The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

Joe Biden needs progressive technocracy to fight the transnational corruption and oligarchy that threatens democracies everywhere.  The demands of the Black Lives Matter campaign are the best foreign policy.   Antifa is not a terrorist group.  Terrorizing Antifa is, you know, fascism.  The danger of 'little green men' in Washington.  Also this episode: Why Tom Cotton is no friend of Hong Kong, or democracy.Chris Murphy Tweet: https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1266459665216475141?s=19David Rothkopf Tweet: ttps://twitter.com/djrothkopf/status/1267865183126532096James Palmer Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1268267458663759875Tamara Cofman Wittes Tweet: https://twitter.com/tcwittes/status/1267657924089962496Ben Judah, Yakov Feygin, and Eduardo Saravalle piece on kleptocracy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/03/biden-united-states-kleptocracy-power-sanctions/

How much does it cost to buy a Washington Post columnist?  One fancy dinner at the State Department. The think tank behind Trump's anti-China campaign.  North Korea getting dangerous and nobody paying attention.  Why the Marine Corps' new war fighting concept threatens the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex.  What the India-China border dispute tells us about Chinese intentions.  Matt Duss's Tweet: https://twitter.com/mattduss/status/1265645358442520576Andreas Nick's Tweet: https://twitter.com/DrAndreasNick/status/1264858787585949701?s=19Matthew Fay and Michael Hunzeker on Marine Corps Innovation: https://warontherocks.com/2020/05/no-sure-victory-the-marines-new-force-design-plan-and-the-politics-of-implementation/Dan Sneider on The Hudson Institute: https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/352479?fbclid=IwAR2gTT3YfFSpiTCNH_jMmg35bSsG6OH1lt_JYWZeLNrn5WsasYeymF5oZbY

HR McMaster proves that in Washington, hawks only fail up.  Are Republicans against international order?  Chinese Netizens wants Trump to win the election because they think he's a racist joke who helps rally nationalism in China.  What conspiracy theory is leading to cell phone towers being set ablaze in New Zealand?  Only one country thinks arms-racing is the path to security--America, baby.  Corey Pein Tweet: https://twitter.com/coreypein/status/1261166298043527168Waleed Shahid Tweet: https://twitter.com/_waleedshahid/status/1262492507868463107?s=19Mitt Romney Tweet:https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1261799211760222210?s=19Vipin Narang Tweet: https://twitter.com/NarangVipin/status/1263258794211098633Timothy McLaughlin in The Atlantic on Taiwan: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/05/taiwan-china-who-coronavirus-pandemic/611737/

Biden's best chance of winning might be embracing the anti-war movement.  Democracies for Taiwan.  Is there anything Australia can do to save the United States?  Is the US Space Force a militarist boondoggle?  Also this episode: The legacy of Henry Kissinger.  Turkish imperialism.  Pompeo gaslighting on Iran.  And advice about studying international relations.  Demand Progress: https://demandprogress.orgCaitlin Talmadge Tweet: https://twitter.com/ProfTalmadge/status/1259240712777928704Don Moynihan Tweet: https://twitter.com/donmoyn/status/1259477460904808449?s=20Benjamin Young Tweet: https://twitter.com/DubstepInDPRK/status/1259673664456359937?s=20Quantian Tweet: https://twitter.com/quantian1/status/1260387202871287809Brendan Taylor in Australian Foreign Affairs: https://www.australianforeignaffairs.com/articles/extract/2020/02/message-to-washington

American foreign policy is a reality TV show.  Through the China looking glass with HR McMaster.  Also this episode:Why is Korean peace a dirty phrase in Washington?   Did a member of Congress just tell a journalist that defense hawks will have to lies in the form of strategic rhetoric to keep the defense budget obscenely high?  Yes, he did.  Does speaking Chinese make for good anti-China propaganda?  Matt Duss's Tweet: https://twitter.com/mattduss/status/1258094892351467520?s=19James Palmer's Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1258484792049520641Paul McLeary: https://twitter.com/paulmcleary/status/1258007330651803648Matt Korda's Tweet:https://twitter.com/mattkorda/status/1257775280388812806?s=20Damon Linker's Tweet: https://twitter.com/DamonLinker/status/1258023836341219329Nick Miller's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Nick_L_Miller/status/1256672374868660225Ethan Paul in Responsible Statecraft: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2020/05/05/how-mcmaster-sees-china/

