The Prof G Pod

Timothy Snyder on What He Saw in Kharkiv — and Why America Is to Blame

Russia is systematically destroying the Ukrainian economy. Um it's making people's lives very hard. It's destroying their livelihoods. And I should add that this is our fault if we're Americans because it's American policy to deny Ukraine the missile defense that it needs.

Radiolab

60 Words

We examine how just 60 words of legal language have blurred the line between war and peace.

Fresh Air

Challenges the U.S. military is facing in Iran

when you look historically at operations that have focused on using air power, whether that's aircraft or missiles, to try to change the behavior of another state, that there's a lot of debate and little evidence that air power alone normally produces a durable political outcome and the one that the attacking state is looking to achieve, in part because a lot of nations have a deeper interest in the situation than the U.S. does.

Book of the Day

In 'Hinterlands,' Hannah Lucinda Smith warns not to overlook conflict at the fringes

If people want to try and understand where the invasion of Ukraine came from in 2022, look back to 11 years earlier in 2011. That's where it started.

The Prof G Pod

Anne Applebaum: The Most Under-Reported Story of 2026

And suddenly Ukraine isn't a victim, it's a provider of security. And And And it's a provider of security despite the fact that the US cut off supplies to Ukraine.

The Prof G Pod

Why $1.4 Trillion in Defense Just Got Rendered Obsolete

It's almost like a child's idea of how power works. It's a you know a kind of elementary school vision of how you project power. You just bomb stuff and then you win. That is not how the United States became uh the world's most influential country and it's not how we achieve how we achieved good outcomes in the past.

The Prof G Pod

Anne Applebaum: The Most Under-Reported Story of 2026

Suddenly Ukraine isn't a victim, it's a provider of security. And And And it's a provider of security despite the fact that the US cut off supplies to Ukraine. I I believe hoping that you that meant that Ukraine would surrender.

The Prof G Pod

The Most Expensive Boomerang in History

This to me feels like we have the most expensive boomerang in history and that is we have essentially paid a ton of money and credibility in terms of US brand equity such that we could get a worse deal than we had with the JCPOA.

China Decode

China's Plan to Win Over the World with Free AI | China Decode

China's overall plan is to use technology, to use finance building infrastructure for countries in the developing world and then through these services that China gives to the developing world, China wants to bind these countries to it politically and use their agency to counterbalance the west.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Darren Farber on Iran, China, and the Rise of Neoprimes - [Invest Like the Best, EP.474]

The real problem with deterrence is that it requires your adversary to believe you will actually follow through. And historically, the United States has had a credibility problem — we draw red lines and then don't enforce them, which is an invitation for adversaries to probe and push.

The Week

Iran, SpaceX, and a Nervous Bond Market | The Week

I have no leverage. Trump is me in the Hungarian forest right now. Because he never bothered to consult Congress and offended them. Because he never even signed up or even briefed European allies. Because he did not in any way coordinate anything around intelligence around the Straits of Hormuz, getting expats out of the Gulf, figuring out putting in place the right defense mechanisms.

China Decode

The U.S. vs China AI Battle Is Getting Ugly | China Decode

I would say all of this to me means that the rivalry has entered a new phase. The White House is talking about exploring measures to hold foreign actors accountable. That's the phrase they use for industrial scale distillation campaigns. To me, I think the important thing is that politically, geopolitically, this is a step change.

Throughline

3 key moments that led to the U.S.-Iran war

In a course of months, Iran went from one of America's best allies to one of America's worst adversaries.