Thomas Graham

My main bottleneck is finding excellent guests. So, I’m hiring a couple scouts to help me find the next David Reich/Sarah Paine/Adam Brown. $100/hour, remote, I expect it’ll be 5-10 hours a week. Ideal candidate is maybe a grad student/post doc/or working in one of the fields I wanna find guests in. I'm looking to hire ~one scout for each of the following fields: bio, history, econ, math/physics, AI. The application form is linked in the essay below, and it’s extremely simple - just pitch me on a guest and tell me a bit about yourself. Deadline Fri, Jan 23. The essay includes my thoughts about what makes for an excellent guest. And I also listed a bunch of questions I'm curious about right now (to help brainstorm guests).

VENEZUELA AND OIL. A thread: Ahead of Trump-Big Oil meeting today, my view: There’s too much blanket pessimism about the Venezuelan oil industry. Instead, I belive there are some low-hanging barrels in the map. FREE-TO-READ (next 7 days) link: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl… 🧵1/10

The Trump admin decapitated Maduro's regime on Saturday and now wants US oil majors to charge in and start drilling in Venezuela. But the companies themselves don't seem too keen on the nation building role Trump has in mind for them. For @ObserverUK observer.co.uk/news/internati…

Food for thought on Venezuela and entry of US oil majors. Perhaps a non-consensus observation, but I think majors are likely very interested in going into Ven. Why...because that's where the oil is! More in a thread below #EFT #OOTT

The most illuminating 90 seconds we’ve heard about the Trump’s plans going forward on Venezuela

Trinidad and Tobago stakes its future on a Trump triumph in the Caribbean bit.ly/4p6SRMM

NEW: While the Trump Administration threatens military action in Venezuela and Mexico over drug trafficking, the US has left loopholes wide open allowing traffickers to obtain private jets in the US, completely anonymously, for flying cocaine across LatAm occrp.org/en/project/nar…

We’ve officially launched The Observer’s first digital subscription. Become a subscriber and get: 🗞 Early access to our biggest investigations 📱 Exclusive features on our website and app 📥 Premium newsletters including The Puzzle Edit and Observer Food Weekly Read, watch and listen to The Observer: bit.ly/4pDoxKA Download our app here: bit.ly/4ona6JE

The drone wars have arrived in Mexico. A soldier with a drone jamming weapon at the Feria Ganadera in Culiacán, Sinaloa, where cartel factions have embraced the technology in their war. Photo by @Verdugo_Foto

Less than two weeks into Bolivia's new government, president Rodrigo Paz and vice president Edman Lara are in open conflict.

"The objective of the armada in the Caribbean is not solely counter-narcotics … it’s like killing mosquitoes with a shotgun", James Story, former US ambassador to Venezuela told @Thomas__Graham. bit.ly/4nZqhMN

Former Bolivia president Luis Arce has gone back to giving economics classes at university, after presiding over an economic crisis. Apparently the causes of the crisis were "strictly political", nothing to do with economic mismanagement... larazon.bo/nacional/2025/…

A new call for articles that Works in Progress would like to commission. We’re looking for everything from Japanese pension reforms to making certain mosquito species extinct to travelogues about strange ethnic enclaves around the world. worksinprogress.news/p/more-article…

Deja también cárceles hacinadas con +33000 presos, +70%preventivos, donde mueren cientos por violencia y desatención humanitaria. Protección a auto prórrogas y consorcios frenaron la reforma judicial. @CIDH, @volker_turk 👇

Rodrigo Paz, Bolivia’s president-elect, will face a dire economic crisis and a fragmented political system, @Thomas__Graham writes. worldpoliticsreview.com/bolivia-electi…

Before they even take office, Bolivia's future VP is already warning Rodrigo Paz not to stray from the people who put them in power.. “Many people supported the people's ticket because they believed in Captain Lara, and I will not let those people down." larazon.bo/nacional/2025/…

One of Bolivia’s most enigmatic ruins sits in fields south of Tiwanaku. The Puma Punka, still partially buried, seems to have been a monumental tiered temple terrace about 170x120m - built from carved andesite and sandstone megalithic blocks, some weighing over 130 tons 🧵/1

Twenty years after the American embassy shut its doors, Sunday’s presidential election could see a thaw in relations as the country swings to the right, writes @Thomas__Graham. Read more: bit.ly/4nmHDTO