The world is a dumpster fire right now. For my own sanity, but also for yours, we need more critical takes about current events. There’s too much happening and it’s hard to keep track of everything that matters.

So as a bonus for patrons of the newsletter, I’m going to check in each week with a run down of stories that deserve amplification, with critiques from the Un-Diplomatic perspective.

The gigification of Temu supply chains amid great-power rivalry.

The Russian missile crisis and what it has to do with North Korea.

The hikoi protest march in New Zealand as a beacon of hope for humanity.

Biden Allows Ukraine to Strike Russia With Long-Range U.S. Missiles

The U.S. Chinese immigrants running Temu shipping centers from their homes

Live updates: Hīkoi concludes as attention shifts to inside parliament

Free preview crossover with the Bang-Bang Podcast!

Arguably the most successful revolutionary film of all time, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers boasts many legacies. For film buffs, its import derives from its landmark status in the pantheon of Italian neorealism and political cinema. For anti-imperialists, its value comes from its hardnosed but sympathetic depictions of armed struggle. And for imperialists or right-wing strongmen, the film has been deployed as a realistic guidebook for counterinsurgency. Van and Lyle relate these competing readings to the War on Terror and the latest debates around Gaza, Palestine, and liberation.

Get the full episode and subscribe at https://www.bangbangpod.com/p/the-battle-of-algiers-1966.

Further Reading:

A Savage War of Peace (1977), by Alistair Horne

Discourse on Colonialism (1955), by Aimé Césaire

The Wretched of the Earth (1961), by Franz Fanon

“Negroes are Anti-Semitic Because They’re Anti-White” (1967), by James Baldwin

“Open Letter to the Born Again” (1979), by James Baldwin

On Violence (1970), by Hannah Arendt

“No regrets from an ex-Algerian rebel immortalized in film” (2007), Interview with Saadi Yacef

“The Communists and the Colonized” (2016), Interview with Selim Nadi

Hamas Contained (2018), by Tareq Baconi

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (2020), by Rashid Khalidi

How exactly do police end up supermilitarized? What is the imperial booming that brings militarism abroad to the Homefront? And what does the feminist standpoint offer analysts of these problems? Part of the answer are obscure programs called 1033 and 1122. The founders of the Women for Weapons Trade Transparency (W2T2) join the pod to explain.

W2T2: https://www.w2t2.org

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

Is the War on Terror really over? Or is it just less visible? Julia is joined by Sarah Yager and Yumna Rizvi to discuss the makings of a militarized, counterterrorism-based U.S. foreign policy, how it impacts the world, and how to change it.

Sarah is the Washington Director at Human Rights Watch, where she leads the organization’s engagement with the United States government on global human rights issues, with a particular focus on national security and foreign policy. She has previously served at both the Department of Defense and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

Yumna is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Victims of Torture, focusing on human rights, national security, and refugee and asylum protections. She previously served as a human rights expert with Huqooq-e-Pakistan, a joint project of the European Union and Pakistani government aimed at improving the country’s compliance with international treaty obligations.

Further Reading:
Counterterrorism Copy Cats: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/counterterrorism-copy-cats

Other recent work by Sarah and Yumna:

Opinion: A debate tip for the candidates — there’s a correct answer on weapons to Israel, Sarah Yager: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-09-09/debate-philadelphia-kamala-harris-donald-trump-gaza

The Abu Ghraib case is an important milestone for justice, Yumna Rizvi: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/28/the-abu-ghraib-case-is-an-important-milestone-for-justice

Does foreign policy matter in the presidential election? The answer might surprise you. Chris Shell joins the pod to discuss recent survey findings about foreign policy and the presidential election. Gaza, Ukraine, immigration, climate change, and China all feature in the discussion, as well as what's really going on with the African American vote.

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

How Do Americans Feel About the Election and Foreign Policy?: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/10/american-voters-election-foreign-policy?lang=en

Race, Foreign Policy, and the 2024 Presidential Election: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/10/election-survey-2024-foreign-policy-race?lang=en

Find Chris on Twitter: https://x.com/ChrisShell95

Crossover episode! Van appeared on Convergence Magazine’s Block and Build podcast, hosted by Convergence founder Cayden Mak, to talk about Kamala Harris’s foreign policy. They end up covering all the big issues--Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, and China rivalry. They also gab about what it’s like working as an unpaid foreign policy adviser to a presidential campaign.

Subscribe to Block and Build: https://convergencemag.com/podcast/the-future-of-american-foreign-policy-with-van-jackson/

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

Free preview of the Bang-Bang Podcast. “We tortured some folks.” Katherine Bigelow and Mark Boal’s cinematic blockbuster about the Bin Laden assassination was alternately ballyhooed and panned upon its release. Fans praised its purported cinematic achievements while critics lamented its alleged militarism or pro-torture sympathies. What’s remarkable today is the attention it received in all directions, perhaps a universal attention no longer possible in a society so fragmented and lost. Van and Lyle try to make sense of the movie as a contested event, and what its ambiguous ending might tell us about what came next. They also recall where they were when Obama ordered Seal Team Six to pull that trigger.

Get the full episode--and all episodes--at: https://www.bangbangpod.com

Matt and Van chop it up about the Veep debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance; how Ta-Nehisi Coates has taken up the mantel of James Baldwin; the Biden administration's expanding role in Middle East war; and the fanaticism of about China that is dividing America, predictably.

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