Podcast appearances and mentions of van jackson

The US State Department has been coordinating far right separatists in Alberta--the imperialism threat to Canada is real. Denmark's debt weapon and the EU's anti-coercion instrument got Trump to temporarily back off of invading Greenland. Why is the fantasy of returning industrial manufacturing so important to the American far right (and some progressives)? The confession of a Biden administration adviser to supporting war crimes in Gaza. And just how bloody is drone warfare? New data from the Russia-Ukraine war reveals something on the order of World War I, with very little to show for it in terms of territorial conquest. Julia Gledhill, Van Jackson, and Matt Duss discuss all that and more in the latest episode of the pod.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Free crossover episode with The Bang-Bang Podcast! Do US troops have a threshold for the kind of unlawful order they're unwilling to follow? If Venezuela wasn't a breaking point, is Greenland? Can the US have mid-term elections under martial law? Will troops fire on fellow Americans if ordered? And why is the permanent war economy at the root of everything from economic insecurity to America's imperial boomerang in the form of ICE, National Guard deployments, and militarized policing?In this urgent behind-the-scenes episode, guest Jeremy Wattles joins Van Jackson and Lyle Jeremy Rubin to talk about all that and more. Available wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to The Bang-Bang Podcast: https://www.bangbangpod.com/Subscribe to The Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave the most important speech about international relations in 50 years. In this episode, Dr. Van Jackson and guest Dr. Seva Gunitsky sit down to dissect Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. They discuss the many shades of realism in international relations, what it means to acknowledge the contradictions of the "rules-based international order," and where the world goes now that American hegemony is officially over. Subscribe to Seva's newsletter: https://hegemon.substack.com Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Are protests in Iran a prelude to revolution? The root causes of Iranian unrest are economic. Why Joseph Stiglitz thinks it's time to isolate and contain the United States. Why Silicon Valley's network-state advocates have fixated on taking over Greenland, and why the geopolitics of the network state could lead to World War III. The case for nationalizing the defense industry and taking the profits out of war. And why Trump wants a $1.5 trillion-dollar war machine, and why Dr. Van Jackson predicted he would. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Dr. Van Jackson tackling a host of dark issues in this episode. How to explain US imperialism in Venezuela. NATO's existential trouble and America's threat to annex Greenland. The economics of American empire. How the Trump administration quietly killed the last initiative for a progressive global order. And the struggle against A.I. data centers. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

