The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

Why American strategic culture is so obsessed with "capable dildos."  Why native Hawaiians don't want federal recognition to whitewash an illegal land grab.  What it means to declare oneself a "China hawk" and why it matters.  Why North Korean defectors want to go back to North Korea.  Also this episode: Is the US-China rivalry an ideological conflict? Branco Milanovic Tweet: https://twitter.com/B...

What happens when think tankers become tankies.  Alliance domino theory nonsense--why Taiwan is not like the others.  Why Japan's the real leader of Asia's liberal order.  The US doesn't need Saudi Arabia.   James Palmer Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1365381504629669891 Mike McFaul Tweet: https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1365424739196362752?s=19 Michael Kofman Tweet: https://twi...

Why Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "white moderate" threat dominates Washington today. The dilemma of militarist thinking about strategy.  New Zealand's beef with Australia.  Southeast Asia wants a more progressive US foreign policy.  Foreign policy's career ceiling problem. Caroline Baxter Tweet: https://twitter.com/CarolineCBaxter/status/1362163234426544128?s=19 John Lee Tweet: https://twitter.com/ko...

A rope-a-dope strategy for China.  How a liberal plays the anti-China card (for better or worse).  The truth about Asia's Democracy divide.  Why Micronesia gave up on the Pacific Islands Forum.  Also this episode: What would it be like if Netflix's Emily in Paris took place in Washington, D.C.?   Alex McCoy Tweet: https://twitter.com/AlexanderMcCoy4/status/1358206091964915714?s=19 Michael Mazza Tw...

The debate about South Korean illiberalism that nobody wants you to hear.  Why bro culture incubates fascism.  The coup in Myanmar is NBD compared to genocide.  QAnon is no friend of the left.  And why hustling is nonpartisan. Emma Ashford, Kate Kizer, and TX Hammes debating Grand Strategy: https://inkstickmedia.com/after-the-apocalypse-us-grand-strategy/ Dan Nexon Tweet: https://twitter.com/dhnex...

Why the threat of our time is the global far right, and what it has in common with the protestant reformation.  What's wrong and right about the Indo-Pacific and the Quad.  Dark money in think tanks.  Kim Jong Un's authoritarian savvy.  The real meaning of the Third World--or, is Marco Rubio a white supremacist?  Also this episode: Why Trump has changed how we teach international relations. Sensib...

Futures studies versus moneyball--the problem with prediction.  A supply-side theory of Obama's drone strike addiction.  Telling lies about a Galactic Federation with aliens.  Should Japan join the Five-Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership?  How to get out of Afghanistan.  Why the Indo-Pacific is too big for a single strategy.  Also this episode: The movies that made Van Jackson and the team.   J...

Does President Biden need an Asia Tsar?  Why McDonalds peace theory is over.  The truth about liberal international relations theory.  Israel's grass-mowing theory of deterrence.  The difference between Taiwan and China.  Also this episode: What does Denzel Washington's Training Day have to do with Asian security? Paul MacDonald Tweet: https://twitter.com/pkmacdonald/status/1333778364151238657 Sar...

Why is the State Department's Office of Policy Planning so obsessed with George Kennan...and China's ideology?  The untold story of how America lost economic primacy in Asia, and why nobody talks about it now.  What is IR theory good for?  Why cancelling student debt matters.  The non-interview  at Australian National University.  Also this episode: what should we think about the Free Chosun movem...

Australians are getting economically coerced by China but not everyone knows why.  Militarism is bad, but militarists who've never been in a fight are the worst.  What North Korea has in store for Biden in 2021.  A hypersonic missile arms race is coming to Asia, but is anyone paying attention?  And if Trump were throw a coup, how would we know in advance?  Also this episode: Van recommends some re...

What it's like to interview at Stanford University (!).  What Veep's Jonah Ryan can teach aspiring Washington technocrats.  On Trumpian fascism.  Why elite think tanks are ripe for corruption.  And what Larry David's "spite store" idea has to do with Trump's lame-duck foreign policy.  Also this episode: What are international-relations theories good for? Dan Nexon Tweet: https://twitter.com/dhnexo...

What makes Elon Musk a wannabe totalitarian?  A new book on space expansionism paints a dark picture.  Why Taiwan is the O.G. China.  How to fit Milton Friedman and LL Cool J in the same sentence.  Stanford University's Hoover Institution controversy.  And resisting China's civil war narrative.   Paul Musgrave Tweet: https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1321163306296659968 Paul Musgrave Tweet:...

