The Un-Diplomatic Podcast
The Un-Diplomatic Podcast is a political show that examines geopolitics through the lens of class politics. Hosted by Van Jackson, Julia Gledhill, and Matt Duss, it challenges conventional diplomatic narratives and focuses on how global power dynamics affect ordinary people. The hosts are independent thinkers, and their views are their own, not tied to any institution or employer.
Episodes
"Greater North America" is Fascist Imperialist Geopolitics | Chris Murphy Banned | Iran War as Oligarchy’s Revenge | Nuking San Diego? | Ep. 323
The Trump administration's new geopolitical concept of "Greater North America" is fascist imagineering of international relations. It's imperialist, but a variation that differs meaningfully from liberal empire..and the implications are dire. Dr. Van Jackson breaks down his new essay in Foreign Policy magazine, "Trump's Greater North America is Fascist Geopolitics."
Also this episode: Why the co
Pete Hegseth's Counter-Revolutionary Future of War | Ep. 322
Separating truth from fiction in Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's "State of the Force" speech at Quantico. How is a crisis of capitalism driving a crisis of American militarism? Why is he accusing journalists of treason, lying about the Iran War, or bragging about slashing staff while inflating the military budget? Why are right-wing oligarchs (Elon Musk, Palmer Lucky, and Newt Gingrich) appointed
The Trump-Xi Summit's Imperialist Peace | Data Center Repression | Marco Rubio Rejects Global Order | Secret Society of Democratic Centrists | Ep. 321
Making sense of the Trump summit with China's Xi Jinping--why MAGA respects Chinese power and why an imperialist peace between the great powers is no peace at all. Marco Rubio rejects international order at the United Nations. Against data centers or A.I.? Then the US security state is coming for you! Russian hybrid aggression has spilled out of Ukraine and into Europe--why the "sandbox theory" of
A.I. Doomerism and "Criti-Hype" | Working-Class Populism Experiment | Drop The Genocide 20 Campaign | New Zealand Independence At Stake | Ep. 320
A new campaign just launched called Drop The Genocide 20. It demands banning the leading officials from the Biden administration most responsible for Gaza policy since October 7, 2023--and every person with a policy background should sign the pledge to keep these genocidaires away from the halls of power.
The Center for Working Class Politics is tracking four key working-class candidates running
Killing Empire, Abandoning Asia, or Rescuing the Asian Peace? A Radical Rethink of the US in Asia’s Balance of Power | Ep. 319
A new report from Defense Priorities has a radical proposal: End US alliances with South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines; drastically cut US military presence in East Asia; declare a non-intervention policy on Taiwan; and shift US military strategy from defending a "first-island chain" defense perimeter to the "second-island chain." Dr. Van Jackson explains the meaning and implication
US Territorial Confession | The Economist Loves Australian Empire | ICE Raids Are Bad for the Economy | Keeping Climate Protest Alive | Ep. 318
In this episode: Why "purging immigrants" doesn't fix working-class wages—it's a wealth story, not a race story. Attending New Zealand's student-led "School Strike 4 Climate" in Wellington—how the movement's demands have evolved from narrow climate asks (ending fossil fuel exploration, scrapping fast-track approvals) toward linking climate justice with broader political education and youth voter e
Inside the Tech Worker Movement Against Oligarchy, w/ Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan | Ep. 317
How has labor organizing of tech workers changed from the early 2010s to today? What has been the tech oligarch playbook for labor repression, and why have tech billionaires mutated into oligarchs? How did Kickstarter become the first company to unionize in the tech sector? How does far-right culture-war politics benefit the oligarchic class? And what makes exercising worker power in the tech sect
Can DSA Go Global? | Twilight of the "Resistance Liberal” | Drone Dominance Farce | Bond Market Crisis | Korea War Games and Peace Talk | Ep. 316
Why are US troops in South Korea? Dr. Van Jackson talks about his history working Korea policy, and why he doesn't think the old rationale holds up in 2026. The real meaning of the Pentagon's announcement to produce 200,000 drones for "drone dominance." With Alexander Vindman's loss to Angie Nixon in the Florida senate primary, we are seeing the twighlight of the "resistance liberal" from Trump 1.