This week on Sinica, recorded at Yale University, I speak with Michael Brenes and Van Jackson, coauthors of The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy. Their argument is that framing the U.S.-China relationship as geopolitical rivalry has become more than just a foreign policy orientation — it's a domestic political project that reshapes budgets, norms, and coalitions in ways that actively harm American democracy and the American people. Rivalry narrows political possibility, makes dissent suspect, encourages neo-McCarthyism (the China Initiative, profiling of Chinese Americans), produces anti-AAPI hate, and redirects public investment away from social welfare and into defense spending through what they call "national security Keynesianism."Mike is interim director of the Brady Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale, while Van is a senior lecturer in international relations at Victoria University of Wellington and host of the Un-Diplomatic Podcast. We discuss the genesis of their collaboration during the Biden administration, how they navigate China as a puzzle for the American left, canonical misrememberings of the Cold War that distort current China policy, the security dilemma feedback loop between Washington and Beijing, why defense-heavy stimulus is terrible at job creation, how rivalry politics weakens democracy, recent polling showing a shift toward engagement, and their vision for a "geopolitics of peace" anchored in Sino-U.S. détente 2.0.5:47 – The genesis of the book: recognizing Biden's Cold War liberalism 11:26 – How they approached writing together from different disciplinary homes 13:20 – Navigating China as a puzzle for the American left21:39 – How great power competition hardened from analytical framework into ideology 28:15 – Mike on two canonical misrememberings of the Cold War 33:18 – Van on the security dilemma and the nuclear feedback loop 39:55 – National security Keynesianism: why defense spending is bad at job creation 44:38 – How rivalry politics weakens democracy and securitizes dissent 48:09 – Building durable coalitions for restraint-oriented statecraft 51:27 – Has the post-COVID moral panic actually abated? 53:27 – The master narrative we need: a geopolitics of peace 55:29 – Associative balancing: achieving equilibrium through accommodation, not armsRecommendations:Van: The Long Twentieth Century by Giovanni Arrighi Mike: The World of the Cold War: 1945-1991 by Vladislav Zubok Kaiser: Pluribus (Apple TV series by Vince Gilligan)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A special holiday crossover with The Bang-Bang Podcast! Van Jackson and Lyle Rubin are joined by the preeminent nuclear scholar Scott Sagan to discuss A House of Dynamite, the 2025 political thriller that imagines nuclear catastrophe not as spectacle or obvious madness, but as an orderly sequence of decisions made under crushing time pressure. Structured as interlocking vignettes rather than a single command-room drama, the film moves between the White House, STRATCOM, missile defense sites, continuity bunkers, and civilian spaces, sketching a system that largely works as designed and still produces annihilation.The film's opening establishes its governing logic. Inclination is flattening. Timelines shrink. Judgment collapses into procedure. “Nineteen minutes to impact.” “Sixteen minutes.” “Confirm impact.” Across locations, professionals do their jobs calmly while the meaning drains out of their actions. A senior officer tells a junior colleague to keep the cafeteria line moving. A staffer compiles names and Social Security numbers for the dead. Phones come out. Final calls are made. The end of the world arrives not with hysteria, but with etiquette.Much of the tension turns on probability. Missile defense is described as “hitting a bullet with a bullet.” Sixty-one percent becomes the moral threshold, a coin toss bought with billions of dollars. Baseball chatter at STRATCOM blends into DEFCON alerts. A Civil War reenactment at Gettysburg unfolds alongside real-time catastrophe, collapsing past and present forms of American mass death into a single frame.Scott is critical of the film's portrayal of nuclear command and control. He argues that its depiction of retaliatory decision-making is wrong, that no president would order nuclear strikes against loosely defined adversaries without firm attribution or confirmation, and that the film risks backfiring by encouraging faith in ever more elaborate missile defenses rather than disarmament. Lyle pushes back, questioning whether this confidence in institutional sanity is warranted, especially given the political moment. Either way, the film lands a disturbing insight. The danger is not wild irrationality, but systems that normalize impossible choices. Nuclear war here would not look like collapse. It would look like competence.Further ReadingScott's Wiki page“Just and Unjust Nuclear Deterrence” by ScottThe Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons by Scott“Thinking and Moral Considerations” by Hannah ArendtReview of A House of Dynamite in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists by Scott and Shreya Lad“Peacecraft and the Nuclear Policy Dilemma” by Van“Fresh Hell: Unjust Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Testing” by Van

Free crossover episode with the American Prestige Podcast! Julia Gledhill and Van Jackson joined Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison to breakdown the Trump administration's newly released National Security Strategy. They discuss how the document leans on civilizational framing, portrays competition as existential conflict, omits diplomacy and institutions in favor of coercion and deal-making, and deemphasizes democracy promotion. They also touch on the strategy's treatment of Europe and Latin America, its assumptions about American power, and what the new NSS suggests about the direction of U.S. foreign policy.Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Subscribe to American Prestige: https://americanprestigepod.com/episodes/8205629503Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek welcome to the show Julia Gledhill and Van Jackson, co-hosts of the Un-Diplomatic podcast, to talk about the Trump administration's newly released National Security Strategy. They discuss how the document leans on civilizational framing, portrays competition as existential conflict, omits diplomacy and institutions in favor of coercion and deal-making, and deemphasizes democracy promotion. They also touch on the strategy's treatment of Europe and Latin America, its assumptions about American power, and what the new NSS suggests about the direction of U.S. foreign policy.

