This week Bombshell is blessed by the return of Tamara Cofman Wittes to help everyone understand Iran’s possible motives in the strike on an Aramco facility and what Saudi Arabia might do next. And as a bonus she sticks around to dive into Israeli elections. Then Erin, Radha, and Loren take a deep, nerve-calming breath to dive into the current White House Mayhem: the ouster of John Bolton, the arrival of Robert O’Brien, and the whistleblower-Ukraine monstrosity.  Also, Erin saw Moulin Rouge and you should too, if you can can can.   Links Aramco Attacks Stephen Kalin, "," Reuters, September 21, 2019 Lara Seligman and Elias Groll, "," Foreign Policy, September 20, 2019 Suzanne Maloney, "," Washington Post, September 18, 2019 Eric Schmitt, Julian E. Barnes, and David D. Kirkpatrick, "," New York Times, September 17, 2019 Israeli Elections Jeremy Sharon, "," Jerusalem Post, September 23, 2019 Oren Libermann, "," CNN, September 22, 2019 Aaron Heller, "," ABC News, September 22, 2019 New National Security Advisor John Hudson and John Wagner, "," Washington Post, September 18, 2019 John Gans, "," Politico, September 19, 2019

This week Erin, Loren, and Radha are joined by War on the Rock's new editor-in-chief Becky Zimmerman to talk about the talks that never were with the Taliban and catch up on the situation in Afghanistan more generally. The ladies then turn to the chaos in the UK, ongoing protests in Hong Kong, the release of classified information by the President (again!), MILCON spending for the border wall, and the Mattis book. Whew! After all that, the dive into pop culture with book and podcast rec's for all.   Links Afghanistan Erin Banco and Asawin Suebsaeng, "," Daily Beast, August 30, 2019 Mujib Mashal, "," New York Times, September 5, 2019 Jennifer Jacobs, Nick Wadhams, and Eltaf Najafizada, "," Bloomberg, September 7, 2019 Mujib Mashal, "," New Yorkt Times, September 8, 2019 "," TOLO News, September 6, 2019 Brexit "," Globe and Mail, September 5, 2019 Amanda Sloat, "," Lawfare, September 6, 2019 "," BBC News, September 8, 2019 Yemen "," NPR, September 4, 2019 Hong Kong Mike Ives, Tiffany May, and Elaine Yu, "," New York Times, September 7, 2019 Saudi/UAE Aziz El Yaakoubi, David Evans, Ros Russell, and Tuqa Khalid, "," Reuters, September 8, 2019 Iran Eric Adams, "," Popular Mechanics, September 6, 2019 MILCON Chantal Da Silva, "," Newsweek, September 5, 2019

Tori Whiting of the Heritage Foundation joins Radha in geeking out over trade chaos and the potential for a recession -Bombshell's very first guest economist. Erin, Radha, and Loren catch up on the impact of over a century of South Korea-Japan tensions and offer a small ray of light in the latest political agreement news out of post-Bashir Sudan before turning to the G7, that meeting of world leaders. And to Loren and Erin's infinite delight, we devote all of pop culture to the military career of Logan Echolls and the new Disney-Star Wars releases.   Links Korea-Japan Grace Shao, "," CNBC, August 23, 2019 David Brown, "," Politico, August 23, 2019 Choe Sang-Hun, "," New York Times, November 21, 2018 Isabel Reynolds and Jihye Lee, "," Bloomberg, August 22, 2019 Climate "," BBC, August 24, 2019 Naomi Oreskes, Michael Oppenheimer, and Dale Jamieson, "," Scientific American, August 19, 2019 Dan Vergano, "," Buzz Feed News, August 22, 2019 Andrew Freedman and Jason Samenow, "," Washington Post, August 3, 2019 G7 "," CNN, August 25, 2019 Andrew Freedman, "," Washington Post, August 19, 2019 Amanda Macias, "," CNBC, August 25, 2019 Michael Collins and John Fritze, "," USA Today, August 25, 2019 Sudan Jen Kirby, "," Vox, August 19, 2019 "," Aljazeera, August 18, 2019 Jamal Mahjoub, "," New York Times, August 22, 2019 Pompeo Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs, "," Bloomberg, August 13, 2019 Maggie Haberman and Lara Jakes, "," New York Times, August 21, 2019 Pop Culture Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Margaret Wilson, and Christina Tucker, ", NPR, August 9, 2019 Fandom, , August 23, 2019 Jennifer Ouellette, "," ARS Technica, August 24, 2019 James Hibberd, "," Entertainment Weekly, August 24, 2019 "" Adam Serwer, December 24, 2015

