Conversations exploring China, technology, and US-China relations. Guests include a wide range of analysts, policymakers, and academics. Hosted by Jordan Schnei...
The Soviet Cold War Machine: Inside the Sino-Soviet Rivalry
Welcome to part two of our series on Cold War history with Sergey Radchenko. Here’s part one.
In today’s interview, we discuss…
Khrushchev’s removal from power and the transition to the Brezhnev era,
How the USSR and China managed their relationships with Vietnam,
Sino-Soviet border conflicts, Brezhnev’s negative feelings toward China, and Nixon’s rapprochement,
Watergate and the inability of China or the USSR to understand American politics
Why the Soviets decided to invade Afghanistan,
Reagan’s approach to negotiations and his relationship with Gorbachev,
How to manage the containment paradox and unknown adversary motives when competing with China and Russia today.
Co-hosting today is Jon Sine of the Cogitations substack.
Outro music: ДДТ- Родина (DDT - Motherland) (YouTube Link)
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1:15:34
Superintelligence Strategy with Dan Hendrycks
Is there a stable state the US and China can hope for on the road to AGI?
To discuss we have on today Dan Hendrycks. A CS PhD, Dan runs the Center for AI Safety and is an advisor at xAI and Scale AI.
Here's his superintelligence strategy: https://www.nationalsecurity.ai/
For some more direct lessons from the Cold War to today's US-China dynamics, check out the show I did with Hal Brands (https://www.chinatalk.media/p/cold-war-lessons-for-us-china-today)
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1:14:59
SemiAnalysis + Asianometry on Intel, Gemini 2.5, and Chinese Robots
The Transistor Radio boys are back. Jon of Asianometry, Doug O'Laughlin and Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis on the pod to talk about Google's AI push, Intel's new CEO, Chinese robots, and the rise of CoreWeave.
Here's the article rating the clouds that SemiAnalysis wrote: https://semianalysis.com/2025/03/26/the-gpu-cloud-clustermax-rating-system-how-to-rent-gpus/
Outtro Music: Some Malaysian UK garage: GADISKU lucidrari, FITTO, Gard, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVewUwqu1dM
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28:28
The Soviets' Bid for Global Power
Sergey Radchenko’s book, To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Bid for Global Power, is a masterwork! In my mind, it’s in pole position for best book of 2025. Sergey takes you into the mind of Soviet and Chinese leaders as they wrestle for global power and recognition, leaving you amused, inspired, and horrified by the small-mindedness of the people who had the power to start World War III.
We get amazing vignettes like Liu Shaoqi making fun of the Americans for eating ice cream in trenches, Khrushchev pinning red stars on Eisenhower’s grandkids, and Brezhnev and Andropov offering to dig up dirt on senators to help save Nixon from Watergate.
Sergey earns your trust in this book, acknowledging what we can and can’t know. He leaves you with a new lens to understand the Cold War and the new US-China rivalry — namely, the overwhelming preoccupation with global prestige by Cold War leaders.
In this interview, we discuss…
Why legitimacy matters in international politics,
Stalin’s colonial ambitions and Truman’s strategy of containment,
Sino-Soviet relations during the Stalin era and beyond,
The history of nuclear blackmail, starting with the 1956 Suez crisis,
Why Khrushchev couldn’t save the Soviet economy.
Co-hosting today is Jon Sine of the Cogitations substack.
Outro music: Виталий Марков "Главное, ребята, сердцем не стареть" (YouTube Link)
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1:50:46
Building Compute in America
Despite leading the world in AI innovation, there’s no guarantee that America will rise to meet the challenge of AI infrastructure. Specifically, the key technological barrier for data center construction within the next 5 years is new power capacity.
To discuss policy solutions, ChinaTalk interviewed Ben Della Rocca, who helped write the AI infrastructure executive order and formerly served as director for technology and national security on Biden’s NSC, as well as Arnab Datta, director at IFP and managing director at Employ America, and Tim Fist, a director at IFP. Arnab and Tim just published a fantastic three-part series exploring the policy changes needed to ensure that AGI is invented in the USA and deployed through American data centers.
In today’s interview, we discuss…
The need for new power generation driven by ballooning demand for compute,
The impact of the January 2025 executive order on AI infrastructure,
Which energy technologies can (and can’t) power gigawatt-scale AI training facilities (and why Jordan is all-in on GEOTHERMAL),
Challenges for financing moonshot green power ideas and the role of government action,
The failure of the market to prioritize AI lab security, and what can be done to fend off threats from adversaries and non-state actors.
Outtro music: Ghost Crew - 蝴蝶武士 (Butterfly Warriors) (Youtube link)
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Conversations exploring China, technology, and US-China relations. Guests include a wide range of analysts, policymakers, and academics. Hosted by Jordan Schneider.
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