Danny and Derek welcome to the show Julia Gledhill and Van Jackson, co-hosts of the Un-Diplomatic podcast, to talk about the Trump administration's newly released National Security Strategy. They discuss how the document leans on civilizational framing, portrays competition as existential conflict, omits diplomacy and institutions in favor of coercion and deal-making, and deemphasizes democracy promotion. They also touch on the strategy's treatment of Europe and Latin America, its assumptions about American power, and what the new NSS suggests about the direction of U.S. foreign policy.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Free crossover episode with The Jacob Shapiro Podcast! It's a strategy of primitive accumulation masquerading as a culture warrior grand strategy. It's doing white Christian nationalism as foreign policy, imperialism in Latin America, far-right revolution in Europe. And what about China? In this crossover episode between The Un-Diplomatic Podcast and The Jacob Shapiro Podcast, Dr. Van Jackson--a former national security strategist--explains the significance of the Trump administration's new National Security Strategy and what it means for the world. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Subscribe to The Jacob Shapiro Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxCZUG9iBM6De2apZUIsnPA Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Power gets loud when it's insecure. Strategy becomes theater. And ideology sneaks in wearing policy jargon. The White House's newest U.S. National Security Strategy claims realism while quietly demanding dominance, preaching restraint while laying groundwork for escalation. Civilizational panic collides with imperial muscle, producing a document that wants everything, everywhere, all at once. Van Jackson, Professor of International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, sits down with Jacob Shapiro to chat about how culture war thinking seeps into grand strategy, why “prioritization” turns into mission creep, and what this blueprint signals for allies, adversaries, and a world already stretched thin. If this is restraint, buckle up :)--Timestamps:00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome01:40 Understanding National Security Strategy02:23 Critique of the Current Administration's Strategy07:22 Historical Context and Comparisons13:14 Primitive Accumulation and Geopolitics16:47 Latin American Policy and Imperialism25:33 Military Strategy and Global Implications29:47 China as a Pacing Threat30:47 Misconceptions in Military Strategy31:52 Potential Conflicts in Latin America34:23 US Military Intervention in Mexico35:38 Challenges of Addressing Drug Cartels41:56 Hegemonic Decline and National Security48:24 Global Reactions to US Strategy53:58 Brazil's Role in Latin America56:53 Concluding Thoughts--Referenced in the Show:Van Jackson - https://people.wgtn.ac.nz/van.jacksonNational Security Strategy 2025 - https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdfNSS (2002) - https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2002/NSC-68 (1950) - https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/NSC68--Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.comJacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShapJacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe --The Jacob Shapiro Show is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com --Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today's volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world.--

Free episode crossover with The Bang-Bang Podcast! Van Jackson and Lyle Rubin are joined by returning guest Sam Carliner to take on Marines, Netflix's new 250th-anniversary docuseries, an unmistakable propaganda piece (it's literally featured on the official Marine Corps website) that nonetheless reveals more candor than the institution intended. Directed by Chelsea Yarnell, whose style veers into Riefenstahl-lite, the series moves through the familiar mythology: Marines as the “meanest, baddest motherfuckers,” war as manhood, China as the next “bloody” proving ground. But between the clichés, something truer keeps slipping out.The Marines themselves come across not as caricatures but as young people grasping for purpose. Some raised amid violence, poverty, absent fathers, and broken homes; others from supportive families, following beloved relatives into the Corps, seeking adventure, education benefits, or what they sincerely understand as patriotic duty. Some speak with chilling bravado about killing; others struggle openly with faith, family, and the sense that combat is the only place they'll ever feel whole. A sniper mourns the disbanding of scout-sniper platoons as if losing a piece of himself. A Huey pilot wonders how to make “non-emotional decisions” when his whole life has been shaped by emotion, and a mother tries to bless a choice she privately cannot support.And despite itself, the series also exposes the machinery surrounding them. Deployments that make no sense. A surreal shipboard announcement about Yemen, where Houthi attacks are called “unprovoked” with no mention of the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza driving them, all delivered in a breezy “Good morning, Team America” tone. Marines saddled with the weight of great-power delusions they never chose. The political culture is bankrupt, but the individuals inside it are often heartbreakingly earnest. That tension, between Yarnell's promo frame and the unfiltered vulnerability of the people she films, turns Marines into something worthwhile. Even in its worst moments, the series forces a deeper question: What happens when a society offering so little to its young men teaches them that violence is the only stable form of meaning?Subscribe to The Bang-Bang Podcast: https://www.bangbangpod.comFurther ReadingUSMC press release on the docuseriesSam's SubstackThe Rivalry Peril by Van and Michael BrenesPain is Weakness Leaving the Body by LyleGangsters of Capitalism by Jonathan M. KatzWar Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges

