The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

The Trump administration's troop deployments to California are in defense of surging ICE raids against farm workers and immigrant communities across the state--a straightforward project of white supremacy meant to discipline the entire American labor force. But Antonio De Loera--communications director for the legendary United Farm Workers (UFW) union--also sees this as a larger war on American identity, America's claim to global primacy, and even America's humanity. Van and Antonio talk about how the United Auto Workers union helped birth UFW, working on the Julian Castro for president campaign in 2019, serving as a special assistant to Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the Biden administration, the foreign policy implications of ICE raids, and why he ultimately fell out of love with the "Lockheed Left." Antonio's Twitter: https://x.com/AntonioDeLoeraB Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Inside Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb—a tactically brilliant drone operation against Russian bombers...but does it change anything? Why Palantir is a civil liberties nightmare. The bureaucracy of a white supremacist foreign policy—inside Rubio's restructuring of the State Department. Elon Musk and the fractures in the oligarch coalition. And South Korea's Bernie Sanders—the global (gendered) context of Lee Jae-myung's stunning victory.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Dr. Van Jackson was invited to speak at the first Security of Micronesia Group, hosted by the Pacific Center for Island Security in Guam.I debuted a number of new arguments here, covering how to think about China's desire for “strategic space” in the Pacific and its surplus labor problem compared with US declining hegemony and Washington's desire for exclusionary control of the Pacific. I also try to explain why the Micronesian region's “sovereignty deficit” imperils its neighboring regions of Polynesia and Melanesia, as well as why strategic autonomy is the only solution that addresses everyone's interests.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comCatch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to the Pacific Center for Island Security Newsletter: https://pcisguam.substack.com

Free full-episode cross-over with the Bang-Bang Podcast. Van (minus Lyle) is joined by historian David Austin Walsh to explore episodes 10-12 of Andor's first-season finale. Their conversation focuses on Andor's embrace of revolution and the surprising political realism of the show's portrayal of labor exploitation and social uprisings. Van and David also discuss liberalism's failure to inspire meaningful change in the real world—why has no electoral politician in our lifetime ever roused our souls like Marva did in episode's 12's revolt on the planet Ferrix? What might that say about the rise of fascism in the 2020s?Check out the Bang-Bang Podcast: https://www.bangbangpod.comSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

Why is the US unlikely to have a manufacturing revival, and who would benefit if it did? What happens to the rest of the world when the US tries to reshore manufacturing? What makes national security and labor power antagonistic to each other? What problems does worker-to-worker organizing solve? Why has organized labor been in decline since 1979? What's the relationship between social movements like Black Lives Matter and labor militancy? And what is the prospect that Shawn Fain's idea of a general strike in 2028 actually happens? Many questions, many answers as labor historian Dr. Eric Blanc joins Dr. Van Jackson to talk about the future of the working class in a MAGA-dominated world. Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee: https://workerorganizing.orgSubscribe to Eric's Newsletter: https://www.laborpolitics.com Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast

Katrina vanden Heuvel--editorial director and publisher of The Nation magazine--joins Dr. Van Jackson to talk about: Europe's far right; the failure of centrist parties in the UK, France, and Germany; the trouble with European rearmament; Trump's and MAGA's effects on European politics; and the struggle of Europe's fractured left-wing political movements. Katrina's report with Robert Borosage, "Report From Europe: The Center Does Not Hold": https://www.thenation.com/article/world/european-union-right-left-parties-democracy/ Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Covering the latest in the India-Pakistan military conflict and its nuclear risk; the US tentative ceasefire with the Houthis marks another lost war; why China's tech breakthroughs make arms-racing self-defeating for the US; the shape of a post-American Asia beginning to emerge; what a fascist budget looks like; why Stephen Miller is like that; the Trump administration is trying to export its "war on woke" to Stockholm, and it's failing; and more! Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Free preview cross-over with the Bang-Bang Podcast. Van and Lyle kick off their Andor series with Slate culture editor Jenny G. Zhang, diving into the show's slow-burn opening arc where imperial bootlickers, jealous love interests, and rebels in the making collide on the Outer Rim. They discuss what makes Andor—a property of the Star Wars universe—feel different than its franchise kin, from its social realism to its psychological bite. If The Battle of Algiers looms large, so does Parable of the Sower, especially the show's landscape of authoritarian company towns and the simmering hints of a revolutionary break.They talk about the Preox-Morlana security force as East India Company meets Blackwater, and Deputy Inspector Syril Karn as the story's omnipresent archetype—the insecure man desperate to matter. Just like the pathetic rent-a-cops Andor is forced to kill, and the equally envious Timm Karlo, another tragic loser who dies trying to make up for his fateful angst.History appears to turn not so much on generals and emperors, but on the choices and contradictions of broken men. Men stuck in systems they didn't build, and whose real breaking is yet to come.Check out the Bang-Bang Podcast and subscribe: https://www.bangbangpod.com/Further ReadingJenny's websiteJenny on BlueskyJenny on Twitter“The Andor Dilemma: Pop Culture's Place in Leftist Strategy,” by Van Jackson“Introducing Andor Analysed, Part 1,” by Jamie WoodcockThe Battle of Algiers EpisodeParable of the Sower, by Octavia ButlerThe Hundred Years' War on Palestine, by Rashid Khalidi

