Why You Should Subscribe to Bismarck Brief
I warmly invite you to receive the unique and essential guide for every live player seeking to shape modern civilization and make a lasting impact on it.
Every Wednesday at 2pm GMT, subscribers to Bismarck Brief receive an in-depth, long-form investigation of a strategically important individual, institution, or industry. In scope, rigor, and output, there is no other operation like Bismarck Brief in the world. Two years ago, we issued the first Brief. Since then, our talented analysts have written over 500,000 words on the state of the world, investigating everything from frontier technologies like fusion power to the political factions of Washington to the new megacities of China. Now with 107 Briefs in our collection and counting, this is equivalent to at least five dense books of navigation-grade intelligence on the most influential players of the 2020s.
My aim with Bismarck Brief is to create the essential guide for every live player seeking to shape modern civilization and make a lasting impact on it, whether as a technologist, philanthropist, or statesman. Societies are driven by the unique strategies of influential individuals and the institutions they build or command. The core of my company’s research is therefore the case study method: each Brief is a deep investigation of a key person, organization, or industry, examined through the unique lens of Great Founder Theory. To understand these players and institutions is to understand the world, and its future, as best we can.Â
Bismarck Brief is a multimedia product: each Brief has a curated audio read-aloud so it can be listened to in its entirety, and many Briefs also come with custom-made graphics and maps. Since launch, every Brief has been punctually delivered at the scheduled weekly time, with no exceptions, breaks, or delays for any reason. Celebrating the second anniversary of the Brief, I am pleased to see that it continues to exceed even the high expectations of our sophisticated and thoughtful readers. I and the entire team at Bismarck Analysis thank you greatly for your confidence in our work.
As the holiday season approaches, consider giving the gift of a Bismarck Brief subscription to your friends, colleagues, or loved ones this year. All you need is their email address; you can choose a one-month or annual subscription. Give the gift of Bismarck Brief here. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, I warmly invite you to subscribe below:
The world is changing. Our leading focus at the Brief has been and will remain on a rising modern China and the implications for industry, technology, and the world. We have investigated everything from the rapidly growing Chinese nuclear industry, to the succession plans of Xi Jinping, to the company behind China’s first innovative global software success, TikTok. The United States remains the world’s sole global superpower; the Brief has accordingly investigated everything from the growing power of the NSA, to the family dynasty behind the New York Times, to BlackRock’s relationship with the federal government. We have investigated advances in drones, organ transplants, robotics, brain-computer interfaces, fusion, fracking, quantum computing, and the semiconductor industry driving artificial intelligence through Nvidia, Samsung, ASML, and TSMC.
No subject is off-limits or too unconventional for Bismarck Brief. We have investigated the idiosyncratic strategies of successful small states like Dubai, Estonia, and Singapore; the blind spots of the world’s biggest companies like Apple, Visa, and Amazon; and the personal empires of the world’s wealthiest people like Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, and Masayoshi Son. The scope of Bismarck Brief is thus truly global. In the last two years, the Briefs have investigated players or industries on every continent and in every powerful city, including Washington and Beijing, San Francisco and Shenzhen, New York and Los Angeles, Moscow and Brussels:
The purpose of Bismarck Brief is to inform and improve strategic decision-making. It is no surprise then that the Brief is upstream not just of the news media and public discourse, but of financial markets too. Below is a graph of the share price performance of every publicly-traded company covered in Bismarck Brief since the date it was covered to early September 2023:
If one had invested the same amount of funds into each publicly-traded company that Bismarck Brief positively assessed on the date the corresponding Brief was published, one would have invested fifteen times and the total investment would have grown by +32%. Had one instead invested into the S&P 500 fifteen times on those same dates, it would have grown only +11%. Disregarding our assessments and investing in every company we covered, the total investment still would have grown by +24%, compared to +10% for the S&P 500. Bismarck Brief does not and will never offer financial advice (see full disclaimer below),1 but this demonstrates the unique and valuable perspective of the Brief.
Prospective subscribers to Bismarck Brief can read or listen to our extensive collection of Briefs that we have made publicly-available. Every such Brief is linked below, but I would also especially like to highlight a few of them:
The Tradition of Knowledge Behind ASML. Europe’s most valuable tech company is the only manufacturer of the machines needed to make the advanced computer chips that will power any proposed revolution in artificial intelligence. This market monopoly rests on a uniquely Dutch tradition of knowledge and industrial policy. Read or listen here.
Nvidia’s Successful Bet On Artificial Intelligence. Nvidia’s founder and CEO Jensen Huang had an early belief in using graphics processing units (GPUs) not just for video games, but for other computationally intensive tasks. The company’s bet on this idea has been borne out, as shown by the recent AI boom. Read or listen here.
The SEC and Its Relationship to Cryptocurrency. The regulatory agency sits between the U.S. government and the financial sector. It is in no rush to give up its wide discretion over the new sector of cryptocurrency, which means it will neither fete the sector nor try to eliminate it. Read or listen here.
The PLA Has Transformed Itself to Take Taiwan. Motivated by the prospect of invading Taiwan, China’s military has greatly modernized and reformed. Whether or not an invasion of Taiwan is ever carried out, a new balance of power has been forged, as China has expanded its missile capabilities, made progress in jet engines, and become the world’s largest shipbuilder by far. Read or listen here.
You can also read or listen to publicly-available Briefs on the non-profit empire of George Soros, the Chinese space industry, the German retreat from nuclear power, Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for virtual reality, the potential solar photovoltaic revolution, the collapse of FTX and its effect on the Effective Altruism movement, the Swedish arms industry, and the president, overseas empire, and defense agency of France, the most dynamic large country in Europe. If paid subscribers ever wish to share a Brief not listed here, remember to just email contact@bismarckanalysis.com to request a PDF version.
Our investigations to understand both the United States and China have, in the grand scheme of things, barely begun. Both in the short and long term, these two great powers will remain the core focus of our research, in addition to new and potentially transformative technologies—such as artificial intelligence. In the coming months, paid subscribers will receive Briefs on the highly influential startup accelerator Y Combinator, the civilization-altering potential of geothermal energy, the rapidly growing Chinese film industry, the open secret of Japan’s military power, and much, much more. Bismarck Brief is here for the long term, but to stay up to date, follow us on X too.
On behalf of the whole team at Bismarck Analysis, I warmly invite you to become a paid subscriber to Bismarck Brief today and join us on this ongoing exploration into the global power landscape.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Samo Burja
Founder and President of Bismarck Analysis
Disclaimer: Bismarck Brief does not offer financial or investment advice. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional financial, investment, or other advice. All content is of a general nature and does not address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Nothing in this site constitutes professional, financial, or investment advice. Bismarck Analysis is not a fiduciary by virtue of any person’s use or access to Bismarck Brief or this content. Investing in securities carries the risk of losing funds.