The Un-Diplomatic Podcast

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.