What's wrong with trying to be a Washington insider these days? How different is nuclear thinking under Trump compared to previous Democratic and Republican presidencies? Is Trump's "golden dome" idea just a grift (yes)? What's the best way to raise public consciousness about the danger of nuclear weapons? And what role could film and pop culture play in building mass support for arms control and nuclear disarmament? Dr. Van Jackson sits down with Emma Claire Foley--an anti-nuclear expert--to discuss her new essay in The Baffler magazine, "Probably Oblivion." Emma Claire's piece in The Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/latest/probably-oblivion-foley Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Free preview cross-over with the Bang-Bang Podcast. Long before the Patriot Act, long before “See Something, Say Something,” long before 9/11—there was The Siege. Released in 1998, this Bruce Willis–Denzel Washington vehicle depicts a post–terror attack New York placed under martial law. The city is bombed, neighborhoods are surveilled, and Arab and Muslim men are rounded up en masse, held indefinitely in cages under the Brooklyn Bridge. And yet, in perhaps the most jarring twist of all, the whole thing was co-written by Lawrence Wright, the celebrated journalist behind the GWOT-era classic, The Looming Tower.In this episode, Van and Lyle are joined once again by screenwriter Kevin Fox to revisit The Siege, not just as an artifact of pre-9/11 paranoia, but as an uncanny rehearsal for everything that would come after. Together they break down the film's oscillation between prescience and myopia, from Bruce Willis as cartoonish generalissimo to Denzel Washington as constitutionalist good cop. The story's themes of blowback, anti-Muslim hysteria, and civil-military overreach may come off as heavy-handed or superficial, but there are so many moments that still hit disturbingly close to home.Van, Lyle, and Kevin ask: What can a work like The Siege tell us about liberal complicity in the War on Terror? What happens when a film simultaneously warns of repression while making its own contribution to the atmosphere of fear? And what's with the horny thermal cam surveillance scene?Subscribe to the Bang-Bang Podcast for more: https://www.bangbangpod.comSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comWatch the Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast

In this episode, Dr. Van Jackson appears as a guest on A Public Affair, a radio show with a live call-in segment. The conversation ended up being deliciously wide-ranging, including: Why the oligarchs who back Trump want an economic recession; What tariffs are good for, and how Trump's tariffs impact both global trade and domestic labor; What separates Biden's economic nationalism from Trump's “zombie economic nationalism,” and why both are bad but Trump's is much worse; The value of the #TakeDownTesla movement; What Arundhati Roy teaches us about civil disobedience; Why the general strike is civil society's ultimate weapon against fascism; and Why the trillion-dollar military budget is not possible without inflating the China threat.Visit A Public Affair radio show: https://www.wortfm.org/van-jackson-on-zombie-economic-nationalism/Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comWatch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast

