The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

Global power to the people. 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).

The Un-Diplomatic Podcast is a news podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 322 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts The Un-Diplomatic Podcast, a news show with 322 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #324

  Pete Hegseth's Counter-Revolutionary Future of War | Ep. 322

  Oct 3, 20261h 14m

  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.

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  Episode #322

  A.I. Doomerism and "Criti-Hype" | Working-Class Populism Experiment | Drop The Genocide 20 Campaign | New Zealand Independence At Stake | Ep. 320

  Sep 18, 20261h 37m

  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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  Episode #321

  Killing Empire, Abandoning Asia, or Rescuing the Asian Peace? A Radical Rethink of the US in Asia’s Balance of Power | Ep. 319

  Sep 11, 20261h 1m

  A new report from Defense Priorities has a radical proposal: End US alliances with South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines; drastically cut US military presence in East Asia; declare a non-intervention policy on Taiwan; and shift US military strategy from defending a "first-island chain" defense perimeter to the "second-island chain." Dr. Van Jackson explains the meaning and implications of this proposal and evaluates it from the perspective of anti-militarist anti-imperialism. Based on previous research, he also proposes the standard for "progressive foreign policy," whether progressives and socialists should support this new proposal, and no proposal for changing military strategy has a chance of stabilizing Asia if it does not prioritize the concept of the "Asian Peace." Also this episode: why the 1995 Michael Moore comedy Canadian Bacon explains the US fixation with colonizing Canada in 2026. In the back half of the episode: a mini-lecture on imperialist accounts of World War One, comparing how W.E.B. Du Bois and V.I. Lenin both theorized empire as the cause of World War One but in starkly different ways.  W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Souls of White Folk” (1920), https://loa-shared.s3.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Du_Bois_White_Folk.pdf . V.I. Lenin, “Chapter 1: The Principle of Socialism and the War of 1914-15,” in Socialism and War (1915), https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/s-w/ch01.htm . 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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  Episode #320

  US Territorial Confession | The Economist Loves Australian Empire | ICE Raids Are Bad for the Economy | Keeping Climate Protest Alive | Ep. 318

  Sep 4, 20261h 22m

  In this episode: Why "purging immigrants" doesn't fix working-class wages—it's a wealth story, not a race story. Attending New Zealand's student-led "School Strike 4 Climate" in Wellington—how the movement's demands have evolved from narrow climate asks (ending fossil fuel exploration, scrapping fast-track approvals) toward linking climate justice with broader political education and youth voter enrollment. The White House's official website is hosting deportation-themed arcade games—fascism makes cruelty a spectacle. Trump's social media post depicting U.S. "territories," which doubled as an admission that Guam, Puerto Rico, CNMI, Washington D.C., Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia function as U.S. colonial holdings—plus a jab claiming the Strait of Hormuz as American territory. The Economist magazine had embarrassing coverage of Australia's Pacific security agreements, which are asymmetric "protectorate" deals that expand Australian sub-imperial influence and destabilize the region more than any Chinese military presence does. Economic pundit Steve Ratner has a chart showing that ICE raid-heavy states have seen the slowest wage growth...and that opens an explainer about fascism, counter-revolution, and who benefits from ethnonationalism (oligarchs!). Labor's share of national income—not immigration—is driving economic insecurity. Non-sequitur: Hulu’s Furious might be the best show on streaming right now. Also this episode: A crossover conversation with the show Bogan Intelligentsia about US economic war with Canada; our complicated feelings about Mark Carney as Canada’s PM; why Australia is totally misreading American politics and the world’s geopolitics; how different political constituencies interpret multipolarity; the Democratic Party in the US; and more. 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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  Episode #319

  Inside the Tech Worker Movement Against Oligarchy, w/ Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan | Ep. 317

  Aug 27, 20261h 10m

  How has labor organizing of tech workers changed from the early 2010s to today? What has been the tech oligarch playbook for labor repression, and why have tech billionaires mutated into oligarchs? How did Kickstarter become the first company to unionize in the tech sector? How does far-right culture-war politics benefit the oligarchic class? And what makes exercising worker power in the tech sector unique compared to worker power in the economy at large? JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine join Dr. Van Jackson to discuss their incredible new book, Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry. Also this episode: The Trump administration designates Palestine Action a global terrorist organization; fascist geopolitics propels the US toward trying to annex Canada; CIA operations in Mexico; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announces an economic "D-Day" threat on Iran that he can't fully implement.  Buy the book, Against Tech Oligarchy: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2858-against-tech-oligarchy  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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