The Diary of a CEO: Jiang Xueqin on War, Collapse and Your Money

**Transcripted.ai** (0:01)
Power, politics, and prediction collide in today's conversation. Steven Bartlett sat down with Professor Jiang Xueqin, who opens with a startling admission: "I am one of the most polarizing figures in the world right now, but I'm trying to prepare everyone." So what exactly is he preparing us for?
Well, his central claim is that the global order is breaking down. Jiang argues the modern system was built on the petro-dollar, contracts, and trust, but those foundations are weakening as war, nationalism, and instability spread. He goes further, saying that globalization and specialization once drove technological progress, but now technology itself should break down because the world is drifting away from the cooperation that made it possible. That's a bleak vision. But one of his most striking predictions caught my attention: a future 9/11-style attack. Jiang says it wouldn't target skyscrapers, but finance itself. "If there is another 9/11-style attack, it will be an attack on the U.S. financial infrastructure." Imagine people opening their phones to buy coffee and finding their bank accounts wiped out. For Jiang, that would be the most traumatic possible strike on American life.
And he expands that warning into a wider collapse narrative. He's talking about something like a Bronze Age collapse, with overlapping shocks from conflict, migration, famine, and water scarcity. He specifically points to the Middle East, Africa, India, Northeast Asia, and even the western United States as places where water stress could become a major trigger for future conflict. Building on that point, Jiang also argues global supply chains are more fragile than people realize. Semiconductors, fertilizer, rare earths, helium, and high-quality quartz all depend on a tightly connected world. If those links break, not only does technological progress slow, but food insecurity and geopolitical competition intensify as well.
What's interesting is how he connects this to war and migration. Jiang says conflicts in the Middle East could destabilize shipping, insurance, and oil flows. Meanwhile, aging societies in Europe, North America, and Japan still need immigrant labor. That creates a contradiction: nations want tighter borders, but their economies and demographics depend on movement. On politics, Jiang makes dramatic predictions. He says Donald Trump could seek a third term through extraordinary means, and if that happened, he expects revolt in democratic cities and even a siege in New York City. He also predicts Lionel Messi could become president of Argentina, tying that to Argentina's shifting alliances and public symbolism.
So how should ordinary people respond to such uncertainty?
Jiang's final message is almost spiritual: "Believe in God, focus on family, and speak the truth." He warns that AI may become a control grid in a fractured world, but insists that meaning still comes from faith, children, and moral courage, even in an age moving toward collapse.