The tech billionaires who are part of the Trump-MAGA coalition have repeatedly boosted the same collection of books that they think explain international relations. Dr. Van Jackson--a professor of international relations--explains why these books are not only bad books, but also books with a pessimistic, zero-sum, ethnonationalist, and militarist outlook on the world. Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Live on location from Wellington Harbor (outdoors)! How did tariffs in the 1930s lead to World War II in Asia? How big of a deal is the China-Japan-South Korea coordinated response to Trump's tariffs? Why are tariffs part of economic nationalism, and why is economic nationalism a gift to to the far right? Why has China become the primary scapegoat of Trump's global tariff project? And what's Singapore's prime minister got to say about the way the world is changing? Dr. Van Jackson explores the many facets of our economic crisis and the emerging post-American world.Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Why did the US lose manufacturing jobs? What's the problem with Donald Trump's global tariff plan? Why is housing unaffordable in the US? Why are most of us economically insecure? And why is wage work so precarious? Dr. Van Jackson explains everything that's wrong with capitalism today in three charts, and offers some simple solutions to the problem of class war. For the charts referenced in this episode, check out the YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpOJU4qdS5cWatch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Dr. Van Jackson appeared in a guest lecture at the Catholic University of America with Prof. Andrew Yeo. They talk about progressivism and the restraint movement, Dr. Jackson's working-class origins, what's wrong with Washington, what to make of the Biden administration's “foreign policy for the middle class,” and what progressives really think about Donald Trump's foreign policy.  Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

How the national security clown show leaking war plan secrets to a journalist also led US officials to confess to war crimes. Why Europe's independence is leading to European militarism and the rise of the far right. Taiwan's insecurity from a progressive perspective. The Pentagon was never doing anything about the climate crisis. And what it means that BYD is outperforming Tesla. Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Why Bernie Sanders's "fight against oligarchy" townhalls have made him the most popular politician in America. Inside Pete Hegseth's war plan leak. JD Vance's hatred of Europe explained. And why Trump's designation of fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction is going to make a war with Mexico the Iraq invasion of the 2020s. Catch Un-Diplomatic on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Free preview cross-over with the Bang-Bang Podcast. In this episode, Van and Lyle are joined by writer Max Read to dissect The Sum of All Fears, the 2002 film adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel. The film thrusts CIA analyst Jack Ryan, portrayed by Ben Affleck, into a high-stakes scenario where a nuclear bomb detonates in Baltimore, pushing the U.S. and Russia to the brink of war. The movie's release shortly after 9/11 adds a layer of poignancy to its themes of terrorism and national insecurity.The discussion delves into the portrayal of neo-Nazi antagonists manipulating global powers, a narrative choice that, while admirably distancing from the novel's Middle Eastern villains, also anticipates our terrifying present. The trio likewise examines the character of Russian President Nemerov, a Vladimir Putin stand-in who, putting aside his central role in anti-Chechen violence, comes off as way too sympathetic in 2025. The narrative's sanitized depiction of nuclear devastation, particularly the aftermath of the Baltimore explosion, earn well-deserved chuckles. Most of all, Max brings his media expertise on the “‘90s Dad Thriller” to the conversation, further offering stark relief to a current moment when such innocent and fun-loving thrills have been rendered quaint—perhaps even impossible.Further ReadingMax Read's Substack“‘90s Dad Thrillers: a List,” by Max ReadThe Spook Who Sat By The Door, by Sam Greenlee"Trump dreams of a Maga empire – but he's more likely to leave us a nuclear hellscape," by Alexander HurstThe Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, by Daniel EllsbergCommand and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, by Eric Schlossser“The Man Who Knew Too Much,” by Lyle Jeremy RubinThe Hunt for Tom Clancy Substack, by Matt Farwell

Grand strategy must be for war-crime dummies, because Jake Sullivan just got appointed the Kissinger chair at Harvard. Rahm Emmanuel should be exiled, not run for president. AUKUS may be doomed, but it doesn't also have to kill Australian Labour. How the Philippines is supporting the rules-based international order via domestic rivalry politics--the ICC has arrested Rodridgo Duterte with President Marcos's help. The coming American Great Depression--how Trump is killing the economy. Mahmoud Khalil's capture signals a War on Terror against us all. And what the DHS Deputy Secretary said about treating protests as terrorism. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch the Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastCatch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

