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The Un-Diplomatic Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Van Jackson, Matt Duss, Julia Gledhill
A show about the class politics of geopolitics. Hosted by Van Jackson, Julia Gledhill, and Matt Duss. The views expressed are theirs alone (not those of any institution or employer).
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- 5 days ago1h 2m
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 administration's foreign policy? On whom does the Iran war hang, or the trillion-dollar military budget? What function do think tanks provide? And what is the relationship of the Blob to the capitalist establishment and the power of the national security state? Jonathan Guyer joins Dr. Van Jackson to make sense of how Washington foreign policy works, especially in the wake of the Democrats' sweeping electoral victories in the 2026 mid-term elections. Watching Recommendations: Netflix's Animals; the Scream franchise. Listen to Jonathan on None of the Above: https://www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org/ Read Jonathan's essay in New York Review of Books: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/10/27/trumps-blob-foreign-policy/?lp_txn_id=1701697 Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
- 1 weeks ago29 min
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 would exceed one-trillion dollars. The war has already cost US households $147 billion is excess energy costs. Global dockworkers across 111 countries on five continents have coordinated a strike against all the wars. Dr. Van Jackson explains it all. Also this episode: Un-Diplomatic Newsletter appears in the New York Review of Books; shoutout to Morgan Spector. Watching recommendations: Drop Dead Gorgeous; Carrie. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
- 2 weeks ago31 min
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 spies in China to steal tech secrets. Saudi Arabia is rendering Yemen into its Gaza--a site of exceptional war crimes. And why Netanyahu could go to jail, but for corruption in a submarine deal, not war crimes. Matt Duss is back with Dr. Van Jackson to explain it all. Watching recommendations: Netflix's Below; Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey; Rick & Morty; NAZA. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
- 3 weeks ago41 min
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 from it, and what comes next. Also this episode: Understanding why the student-led riots in France will grow then fail; what Antonio Gramsci tells us about riots; and what makes a riot different from a strike. Watching recommendations: The Drop on Hulu; Netflix's Below; V For Vendetta. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0zI9vqD3y78?si=TpALK2ZcpKVOQWDB Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
- Oct 9, 202643 min
"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 differs meaningfully from liberal empire..and the implications are dire. Dr. Van Jackson breaks down his new essay in Foreign Policy magazine, "Trump's Greater North America is Fascist Geopolitics." Also this episode: Why the costs of the Iran War reveals it as a war for oligarchy; on Trump's willingness to sacrifice LA and San Diego to keep fighting Iran; and Senator Chris Murphy was barred from a US military base in the UAE in order for the Trump administration to avoid democratic accountability for the Iran War. Watching/listening recommendations: The Drop on Hulu; the Mother Country Radicals podcast series; and the song "Ain't Nobody" by Chaka Khan and Rufus. Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: @un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
- Oct 3, 20261h 13m
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 militarism? Why is he accusing journalists of treason, lying about the Iran War, or bragging about slashing staff while inflating the military budget? Why are right-wing oligarchs (Elon Musk, Palmer Lucky, and Newt Gingrich) appointed to be the Pentagon's brain trust in charge of "Project Meridian?" And how does Hegseth narrate the role of the military in peripheralizing the imperial core, making Alabama more like the new Guam or Philippines? Julia Gledhill is back with Van Jackson to break it all down, including her new investigation for The Baffler magazine on the role of "autonomous manufacturing" in transferring wealth from taxpayers to venture capitalists via the national security state. Read Julia’s piece in The Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/latest/up-against-the-wall-gledhill Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
- Sep 25, 202631 min
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 Rubio rejects international order at the United Nations. Against data centers or A.I.? Then the US security state is coming for you! Russian hybrid aggression has spilled out of Ukraine and into Europe--why the "sandbox theory" of support for Ukraine was always going to be self-defeating. And YouTuber Alec The Pen satirizes the "Secret Society of Democratic Centrists." Alec The Pen's short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/j5bXSIkpPJk Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
- Sep 18, 20261h 36m
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 October 7, 2023--and every person with a policy background should sign the pledge to keep these genocidaires away from the halls of power. The Center for Working Class Politics is tracking four key working-class candidates running as Democrats for the mid-term elections--here's how they're doing and what it means for the popularity of economic populism and whether we're really in a left populist moment. Public debate has been consumed with the question of whether artificial intelligence will destroy the world. But that debate distracts from the real ways in which AI is ending the world right now--by destroying critical thinking capacities, by deskilling white-collar workers, by inflating the worst financial bubble in economic history...and according to a new MIT research paper, causing "cognitive surrender" in students who are addicted to using AI to avoid the difficulty of learning. Finally, a new big report in The International Policy Journal makes an airtight case for why New Zealand should become a model for non-offensive defense; avoid acquiring naval frigates; and foreclose on multilateral warfighting with the United States. At stake is whether a small trading nation succumbs to empire or is capable of the independent foreign policy it's prided itself on for decades. For the Battle of Chile conversation referenced in this episode, as well as part two and three: https://www.bangbangpod.com/p/the-battle-of-chile-part-i-1975-w Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/ Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions.
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About The Un-Diplomatic Podcast
A show about the class politics of geopolitics. Hosted by Van Jackson, Julia Gledhill, and Matt Duss. The views expressed are theirs alone (not those of any institution or employer).
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