Tupac Against Marco Rubio | The Token Black Professor Problem | The Poverty of Capitalist Education | International Relations After BLM w/ Robbie Shilliam | Ep. 315
What Tupac Shakur would've made of Marco Rubio (nothing good!). Tyler Austin Harper's essay in The Atlantic about leaving academia out of frustration at being a "Token Black Professor." University students skipping meals and skipping classes is a sign of a broken system. And in the back half of the episode, Dr. Van Jackson speaks with Dr. Robbie Shilliam about international relations since the Bla
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Hasan Minhaj Define Empire | The Left-Populist Wave is Here | UAE As Sub-Imperial Power | Interview w/ William Lawrence | Ep. 314
What is the meaning of empire? Ta-Nehisi Coates commiserates with Hasan Minhaj about living unaware of American imperialism for too long, and Dr. Van Jackson explains why coming to consciousness about empire was key to his personal political awakening. The UAE is facilitating a genocide in Sudan, and it's doing so as a sub-imperial power of the United States. Left-populist candidates won 11 out of
What is Left Populism? | The Forever Missile Gap | American Colonies in 2026 | Far-Right Deep State | Inside The Pentagon’s Secret Munitions Meeting | Ep. 313
What is the meaning of left populism and what does it stand for? Inside the politics of the most popular candidates running in 2026, from William Lawrence to Francesca Hong. What happened at the Pentagon's secret meeting with munitions suppliers, and what does it have to do with the new idea of a "forever" missile gap? What nations does the United States still control as colonies in 2026, and how
Think Tank Legitimacy Crisis | Red Scare 6.0 | Nuclear Disarmament Dismay | Rubio's Cuba Witch Hunt | Democrat Iran-War Kayfabe | Ep. 312
The Trump administration is trying to manufacture a new anti-communist red scare, enlisting the national security state into a counter-revolutionary political project. Marco Rubio is obsessed with making Cuba an enemy. How Democrats gave up the only leverage they had to stop the Iran War. Think tanks and the foreign policy establishment are in crisis and dangerously out of touch with reality--Emma
China Election Conspiracy | Far-Left Terrorism Deflection | How Great-Power Rivalry Causes Repression Politics | Ep. 311
Trump's speech to the nation claiming that China stole the election from him is a farce, and an excuse to use the power of the state against his political enemies. Dr. Van Jackson warned about this in the 2025 book The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy. What's bringing back the repression politics of the Cold War. And what Marco Rubio's 60-nation meet
Geopolitical Insider Trading | China’s Pacific Missile Test | Iran-War Ceasefire Lie | Graham Platner | Ep. 310
Why we're seeing a rise in geopolitical gambling, speculation, and insider trading. Why the Iran War ceasefire was always going to fail. How to make sense of China's submarine-launched ballistic missile test over the Pacific, and why anti-imperialism is the only solution. Peter Theil calls Pope Leo a Chinese communist agent. And the devastation over the Graham Platner scandal.
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Socialist Foreign Policy | Zach Woods Attacks James Carville | The Billionaire's Coup Playbook | Independence Day (1996) w/ Morgan Spector | Ep. 309
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is winning elections around the US. Their growing popularity is a democratic response to growing insecurity in an age of oligarchy. Zach Woods (from HBO's Silicon Valley) goes after Democratic strategist James Carville in the best way. Why DSA's victories are key to changing US foreign policy. Why Trump's corruption, oligarchy, the k-shaped economy, and A
Post-Liberal International Relations and the End of Ideology, w/ Daniel Bessner | Ep. 308
Why is America no longer the global hegemon? What is world order becoming after liberal hegemony? What's happening to international relations as a discipline? What does it mean to say that the era of ideology is over? In what way does Daniel Bessner sort of agree with G. John Ikenberry? Why does the dominance of liberal capitalism means shedding liberalism, and why does that help explain the world
Pacific Power Rebrand | Iran War Peace Deal | Peter Theil’s Secret Society | The Politics of Antimilitarism | Ep. 307
Inside the peace deal end the US war against Iran--and the spoilers that can bring it down. What’s behind the Department of War’s name change from Indo-Pacific Command to Pacific Command? Why decolonizing the Pacific Islands Region (including Guam) has to be part of American territorial defense. Taking a zero-based approach to the military budget. And Peter Theil’s secret society has way too many
Who Should Run Democratic Party Foreign Policy? Not the Genocide Squad! With Harrison Mann | Ep. 306
Harrison Mann was an army intelligence officer who resigned in protest against the genocide in Gaza in 2024. Since then, he's been a man on a mission--against war, against the political appointees who perpetuate war crimes and genocide, and for a new, more progressive foreign policy cadre for the Democratic Party. Mann joins Dr. Van Jackson in this episode about the future of Democratic Party fore
Anti-Tech Extremism, or Populism? | China-Data Center Conspiracy Theory | New Zealand’s Military Trap | Bernie’s A.I. Proposal | Hegseth’s Shangri-La Primacy Fantasy | Ep. 305
The government is now going after regular people who oppose data centers and are calling it "anti-tech extremist violence.” Congress's anti-China conspiracy theory about data center opposition in the US is a very real farce. Bernie Sanders is in the New York Times with a new proposal to seize the means of A.I. production, sort of. New Zealand is allowing itself to fall into a militarist trap of it
Comedians Against Nuclear War, War Crimes, and Wars on Democracy, w/ Orli Matlow and William Hartung | Ep. 304
Antiwar comedy kills! Orli Matlow (host of War is Stupid: An Antiwar Podcast About War) and William Hartung (co-author of the Trillion-Dollar War Machine) are both comedians who make jokes against militarism and war. In this laugh filled episode of the pod, Orli, Bill, and Dr. Van Jackson explore the challenges of political or "charged" comedy in a country always at war.