What it means that No Other Land won the Oscar for best documentary. The wicked politics of Ukraine's peace problems. Why China in't mussed about Trump's tariffs. The tradeoff between Taiwan's security and chip manufacturing in the US. And the growing problem of working-class homeless in America: You drive UberEats because of America's permanent war economy. Watch Un-Diplomatic on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Explaining Europe's shift to strategic non-alignment. The false god of nuclear deterrence--why the nuclear triad is overrated. Making sense of the Pentagon's fake spending cuts. Privateer forces and American imperialism--the $25 billion Erik Prince proposal. Gen Z and Millennials can't afford a home. Expelling Canada from a Five-Eyes that nobody wants. Why great-power competition with China is still happening. Subscribe to Un-Diplomatic on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Free preview episode cross-over with the Bang-Bang Podcast. A madcap collage of American Berserk—that's one way to describe David O. Russell's Three Kings, and it's exactly how Van, Lyle, and screenwriter Kevin Fox dive into it.This two-part episode (the second installment drops shortly) unpacks the film's wild genre mash-up: comic book absurdities collide with nods to Star Wars and Apocalypse Now, all while a grim commentary on U.S. militarism and society simmers underneath. The group digs into how the film disorients viewers with slapstick humor and sudden, brutal violence—like Mark Wahlberg's character, whose torture by an Iraqi soldier (grieving the loss of his son to an American bombing) flips the script on American power. When Wahlberg's character feebly defends U.S. actions as “maintaining stability in the Middle East,” the soldier shoves a CD-ROM in his mouth—a searing metaphor for the imposition of U.S. hegemony.From cartoonish “United States of Freedom” patriotism to cow guts and milk truck explosions, Three Kings might not be the perfect vehicle for telling Americans—and all the privileged in the Global North—what they need to hear. But at times, it sure comes close.Subscribe to the Bang-Bang Podcast to unlock the rest of this episode, Part II, and the entire Bang-Bang catalog: https://www.bangbangpod.com/p/part-i-three-kings-1999-w-kevin-foxFurther ReadingKevin's Website“The Class of 1999: ‘Three Kings',” by Matthew Goldenberg“Three Kings: neocolonial Arab representation,” by Lila Kitaeff“The Gulf War, Iraq and Western Liberalism,” by Peter Gowan“The Gulf War's Afterlife: Dilemmas, Missed Opportunities, and the Post-Cold War Order Undone,” by Samuel Helfont

What Tupac predicted about the defense budget. Pete Hegseth unveils Trump's imperialist peace plan for Ukraine. The Monroe Doctrine means mercenary imperialism. Why the Democratic Party can't critique Trump's lies about being antiwar. In the Trump era, being anti-anti-China is worse than being a white nationalist. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Dr. Van Jackson gave a public lecture at the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin on February 4, 2025. This episode is the full set of remarks plus Q&A from that lecture. About the lecture: The concept of the “national interest,” Van Jackson argues, has become an under-appreciated source of global insecurity. Not because there is anything intrinsically wrong with people having interests that must be preserved, promoted, or protected. Rather, the “national interest” as such obscures whose interests are served (and harmed) by the efforts of policy elites to secure the state. Governments routinely use the language of the national interest to justify a politics of violence, secrecy, and exclusion while bracketing off explicit questions of morality and justice. And national frameworks for mobilizing resources and collective action are logically mismatched against global threats like climate change. But rather than wishing away the modern nation-state or simply suggesting changes to the words that governing elites use, this lecture argues that addressing the contradictions in the national interest—as well as some of international security studies' most cherished strategic constructs—is a start point for constructing more durable forms of security.The full video lecture: https://youtu.be/6uEGvZQTjNA?si=LvOqClXur72a7v7TSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comUn-Diplomatic on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast

Why Palantir and the new Silicon Valley defense-industrial cartel is bad news for humanity. How to talk about USAID without starting World War III (w/ cameo from Senator Chris Murphy). ICE immigration raids are trying to perform terror. Foreign influence is the new cocaine--legal for white folks. And imagining what a restraint-based, antimilitarist foreign policy could look like in Asia if the Philippines could make a missiles-for-peace deal with China. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast

Why JD Vance's understanding of Christian patriotism fundamentally misunderstands christianity...on purpose. ANTIFA is not a terrorist organization, and we should all be antifascist. Why Burmese scholarships are not woke and DOGE has cut too far. And how to cut the Pentagon intelligently. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com Read Julia's report (with William Hartung and Gabe Murphy) on cutting defense spending: https://www.stimson.org/2025/developing-efficient-effective-defense/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastThe views expressed are theirs alone.

