• Live! Imperial End Times: The Geopolitics of Class War in a Post-American World | Ep. 303
    May 21 2026

    This episode is a live public lecture to the New Zealand Fabian Society in Wellington. Our governments are clinging to outdated mental maps of the world—maps that obscure the pain and profit associated with their foreign-policy choices. In this public talk, Dr. Van Jackson diagnoses our moment of global “polycrisis” as a crisis of capitalism anchored to a single declining hegemon. The United States has repudiated its former global role; the world is becoming more multipolar; and prolonged economic stagnation is plaguing the global North and South to varying degrees. These forces are propelling modern national states toward “primitive accumulation”—using state power to hoard both wealth and security at the expense of the working classes. Linking America’s permanent war economy to the rentier economies of wealthy nations like New Zealand, Jackson argues that imperialist statecraft is becoming a more common mode of geopolitics—a mode that benefits oligarchs and turns the institutions of “national security” against us all. Refusing this dystopian trajectory means struggling to retain our shared humanity and construct a global order without empire.

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    Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • China Summit Realism | Graham Platner Defines the Working Class | Gorka's Counter-Terrorism Anxiety | Ep. 302
    May 15 2026

    What does Trump's summit with China's Xi Jinping mean for rivalry, the permanent war economy, strategic stability, and US imperial decline? The deep sexual anxieties underneath the White House's anti-democratic counter-terrorism strategy. Graham Platner takes the lead in defining the working class and left populism. Why military spending is out of control, and who benefits. Matt Duss, Julia Gledhill, and Van Jackson are back to make sense of it all.

    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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    45 mins
  • A Non-Aligned Global Order and the Post-American World, w/ Nils Gilman | Ep. 301
    May 8 2026

    Is a new Non-Aligned Movement emerging to counter the United States (and is it trying to counter the US)? What was the original Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War? What was the New International Economic Order, and why did it disappear? What prospects are there for a global order in a post-hegemon, post-American, multipolar world? And what does the US Democratic Party have to do with all these questions? Dr. Nils Gilman joins Dr. Van Jackson on The Un-Diplomatic Podcast tackle all those questions by discussing Gilman's new essay in Dissent Magazine called "A New Non-Aligned Movement?"

    Nils Gilman's essay in Dissent: https://dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/a-new-non-aligned-movement/

    Nils's Substack: https://nilsgilman.substack.com

    Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/

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    Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions

    #multipolarity #globalorder #geopolitics #imperialism #peace #podcast

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    1 hr
  • Imperialist Worldmaking | Graham Platner’s Victory | Israeli Piracy | China Threat Decline | Rubio’s Panama Problem | Ep. 300
    May 1 2026

    Why Graham Platner's victory in the Democratic primary for Maine's senate seat is so important for the antifascist antiwar movement. Why Americans no longer believe the hype about the China threat. Inside Marco Rubio's imperial control of the Panama Canal and Panama's expropriation of a Chinese company's assets. Israeli piracy targets the Gaza Sumud Flotilla, creating "Apartheid without borders." And the role of multilateralism in forging a global imperialist order.

    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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    30 mins
  • Palantir’s Fascist Manifesto | Substack Controversy | Iran Blockade Contradiction | Graham Platner’s NYT Debut | SecNav Fired | Ep. 299
    Apr 24 2026

    What Palantir's manifesto says about its the politics of militarism. The Substack controversy about Andrew Tate, and why we stand with Talib Kweli and W. Kamau Bell. Ben Rhodes co-signs Graham Platner in the New York Times. Why the Democratic Party must become anti-war if it wants to win. The contradictory information about blockading the Strait of Hormuz. Ben McKenzie's new anti-crypto documentary. And inside the firing of the Secretary of the Navy.

    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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    42 mins
  • Peace or Barbarism! Guest Morgan Spector on Leftist Foreign Policy, Anti-Imperialism, and a Crisis of Capitalism | Ep. 298
    Apr 16 2026

    Why did the US invade Iran? What does it have to do with American imperial decline? Why do oligarchs need the permanent war economy? Why is left populism impossible without an anti-war movement? What should a leftist or progressive foreign policy actually look like? Is AOC an organic intellectual, and what do we need from her foreign policy? Why did Bernie Sanders shift from talking about kleptocracy to talking about oligarchy? What are the prospects for left populism at home and anti-imperialism abroad? And why is political reform still possible in a revolutionary conjuncture? Critically acclaimed actor Morgan Spector joins Dr. Van Jackson in this ambitious, wide-ranging episode of The Un-Diplomatic Podcast.

    Follow Morgan Spector on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epluribusyourmom/

    Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/

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    Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the individuals and not of any institutions

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Live! Iran War Ceasefire Fail | Trump Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz | US As Anti-Hegemon | Ep. 297
    Apr 13 2026

    The fragile US ceasefire with Iran has collapsed. Why? What is "goliath's curse" and how does it help us understand America's maximalist demands? Is Trump's new threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz possible? Does the US have any leverage against Iran? And what makes the US an anti-hegemon? Many questions, many answers in this emergency episode of the pod.

    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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    25 mins
  • Live! Iran Ceasefire and the (ongoing) Risks of Nuclear War | Ep. 296
    Apr 8 2026

    Emergency episode covering the terms of the US-Iran ceasefire; why it signals the end of US hegemony; the risks of nuclear war, which remain in place; Israel’s role as a spoiler; indicators of Chinese hegemony (or not); the limits of US power; and what it means to think of Iran as a great power controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

    Subscribe to the Un-Diplomatic Newsletter: https://www.un-diplomatic.com/

    Watch Un-Diplomatic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast

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    14 mins