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
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Host has a ‘subtle’ white-foreigner superiority complex that seems to be compensating for something 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Like the SRB Podcast (on Russia), this gives indispensable insights into a culture that too many of us are unfamiliar with. Hugely enjoyable. My only (very mild) critique is that the NBA episode might have been worth pulling to allow recording of an insert to bring it up to date. There are lots...Read full review »
MBelderson via Apple Podcasts · Great Britain · 10/23/22
The host is knowledgeable about China including most of his guests that cover many aspects of modern day China. Considering the target listeners are westerners, this podcast is as objective as it gets with nice touch of ending each episode ending Chinese rap songs.
Chinese Diaspora via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/13/21
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