Free episode cross-over! Van Jackson appeared as a guest on Davis Ellison's Official Positions podcast. They talk about how Van became a scholar, why he left Washington for New Zealand, the social realities of being a foreign policy wonk, the dark side of life in rich countries, what strategic studies ought to be, and how Davis himself went from being NATO analyst to being a NATO critic. Check out Official Positions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/official-positions/id1798238454Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcastSubscribe to The Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.comDisclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

Van Jackson and Julia Gledhill link back up to discuss Bret Stephens' op-ed in the New York Times making the case for overthrowing Maduro in Venezuela...and why it's the Iraq War all over again. How the Democrats are in bed with Palantir and why they need to get out. The G-7 meeting in Canada revealed what can only be called imperialist multilateralism. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio designates Antifa a foreign terrorist organization, which escalates an ongoing fight between rulers and subjects in most countries. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

The scandal around Jeffrey Epstein, who trafficked and abused children and died in a prison cellin 2019, has never gone away. It continues to explode now that House Democrats havereleased thousands of emails from Epstein and his cronies. But while the political class andmainstream media are understandably focused on the sex scandal, another dimension of thescandal goes uncovered except by independent media outlets such as Drop Site: Epstein's deepties to the national security state. I talked to international relations scholar Van Jackson aboutthis crucial part of the story.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/THENATIONAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The scandal around Jeffrey Epstein, who trafficked and abused children and died in a prison cellin 2019, has never gone away. It continues to explode now that House Democrats havereleased thousands of emails from Epstein and his cronies. But while the political class andmainstream media are understandably focused on the sex scandal, another dimension of thescandal goes uncovered except by independent media outlets such as Drop Site: Epstein's deepties to the national security state. I talked to international relations scholar Van Jackson aboutthis crucial part of the story.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this crossover episode with The Time of Monsters--a podcast of The Nation Magazine--Jeet Heer and Van Jackson discuss the worldmaking of Jeffrey Epstein and the complicity of America's entire ruling class in his crimes, from Larry Summers and Leon Panetta to Trump himself. Thousands of leaked emails reported by DropSite News have revealed something about Jeffrey Epstein that few people realized: He was one of the world's preeminent geopoliticians during the unipolar moment, and that's not a good thing. We now know that Epstein actively promoted the interests of the global far right; worked with Israeli security services to export the tools of oppression to the Global South; helped strengthen Russia's oligarchy and deal intimately with Putin; lobbied to bomb Iran and kill the Iran nuclear deal; secured the US and Russian removal of chemical weapons from Syria FOR Israel; and capitalized on the global instability caused in part by US foreign policy. Epstein's work as a geopolitician reveals a dark side to American hegemony not previously known or seen. It's one giant case study of Naomi Klein's disaster-capitalism thesis. Subscribe to The Time of Monsters Podcast: https://www.thenation.com/content/time-of-monsters/ 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.

Xi Jinping and Donald Trump just met in South Korea, agreeing to suspend the most acute aspects of economic warfare for 12 months, lowering US tariffs on Chinese goods, and resuming Chinese purchases of US soybeans. But Dr. Van Jackson explains why the inter-imperialist rivalry between China and the US endures, why talk of a G2 is premature, and what needs to be done to address the structural sources of great-power competition. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.

