ChinaTalk

Matt Sheehan, an analyst on energy and tech policy with AI and Chinese tech governance expertise, and Julian Gewirtz, a historian and former US China official at Columbia, unpack the Xi-Trump stalemate summit. They trace historical echoes, debate Taiwan pressure and brinkmanship, weigh Iran’s effects on China, and explore AI safety, governance, and technical cooperation.

Jack Shanahan, retired USAF lieutenant general and founding director of the Pentagon’s Joint AI Center, offers sharp takes on Project Freedom, air and uncrewed losses, and limits of air power. He dissects Saudi basing refusals, Iran’s missile resilience, counter-drone and cyber gaps, supply-chain risks for defense tech, and the politics shaping military decisions.

Ken Liu, award-winning novelist, translator, and thinker, talks about technology, myth, and Daoist ideas. He discusses AI as an extension of human minds, the difference between mass-produced AI output and art tied to the collective unconscious, mythic metaphors for emerging tech, and why language-bound models can be intelligent but not wise. The conversation weaves tech, storytelling, and Taoist notions of freedom.

Justin Mc, military analyst on force posture and risk. Eric Robinson, defense commentator on operational and strategic posture. Becca Wasser, wargaming expert at Bloomberg Economics. They dig into ammo shortages and long-term readiness. CENTCOM’s push for hypersonics and misused exquisite weapons. Whether true air superiority exists over Iran and why the Strait of Hormuz resists a military fix.

Constanza Vidal Bustamante, a policy researcher and author on quantum tech and supply chains, outlines components and chokepoints that will shape US–China competition. She discusses cryogenics and helium-3 scarcity, export-control effects and rapid Chinese manufacturing, lasers and reverse engineering, and why quantum’s industry looks more like biotech than semiconductors.

Tony Stark, writer on Kremlinology and military fiction; Eric Robinson, ex-101st operator turned lawyer; Justin Mc, former Green Beret in defense tech; Bryan Clark, ex-submariner and naval analyst. They debate U.S. munitions shortages tied to the Iran war. They discuss leaking to influence policy, rethinking legacy weapons, GPS-jamming and adaptability, insider betting risks on prediction markets, and recent Navy leadership shakeups.

Chris Murphy, U.S. Senator from Connecticut focused on foreign policy, tech governance and anti-corruption. He discusses corruption in recent administrations and how cultural norms fuel it. He examines limits of pardon power and ideas for updated ethics laws. He also talks about China’s shifting political salience, war powers around Iran, and the politics of AI regulation and related bills.

Zach Yerushalmi, CEO of Elevate Quantum and quantum industry policy expert, breaks down what quantum computing is and why it matters. He discusses error-correction breakthroughs, engineering and scaling bottlenecks, national security and economic stakes, the U.S.–China race, and what “winning” practical quantum looks like. Short reading and career resources are also shared.

They debate whether Mythos is a cyber nuke or more like a pandemic and who should control access to powerful offensive AI tools. Discussion covers AI-accelerated zero-day discovery, open-source risks, and the return of air-gapped networks, mesh comms, and couriers. The conversation shifts to a US naval quarantine of Iran, its limited impact, and broader defense budget and industrial control dynamics.

Max Bodach, EVP at the Foundation for American Innovation, builds conservative tech-policy networks. Caleb Watney, co-founder of the Institute for Progress, runs applied, cross-partisan policy work. They debate why counterfactual policy impact beats white papers. They discuss vertical integration, fundraising models, events and relationships, recruiting young policy entrepreneurs, and how AI reshapes think tank workflows.