The gang's back with another variety episode. Why Saudi Arabia throws so much money at Trump. Matt's trip to Israel amid ceasefire negotiations. The truth about DEI initiatives and the Pentagon. The best time for nuclear no first-use was 4 years ago; the second best time is now. What's Elon Musk doing with far right parties in Europe? And why is "the quad" both a joke and Steve Bannon's Asia fantasy? More Perfect Union: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su8NHZY-CyY&t=92sSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast

Guest Daniel Bessner of The American Prestige Podcast joins the Un-Diplomatic livestream to talk about many topics. Is international relations dead or just irrelevant? Where did Democrats go more wrong, on domestic or foreign policy? What was the problem with Noam Chomsky's theory of change? And what even is a crisis of liberalism? Subscribe to The American Prestige Podcast: https://americanprestige.supportingcast.fm/listen Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast

Just for the strategy nerds, sharing a free preview of the Bang-Bang Podcast episode covering Ender's Game, the 2013 film adaptation of Orson Scott Card's classic sci-fi novel of the same name. Neither achieving box office nor critical success, the movie still evokes a wide range of reactions. Especially when it comes to its ambiguous relationship to the original text. Van and Lyle have fellow vet and strategist Alexander McCoy on the show to debate their competing reads. Along the way, they come to agree that certain insights gleaned from the cinematic rendering might be at odds with Card's politics. Ranging from the ultimate lovelessness of war to the emptiness of any strategy unharnessed from justice and peace.Subscribe to the Bang-Bang Podcast for the full episode and more: https://www.bangbangpod.comAlex on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexandermccoy.bsky.socialFurther Reading“A Primer on Orson Scott Card and the Ender's Game Controversy,” by Anna SilmanThe Internationalists, by Alexander Ward“The Great Humbling,” by David Klion“Four Futures,” By Peter FraseStrategy and Conscience, by Anatol Rapaport

What is the role of crypto and AI in the new American oligarchy? What does it mean that Mark Zuckerberg has declared a re-embrace of "politics?" And what do Palantir, Anduril, and the new defense-industrial cartel have to do with everything from domestic governance to World War III and the "future of war?" All that and more in Van Jackson's chat with Max Read. Subscribe to Max's ReadMax newsletter: https://maxread.substack.com Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast

Stephen Wertheim joins as a guest in the Un-Diplomatic Podcast's special livestream edition. He discusses two of his latest pieces, in the Financial Times and Global Asia magazine respectively. The chat includes thoughts about NATO in Asia, the unreliability of US commitments, how the Democratic Party has ceded peace narratives to Trump, and the romantic views of US power that leads European and Asian powers to think they're free-riding when they're really setting themselves up for a trap. "It's time for Europe's magical thinking on defence to end": https://on.ft.com/4iSWlkf "Asia Should Encourage ‘Trump the Peacemaker'": https://www.globalasia.org/v19no4/cover/asia-should-encourage-trump-the-peacemaker_stephen-wertheim Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Catch Un-Diplomatic on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast

Dumpster fire episode live-streamed on Twitch. Military Primacy is Anti-LGBTQ | US Sanctions on Spain for Opposing Genocide? | Israeli Beeper Terrorism | Your National Security Career is a Joke | Amazon's Anti-Worker Brutality | USCENTCOM Bombing Yemen | Korea's Fortune-Telling Shaman Coup Plotter | Ukraine-War Conspiracy Theory | Economic Anxiety and the Racist Right | Avocado Toast Beats CerealSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/Follow Un-Diplomatic on Twitch to get notifications for livestreams: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcast

This live episode streamed on the Un-Diplomatic Podcast's new Twitch channel, critiquing a think tank report about nuclear escalation in a conflict with China over Taiwan. Twitch Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/undiplomaticpodcastUn-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comStream on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/live/7N3IFWdqb2g?si=LX7vwVg1XNpB3_3vThe report: https://www.csis.org/events/confronting-armageddon-wargaming-nuclear-deterrence-and-its-failures-us-china-conflict-over

