Quality of guests slipping
The last few guests, barring the Chip Avengers, AI and S&T guys, have sounded like daytime TV. Remember when some former spy or military uniform would make the rounds on CNN, Fox et al, and claim that secret intelligence or anonymous sources told him a war with country X was inevitable? They’re usually more wrong than right, and get no pushback from the hosts. How can you say China is “thinking” of doing X? Can these guys read minds now? I’m sure China thinks of a lot of things, hence we judge on actions. The last guy on the podcast, the CIA one, what tea leaves was he reading to determine that the Chinese leader would tank his economy and national rejuvenation because he called another leader a friend, and wrote “nonsense” in the margins of a paper once? Forget deterrence. Forget an entire episode on what happens even if China wins (a pretty good episode at that). Just psychoanalyse one guy to reach a foregone conclusion. Also, more money and military spending, please. No one hires a think tank to tell them everything’s alright. I get that Jordan works for a think tank, but I enjoyed the more neutral, inquisitive feel of the past, not the manufacturing of consent. For example, where does the 2027 timeline come from? It seems the guy who introduced the world to it pulled it out of thin air, and now everyone just goes with it. In the UK, they have 55 Tufton Street, a think tank industrial complex I used to read, till I could see that everyone was sourcing everyone else. “Common sense” was just groupthink. It didn’t make me smarter. Can’t count how many times “compete, contest & collaborate” got reused. The people doing what ChinaTalk used to do are the Sinica Podcast and friends for China coverage, and Transistor Radio for semiconductors. Simica’s schedule also makes life much easier. If I wanted to listen to CSIS, Brookings or War on the Rocks, I’d go there. I legit expect Zeihan to turn up in within the next 12 months. If I start hearing 2030 or demographics, I’m out.
HornRimmedGlasses via Apple Podcasts · Great Britain · 03/02/23
More reviews of ChinaTalk
Jordan you have excellent guests who appear to have really good insight into current issues in China. I spent several years in Taiwan and China studying mandarin. I am a somewhat failed academic and moved into a different career path, but married Chinese so am still connected to the region and...Read full review »
Gaozi99 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/06/22
Huge fan of Jordan’s fantastic podcast. I love how he brings unique voices to discuss interesting topics which I can’t find anywhere else. Jordan’s insecurity about his radio voice is very endearing, especially considering he never speaks any Chinese on the show. Makes me wonder how his tones are…
john dickerfan via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 10/14/21
A must have If you are interested in everything China. Subjects are interesting and questions are well crafted - inteligent insights were sparked from deep dive into China through different lenses. Unlike some other China watchers/experts who like to talk from 30000 ft, or already had...Read full review »
Hangzhou Klay via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 11/09/18
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