Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Two weeks into the US-Iran ceasefire, CENTCOM is requesting Dark Eagle hypersonics, the 82nd Airborne is flowing into theater, and the wargames keep telling us the same thing — there's no military solution to the Strait of Hormuz.
Becca Wasser is a senior analyst at Bloomberg Economics and one of America's foremost wargamers, joining returning WarTalk regulars Bryan Clark, Eric Robinson, and Justin.
We discuss…
Why CENTCOM is using JASSMs to hit targets a glide bomb could handle — and what cosplay costs the Indo-Pacific
The myth of US air superiority over Iran, and the SEAD legwork no one wants to do
Who actually benefits from the ceasefire — and why Iran has the lower bar for reconstitution
The wargame from a month ago that played out exactly like the real Strait of Hormuz fight
Deterring China on the cheap when you can't outproduce the PLA in a firepower contest
The 1940 French artillery problem — when stockpiling weapons becomes a false sense of security
Why the JCPOA's collapse taught every US adversary to assume Washington always defects
YOU SHOULD SIGN UP TO MY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!
chinatalk.substack.com
The podcast is also available in your favorite app, just search ChinaTalk!
Two weeks into the US-Iran ceasefire, CENTCOM is requesting Dark Eagle hypersonics, the 82nd Airborne is flowing into theater, and the wargames keep telling us the same thing — there's no military solution to the Strait of Hormuz.
Becca Wasser is a senior analyst at Bloomberg Economics and one of America's foremost wargamers, joining returning WarTalk regulars Bryan Clark, Eric Robinson, and Justin.
We discuss…
Why CENTCOM is using JASSMs to hit targets a glide bomb could handle — and what cosplay costs the Indo-Pacific
The myth of US air superiority over Iran, and the SEAD legwork no one wants to do
Who actually benefits from the ceasefire — and why Iran has the lower bar for reconstitution
The wargame from a month ago that played out exactly like the real Strait of Hormuz fight
Deterring China on the cheap when you can't outproduce the PLA in a firepower contest
The 1940 French artillery problem — when stockpiling weapons becomes a false sense of security
Why the JCPOA's collapse taught every US adversary to assume Washington always defects
YOU SHOULD SIGN UP TO MY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!
chinatalk.substack.com
The podcast is also available in your favorite app, just search ChinaTalk!