Checking in on the dumpster fire that is world politics.This week: Trump's threat to annex Canada expands to Mexico (!).Australia's sphere of influence absorbs Nauru.The South Korean right has been begging for a crisis with North Korea—here's why.JD Vance and Trump take on the Syria question.A Biden China hand wants us to support Trump on China (!).Further Reading:JD Vance, Political Realignment, and SyriaAt first glance, Australia's new treaty with Nauru seems to be a win-win. But questions remain‘He loves to divide and conquer': Canada and Mexico brace for second Trump termAfter Assad: Q&A From DamascusThe Trump Administration's China Challenge

Checking in on the dumpster fire that is world politics.This week:South Korea's president declares martial law in what is clearly an attempted self-coup.Trump threatens to annex Canada.Trump threatens 100% tariffs on BRICS nations for a non-existent alternative currency.New Zealand's Labour Party declares its independent foreign policy.Let them eat nuclear subs—Americans are struggling while the White House tries to add $7.3 billion to the defense budget for nuclear-powered submarines.Further Reading:Sh*tting BRICS: Trump, Dollar Primacy, and MultipolarityBurger King and Popeyes franchises fined for child labor law violationsSouth Korea's Conservative Government Is Cracking Down on the Country's Militant Labor UnionsRelease: A Labour Government will not join AUKUS

Julia, Matt, and Van convened for a mailbag episode to answer all the questions you sent in. Is Korea Asia's hottest flashpoint? What concerns us about Trump's political appointees? What do we say when someone claims that Trump is “antiwar?” How should we understand the rise of ethnonationalism, and how can we beat it? What does a democratically accountable foreign policy look like?All that and more! 

Checking in on the dumpster fire that is world politics.This week:Polling shows that Liz Cheney's endorsement depressed enthusiasm for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania and Michigan.Trump's national security adviser co-signs Jake Sullivan's threat perceptions.Senator Lindsay Graham's plans to plunder Ukraine—“It's about the money!”The Philippines' vice president threats assassination on…the Philippines' president.Fareed Zakaria lavishing praise on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (!).Lessons for surviving autocracy, from a former Hungarian parliamentarian.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comFurther Reading:Data for Progress polling snapshotTrump's national security pick: I'm on same page as Jake Sullivan about ‘our adversaries'Lindsay Graham on UkraineThe Philippine vice president publicly threatens to have the president assassinatedFareed Zakaria shares why he's excited for Trump's DOGEI Watched Orbán Destroy Hungary's Democracy. Here's My Advice for the Trump Era

How does the incoming Trump administration affect the future of EU defense? What obstacles does Europe face in advancing strategic autonomy? Nevada Lee joins the podcast to discuss recent initiatives to bolster European self-reliance, and why the United States should support them.Read Nevada's policy memo on the topic, here: https://www.stimson.org/2024/eu-defense-this-time-might-be-different/Watch out for publication of her thesis, which she's trying to un-embargo, here: https://doi.org/10.2870/0338094Follow her on X if you're still there: https://x.com/nevadajoan

The world is a dumpster fire right now. For my own sanity, but also for yours, we need more critical takes about current events. There's too much happening and it's hard to keep track of everything that matters.So as a bonus for patrons of the newsletter, I'm going to check in each week with a run down of stories that deserve amplification, with critiques from the Un-Diplomatic perspective.This week:The gigification of Temu supply chains amid great-power rivalry.The Russian missile crisis and what it has to do with North Korea.The hikoi protest march in New Zealand as a beacon of hope for humanity.Further Reading:Biden Allows Ukraine to Strike Russia With Long-Range U.S. MissilesThe U.S. Chinese immigrants running Temu shipping centers from their homesLive updates: Hīkoi concludes as attention shifts to inside parliament

