And now for some more Fatal Conceits… Russia’s shadow tanker fleet… Chinese spy balloons… turmoil in the global energy markets… where gold’s headed… the end of petro-dollar hegemony and much, much more! Welcome back, dear listener, to another episode of the Fatal Conceits podcast. In today’s episode, we catch up with Harvard-trained geologist, energy and resource expert and long-time friend of the show, Mr. Byron King. Over the course of an hour or so, Byron kindly shares his thoughts on all of the above issues… and plenty more… as we attempt to understand what’s going on in a world increasingly torn asunder by geopolitical upheaval, rolling economic crises and green energy madness. Please enjoy our conversation. Cheers, Joel Bowman P.S. Toward the end of the episode, Byron mentions an essay he recently published examining the threat of war over Taiwan in the South China Sea. Who wins, who loses and what’s the cost either way? The results may surprise (and even shock) you. We arranged to have that essay published in your last Sunday Session, so please feel free to check it out, here: Meanwhile, please find a full transcript of the above episode below, for your reading pleasure. Cheers ~ JB TRANSCRIPT: Joel Bowman: Welcome back, dear listener, to another episode of the Fatal Conceits Podcast. It's the show about money markets, mobs, and manias. If you've not already done so and you're a new listener, please head over to our Substack page. You can catch us at bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com. There you'll find hundreds of articles and everything from lowly politics to high finance, and pretty much everything in between, including many more conversations like this one under the Fatal Conceits Podcast tab at the top of the page. I'm delighted this week to welcome back to the show, a longtime friend of Bonner Private Research and the whole team here. For new listeners, Byron King is a Harvard trained geologist. He's an energy and resource investor, a keen geopolitical observer, a general man of letters, and someone with whom we're richly rewarded whenever he is gracious enough to share a few moments of his time. So welcome, Byron King, to the show. It's good to have you on for the new year. Byron King: And it's a pleasure to speak with you and to reach out and speak with your audience out there. The Bonner Private Research people are wonderful. You are special in so many ways, and so it is my privilege to just take a few minutes of your time if you have it. I'm glad to be here. Joel Bowman: Excellent, excellent. Byron, we were just speaking before we hit record here, as we often do, and talking about, it's funny how our conversations tend to start in one country of the world and then sort of travel across an equator or a hemisphere. One of the things that I love when you and I get together is you fill us in on some of your recent travels. And from an investor's perspective or from our listener's perspective, I think oftentimes that's kind of where the rubber meets the road. It's one thing to look at headlines and sit behind Bloomberg terminals and whatnot, but you're the kind of guy who gets out there and kicks rocks around and shakes hands at investment conferences and gold conferences. And maybe give us a little bit of an update on what's been happening with your travels of late. Byron King: Well, sure, thank you. Last week I was out in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, which is an annual thing, and lots of companies and an interesting dynamic. It's one of the first conferences of any new year, because it's the end of January, obviously. And so, it's always nice to sort of go there and kind of take the pulse. What's going on? What are people thinking? It's January. What are the next 11 months going to look like? Last year, 2022, was the first time we'd gotten together in person for two years because of the Covid. People just couldn't travel, whatever. And ev