The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

Nvidia-China Conspiracy Theory | Melat Kiros on Foreign Policy | Anti-War Democrats Rising | Ro Khanna and the China Select Committee Debate | Ep. 328

Inside two different conspiracy theories about the Nvidia-Jensen Huang and the scandal that forced him to resign. One about Jensen Huang's big payoff. The other is about

What Good is the Foreign Policy Blob? w/ Jonathan Guyer | Ep. 327

Has Washington's foreign policy Blob begun to internalize far-right politics? Have the most militarist sections of the Blob succeeded in infiltrating the Trump administra

Antiwar Obama? | Global Dockworkers Strike Against War | The Trillion-Dollar Iran War | Morgan Spector is a G | Ep. 326

Obama comes out against the Iran war, MAGA foreign policy, and Pete Hegseth's grooming obsession. New estimates suggest that even if the Iran War ended today, its cost wo

The MAGA-Diplomat Problem | Pentagon Spies Blowing It in China | Saudi Escalation in Yemen | Ep. 325

The State Department is now vetting career employees for political loyalty to the president...in the past and now, against the law. The Pentagon is deploying corporate sp

Five Truths About War With Iran They Still Don't Want You To Hear! | Ep. 324

Dr. Van Jackson revisits his predictions about the start of the Iran war and explains five secrets about war with Iran that account for why the war happened, who benefits

"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

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 milit

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

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 Oc

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 presenc

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 Clim

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 billionai

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 mean

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 Bl

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

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 Ho

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. Ma

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. Va

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 subm

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 oligar