What's 50 Cent's beef with Franz Fanon?  And what makes Ice Cube different than 50 Cent?  What to make of China's escalation of wolf-warrior diplomacy.  The progressive debate about American foreign policy--opposing US power or US militarism?  Also this episode--questioning Taiwan's future and how American hegemony ends.  Alex Cooley and Dan Nexon Tweet: https://twitter.com/CooleyOnEurasia/status/...

How Washington punishes those who support peace.  What real diversity in foreign policy looks like.  Why rivalries make people stupid, especially great-power ones.  Why Vietnam is probably not Asia's next economic "miracle."  And who needs a literary agent?  Depends what you're trying to publish, and where.   Hunter Marston Tweet: https://twitter.com/hmarston4/status/1316198014747197440?s=19 Kirk...

Why does Judd Apatow have a better grasp on the China problem than Washington does?  How should we understand the Indo-Pacific Quad, and what's a "speech-act institution?"  Does Turkey have an imperial foreign policy?  And why is nobody paying attention to India's sphere of influence?  Also this episode: What principles should guide East Asia policy?  The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraf...

The Black Panther Party's intersection with North Korea is fascinating and surprising.  Van sits down with Dr. Benjamin Young to talk about North Korea's relationship to radical leftist movements, the Black Panther Party, the travails of trying to work in academia, and Ben's upcoming book--Guns, Guerrillas, and the Great Leader.  

Black self defense is essential to minimize state violence.  Good strategy isn't infinite.  The war-game might be rigged, but it can still be fun.  Is the China-US relationship a security dilemma, or nah?  Klaus Schwab says neoliberalism is dead, but the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist.  Also this episode: Why is everything breaking and nothing workin...

Don't believe the hawks--Biden has no credibility problem in Asia.  India shows China how democracies do trolling better.  The convergences and divergences of Marxist and progressive foreign policy.  The East Asian mind and the Western mind--wut?  Also this episode: Why activists and strategists need to work together toward nuclear disarmament.   India Today Tweet: https://twitter.com/IndiaToday/s...

Van explains how the Galactic Republic in Star Wars fell, and why it's so germane today.  The South Korean Left sees Chinese imperialism more clearly than most Americans.  America's sphere of influence dilemma in the Pacific.  What Vice gets right about Dick Cheney.  Also this episode: Van's philosophy about saying yes to career opportunities large and small.   Paul Musgrave Tweet: https://twitter...

Why we need to wait before debating whether to defend Taiwan.  How good is the Netflix show Cobra Kai?  Why Martha Nussbaum has evolved about the cosmopolitan tradition.  How much of China's foreign policy is imperial?  And a new poll finds that the people want progressive foreign policy! Gordon Flake Tweet: https://twitter.com/lgflake/status/1300577595956756480 James Schoff Tweet: https://twitter...

The racist motivations woven into China rivalry.  Why nobody talks about American colonies hiding in plain sight.  How to manufacture a Cold War with China.  Australia shows the way in counter-imperial statecraft.  Are neocons returning to the Democratic Party?  NeverTrumpers are not anti-fascist heroes.  And how serious a problem is QAnon?   Andrew Carr Tweet: https://twitter.com/AOCarr/status/12...

In this hustle episode of the pod, Van Jackson sits down with Ankit Panda to talk about writing productivity hacks, how to become a foreign policy pundit, and tips for straddling new media and the think tank world.  They also talk about Ankit's new book, Kim Jong Un and the Bomb.  Ankit's book: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/kim-jong-un-and-the-bomb/

The Pentagon's failure of accountability.  Why Democrats are better at diversity but have work to do.  Steve Bannon's arrest highlights the money behind the China threat movement.  And Van's take on Edward Snowden on what Bernie Sanders foreign policy adviser Matt Duss has to say about making a career in Washington.  Also this episode, structural violence explained.  

Proliferation optimism or pessimism?  Van weighs in on the classic Sagan-Waltz debate.  Why liberals are of two minds about China.  And what's wrong with advocating for a military coup in the United States?  A lot!   Dan Nexon's Tweet: https://twitter.com/dhnexon/status/1293350893446926340 Adam Mount's Tweet: https://twitter.com/ajmount/status/1293063724161474560?s=20 Tom Le's Tweet: https://twitt...

How does one get into the think tank game? Van explains. How does one use war-games to manipulate policy? Van explains. Why is our historical imagination limited to Greek and Roman history? Again, Van explains. What happens to the US-South Korea alliance when Trump threatens troop withdrawal?  You get it.   Chicago Council on Global Affairs Report: https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/publication/tro...