This week on Sinica, I chat with Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, editor of Foreign Affairs, about how the journal has both shaped and reflected American discourse on China during a period of dramatic shifts in the relationship. We discuss his deliberate editorial choices to include heterodox voices, the changing nature of the supposed "consensus" on China policy, and what I've called the "vibe shift" in how Americans across the political spectrum think about China. Daniel also reflects on his own intellectual formation, including his work on George Marshall's failed mission to mediate China's Civil War and the cautionary lessons that history holds for today's debates. We explore the challenges of bringing Chinese voices into Foreign Affairs, the balance between driving and reflecting policy debates, and whether we're witnessing a genuine opening of the Overton window on China discussions.7:15 – Foreign Affairs in the era of Iraq and "China's peaceful rise" 12:09 – The Marshall mission and the "Who Lost China?" debate 17:17 – China's changing role and the journal's coverage density 19:43 – The Campbell-Ratner "China Reckoning" and subsequent debates 25:00 – The challenge of including authentic Chinese voices 29:42 – How Chinese leadership perceives and reads Foreign Affairs 32:12 – The "vibe shift" on China across the American political spectrum 35:56 – Cultivating contrarian voices: Van Jackson, Jonathan Czin, and David Kang 40:17 – Avoiding the trap of making everything about U.S.-China competition 43:12 – Diversifying perspectives beyond the Washington-Beijing binary 48:18 – The big questions: American exceptionalism and Chinese identity in a new era 51:42 – The dangers of cutting off U.S.-China scholarly conversations 56:26 – The uses and misuses of historical analogies 58:09 – Spain's Golden Age and late Qing memes as contemporary analogiesPaying it forward: The unsung editorial staff at Foreign AffairsRecommendations: Daniel: Equator.org; The Rise of the Meritocracy by Michael Young; Granta's new India issue; The Party's Interests Come First by Joseph Torigian; The Coming Storm by Odd Arne Westad Kaiser: The Spoils of Time by C.V. WedgwoodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On Friday, the self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced the US was sending anaircraft carrier to bolster its attacks on Venezuelan boats (which the Trump administrationalleges, without evidence, are trafficking drugs). I spoke to international relations scholar VanJackson (whose work can be found here) about the motives for this new war as well as themuted opposition to it from Democrats.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On Friday, the self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced the US was sending an aircraft carrier to bolster its attacks on Venezuelan boats (which the Trump administration alleges, without evidence, are trafficking drugs). I spoke to international relations scholar Van Jackson (whose work can be found here) about the motives for this new war as well as the muted opposition to it from Democrats.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Why are both the left and the right opposed to the "liberal international order?" What are different schools of right-wing thought about the world, what makes the global far right a counter-order movement, and what, if anything, does it have in common with progressive foreign policy. Dr. Van Jackson, a scholar of international relations, explains the competing global visions of left and right in this live lecture you don't want to miss. This is part two of a two-part lecture on the politics of global order. 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.

What was the "Liberal International Order," and why did people start calling it the "Rules-Based International Order?" Why do experts debate its meaning? What good has it been? How liberal was the Liberal International Order? And why is it over? Dr. Van Jackson, a scholar of international relations, explains in this live lecture you don't want to miss. This is part one of a two-part lecture on the politics of global order. 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 spoke as part of a live teach-in webinar for Roots Action and Defuse Nuclear War. He's joined on his panel by Emma Claire Foley, William Hartung, and Taylor Barnes. Together they explain what American militarism looks like under Trump 2.0; what makes Trump foreign policy imperialist; why it's being driven by both a crisis of capitalism and the Washington pursuit of primacy; how US militarism is affecting local communities in America; and what some groups are doing to fight back. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch The Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Learn More About Defuse Nuclear War: https://defusenuclearwar.org Learn More About The Teach-In Network: https://teachinnetwork.org Learn More About Roots Action: https://rootsaction.org