The "Blob" national security establishment is necessary, often wrong, and loses any argument where it concedes that it's a Blob.  Are nuclear weapons inherently undemocratic and tyrannical?  George Orwell predicted yes.  Are political scientists wrong about diversionary war?  The National Republican Senatorial Committee thinks so in their latest memo that directs candidates to not defend Trump and instead attack China.  Has "the data" really replaced "strategy" as Washington's new favorite empty term?  Why fair trade might be a better way to fight China than the Hayekian wet dream of free trade at all costs.  Also this episode: How did Van Jackson become a North Korea watcher?Matt Duss Tweet: https://twitter.com/mattduss/status/1255610412189581314?s=20Anne Marie-Brady Tweet: https://twitter.com/AaronFriedberg/status/1254861734059421700?s=20Robert Kelly Tweet: https://twitter.com/Robert_E_Kelly/status/1256033975568482304Adam Serwer Tweet: https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1255620408952393729?s=20"In Defense of the Blob" piece: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-04-29/defense-blob 

Grand strategy is more necessary--and harder to do--than ever.  Alliance management with Japan and South Korea is becoming impossible when one is a hawk and the other a dove.  What the hell is happening with Kim Jong Un?  China's horrible...and so is anti-Chinese racism.  Van's endless white-collar frustrations with working from home in the Coronavirus era.  Also this episode: What does Van like to eat?  Uri Friedman on New Zealand's Crisis Response: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/jacinda-ardern-new-zealand-leadership-coronavirus/610237/Aiden Smith's Tweet: https://twitter.com/AidanSmith2020/status/1252041966214242305Jackie Schneider's Tweet: https://twitter.com/JackieGSchneid/status/1252391127652552707Duyeon Kim's Tweet: https://twitter.com/duyeonkim/status/1252429076205203464?s=19

Why Senator Chris Murphy might end up being the Henry Kissinger of the Left.  Are Millennials more hawkish on China than Boomers and Gen X?  Chicago Council on Global Affairs has polling data that tells us.  Robert Zoellick's new book highlights a neoliberal split on the China question.  Why socialists need to support Biden.  South Korean elections bring a North Korean defector to the National Assembly.  And we're living in a cyberpunk dystopia.Alex Ward's Profile of Chris Murphy in Vox: https://www.vox.com/2020/4/16/21127501/chris-murphy-foreign-policy-coronavirus-trump?fbclid=IwAR08dq1ioUta18m-dCMTPbGkhEB7oeJ47ThrOQV6ChLAiaPplGrTK9-b1MoKelsey Atherton on our Cyberpunk Dystopia: https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/coronavirus-cyberpunk-science-fiction-government-politics.htmlRobert Kelly's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Robert_E_Kelly/status/1250940245626941443Stephen Maher's Tweet: https://twitter.com/stphnmaher/status/1250414565399187457?s=20 

Does the novel Coronavirus pandemic count as a Black Swan? Van Jackson goes deep on why it was and why it matters. Is strategic competition within interdependence possible? The neoliberal irony of strategizing to fight China using resources gotten from trading with China. Why the metaphor of Pearl Harbor is not just in appropriate securitization of the pandemic--it's ultimately an un-democratic power grab. Also this episode: Where Van fits in the international relations paradigm wars, why North Korea needs but doesn't want help, and what happened to Van's old podcast.  George Takei tweet: xhttps://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1246904615985188867?s=20Abe Denmark tweet: https://twitter.com/AbeDenmark/status/1247867195859914752?s=20Euan Graham tweet: https://twitter.com/graham_euan/status/1248033806226870273James Laurenson tweet: https://twitter.com/j_laurenceson/status/1247839183646883846

Singapore's not happy with any of the great powers, but do they have a Plan B for a failure of US leadership?  Should NATO expel Hungary for turning into a dictatorship?  What happened in the latest Korea-watcher spat between Jeffrey Lewis and Joel Wit?  Also this episode: The paradigm wars in international relations theory didn't end; they migrated into Asian security studies.  The Coronavirus shouldn't be a national security issue.  Why John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath is more important than Matt Damon's Contagion.Christopher Woody shouts out the pod: https://www.businessinsider.com/backlash-to-trump-use-of-sanctions-as-coronavirus-spreads-2020-3Antonio DeLoera Tweet: https://twitter.com/AntonioDeLoeraB/status/1244708115720728578Dan Nexon Tweet: https://twitter.com/dhnexon/status/1244990273899450368Nick Bisley Tweet: https://twitter.com/NickBisley/status/1245589570806145029Fred Kaplan on Hungary and NATO: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/orban-hungary-dictatorship-eu-nato.html