Professor Lyle Goldstein recently retired after 20 years of service on the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (NWC). During his career at NWC, he founded the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) and has been awarded the Superior Civilian Service Medal for this achievement. He has written or edited seven books on Chinese strategy and is at work on a book-length project that examines the nature of China-Russia relations in the 21st century. He has a longstanding interest in great power politics, military competition, and security in the pacific region.

Goldstein is Director of Asia Engagement at the Washington think-tank Defense Priorities, which advocates for realism and restraint in U.S.defense policy, and also a visiting professor at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. He earned a PhD at Princeton, an MA from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and an AB from Harvard. He is fluent in both Chinese and Russian.

Steve and Lyle discuss:

00:00 Early life and background

18:03 Goldstein’s dissertation on China’s nuclear strategy

37:35 Pushback on “Meeting China Halfway”

41:24 Could the U.S. have prevented war in Ukraine?

46:05 How territorial conflicts are influencing China’s relationship with Russia

1:00:16 Analyzing war games with U.S., China, and Taiwan

Links:

Watson Institute, Brown University

https://watson.brown.edu/china/people/lyle-goldstein

Meeting China Halfway (2015)

https://www.amazon.com/Meeting-China-Halfway-Emerging-US-China/dp/162616634X

Here's Why War With China Could Elevate to Nuclear Strikes

The National Interest, January 29 2022

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/heres-why-war-china-could-elevate-nuclear-strikes-200099

Goldstein's articles at The National Interest

https://nationalinterest.org/profile/lyle-j-goldstein

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

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Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

196. Commusings: Being There