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Both Very Clear and Also Extremely Ambiguous
Season 3 Episode 2
Escalation management; sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline; signals of Russian resolve; what the end of the war in Ukraine looks like; backing P…
3 years, 6 months ago
Victim-Blaming Theory of International Relations
Season 3 Episode 1
The long-awaited season premiere of Cheap Talk: The origins of Russia's invasion of Ukraine; did Putin make a mistake; would Ukrainian nuclear weapon…
3 years, 6 months ago
Putin's Paranoia
A Cheap Talk emergency podcast: Russia invades Ukraine and Marcus swears off predictions for a while
4 years, 1 month ago
This Weird Corner of History
Season 2 Episode 10
The Cheap Talk season 2 finale: Authenticating the sender of international signals; the problem of communicating through intermediaries; technology a…
4 years, 4 months ago
Those Are Not Their Actual Faces
Season 2 Episode 9
Artificial intelligence; how algorithms can aid policy or intelligence analysis; building trust in the output of machine learning models; creating mo…
4 years, 4 months ago
Exploiters of the Earth
The COP26 international meeting on climate change; inviting civil society and oil companies into the room; how open should the conference be; the mec…
4 years, 4 months ago
There's Quite a Bit of Hand-Waving Going On
Season 2 Episode 7
Great power conflict; the US role in abetting China’s rise; realism as both prescription and description; prospects for the future US-China relations…
4 years, 5 months ago
The Elites With Too Much Time On Their Hands
Season 2 Episode 6
The US commitment to defend Taiwan; signaling resolve while maintaining strategic ambiguity; things are dangerous out there; the effect of US public …
4 years, 5 months ago
These Independent Fiefdoms
Season 2 Episode 5
The militarization of US foreign policy; getting diplomats and intelligence officers out of the embassy; the domestic politics of foreign policy fund…
4 years, 5 months ago
That Seems Like Kind of a Stupid Thing To Complain About
Season 2 Episode 4
The gap between academia and policy; where policy beliefs come from; how we would know if there were a gap; policymakers are busy people; less method…
4 years, 5 months ago