• Peace Activism, the Iraq War, and the New Militarism w/ David Cortright | Ep. 286
    Feb 13 2026

    How did opposition to the Iraq War become the largest peace movement in recorded history? Why is the world ripe for a new generation of peace activism? And why is it so important to diagnose militarism as a primary cause of global insecurity today? Dr. David Cortright--a legendary peace activist and peace scholar--joins the pod to offer an oral history of the global peace movement in the context of his career, from protesting the Vietnam War to running SANE (The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy) and co-founding Win Without War.

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

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

    David Cortright in International Policy Journal: https://cippolicy.substack.com/p/no-to-wars-of-conquest-in-venezuela

    David Cortright's latest book: https://www.amazon.com/Peaceful-Superpower-Lessons-Largest-Movement/dp/1613322046

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

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Live! What's Causing America's Imperial Decline? | Ep. 285
    Feb 10 2026

    Recorded on location in the wilds of New Zealand’s Kapiti Coast. Why is America declining? Grand strategists, pundits, and scholars have been debating the best label for US foreign policy during the Trump presidency: illiberal hegemony; neo-royalism; reactionary nationalism; predatory hegemony. But none of these labels offer an account of themselves. Why is the US engaged in predatory behavior abroad? Why has American hegemony ended? The answer can be found in imperialism and its causes. A crisis of capitalism is accelerating imperial decline, which is birthing what you might call the Age of Primitive Accumulation. Geopolitics has fundamentally changed, and if we don't recognize the shift as a turn to imperialist foreign policy--which facilitates primitive accumulation--we will fail to understand and respond to the darkness washing over the world.

    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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    15 mins
  • The End of Arms Control | Pentagon Concentration Camps | Bezos Kills the Washington Post | Neocons Still Run DC? | Ep. 284
    Feb 6 2026

    How the Pentagon is facilitating the rapid expansion "ghost network" concentration camps in America. Why arms control is dying and what to make of the New START Treaty's expiration. Jeff Bezos has effectively killed The Washington Post--what's next? Why neoconsevative foreign policy hawks still run Washington. And the importance of Gary Stevenson's story in The Trading Game for understanding the decline of empire. Van Jackson, Julia Gledhill, and Matt Duss cover all that and more in the latest episode.

    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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    52 mins
  • US-Far Right Separatism Collab Threatens Canada | Denmark's Debt Weapon | Industrial Manufacturing Fetish | Russia's Drone War of Attrition | Ep. 283
    Jan 30 2026

    The US State Department has been coordinating far right separatists in Alberta--the imperialism threat to Canada is real. Denmark's debt weapon and the EU's anti-coercion instrument got Trump to temporarily back off of invading Greenland. Why is the fantasy of returning industrial manufacturing so important to the American far right (and some progressives)? The confession of a Biden administration adviser to supporting war crimes in Gaza. And just how bloody is drone warfare? New data from the Russia-Ukraine war reveals something on the order of World War I, with very little to show for it in terms of territorial conquest. Julia Gledhill, Van Jackson, and Matt Duss discuss all that and more in the latest 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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    47 mins
  • The Military is Trapped Between Fascism and Civil War | Ep. 282
    Jan 28 2026

    Free crossover episode with The Bang-Bang Podcast! Do US troops have a threshold for the kind of unlawful order they’re unwilling to follow? If Venezuela wasn’t a breaking point, is Greenland? Can the US have mid-term elections under martial law? Will troops fire on fellow Americans if ordered? And why is the permanent war economy at the root of everything from economic insecurity to America’s imperial boomerang in the form of ICE, National Guard deployments, and militarized policing?

    In this urgent behind-the-scenes episode, guest Jeremy Wattles joins Van Jackson and Lyle Jeremy Rubin to talk about all that and more. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

    Subscribe to The Bang-Bang Podcast: https://www.bangbangpod.com/

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

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    30 mins
  • The Rupture of the “Rules-Based International Order” w/ Seva Gunitsky | Ep. 281
    Jan 23 2026

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave the most important speech about international relations in 50 years. In this episode, Dr. Van Jackson and guest Dr. Seva Gunitsky sit down to dissect Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. They discuss the many shades of realism in international relations, what it means to acknowledge the contradictions of the "rules-based international order," and where the world goes now that American hegemony is officially over.

    Subscribe to Seva's newsletter: https://hegemon.substack.com

    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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    41 mins
  • Iranian Revolution? | Joseph Stiglitz Wants to Contain America | Network-State Neocolonialism in Greenland | Nationalizing the Defense Industry | Ep. 280
    Jan 16 2026

    Are protests in Iran a prelude to revolution? The root causes of Iranian unrest are economic. Why Joseph Stiglitz thinks it’s time to isolate and contain the United States. Why Silicon Valley’s network-state advocates have fixated on taking over Greenland, and why the geopolitics of the network state could lead to World War III. The case for nationalizing the defense industry and taking the profits out of war. And why Trump wants a $1.5 trillion-dollar war machine, and why Dr. Van Jackson predicted he would.

    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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    35 mins
  • Venezuela’s Blood for Oil “Performative Accumulation" | NATO’s Greenland Threat | Economics of Empire | A.I. Data Centers | Ep. 279
    Jan 7 2026

    Dr. Van Jackson tackling a host of dark issues in this episode. How to explain US imperialism in Venezuela. NATO's existential trouble and America's threat to annex Greenland. The economics of American empire. How the Trump administration quietly killed the last initiative for a progressive global order. And the struggle against A.I. data centers.

    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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    39 mins