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Live! Imperial End Times: The Geopolitics of Class War in a Post-American World | Ep. 303
This episode is a live public lecture to the New Zealand Fabian Society in Wellington. Our governments are clinging to outdated mental maps of the world—maps that obscure the pain and profit associated with their foreign-policy choices. In this public talk, Dr. Van Jackson diagnoses our moment of global “polycrisis” as a crisis of capitalism anchored to a single declining hegemon. The United State
China Summit Realism | Graham Platner Defines the Working Class | Gorka's Counter-Terrorism Anxiety | Ep. 302
What does Trump's summit with China's Xi Jinping mean for rivalry, the permanent war economy, strategic stability, and US imperial decline? The deep sexual anxieties underneath the White House's anti-democratic counter-terrorism strategy. Graham Platner takes the lead in defining the working class and left populism. Why military spending is out of control, and who benefits. Matt Duss, Julia Gledhi
A Non-Aligned Global Order and the Post-American World, w/ Nils Gilman | Ep. 301
Is a new Non-Aligned Movement emerging to counter the United States (and is it trying to counter the US)? What was the original Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War? What was the New International Economic Order, and why did it disappear? What prospects are there for a global order in a post-hegemon, post-American, multipolar world? And what does the US Democratic Party have to do with all the
Imperialist Worldmaking | Graham Platner’s Victory | Israeli Piracy | China Threat Decline | Rubio’s Panama Problem | Ep. 300
Why Graham Platner's victory in the Democratic primary for Maine's senate seat is so important for the antifascist antiwar movement. Why Americans no longer believe the hype about the China threat. Inside Marco Rubio's imperial control of the Panama Canal and Panama's expropriation of a Chinese company's assets. Israeli piracy targets the Gaza Sumud Flotilla, creating "Apartheid without borders."
Palantir’s Fascist Manifesto | Substack Controversy | Iran Blockade Contradiction | Graham Platner’s NYT Debut | SecNav Fired | Ep. 299
What Palantir's manifesto says about its the politics of militarism. The Substack controversy about Andrew Tate, and why we stand with Talib Kweli and W. Kamau Bell. Ben Rhodes co-signs Graham Platner in the New York Times. Why the Democratic Party must become anti-war if it wants to win. The contradictory information about blockading the Strait of Hormuz. Ben McKenzie's new anti-crypto documentar
Peace or Barbarism! Guest Morgan Spector on Leftist Foreign Policy, Anti-Imperialism, and a Crisis of Capitalism | Ep. 298
Why did the US invade Iran? What does it have to do with American imperial decline? Why do oligarchs need the permanent war economy? Why is left populism impossible without an anti-war movement? What should a leftist or progressive foreign policy actually look like? Is AOC an organic intellectual, and what do we need from her foreign policy? Why did Bernie Sanders shift from talking about kleptocr
Live! Iran War Ceasefire Fail | Trump Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz | US As Anti-Hegemon | Ep. 297
The fragile US ceasefire with Iran has collapsed. Why? What is "goliath's curse" and how does it help us understand America's maximalist demands? Is Trump's new threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz possible? Does the US have any leverage against Iran? And what makes the US an anti-hegemon? Many questions, many answers in this emergency episode of the pod.