Subscribe now to skip the ads. Great Power Week continues here at American Prestige as historian Michael Brenes joins the show to talk about how prolonged competition with China threatens democracy, peace, and prosperity. They compare Biden and Trump's respective approaches to China, whether the national security establishment is trying to manufacture an existential threat out of The People's Republic, whether there is any national interest in a new Cold War, the degradation in American leaders, why rivalry is bad economically, erodes American society's social fabric, and leads to violence, and alternatives to the great power framework.      Read his book on the matter (co-authored with AP regular Van Jackson), The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy. Don't miss the companion episode with Stacie Goddard from Sunday, “The Era of Great Power Competition.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Great Power Week continues here at American Prestige as historian Michael Brenes joins the show to talk about how prolonged competition with China threatens democracy, peace, and prosperity. They compare Biden and Trump's respective approaches to China, whether the national security establishment is trying to manufacture an existential threat out of The People's Republic, whether there is any national interest in a new Cold War, the degradation in American leaders, why rivalry is bad economically, erodes American society's social fabric, and leads to violence, and alternatives to the great power framework.     Read his book on the matter (co-authored with AP regular Van Jackson), The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy.Don't miss the companion episode with Stacie Goddard from Sunday, “The Era of Great Power Competition.” Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The tables have turned! In this crossover episode, Dr. Van Jackson gets interviewed by Jacob Shapiro of The Jacob Shapiro Podcast. Together they cover the enter landscape of geopolitics from a critical perspective: why the MAGA project of white nationalist social democracy cannot work; why Israeli primacy, not oil, explains US militarism in the Middle East; why the US doesn't want to fight the Houthis; how Japan failed to understand American politics; and the beginnings of a post-American Korean Peninsula. Jacob Shapiro Podcast: https://youtu.be/Ar6-f0OVAss?si=-0mrKcLjpUCRdj7P Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/

Jacob interviews Dr. Van Jackson, an international relations scholar specializing in East Asian and Pacific security. They discuss the accelerating pace and volatility of U.S. foreign policy, characterizing Trump-era actions as part of a broader counter-revolutionary, oligarchic project. Van critiques both major U.S. parties and highlights the risk of diversionary wars as legitimacy crises grow. They explore the geopolitics of Iran, Israel, and China, and conclude with insights on North Korea and potential U.S. troop withdrawal from South Korea, outlining a rare “win-win-win” scenario for all parties on the Korean Peninsula.--Timestamps:(00:00) - Introduction(04:52) - Discussion on US Power and Global Politics(08:30) - Middle East Policy and US-Israel Relations(16:30) - Defining Fascism and White Nationalism(23:32) - Trump's Base and Political Dynamics(30:07) - Potential Diversionary Conflicts and Foreign Policy(35:19) - The Inevitability of War with China(35:52) - China's Strategic Interests in Taiwan and the South China Sea(36:49) - The Role of Allies in US-China Relations(38:25) - The Controversy Over Arming Allies(40:57) - Trump's Foreign Policy and Its Impact on Alliances(42:56) - Japan and South Korea's Dilemma(46:42) - The Future of US Hegemony and Global Alliances(51:01) - The Role of the Democratic Party in US Politics(58:52) - North Korea's Nuclear Deterrent and US Relations(01:05:15) - Potential US Troop Withdrawal from South Korea(01:08:49) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts--Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.comJacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShapJacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe --The Jacob Shapiro Show is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com --Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today's volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world.--This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Van Jackson, foreign policy writer and host of the excellent podcast Un-Diplomatic, joins me to freak out about ICE arresting local college professors, MAGA's Jeffrey Epstein fissures, Andrew Cuomo aiming to spoil Mamdani's victory in NYC, Trump sending weapons to Ukraine, and the overall Third Reich vibes that America is currently giving. As the ever-rising waters of tyrrany begin to splash onto our windowsills, what are any of us supposed to be doing?  Subscribe to Nostalgia Trap to access all of our bonus content and News Trap updates

