Invite Markos to Speak at Your Event

Markos Kounalakis is an engaging, in-demand public speaker on foreign affairs, geopolitics, geostrategy, global media, and journalism. He’s available to speak on a range of topics, including those outlined below. Have something else in mind? Get in touch!

Geopolitics of Media

Media drives us to buy things, vote for change and teaches us how to feel about ourselves. It can - and does - have an effect on global power. Right now, an information war is raging, with democracies being outspent, outgunned, and outmaneuvered in contested parts of the world. Who will win this war?

Byline Spies

Journalists and foreign correspondents work as both witting and unwitting intelligence gatherers for nations. How a practice once dominated by Western nations has now become standard operating procedure for China and Russia.

Golf & Democracy

The McDonalds theory of democracy - sometimes referred to as the Democratic Peace Theory - holds that nations that have McDonald's franchises don't go to war with each other. That theory is being tested as McDonald's and other global businesses and brands become agnostic to a host nation's regime-type. What really seems to make a difference is golf courses. Why golf doesn't give authoritarian nations a mulligan.

Baseball can Save Asia

Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the USA play baseball, while India, Australia, and New Zealand dominate cricket. Expanding major league baseball into the Indo-Pacific region can further bind these bat-and-ball crazy nations and keep China in the bleachers.