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Live! Iran Ceasefire and the (ongoing) Risks of Nuclear War | Ep. 296
Emergency episode covering the terms of the US-Iran ceasefire; why it signals the end of US hegemony; the risks of nuclear war, which remain in place; Israel’s role as a spoiler; indicators of Chinese hegemony (or not); the limits of US power; and what it means to think of Iran as a great power controlling the Strait of Hormuz.
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AOC Against Arming Israel | Iran War as Class War | “3,000 Targets Left” is Not A Strategy | NATO’s America Problem | Ep. 295
AOC announces that she opposes arming Israel in any way--a welcome shift. What makes the Iran war a class war that takes money from every worker in the world. NATO has many problems, but its biggest is the United States. What makes the world post-hegemonic; new signs that the United States repudiates its own form status as global hegemon. Why slaughter is not a strategy--the Trump administration a
Oil Crisis, Food Crisis, and Revolution | Iran War Casualties | Bombing Ecuador | Cuba Blockade | Far-Right Death Threats | Ep. 294
While America's war in Iran slides into higher casualties and greater costs, most of the world remains distracted from America's illegal blockade of Cuba--an act of war. Why the oil crisis is going to fuel a food crisis, which is going to sow revolutionary conditions around the world. How imperialism does and doesn't help explain the US bombing a dairy farm in Ecuador. Pete Hegseth's pastor prayin
The Anti-Imperialist Opportunity w/ Morgan Spector: A Bang-Bang Podcast Crossover | Ep. 293
Free episode crossover with The Bang-Bang Podcast! You might know Morgan Spector as the critically acclaimed leading man in The Gilded Age and The Plot Against America. Or for his appearances in Boardwalk Empire, Suits, Homeland, How to Make It In America (one of Van’s favorites), or even as a producer on The Big Scary “S” Word. What you might not know is that Morgan is both an impressive critic o
The Iran War is a Global financial Crisis | China Doesn't Want Hegemony | Joe Kent's Resignation | Ep. 292
Why the Iran war is creating a global financial crisis. Why China doesn't want global hegemony, but if it did, now is the best time imaginable. Signs of American hegemonic decline. And Joe Kent's resignation from the Trump administration and how to read it in light of anti-semitism. Van Jackson and Matt Duss chopping up all that and more in this episode.
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Trading War with China for War with Iran? The Truth About A Munitions Shortfall | Ep. 291
What is the US shortage of standoff weapons? What's Iran's strategy? Why are missile defense systems moving from South Korea to the Middle East? And why is it wrong to believe that war with Iran comes at the expense of war with China? Can the US even defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion? In this episode live from the Kapiti Coast, Dr. Van Jackson analyzes the latest in the US and Israeli war with
Techno-Industrialism and the Plot to Save America, w/ Maddy Crowell | Ep. 290
What is techno-industrialism, who benefits from it, and what does it mean for the working class? Maddy Crowell joins Julia Gledhill on the podcast to discuss her new article in Harper’s Magazine, in which she explores the effort to reindustrialize the United States through rearmament.
Read “The Plot to Save America,” here: https://harpers.org/archive/2026/03/the-plot-to-save-america-maddy-crowell
Five Uncomfortable Truths About War Against Iran | Ep. 289
In this episode live on location in the Kapiti Coast (the background noise is the ocean), Dr. Van Jackson explains five truths about war with Iran that account for why the war happened, who benefits from it, and what comes next.
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Disclaim
Iran War Conspiracy | A.I. Nuclear Escalation Threat | Joint Staff Purge | Palantir Democrats | Ep. 288
As the Trump administration prepares for war with Iran, why does it suddenly care about manufacturing consent? Inside the US military's munitions shortfall and what it says about capitalism, oligarchy, and the US relationship with war. War games with artificial intelligence say chatbots choose escalation to nuclear war 95% of the time. What's at stake in Anthropic's fight with the Pentagon, and wh
AOC's Anti-Fascist Foreign Policy | Iran War Dilemma | Anthropic A.I. Against the War Machine? | Democratic Party in Crisis | Ep. 287
What did AOC reveal about her foreign policy vision during her trip to Germany and the Munich Security Conference? Why is the US about to illegally attack Iran, again? Proof from the New York Times that the Democratic Party as we know it is in crisis. And what we can learn about tech-worker backlash against AI and Anthropic's fight with the Pentagon.
