ChinaTalk

Lawrence Freedman is the dean of strategic studies. He’s written books about the Falklands War, nuclear strategy, political-military relations, Kennedy’s foreign policy, the revolution of military affairs, and (my personal favorite) the history of strategy.  

Freedman is now part of the father-son writing duo samf.substack.com.

Note: we recorded this in the summer of 2023. Thanks to the Hudson Institute for sponsoring this conversation.

In this far-reaching conversation, we discuss:

How the Falklands saved Thatcher’s premiership, making her the Iron Lady,

Why the great strategic decisions of history rarely have clear, pivotal moments,

Parallels between Putin, Xi, and the Argentine junta — what the Falklands campaign tells us about Ukraine, Taiwan, and the future of war,

How nuclear war went from being a “winnable” geopolitical contest to the apocalyptic dog that didn’t bark,

What Cold War arms control treaties can and can’t tell us about AI,

The best strategists not covered by last week's interview with Hal Brands,

Lawrence Freedman's recipe for wide reading and prolific writing.

Outro music: Oh! It's a Lovely War (1918) · Courtland & Jeffries (Youtube Link)
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Peter Harrell drops in, attorney who served in the Obama and Biden admins and submitted a brief in this case
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Bryan Clark opens the show talking Iran. Recurring cohosts include Justin Mc, Tony Stark and Eric Robinson.

Eric Slesinger of 201 Ventures drops in https://ericslesinger.com/

outtro music: rubio's speech https://suno.com/s/KnIpTyZIU7iJSeIf
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We’re here for a CHIPS Act megapod, in person with Mike Schmidt and Todd Fisher, the director and founding CIO of the CHIPS Program Office, respectively.

We discuss…


The mechanisms behind the success of the CHIPS Act,


What CHIPS can teach us about other industrial policy challenges, like APIs and rare earths,


What it takes to build a successful industrial policy implementation team,


How the fear of “another Solyndra” is holding back US industrial policy,


Chris Miller’s recent interest in revitalizing America’s chemical industry.

This post is a collaboration with the Factory Settings Substack: https://www.factorysettings.org/. Subscribe for more insights from former CHIPS Program Office leaders!

Suno song link: https://suno.com/s/wwVYK10LfrAD5zK2
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We're trying out a different format to explore "Chinese peptides." We talk to biohackers using compounds like BPC-157 to heal extreme injuries, go undercover as peptide buyers, and discuss the challenges of reporting on the Chinese pharmaceutical ecosystem with the legendary Hamilton Morris.

Special thanks to guests Jasmine Sun, Hamilton Morris, Aaron Kesselheim, Marcus, and David. This episode was produced by Lily Ottinger with additional reporting from Irene Zhang and Nick Corvino.

Check out Jasmine's NYT article here.

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