The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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