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Peace Activism, the Iraq War, and the New Militarism w/ David Cortright | Ep. 286
How did opposition to the Iraq War become the largest peace movement in recorded history? Why is the world ripe for a new generation of peace activism? And why is it so important to diagnose militarism as a primary cause of global insecurity today? Dr. David Cortright--a legendary peace activist and peace scholar--joins the pod to offer an oral history of the global peace movement in the context o
Live! What's Causing America's Imperial Decline? | Ep. 285
Recorded on location in the wilds of New Zealand’s Kapiti Coast. Why is America declining? Grand strategists, pundits, and scholars have been debating the best label for US foreign policy during the Trump presidency: illiberal hegemony; neo-royalism; reactionary nationalism; predatory hegemony. But none of these labels offer an account of themselves. Why is the US engaged in predatory behavior abr
The End of Arms Control | Pentagon Concentration Camps | Bezos Kills the Washington Post | Neocons Still Run DC? | Ep. 284
How the Pentagon is facilitating the rapid expansion "ghost network" concentration camps in America. Why arms control is dying and what to make of the New START Treaty's expiration. Jeff Bezos has effectively killed The Washington Post--what's next? Why neoconsevative foreign policy hawks still run Washington. And the importance of Gary Stevenson's story in The Trading Game for understanding the d
US-Far Right Separatism Collab Threatens Canada | Denmark's Debt Weapon | Industrial Manufacturing Fetish | Russia's Drone War of Attrition | Ep. 283
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
The Military is Trapped Between Fascism and Civil War | Ep. 282
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 imp
The Rupture of the “Rules-Based International Order” w/ Seva Gunitsky | Ep. 281
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
Iranian Revolution? | Joseph Stiglitz Wants to Contain America | Network-State Neocolonialism in Greenland | Nationalizing the Defense Industry | Ep. 280
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 profit
Venezuela’s Blood for Oil “Performative Accumulation" | NATO’s Greenland Threat | Economics of Empire | A.I. Data Centers | Ep. 279
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:/
A House of Dynamite (2025) w/ Scott Sagan | Ep. 278
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 sin
Decoding Trump’s National Security Strategy w/ American Prestige Pod | Ep. 277
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 dee
Primitive Accumulation, Imperialism, and Culture-War Grand Strategy w/ Jacob Shapiro | Ep. 276
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 f
Netflix’s Marines (2025) w/ Sam Carliner | Bang-Bang Podcast Crossover | Ep. 275
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
Leaving Washington | NATO Hawk to NATO Dove | Teaching International Relations | Realities of PhD Life | Ep. 274
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
"Seditious" NatSec Democrats | MAGA’s A.I. Rupture | Venezuela Regime Change | Ukraine Peace Plan | Ep. 273
Why regime-change war with Venezuela is about drugs. And cartels. And immigration. And resource exploitation. And because it will be good for inflation. And because uranium to all of the world’s bad guys. What the fuck!? Things are shaping up like a choose-your-own adventure story that fails to learn from the Iraq War. What is the Ukraine peace plan and why is it destined to fail in its current fo
Bret Stephens' Case for Iraq-ing Venezuela | Palantir Democrats | G-7 Imperialist Multilateralism | Real War on Fake Antifa | Ep. 272
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 designate
The Geopolitics of Jeffrey Epstein and Hegemonic Decline w/ Jeet Heer | Ep. 271
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
Bombing Latin America | Who’s Afraid of Zohran? | Economic Depression Hiding in Plain Sight | Trump Embarrasses Asia | Ep. 270
Who’s afraid of Zohran Mamdani, and why New York newest mayor will lead to Trump escalating his war against Americans. An economic great depression is already hiding in plain sight. The Nazi debate within the Republican Party. Why the Trump administration’s war on Venezuela will expand to Colombia and Mexico. Making sense of Trump’s trip across East Asia as a symptom of hegemonic decline.Subscribe
Did Trump End Great-Power Rivalry with China? Tactical Economic Detente Explained | Ep. 269
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 sour
WarGames (part II) w/ Sam Ratner and Andy Facini | Ep. 268
Part II of our crossover episode with The Bang-Bang Podcast! Van and Lyle are joined by Sam Ratner, Policy Director at Win Without War, and Andy Facini, Communications Director at the Council on Strategic Risks, to discuss WarGames, John Badham’s Cold-War techno-thriller that accidentally foresaw the age of algorithmic warfare. What begins as a teenage prank—Matthew Broderick’s David Lightman brea
