Cheap Talk
by Jeff Kaplow and Marcus Holmes
Latest episode
There's Something Different About Them
There's Something Different About Them
About this podcast
Cheap Talk is an every-week-or-so international relations podcast with Jeff Kaplow and Marcus Holmes, professors of government at William & Mary.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 134 episodes
- There's Something Different About Them · 60 min · Season 7 Episode 9New items in the Cheap Talk shop, including a Mathpocalypse t-shirt and AI sticker packs; placing blame about Ukraine’s access to Starshield; whether polling is damaging to the…
- Weeping for the Mathematicians · 59 min · Season 7 Episode 8A series of unfortunate events in the Russia/Ukraine conflict; the effect of domestic politics on US assistance to Ukraine; the ability of Europe to provide intelligence and…
- Envoys of Friendship · 52 min · Season 7 Episode 7AI agents are like middle schoolers; assessing progress from the Trump/Xi summit; combatting the security dilemma with summitry; creating new communication channels for AI…
- Humans Make Mistakes Too · 1 h 4 min · Season 7 Episode 6A big week for face-to-face diplomacy; the UN as a safe forum for high-level visits; the importance of side-meetings outside the General Assembly Hall; another Trump-Zelensky…
- The Lingo of Our AI Tech Overlords · 1 h 0 min · Season 7 Episode 5The public debate over AI and the end of humanity; proposals to slow down AI development and improve safety; the challenges of coordinating domestically and internationally…
- Not Routine at All · 51 min · Season 7 Episode 4The international security implications of the Hugging Face hack; rogue AI agents and cyberattack attribution; competing explanations for the CIA Director’s recent visit to…
- This Could Result in an International Incident · 48 min · Season 7 Episode 3The fascinating story of OpenAI’s rogue models and the HuggingFace hacking incident; turning a mirror on our humanity; the natural inclination to cooperate and communicate…
- Twice as Popular as Taylor Swift · 48 min · Season 7 Episode 2Remembering Dolly Parton, global icon; US military capacity and the readiness costs of extended deployments in the Iran conflict; the US-Saudi Arabia nuclear cooperation…
- All of This Has Been Done · 1 h 1 min · Season 7 Episode 1Cheap Talk’s triumphant return for season 7: Our favorite international news stories of the summer; cutting short military exercises with South Korea; AI models hacking their way…
- Other Forms of Dust · 1 h 2 min · Season 6 Episode 26Cheap Talk ends season 6 with listener questions: Control of the Strait of Hormuz; an arrest for trading on classified information on Polymarket; Thucydides and parallels to…
- Waiting at the Airport · 1 h 2 min · Season 6 Episode 25The current state of US-Iran negotiations (or lack thereof); escalation and mixed signal-sending in the Strait of Hormuz; multiple veto players on each side; Pakistan’s…
- It's Real and It's Dangerous · 1 h 3 min · Season 6 Episode 24Excitement in the world of digital diplomacy; face-to-face diplomacy to end the Iran war; blockading Iran as a plan B and its prospects for success; Anthropic’s Mythos and AI…
- Something Revolutionarily Wonderful · 52 min · Season 6 Episode 23Trump’s threats against Iranian civilization; nuclear threats and the risk of nuclear use in Iran; threatening war crimes is both bad and bad policy; the prospects for the…
- Seems Like a Bad Idea · 56 min · Season 6 Episode 22How Russia benefits from the Iran war; President Trump’s recent statements about how the war is going; China is both helped by and hurt by the Iran war; prediction markets as an…
- 15 Points of Agreement · 56 min · Season 6 Episode 21Uncertainty about the state of US-Iran peace talks; the challenges of US military operations in the Strait of Hormuz; getting nuclear material out of Iran; whether the United…
- Had You Asked Us, We Would Have Said No · 1 h 0 min · Season 6 Episode 20Washington’s allergy to the “w”-word in describing the conflict in Iran; the Trump administration seems to have been caught off guard by some aspects of the conflict; what we…
- Analysts Are Fairly Skeptical · 60 min · Season 6 Episode 19Failed diplomacy in the lead-up to the conflict between the US/Israel and Iran; rationales for military action; windows of opportunity and the road to war; the prospects for…
- Those Secret Words · 1 h 0 min · Season 6 Episode 18The State of the Union foreign policy lightning round; the possibility of imminent war with Iran; confusing signals from the US; strategic clarity and the effectiveness of…
- Pro-Peace and Prosperity · 52 min · Season 6 Episode 17The last remaining nuclear arms control treaty has expired; the beneficial side effects of arms control; the value of treaty-breaking as a low-cost signal in international…
- Learn to Code, Kids · 38 min · Season 6 Episode 16Cheap Talk takes a break from IR to discuss vibe coding; the CheapTalkBot origin story; new opportunities to express creativity via vibe coding; mid-century modern architecture…
