The Cold War Daily
Politics
Cold War Daily, a blog about the new great power struggle between the US, China, and Russia. It discusses how this moment challenges our beloved liberal democracies.
Location:
United States
Description:
Cold War Daily, a blog about the new great power struggle between the US, China, and Russia. It discusses how this moment challenges our beloved liberal democracies.
Language:
English
Website:
https://coldwardaily.com
Episodes
The Kremlintarian tendency of American libertarians
5/6/2023
A while ago, I wrote about what appears to be a rhetorical alignment between Western libertarians and the Kremlin’s messaging. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the divide between East and West regarding libertarianism has become more evident. In some European libertarian circles, those who adopt such views are derogatorily referred to as […]
Duration:00:06:59
The US tech world and Russia
10/11/2022
Given the interest in Elon Musk’s flirtation with the Kremlin view on Ukraine, the topic of the Western tech world’s openness to Kremlin narratives has emerged again. I’ve gotten a small spike of interest in a presentation I made at SXSW in 2018. So I’ll share it here again in a downloadable form. If I […]
Duration:01:01:29
US declassifies and releases more intel to ‘expose Russia’s strategy’
9/15/2022
The US has released the kernel of another intelligence assessment that describes the Kremlin’s global malign influence machine. Following the liberal tradition, it produces facts, allowing the public the make up its mind. This is in contrast to the authoritarian model that relies more on producing narrative. Democracies argue in facts. Authoritarians play with meanings. […]
Duration:00:06:12
China’s challenge & Russia’s threat: the director’s cut
8/14/2022
The film director Brian De Palma had this to say about director’s careers… “We don’t plan them out, we happen to be working on one thing, then another happens, then another thing is delayed. Then we do the thing we can do at the time.” There is a lesson in this for the great debate […]
Duration:00:10:36
Ukraine: Biden’s info war blows up Russia’s cynical narrative on democracies
3/1/2022
The strategy of declassifying intelligence around Russia’s intentions to invade Ukraine has recast the global narrative about Russia, and possibly about authoritarianism too. The way the White House declassified and shared intelligence on Putin’s military intentions has effectively now robbed Russia of narrative control. But the campaign to forewarn the public of an imminent invasion has […]
Duration:00:11:26
Summit for Democracy, a contest against chaos…
12/10/2021
…and information disorder, untruths, trolling, disinformation. The virtual event is an effort to resurrect the global language of democracy after its rough start in the new century. One of the traits of this era is escalating complexity of systems. No form of government knows that better than liberal democracy — just look at the news and […]
Duration:00:15:16
We are partners in our own demise: ex-president of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves
10/17/2021
Too much information, too much contradiction and too much confusion. In this era, how do we even think about where democracy stands in the world? The former president of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, in a speech in honour of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, offers a clear-eyed assessment of the state of democracy today in competition […]
Duration:00:17:12
Regulate Facebook? Sure, but good luck in ridding the internet of bad content
10/8/2021
This is a big week for the prospect of meaningful regulation of social media in the US. The testimony of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has raised hopes of legislative reform for Facebook. But in the drive for government action, are reformers forgetting how much personalisation has change political communication? We’re in a different world now. […]
Duration:00:05:34
Disinformation research: a critique
9/19/2021
This short podcast is not so much a criticism of disinformation research but rather a critique of the expectations around it – or possibly the unexamined expectations around it. I refer to these three articles. 1) https://www.npr.org/2021/08/04/1024791053/facebook-boots-nyu-disinformation-researchers-off-its-platform-and-critics-cry-f 2) https://harpers.org/archive/2021/09/bad-news-selling-the-story-of-disinformation/ 3) https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/facebook-sent-flawed-data-to-misinformation-researchers/ Music by Lesfm from Pixabay/ Image
Duration:00:09:49
The US middle class and foreign policy: democracy’s new dance
2/11/2021
I wanted to push a little deeper on the question of how (or even why) US foreign policy should be more in sync with the middle class. So I’ve recorded a podcast that discusses this potential new direction in US democracy – the effort, however early, to ensure that US foreign policy goals support working […]
Duration:00:08:17
Science fiction from Cixin Liu, Chinese civilization, democracy and the future
12/7/2020
What does a science fiction novel by China's Cixin Liu reminds us about the civilizational needs of liberal democracy?
Duration:00:05:13
China needles Australia on social media
11/30/2020
What has the CCP learned about antagonizing democracies from their post-revolutionary friends linked to the Kremlin?
‘Rank democracy’ and a democratic future after November 2020
10/9/2020
Some thoughts on rank democracy.
Duration:00:08:39
Roll Call at the 2020 DNC: What just happened?
8/22/2020
The Democrats may have really struck on something when they were forced to do a virtual roll call at the 2020 DNC.
Duration:00:08:50
The meaning of D-Day for democracy today
7/26/2020
As Allied troops stormed the beaches, one military expert stressed the goal of fairness in the system designed to save democracy. This has lessons for democracy today.
Duration:00:10:40
Twitter hack: cryptocurrency’s rise is also socially engineered
7/17/2020
After more than a decade of growth cryptocurrency appears as socially engineered as the high-profile hack of Twitter.
Duration:00:05:24
Lincoln Project: the vicious side of the ledger
7/3/2020
The Lincoln Project helps fill out the vicious side of the ledger against Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Will it help clear the space for the virtuous side of US politics to take over? The question with the Lincoln Project is whether it can reach the persuadable voters who matter in the presidential election. […]
Duration:00:04:00