WarGames w/ Sam Ratner and Andy Facini | Ep. 267
Free crossover episode with The Bang-Bang Podcast! Van and Lyle are joined by Sam Ratner, Policy Director at Win Without War, and Andy Facini, Communications Director at the Council on Strategic Risks, to discuss WarGames, John Badham’s Cold-War techno-thriller that accidentally foresaw the age of algorithmic warfare.What begins as a teenage prank—Matthew Broderick’s David Lightman breaking into w
RAND Corporation Crisis of Capital | Bannon Says Trump 2028 | Graham Platner Tattoo-Gate | China Decoupling | CIA Rethinks China | Ep. 266
The RAND Corporation just cut 11% of staff--which is a further sign of a crisis of capital accumulation. The CIA is maybe rethinking China. The Trump administration is accelerating decoupling from China. Progressives and antiwar organizations send an open letter to Trump about detente with China. Graham Platner's tattoo is getting way too much attention, and also the reason he'll beat Susan Collin
CIA in Venezuela | The Pentagon’s War on Journalists | China Trade Crisis | Ashley Tellis Scandal | Gaza Ceasefire | Ep. 265
What it means that the Department of War just revoked the press credentials for more than 100 media outlets. Why the China trade crisis is a self-imposed Cuban Missile Crisis that could nuke the global economy (China has predictable control of critical minerals). Trump's covert action authorization against Venezuela is part of Monroe Doctrine 2.0. Why the criminal charges against Ashley Tellis sig
Inter-Capitalist War and the End of the Nation-State (as we know it) w/ Jamie Merchant | Ep. 264
Jamie Merchant, author of Endgame: Economic Nationalism and Global Decline, wants you to stop thinking like a policymaker! He joins the pod to talk about a new essay he has in The Brooklyn Rail about the decline and decay of the "progressive managerial state." Van and Jamie also discuss their shared critique of the book Trade Wars Are Class Wars, the contradiction of Trump's tariffs, their mixed e
Hegseth's War on Fat Generals | Gaza Flotilla | China Soybeans | NSPM-7 is Trump's War on the Left | Government Shutdown | Ep. 263
Pete Hegseth's fat-generals theory of war is a stabbed-in-the-back myth meant to justify brutality. Trump's NSPM-7 is very explicitly a war on anyone who advocates for peace, democracy, and equality. The government shutdown is being used as a war on Democrats and liberal democracy. The Gaza Sumud Flotilla gets targeted by Israel, in violation of international law--why don't modern states protect t
Live Lecture! Left and Right Visions of Global Order: Why Liberal Internationalism is Dead | Ep. 262
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 t
Live Lecture! What Was the “Liberal International Order?” | Ep. 261
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
Militarized Commons: How Territorial Competition is Destroying the South China Sea | Ep. 260
How do territorial disputes in the South China Sea impact biodiversity? Madelyn MacMurray joins the podcast to discuss how militarized fishing fleets deplete fish stocks – and why that matters to the world. Read Madelyn’s most recent piece: Militarized Commons: How Territorial Competition is Weaponizing Fisheries and Destroying the South China Sea: https://www.stimson.org/2025/territorial-competit
Antifa, Jimmy Kimmel, and Emergency Politics | TikTok Deal with China | Oligarchy’s Economic Recession | The National Defense Strategy Still Hates China
Explaining how designating Antifa a terrorist organization and cancelling Jimmy Kimmel are part of the same emergency politics: A primer on securitization theory in the Trump presidency. White nationalist oligarchy is stealing your money and causing a recession: Here's how and why. The US TikTok deal with China could be the model for a new grand bargain, albeit a corrupt one. And the US National D
Ezra Klein Loves (some) Political Violence | The War Department and the Asia-Pacific Debate | Israel Attacks Qatar | South Korea and ICE | Ep. 258
On Charlie Kirk's horrific assassination and why Ezra Klein's hand-wringing shows that, contrary to his protestations, he in fact embraces some political violence. Trump and Pete Hegseth rename the Department of Defense the Department of War. The Pentagon starts shifting from Indo-Pacific to Asia-Pacific, which has the fingerprints of Elbridge Colby all over it (and I’m not mad at that!). Israel a
An Oral History of the Progressive Foreign Policy Moment (and what comes next) | Ep. 257
What is progressive foreign policy and what are its roots? The New Left’s struggles against racism, militarism, and imperialism were the real origins of what we call progressive foreign policy today. In this special oral history episode, I tell the story of progressive foreign policy and where it could be headed. Key moments in that history include:Opposition to Cold War liberalism;Advocacy for th
