Asia Geopolitics

Ankit Panda and Catherine Putz from The Diplomat have been putting out this weekly podcast for years, and it has become the go-to audio source for anyone tracking the Asia-Pacific region specifically. With 218 episodes, a 4.5-star rating from 314 reviews, and a tight 15-to-20-minute format, it is designed for people who want focused analysis without the filler. Each episode zeroes in on one or two developing stories in the region. Recent coverage has included North Korean party congresses, Chinese nuclear weapons testing allegations, South Korean nuclear submarine development, and the ripple effects of U.S.-Iran tensions across Asia. Panda brings serious credentials as a defense and nuclear policy expert, while Putz covers Central and South Asian affairs with a depth you will not find on most English-language podcasts. The Diplomat has been covering Asia since the early 2000s, and the podcast benefits from that institutional knowledge. Panda and Putz are not parachuting into stories -- they have been following these developments for years and can explain the backstory that makes current events make sense. When they brought on Jim Sciutto to discuss U.S. Asia policy, the conversation had a specificity that most mainstream interviews lack because the hosts actually know the material. The short episode length is both a strength and a limitation. You get efficient, well-informed analysis that respects your time, but complex stories sometimes feel compressed. Still, for a weekly check-in on what is happening across the most consequential and volatile region on earth, this podcast punches well above its weight. It fills a real gap for listeners whose geopolitics diet is too heavy on transatlantic affairs.