Free episode cross-over with the Bang-Bang Podcast. The question of “Which side are you on?” haunted me (Van Jackson) intermittently throughout the long Global War on Terror. It was a beat that I would hear during occasional moments of consciousness, which I tried to suppress or rationalize away…until I no longer could.On my other show, The Bang-Bang Podcast, I ended up having a surprising conversation with our guest, George Dardess. Before we started the actual episode, we talked at length about memoirs and stories of conversion.George is an expert in the lost art of close reading, which we get into. And his favored genre—which also happens to be mine—is the memoir. My co-host Lyle Rubin wrote a memoir, and his wife, Colette Shade, just came out with a memoir too (both are excellent). In that context, George started asking about my story, and the beginnings of my own memoir inadvertently came pouring out.The conversation has stuck with me everyday since. Although I have no shortage of distractions, I've begun putting pen to paper, reckoning with the slow-burning crisis of conscience that took me from being an agent of the national security state to one of its fiercest critics.As we discuss in this short episode, there are a few factors that might account for my political consciousness.Hip-hop not only acquainted me with the Black Freedom Struggle from an early age; it provided a soundtrack, a musical coda, to my life. And I think that made a difference.Spending time in Monterey, California, at the Defense Language Institute, was a pivotal experience. In a twisted way, so was my immersion in “hustle culture,” which was so strong that I basically lost my 20s to obsessive self improvement. When my humanity finally thawed in the 2010s, the world had changed dramatically and I started questioning my place in it.Physically getting out of Washington—an idea whose appeal grew during my alienation in Obama's second term—was almost certainly crucial too. It feels like I've always been on some Robert Frost shit. Few roads are less traveled by than New Zealand, and it has made all the difference!But I also grew up precarious working class. The lives of the people surrounding me had no connection to the foreign policy world I strived so hard to enter. At first, I saw that as a problem of social mobility. Eventually, I would see it as a problem of class antagonism—national security takes its legitimacy from the people but forsakes them in its every decision. The most generous thing I could say about foreign policy is that people like me faced problems growing up that were never made better by anything happening in national security.Anyway, I have a lot to work through. But if you're interested in memoir as a form, close reading as a practice, or some of the details in my personal evolution, you'll find this impromptu conversation as stimulating as I did.Subscribe to the Bang-Bang Podcast: https://www.bangbangpod.comSubscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/

Van Jackson, Julia Gledhill, and Matt Duss confronting all things fascism at home and war with Iran abroad: Tucker Carlson roasting Ted Cruz over Israel and Iran is a bit too enjoyable…and says a lot about the fissures within the MAGA movement. America is already in Israel's war with Iran. The promise and limits of the “No Kings” protests across the country. Why Democrats need a peace agenda. And why JD Vance loves his imperial president.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.

In part four of Remember Shuffle's ongoing series on the Iraq War, Remember Shuffle is joined by guests Lyle Jeremy Rubin and Van Jackson, the hosts of the [Bang-Bang] podcast. We turn now to the ramping up of violence in the years 2004-2005, and the United States refusal to recognize the current battle space: one of counter insurgency. As always we end our discussion with a movie set during this period: American Sniper and Warfare.Follow Bang-Bang at: www.bangbangpod.com/Van Jackson: x.com/realvanjacksonLyle Jeremy Rubin at: lylejeremyrubin.com/For more on Counter Insurgency as “conservative, high-modern utopianism”, see Van's conversation on his other podcast, Un-Diplomatic: www.un-diplomatic.com/p/the-reactionary-worldmaking-of-counterGive Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.  Join the patreon to support the shuffle bois and for an extra episode per month at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/RememberShuffl

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

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.