Trump's War on Soros | US Covert Action in Denmark | Nationalizing Lockheed Martin | MAGA’s China Contradiction | Ep. 256
The real price of Trump's military occupation of Washington, DC. Trump's war on George Soros and Alex Soros is a war on the Democratic Party. US "gray zone" covert action in Greenland is foreign malign influence against Denmark. Should the US state nationalize the defense industry? And MAGA's contradiction on China is not the rift it appears as. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://w
Tulsi Gabbard’s War on Intelligence | Blowback on the NatSec Elite | White Nationalist State Dept | Warmongering Asia Hands | Ep. 255
Tulsi Gabbard is waging a war on intelligence, in more ways than one. 37 national security technocrats have had their clearances revoked, which is its own form of imperial blowback. State Department fires Shahed Ghoreishi for having a heart (and not being a white Christian nationalist). Also, what’s happened to Asian security scholars and policymakers?Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: htt
D.C. Military Occupation | Trump-Putin Summit | Guesting on Hasan Piker | Bloody Blinken’s WSJ Op-Ed | Ep. 254
Co-host Matt Duss makes a guest appearance on Hasan Piker's Twitch stream! Van, Matt, and Julia talk about the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, which has all the makings of either failure or an imperialist peace. Scott Bessent lies about tariffs, economic recession, and America's fake "sovereign wealth fund." Tony Blinken's blood-covered op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. And Trump's military occupati
Anti-Intellectualism in Pentagon Life | BRICS and Civilizational War | Palestine Action | ICE Recruiting Fascists | Ep. 253
The rupture between the Pentagon and the think tank technocrats. The next clash of civilizations will be between the Global North and the Global South. Why ICE is now recruiting white supremacists and fascists. Palestine Action are not terrorists; they're trying to oppose state terrorism. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch the Un-Diplomatic Podcast on Y
Live! Roots Action National Teach-In on Militarism Under Trump | Ep. 252
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
White Nationalist Social Democracy | Oil v. Israeli Primacy | Post-American Korean Peninsula | Japan’s Failure of Imagination | Ep. 251
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 Hou
Spencer Ackerman's New York State of Mind: Peace, Populism, and Zohran Mamdani | Ep. 250
Award-winning journalist, author, and lifelong New Yorker Spencer Ackerman joins the show to talk about the world from a New York point of view: The importance of NYC-DSA and the Zohran Mamdani mayoral campaign; how New York's oligarchs used unfounded claims of anti-semitism to protect class privilege; ICE's preparations to do mass extraordinary renditions; how Donald Trump's presidency has become
Run For Your Life: A Nostalgia Trap Podcast Crossover | Ep. 249
Van joined David Parsons of The Nostalgia Trap--literally Van’s favorite pod--in a delicious 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 tyranny begin to splash onto our
The Art of Memoir and Stories of Conversion: A Bang-Bang Podcast Crossover | Ep. 248
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 convers
Project 2029 Farce | The Zohran Mamdani Model | Peter Thiel, Anti-Christ? | Fascist Public Policy | Nobody Likes Hegemony | Ukraine-China Missiles | Ep. 247
Ross Douthat confronts Peter Thiel with the possibility that he is the anti-Christ. Zohran Mamdani shows a model for politics that the media fears. The Democrats' Project 2029 is a farce that shows leaders of the party don't actually want to win. Fascist public policy is here, and it's class war. According to Gallup, even most Americans think US hegemony sucks. The Pentagon's Elbridge Colby just h
Andor Season 2 Finale + Rogue One w/ Matt Duss and Paul Adlerstein | Bang-Bang Podcast Crossover | Ep. 246
Free cross-over episode with the Bang-Bang Podcast. In this finale to our Andor series, Van and Lyle are joined by returning guest Paul Adlerstein and—making his first appearance on the pod—Matt Duss, former foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders and current executive vice president at the Center for International Policy.The conversation spans the closing arc of Andor Season 2 and Rogue
Tucker Carlson Ruins Ted Cruz | No War with Iran | “No Kings” Protests | Democrats Need a Peace Agenda | Ep. 245
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
War on California, United Farm Workers, and Leaving the “Lockheed Left” w/ Antonio De Loera | Ep. 244
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 id
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