On Episode 76 of Bogan Intelligentsia, American-born IR scholar, Un-Diplomatic host and Victoria University of Wellington associate professor Van Jackson joins us for a sharp conversation on empire and Australia's role within it. Starting from Mark Carney’s Davos “rupture” speech and his August address after Canada walked away from U.S. trade talks, Van unpacks last-minute American demands Canada, and what it means when Washington treats even its closest partner as a subsidiary. From there he turns to alliances as instruments that launder coercion, like Australia's, via the 2026 Iran campaign and US strategic failures. Under the theme Alliances, Primacy and the Multipolar Rupture, and diving into AUKUS, Van asks who actually benefits from these fights, what middle powers still refuse to face, and what a foreign policy should look like in the circumstances.
Podcast Details: : 55 min | Released 30 August 2026 | Van Jackson – Associate Professor of International Relations, Victoria University of Wellington; host of The Un-Diplomatic Podcast; author of The Rivalry Peril, Pacific Power Paradox and Grand Strategies of the Left
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