Free preview crossover with the Bang-Bang Podcast!Arguably the most successful revolutionary film of all time, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers boasts many legacies. For film buffs, its import derives from its landmark status in the pantheon of Italian neorealism and political cinema. For anti-imperialists, its value comes from its hardnosed but sympathetic depictions of armed struggle. And for imperialists or right-wing strongmen, the film has been deployed as a realistic guidebook for counterinsurgency. Van and Lyle relate these competing readings to the War on Terror and the latest debates around Gaza, Palestine, and liberation.Get the full episode and subscribe at https://www.bangbangpod.com/p/the-battle-of-algiers-1966.Further Reading:A Savage War of Peace (1977), by Alistair HorneDiscourse on Colonialism (1955), by Aimé CésaireThe Wretched of the Earth (1961), by Franz Fanon“Negroes are Anti-Semitic Because They're Anti-White” (1967), by James Baldwin“Open Letter to the Born Again” (1979), by James BaldwinOn Violence (1970), by Hannah Arendt“No regrets from an ex-Algerian rebel immortalized in film” (2007), Interview with Saadi Yacef“The Communists and the Colonized” (2016), Interview with Selim NadiHamas Contained (2018), by Tareq BaconiThe Hundred Years' War on Palestine (2020), by Rashid Khalidi

How exactly do police end up supermilitarized? What is the imperial booming that brings militarism abroad to the Homefront? And what does the feminist standpoint offer analysts of these problems? Part of the answer are obscure programs called 1033 and 1122. The founders of the Women for Weapons Trade Transparency (W2T2) join the pod to explain. W2T2: https://www.w2t2.org Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

Is the War on Terror really over? Or is it just less visible? Julia is joined by Sarah Yager and Yumna Rizvi to discuss the makings of a militarized, counterterrorism-based U.S. foreign policy, how it impacts the world, and how to change it.Sarah is the Washington Director at Human Rights Watch, where she leads the organization's engagement with the United States government on global human rights issues, with a particular focus on national security and foreign policy. She has previously served at both the Department of Defense and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Yumna is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Victims of Torture, focusing on human rights, national security, and refugee and asylum protections. She previously served as a human rights expert with Huqooq-e-Pakistan, a joint project of the European Union and Pakistani government aimed at improving the country's compliance with international treaty obligations.Further Reading:Counterterrorism Copy Cats: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/counterterrorism-copy-catsOther recent work by Sarah and Yumna:Opinion: A debate tip for the candidates — there's a correct answer on weapons to Israel, Sarah Yager: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-09-09/debate-philadelphia-kamala-harris-donald-trump-gazaThe Abu Ghraib case is an important milestone for justice, Yumna Rizvi: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/28/the-abu-ghraib-case-is-an-important-milestone-for-justice

Does foreign policy matter in the presidential election? The answer might surprise you. Chris Shell joins the pod to discuss recent survey findings about foreign policy and the presidential election. Gaza, Ukraine, immigration, climate change, and China all feature in the discussion, as well as what's really going on with the African American vote. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com How Do Americans Feel About the Election and Foreign Policy?: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/10/american-voters-election-foreign-policy?lang=enRace, Foreign Policy, and the 2024 Presidential Election: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/10/election-survey-2024-foreign-policy-race?lang=enFind Chris on Twitter: https://x.com/ChrisShell95

Crossover episode! Van appeared on Convergence Magazine's Block and Build podcast, hosted by Convergence founder Cayden Mak, to talk about Kamala Harris's foreign policy. They end up covering all the big issues--Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, and China rivalry. They also gab about what it's like working as an unpaid foreign policy adviser to a presidential campaign. Subscribe to Block and Build: https://convergencemag.com/podcast/the-future-of-american-foreign-policy-with-van-jackson/Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

Free preview of the Bang-Bang Podcast. “We tortured some folks.” Katherine Bigelow and Mark Boal's cinematic blockbuster about the Bin Laden assassination was alternately ballyhooed and panned upon its release. Fans praised its purported cinematic achievements while critics lamented its alleged militarism or pro-torture sympathies. What's remarkable today is the attention it received in all directions, perhaps a universal attention no longer possible in a society so fragmented and lost. Van and Lyle try to make sense of the movie as a contested event, and what its ambiguous ending might tell us about what came next. They also recall where they were when Obama ordered Seal Team Six to pull that trigger.Get the full episode--and all episodes--at: https://www.bangbangpod.com