Subscribe now for the full episode and much more content! Danny and Derek are joined by Van Jackson, author of the ⁠Un-Diplomatic⁠ newsletter and podcast, Elizabeth Shackelford, Senior Policy Director at Dartmouth's Dickey Center and foreign affairs columnist with The Chicago Tribune, and Ishaan Tharoor, foreign affairs columnist and anchor of Today's WorldView at The Washington Post, to talk about the second Trump Administration's first hundred days in office. The group delves into what differentiates Trump 2.0 from 1.0, what he's been able to enact of his agenda from both the last and current terms, the frailty of American institutions, the imperial presidency, parastatal institutions, the efficacy (or inefficacy) of public protest, how the White House and NSC undermine the State Department, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.

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.

Allen Ruff speaks with Van Jackson about how tariffs will hurt the working class, the rise of crony capitalism, the increasingly flagrant spoils system, and Arundhati Roy's vision of civil disobedience. The post Van Jackson on Zombie Economic Nationalism appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

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.

On today's episode, Van Jackson, Professor of International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, and Michael Brenes, Associate Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and Lecturer in History at Yale University, join Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien to talk about their new book, “The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy,” in which they make the case for the United States to take a less aggressive approach to China. They discussed the pitfalls of great power competition, the origins of the China threat, and why a destructive U.S.-China rivalry is our choice, rather than our destiny.To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Van Jackson, senior lecturer in international relations at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and writer of the Un-Diplomatic newsletter on SubStack, to discuss his recent book The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy, co-authored with Michael Brenes. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Trump's tariffs on Mexico and Canada, fallout from the Trump/Vance confrontation with Zelenskyy, Trump's attempt to cook the books on the US GDP, Trump's newest crypto scam, US-based money laundering, RFK's measles dance, Marco Rubio's billions for Israel, Trump assault on Social Security, the DHS' IRS scheme, and the Mayoral Campaign of noted sex pest Andrew Cuomo, also admiring the full-throated spinelessness of GOP representatives Kieth Self and Roger Marshall when faced with constituent backlash at Town Halls. Van Jackson then joins, diving right into the effective myth the US has built up around the Cold War as a beneficial struggle between two great powers, a belief central to the evolution of the US' counter-insurgency-focused regime of primacy that has developed in the power vacuum left by the Soviet Union, and why the US Foreign policy apparatus has been so resolute, from the Cheneys to the Biden Administration, in pivoting to a new great power struggle with China. Expanding on this, Jackson walks through the last couple of decades of US-China hawkery, with the shrinking dividends of Neoliberal globalization pushing both the US and Chinese economies toward economic nationalism, with the US establishment frantically attempting to cling to a dying world order of complete US primacy, as it corrupts and reshapes our politics domestically while contributing to death and destruction globally. After tackling how the Trump to Biden to Trump 2.0 pipeline effectively streamlined the US' commitment to an anti-China pivot, and why Trump's buddies in Silicon Valley are set to benefit greatly from this tension, Van, Sam, and Emma wrap up by touching on the greater imperialist nature of Trump's foreign policy, and why US-Chinese relations have trapped much of the developing world into choosing between Chinese lending power and American hegemony. And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma watch the new state-backed-media (the Joe Rogan Experience) clear the stage to let Elon Musk lie to the American public about what the Trump/Musk regime is up to (and why), and listen to Marjorie Taylor Greene's boytoy attempt to confront Zelenskyy about his fashion sense. They also parse through the ongoing crypto fraud of the Trump/Musk regime, and the insanity of Trump's push to use Crypto as a strategic reserve, plus, your calls and IMs! Follow Van on Twitter here: https://x.com/realvanjackson Check out Van's book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272895/the-rivalry-peril/ Check out the Un-Diplomatic newsletter here: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase! 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Van's new book, The Rivalry Peril ... What policymakers forget about the first Cold War ... The roots of the US-China cold war ... The end of globalization and the rise of economic nationalism ... How rivalry deepens inequality in both the US and China ...

Van's new book, The Rivalry Peril ... What policymakers forget about the first Cold War ... The roots of the US-China cold war ... The end of globalization and the rise of economic nationalism ... How rivalry deepens inequality in both the US and China ...

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