The Soviets' Bid for Global Power
ChinaTalk24 Maalis 2025

The Soviets' Bid for Global Power

Sergey Radchenko’s book, To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Bid for Global Power, is a masterwork! In my mind, it’s in pole position for best book of 2025. Sergey takes you into the mind of Soviet and Chinese leaders as they wrestle for global power and recognition, leaving you amused, inspired, and horrified by the small-mindedness of the people who had the power to start World War III. We get amazing vignettes like Liu Shaoqi making fun of the Americans for eating ice cream in trenches, Khrushchev pinning red stars on Eisenhower’s grandkids, and Brezhnev and Andropov offering to dig up dirt on senators to help save Nixon from Watergate. Sergey earns your trust in this book, acknowledging what we can and can’t know. He leaves you with a new lens to understand the Cold War and the new US-China rivalry — namely, the overwhelming preoccupation with global prestige by Cold War leaders. In this interview, we discuss… Why legitimacy matters in international politics, Stalin’s colonial ambitions and Truman’s strategy of containment, Sino-Soviet relations during the Stalin era and beyond, The history of nuclear blackmail, starting with the 1956 Suez crisis, Why Khrushchev couldn’t save the Soviet economy. Co-hosting today is Jon Sine of the Cogitations substack. Outro music: Виталий Марков "Главное, ребята, сердцем не стареть" (YouTube Link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaksot(518)

Quantum 101

Quantum 101

What exactly is quantum computing? Why does it matter, and what would it actually mean to “win” the quantum race? Zach Yerushalmi, CEO of Elevate Quantum, a Mountain West–based public-private consorti...

20 Huhti 1h 13min

WarTalk: Is Mythos a Cyber Nuke? + The Blockade That Wasn't

WarTalk: Is Mythos a Cyber Nuke? + The Blockade That Wasn't

We discuss… Why Mythos is a Dr. Strangelove moment — and whether the better analogy is a nuke or a pandemic Who gets the keys: Ukraine vs. South Korea vs. Japan vs. the Five Eyes, and why the...

17 Huhti 1h 2min

The Think Tank New Breed (IFP + FAI)

The Think Tank New Breed (IFP + FAI)

Caleb Watney (Institute for Progress) and Max Bodach (Foundation for American Innovation) on what the new breed of DC think tanks does differently and why the old model is broken. We discuss: Why...

16 Huhti 1h 8min

Claude Mythos and National Power

Claude Mythos and National Power

Anthropic’s new model found decades-old vulnerabilities in foundational open-source code that millions of automated tests and countless human experts had missed, presaging a potentially revolutionary ...

12 Huhti 57min

WarTalk: Who Won the Iran War?  (Second Breakfast Rebranded...)

WarTalk: Who Won the Iran War? (Second Breakfast Rebranded...)

Eric Robinson, Tony Stark , Justin Mc , and Secretary of Defense Rock join me to score the Iran conflict. We discuss… Whether Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll booth is a Trump card or a wasting asse...

10 Huhti 1h 3min

How Ukraine Makes Drones

How Ukraine Makes Drones

Ukrainian drone manufacturing. How has the country been able to build hundreds of thousands, even millions of drones over the past four years of conflict? What dependencies does its industrial base st...

7 Huhti 1h 4min

Second Breakfast: F-15, Pete's Purges, CENTCOM Hubris, War of 1812

Second Breakfast: F-15, Pete's Purges, CENTCOM Hubris, War of 1812

An F-15E is down in southern Iran. Justin, Tony, Eric and I talk through what combat search and rescue actually looks like, how a captured pilot changes the politics of ending this war, and why a host...

3 Huhti 1h 11min

The American Federal Civil Service: A History

The American Federal Civil Service: A History

The history of the American federal civil service — what can we learn from its past glories and failures, and where should we take this next? We have ⁠Kevin Hawickhorst⁠ of the Foundation for American...

1 Huhti 58min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
rss-pinnalla
rss-podme-livebox
otetaan-yhdet
aihe
rss-asiastudio
the-ulkopolitist
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
radio-antro
lotta-paakkunainen
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-merja-mahkan-rahat
rss-girls-finish-f1rst