Matt and Van chop it up about the Veep debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance; how Ta-Nehisi Coates has taken up the mantel of James Baldwin; the Biden administration's expanding role in Middle East war; and the fanaticism of about China that is dividing America, predictably.Subscribe to the Bang-Bang Podcast: https://www.bangbangpod.com

Crossover episode! In addition to Un-Diplomatic, Van is now co-hosting Bang-Bang--a new show about war movies, with an anti-imperialist twist. Van and his co-host, Lyle Jeremy Rubin, are military veterans, war critics, and film junkies. Enjoy this free cross-over episode where Van and Lyle discuss Combat Obscura, a 2018 documentary from Miles Lagoze about Marines in Afghanistan (and Lyle's experience as a Marine in Afghanistan at the same time this was filmed). Subscribe to the Bang-Bang Podcast: https://www.bangbangpod.com/

Van spoke at the New Zealand Fabian Society about how the Democratic and Republican Party's views on foreign policy are changing, and what those changes (and continuities) mean in the context of the US presidential election.Written remarks: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/p/live-world-war-iii-and-the-presidential

Matt reports out on his recent trip to China. Israel's terrorism in Lebanon and the horizontal escalation happening before our eyes. And Pakistan as a case study of why geopolitics, climate adaptation, and the sovereign debt crisis must be addressed together or not at all. Matt's remarks from the Xiangshan Forum: https://internationalpolicy.org/publications/the-right-way-for-china-and-the-us-to-get-along/ Van's remarks at the NZ Fabian Society: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/p/live-world-war-iii-and-the-presidential

The MAGA foreign-policy braintrust in Trump world is militarism all the way down. The unpopularity of the Democratic Party's popular front. The problem with threat inflation about disinformation. A defense budget out of control. And why Washington's manufacturing fetish is key to a convergence of jingoism, patriarchy, and oligarchy.Further Reading:Ken Klippenstein, “Russian Influence Operations Are A Joke"Van Jackson, “Why the Working Class Strategizes Against Genocide”Christian Lorenzten, “Not a Tough Crowd"Thomas Brodey, “Disinformation Dilemma: US Hands Are Way Dirty, Too"Gisela Cernadas and John Bellamy Foster, "Actual U.S. Military Spending Reached $1.537 Trillion in 2022—More than Twice Acknowledged Level: New Estimates Based on U.S. National Accounts"Black Alliance for Peace, "Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the Federal Indictments of Uhuru 3 and Denial of their Fundamental Human Rights to Speech, Association, Information and Political Dissent"Further Listening:Dead Prez, “Police State"

The election is nearing, and students are going back to school. What does this mean for student organizers demanding a ceasefire in Gaza? For the uncommitted movement? In this episode, Julia facilitates an intergenerational conversation about anti-war organizing. Guests Phyllis Bennis and Roua Daas reflect on campus demonstrations in the spring and share their thoughts on what lies ahead for the ceasefire now movement.Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Fellow Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at IPS, focusing on the Middle East, U.S. militarism, and UN issues. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. In 2002, she co-founded United for Peace and Justice, a coalition against the Iraq war. In 2001, she helped found the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights and more recently spent six years on the board of Jewish Voice for Peace, where she now serves as its International Adviser. She works with many anti-war and Palestinian rights organizations, writing and speaking widely across the U.S. and around the world. She has served as an informal adviser to several top UN officials on Middle East issues and was twice short-listed to become the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.Phyllis has written and edited 11 books. Among her latest is the 7th updated edition of her popular Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, published in 2018. She is also the author of Before & After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the War on Terror and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy U.S. Power.Roua Daas is a Palestinian organizer with Students for Justice in Palestine. She attended Butler University for undergrad, where she co-founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and led several campaigns, including a successful defeat of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which falsely conflates anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and a campaign against an authoritarian university administration decision to cancel a student-led event featuring abolitionist, scholar, and activist Angela Davis. Currently, she is a graduate student in Pennsylvania State University's Clinical Psychology and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program, where she organizes with Penn State Students for Justice in Palestine.Their recent work:How we passed a cease-fire resolution in our town, Roua Daas, American Friends Services CommitteeUncommitted voters sending a clear message to Biden about slaughter in Gaza, Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies