The Sino-Soviet Split, Part 1
On this episode of American Prestige, Jeremy Friedman on the relationship between China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

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Please listen to our Sino-Soviet primer episode for some background!
On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome back Jeremy Friedman, assistant professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy at Harvard, to talk about the Sino-Soviet Split. They lay out the state of play in the mid-1950s, the potential for détente, how the two powers are reconciling with their increasingly competing interests, the implications for the Soviet Union’s image among other communists in the wake of Khrushchev’s “secret speech”, theoretical transformations in what communism means during this period, how decolonization plays into the split, why Khrushchev pulled Soviet aid when China needed it most, and more through the mid-1960s.
Grab a copy of Jeremy’s bookShadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World!
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Nikita S. Khrushchev (right) chatting with Mao Zedong.
(Bettmann Archive / Getty Images)On this episode of American Prestige, we welcome back Jeremy Friedman, assistant professor of business, government, and international economy at Harvard, to talk about the Sino-Soviet split. He lays out the state of play in the mid-1950s, the potential for détente, how the two powers are reconciling with their increasingly competing interests, the implications for the Soviet Union’s image among other communists in the wake of Khrushchev’s “secret speech,” theoretical transformations in what communism means during this period, how decolonization plays into the split, why Khrushchev pulled Soviet aid when China needed it most, and more through the mid-1960s.
Please listen to our Sino-Soviet primer episode for some background!
Grab a copy of Jeremy’s book Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World!
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Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
Danny and Derek speak with journalist and cultural critic Daniel Waite Penny to discuss the relationship between masculinity, the manosphere, and climate politics, as explored in the new season of Drilled, Carbon Bros. They talk about the “manosphere,” libertarians promoting techno-fixes, and Silicon Valley elites pushing solutions like space colonization; how gendered ideas about strength, autonomy, and grievance have fused with climate denial and hostility toward environmental regulation; where these dynamics fit within broader shifts in political economy and the interests of fossil capital; and the roots of these alignments, their role in contemporary right-wing politics, and what they mean for efforts to build public support for climate action.
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