick, and her two children.
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Episode 501
Rana Faroohar
How Melting Ice Is Redrawing the Global Order | Rana Faroohar
Rana Foroohar is Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor at the Financial Times, based in New York. She is also CNN’s Global Economic Analyst. Her first book, “Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business,” was shortlisted for the Financial Times McKinsey Book of the Year award in 2016. Her second book, “Don’t Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles – And All of Us,” released in 2019, was named Porchlight Business Book of the year. Her third book, “Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World,” was published by Crown in October 2022, and was one of Kirkus’ best non-fiction books of 2022. Her fourth book, “Sea Change: America’s New Great Game in the Arctic,” will be published on October 6th, 2026 by Crown. From 2022 to 2023, Foroohar ran the MA program in economics at the Columbia Journalism School, where she developed a curriculum on post-neoliberal economics and media. Prior to joining the FT and CNN, Foroohar spent 6 years at TIME, as assistant managing editor and economic columnist. She also spent 13 years at Newsweek, as an economic and foreign affairs editor and a foreign correspondent covering Europe and the Middle East. She is the recipient of the German Marshall Fund’s Peter Weitz Prize for transatlantic reporting, and has received awards and fellowships from institutions such as the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), the Newswoman’s Club of New York, the Johns Hopkins School of International Affairs and the East West Center. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and sits on the board of the Open Markets Institute. Foroohar graduated in 1992 from Barnard College, Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, the author John Sedgwick, and her two children.
In Episode 501 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Rana Faroohar about her book, Sea Change, and her argument that, as polar ice melts and new sea routes open, the Arctic has become the most consequential and least understood geopolitical theater in the world, with the great powers competing over trade routes, resources, and military dominance.
They discuss:
The strategic logic behind agreements like the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort between the US, Finland, and Canada
Why China has spent two decades quietly ring-fencing the world’s maritime chokepoints
The Trump administration’s approach to Greenland, NATO, and the Western Hemisphere
The reversal of forty years of market-knows-best trade economics in favor of more state-directed, national security-focused trade and industrial policy
They close with a conversation about domestic politics, including the fight over the future of economic nationalism, the populist backlash against AI and corporate concentration, and what, if anything, could rebuild a shared sense of civic responsibility and shared sacrifice in America.
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Rana Foroohar is Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor at the Financial Times, based in New York. She is also CNN’s Global Economic Analyst. Her first book, “Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business,” was shortlisted for the Financial Times McKinsey Book of the Year award in 2016. Her second book, “Don’t Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles – And All of Us,” released in 2019, was named Porchlight Business Book of the year. Her third book, “Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World,” was published by Crown in October 2022, and was one of Kirkus’ best non-fiction books of 2022. Her fourth book, “Sea Change: America’s New Great Game in the Arctic,” will be published on October 6th, 2026 by Crown.
From 2022 to 2023, Foroohar ran the MA program in economics at the Columbia Journalism School, where she developed a curriculum on post-neoliberal economics and media. Prior to joining the FT and CNN, Foroohar spent 6 years at TIME, as assistant managing editor and economic columnist. She also spent 13 years at Newsweek, as an economic and foreign affairs editor and a foreign correspondent covering Europe and the Middle East. She is the recipient of the German Marshall Fund’s Peter Weitz Prize for transatlantic reporting, and has received awards and fellowships from institutions such as the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), the Newswoman’s Club of New York, the Johns Hopkins School of International Affairs and the East West Center. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and sits on the board of the Open Markets Institute.
Foroohar graduated in 1992 from Barnard College, Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, the author John Sedgwick, and her two children.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
