The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

Is US China policy racist?  A better question is whether Pompeo is the Sebastian Gorka of China policy. How to make sense of dueling Chinese diplomats.  Will the European Union expand, even as it's contracting?  Is the US prepping an invasion of Venezuela?  And the avoidable nightmare of a suspended presidential election.  Also this episode: North Korea as a bizarrely stable nuclear flashpoint, and whether arms-racing with North Korea makes any sense (it doesn't).  Erin Ryan's Tweet: https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/1241041892231413760Ryan Hass's Tweet:https://twitter.com/ryanl_hass/status/1242088502189326337Benjamin Denison's Tweet: https://twitter.com/DenisonBe/status/1241885474144256001How to Vote During a Pandemic: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2020-03-24/how-vote-during-pandemic

Why does the Pentagon keep getting deterrence wrong?  Why is Mike Pompeo threatening the families of staff who work for the International Criminal Court?  And what makes Russia so different from China?  Also this episode: the danger of US-China conspiracy theories; why China's bid for hegemony involves a lot of cheap talk; white supremacy in the military; and the inhumanity and anti-strategy of sanctioning Iran amid the coronavirus.  Mehdi Hasan on Iran: https://theintercept.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-iran-sanctions/Daniel Larison on Iraq: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/we-have-lost-in-iraq-and-we-should-leave/Matt Zeitlin's Tweet: https://twitter.com/MattZeitlin/status/1239024271877439489Matt Korda's Tweet: https://twitter.com/mattkorda/status/1239968570043289606Gerry Doyle's Tweet: https://twitter.com/mgerrydoyle/status/1240085453690130438

Why liberal foreign policy is a bad fit for dark times.  What Netflix's Narcos can tell us about order and stability in international relations. Why Russia started an oil price war with Saudi Arabia.  Why the critical left doesn't understand power as well as it thinks.  If your think tank gets money from Ali Baba, that doesn't automatically make you a Chinese agent.  What does Bernie Sanders really think about China?  Also this episode: A brief history lesson on the politics of the American Progressive Era.  Matt Stoller tweet: https://twitter.com/matthewstoller/status/1237580289888505856Rush Doshi tweet: https://twitter.com/SolomonYue/status/1237579397483261952Jeff Colgan tweet: https://twitter.com/JeffDColgan/status/1237075224446881792Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes on democracy's decline: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/opinion/democracy-eastern-europe.html

The dangers of low-yield nukes in Taiwan.  Why great power competition requires democracy and equality at home.  Thinking through the risks and benefits  of arms control summitry with China, and why Trump can't make it work.  Why the comparisons between Vietnam and Afghanistan militate against keeping troops around.  Also this episode: Is Biden killing the youth vote, or saving American democracy?  And why Van identifies with Seth Rogen.Mike Mazarr Tweet: https://twitter.com/MMazarr/status/1234901196550348800Emma Ashford Tweet: https://twitter.com/EmmaMAshford/status/1234306863421890562Tong Zhao Tweet: https://twitter.com/zhaot2005/status/1234338686788964352Lessons From Vietnam on Leaving Afghanistan by George Herring: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2019-04-15/lessons-vietnam-leaving-afghanistan 

Why pundits don't understand the political savvy of Bernie Sanders.  Does losing Taiwan mean losing Japan?  Yes and no.  Why the pundits don't understand the political savvy of Bernie Sanders.  Why the State Department is sabotaging arms control while promoting a fake arms control agenda.  And how China's historical record speaks to a strategic culture that Pompeo just doesn't understand.  Also this episode: Why Van has too much hustle for Marxism, Matt Duss for National Security Adviser, and how the US and Chinese economies could actually decouple.  Alexandra Bell Tweet: https://twitter.com/atomicbell/status/1231718308812120064Nicholas Miller Tweet: https://twitter.com/Nick_L_Miller/status/1231998228679270401T. Greer Post on Taiwan-Japan: http://scholars-stage.blogspot.com/2020/02/losing-taiwan-means-losing-japan.htmlM. Taylor Fravel on China: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/21/mike-pompeo-criticized-china-not-respecting-its-neighbors-territorial-integrity-whats-story/

