“This is Bibi’s War” - Harvard’s Graham Allison on the Influences and Endgame of the Iran War
Speakers
Jason Calacanis — Host
— angel investor, All-In host
Summary
- The US and Israel are engaged in a highly uncertain conflict with Iran, which carries significant risks of regional destabilization, disrupted energy markets, and unintended global consequences.
- The probability of China invading Taiwan before 2028 is extremely low (around 5%) due to internal military purges, economic priorities, and a belief in peaceful political reunification.
- China is aggressively offsetting its demographic decline and youth unemployment by dominating global robotics and EV manufacturing, exemplified by companies like Xiaomi fully automating car production lines.
- The US faces severe domestic stability risks due to extreme wealth inequality, with the top 10% capturing the vast majority of economic gains, fueling populist and socialist political movements.
Trade Ideas
I think the other thing that we know about wars is that they're unpredictable and that they have many unanticipated consequences... what impact does that have on oil and gas prices predictable so you can see... Taiwan... about half of their electricity comes from their natural gas that is now not coming. The destruction of Iranian infrastructure and the broader Middle East conflict will severely disrupt global energy supply chains. As natural gas and oil shipments are delayed or destroyed by regional instability, global supply constraints will drive up the underlying commodity prices. LONG. Energy commodities (oil and natural gas) will experience a geopolitical risk premium and supply-side price shocks as the Middle East conflict drags on. The conflict could end faster than expected, or other global producers (like the US or OPEC+) could rapidly increase output to offset Middle Eastern supply losses.
If you ask about what is this meaning for Ukraine, all the patriots that were to hope to prevent missile strikes from Russia on Ukraine are now in the Middle East. So that's many more targets. The US is stretching its air defense capabilities (specifically Patriot missile batteries) across multiple global conflicts simultaneously. This rapid depletion and redeployment of inventory necessitates massive replenishment contracts for the prime defense contractors who manufacture these systems. LONG. Defense primes manufacturing advanced air defense and missile systems will see sustained, elevated order backlogs as the US and its allies are forced to restock depleted munitions. A sudden diplomatic resolution to the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts could reduce the urgency for defense spending and munitions replenishment.
I think the likelihood of an attack on Taiwan this year or next year or even into 28... is very low. I put it at about where the prediction markets are 5%... 96% of the advanced semiconductors come from one small island that could become cut off. So TSMC... produces the advanced semiconductors for essentially everybody. The market often prices a high geopolitical risk premium into Taiwanese assets due to fears of an imminent Chinese invasion. Because China is currently purging its military leadership and focusing on economic stability, this invasion risk is vastly overstated, meaning TSMC's operations and supply chains are secure for the foreseeable future. LONG. TSMC holds a near-monopoly on advanced semiconductor manufacturing, and the actual geopolitical risk to its operations is much lower than consensus fears suggest. An unexpected escalation in the Taiwan Strait, a miscalculation by US/China naval forces, or aggressive tariffs and export controls from the US administration.
Xiaomi 3 years ago decided they would make cars after watching Apple spend $10 million not able to make a car. within three years. That factory is producing cars right now... One of the lines is all robots... More than half of the working the factory worker robots in the world are in China. China is successfully transitioning its manufacturing base to advanced robotics to counter its demographic decline. Chinese consumer tech companies are executing complex manufacturing (like EVs) faster and cheaper than Western counterparts, positioning them to capture massive global market share. LONG. Chinese EV and tech manufacturers utilizing advanced robotics have a severe cost and speed-to-market advantage over Western legacy automakers and tech giants. Severe Western tariffs on Chinese EVs and tech products could lock these companies out of the most lucrative consumer markets in the US and Europe.
Up Next
This All-In Podcast video, published March 09, 2026, features Graham Allison discussing UNG, USO, RTX, LMT, TSM, XIACY, BYDDY. 4 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Graham Allison · Tickers: UNG, USO, RTX, LMT, TSM, XIACY, BYDDY