The restraint movement in foreign policy starts penetrating Washington.  Elizabeth Warren takes on the biggest oligarch of them all--Mike Bloomberg.  China trade distorts the national interest.  And Van Jackson thinks through the merits of NATO versus a European Defense Union.  Also this episode: Why Trump will keep extorting South Korea; the danger of Russia and Turkey treating Syria as a sphere of influence; Scottish independence; and Van's musings about "Washington insider status."  John Carl Baker's Tweet: https://twitter.com/johncarlbaker/status/1230322409330397185Adam Mount's Tweet: https://twitter.com/ajmount/status/1228404906865909765Alex Ward's Tweet: https://twitter.com/AlexWardVox/status/1230312105661865984Anne Marie Brady's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Anne_MarieBrady/status/1229998784421060608Judah Grunstein on Restraint in World Politics Review: https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/28544/restraint-could-turn-the-u-s-into-the-european-union-for-better-or-worse?utm_source=Active+Subscribers&utm_campaign=0df4292aa5-Daily_Subscribers_02192020&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_35c49cbd51-0df4292aa5-64517997&mc_cid=0df4292aa5&mc_eid=6220f8ae15

Would Bernie Sanders bomb North Korea? Probably not but the New York Times thinks so. Ilhan Omar's plan to save America from militarism. Trump's fake arms control agenda. Why Australia losing faith in the US might mean acquiring nuclear weapons. Why Kim Jong Un finds Trump totally embarrassing. And the wage theft of Washington think tanks.  Daniel McDowell in World Politics Review: https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/28418/ofac-sanctions-and-the-new-dollar-diplomacyAnkit Panda's Tweet: https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1227424186165010435Nuclear Memes for Atomic Teens Tweet: https://twitter.com/NuclearMemes/status/1227640799912976385Uri Friedman on The Sanders Doctrine: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/02/bernie-sanders-doctrine-america-military-foreign-policy/606364/Michael Fullilove on Losing Faith in America: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/how-americanophile-lost-his-faith-us/606388/

The contradiction of military superiority and China threat deflation.  How many " left technocrats" are actually out there?  Is dollar hegemony good for national security?  And why do Millennials shun American exceptionalism while Boomers still revel in it?  Also this episode: blowing up the landmine ban triggers Van's inner activist, military superiority is politically unsustainable, more Chinese imperialism, and what the defense budget shouldn't be spending money on.  Emma Ashford's tweet: https://twitter.com/EmmaMAshford/status/1223274059800203264Matt Duss's tweet: https://twitter.com/mattduss/status/1224324932814938112Chris Clary's tweet: https://twitter.com/clary_co/status/1224705466800001024Chicago Council on Global Affairs Survey: https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/publication/lcc/ok-boomer-youth-hesitant-use-force-shun-us-exceptionalism-foreign-policyJoshua Zoffer on Dollar Dominance: https://newrepublic.com/article/156417/end-forever-war-keep-dollar-globally-dominant 

What's the point of low-yield nuclear weapons?  To use them, of course. Elizabeth Warren's plan to end endless war.  How Trump fractured the left by flirting with Korean peace, and why his fake Israel peace plan threatens to do so again.  Chinese imperialism is a thing now.  Also this episode: difficulties of democratizing foreign policy, prediction in international relations, being kind in national security, and...South Korean conscription.Elizabeth Warren on ending endless war: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/elizabeth-warren-we-can-end-our-endless-wars/605497/Maggie Caroliine repping NatSecGirlSquad: https://twitter.com/MaggieCaroline1/status/1219409363623989250Kori Schake on being kind: https://twitter.com/KoriSchake/status/1219441028186419202?s=20Gregg Carlstrom on fake Israeli peace: https://twitter.com/glcarlstrom/status/1222279492183494662?s=20Stephen Wertheim on defense: https://twitter.com/stephenwertheim/status/1222294594735525888?s=20Corey Pein on anti-elite resistance to Trump: https://twitter.com/coreypein/status/1222275041456357377Andrew Facini on tactical nukes: https://thebulletin.org/2020/01/the-low-yield-nuclear-warhead-a-dangerous-weapon-based-on-bad-strategic-thinking/Daniel Larison on Elizabeth Warren: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/campaign-promises-and-ending-wars/ 

This is the second of two episodes interviewing Dr. Dan Nexon, a former adviser to Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, a proponent of progressive internationalism, scholar of empires, and much more. In this episode, we talk about:--how he ended up advising Sanders's campaign in 2016, --what led him to think seriously about progressive foreign policy, --his beef with the anti-imperial left, --why the "liberal international order" is on death's door, --how to think about the rise of far right movements in Europe, --Chinese versus US imperialism, --what he likes about the convergences and divergences in Warren versus Sanders as presidential candidates,-- and more!Dan's blogging: https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/author/dnexonDan's forthcoming book w/ Alex Cooley (Exit from Hegemony): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/exit-from-hegemony-9780190916473?cc=us&lang=en&Dan's influential Foreign Affairs piece on progressive foreign policy: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2018-09-04/toward-neo-progressive-foreign-policy