The great Meg Guliford joins Erin and Radha for this week's episode of Bombshell, while Loren enjoys a much deserved vacay. The ladies take a tour of world hotspots with a discussion of North Korean missile tests, the Kashmir crack down, and ongoing protests in Hong Kong. Radha schools us all on currency manipulation before we turn to Director of National Intelligence drama. The show wouldn't be complete without an exploration of domestic terrorism and white supremacist violence — alongside a heartfelt celebration of Toni Morrison   Links North Korea Dagyum Ji, "," NK News, August 11, 2019 Josh Smith, David Brunnstrom, "," Reuters, August 12, 2019 Kashmir Sameer Yasir, Susasini Raj, and Jeffrey Gettleman,"," New York Times, August 10, 2019 Atul Singh and Manu Sharma, "" Fair Observer, August 10, 2019 Ashan I. Butt, "," Washington Post, August 7, 2019 Hong Kong Alice Fung and Yanan Wang, "," AP News, August 11, 2019 Michael C. Davis and Victoria Tin-bor Hui, "" Washington Post, August 10, 2019 "," Channel News Asia, August 8, 2019 Andrew Thomas, "" Aljazeera, August 7, 2019  Ho-Fung Hung, Thomas Kellogg, Antony Dapiran, and Victoria Tin-Bor Hui, "" China File, August 7, 2019 DNI Zachary Cohen, "," CNN, August 9, 2019 Alison Durkee, " ," Vanity Fair, August 2, 2019 Amy Zegart, "," Foreign Affairs, August 9, 2019 Terrorism Brian Pascus, "," CBS News, August 10, 2019 Charlie Savage, "" New York Times, August 7, 2019 Trade Scott Lanman and Enda Curran, "," Washington Post, August 7, 2019 Doug Palmer, "," Politico, August 9, 2019 Paul Krugman, "," New York Times, August 9, 2019 Shawn Donnan and Jenny Leonard, "," Bloomberg, August 9, 2019 Pop Culture Yohana Desta, "," Vanity Fair, September 26, 2018

This week on Bombshell Loren and Erin hold down the fort and ask the brilliant Elsa Kania to explain the new Chinese defense white paper. Britain has a new PM, Pakistan’s visited the US, and there are ongoing protests in Moscow and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, we might have a budget deal? And the president keeps trying to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. Erin finally saw Capt. Marvel and we collectively wish cast a real Mara Jade adventure.   Links China Mike Yeo, "," Defense New, July27, 2019 Anthony H. Cordesman, "," CSIS, July 24, 2019 Elsa B. Kania, "," CNAS, July 25, 2019 Elsa B. Kania, "," CNAS, July 24, 2019 Imran Khan Asad Hashim, "" Aljazeera, July 25, 2019 Michael Kugelman, "," World Politics Review, July 26, 2019 Russia Protests "," BBC, July 27, 2019 Hong Kong protests "," DW, July 27, 2019 Budget Deal Burgess Everett and Melanie Zanona, "," Politico, July 28, 2019 Hyten Confirmation Helene Cooper, "," New York Times, July 26, 2019

Erin, Radha and Loren reunite with author and general badass Nada Bakos to talk about her new book, The Targeter. Foreign relations are pretty lit these days: possible Russian funding of far-right politics in Italy, tiny steps of progress in Afghan govt-Taliban negotiations, and an unexpected political agreement in post-coup Sudan.  The music hasn’t stopped in the latest round of DOD musical chairs and the UK ambassador to the US was defenestrated by tweet. All in all stranger than fiction - so do read more fiction! Links Sudan Nadine Awadalla, Eltayeb Siddig, and Khalid Abdelaziz, "," Reuters, July 13, 2019 Richmond Danso, "" Washington Post, July 13, 2019 Italy/Russia Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli, "," Politico, July 11, 2019 Iran Tanker David D. Kirkpatrick, "," New York Times, July 13, 2019 Erin Cunningham, "," Washington Post, July 14, 2019 Afghanistan David Zucchino and Farooq Jan Mangal, "," New York Times, July 9, 2019

Erin, Radha and Loren return after some technical difficulties to rehash the G20, a newsy leader summit full of the president reversing the well-honed positions of his staff. Radha explains how China and the US are talking trade again, with a re-opening of US exports to Huawei and a gentle ask that China remake itself utterly.  White House mayhem reminds us all that we almost went to war with Iran and we have no leaders anywhere at the Department of Defense. And do you have summer reading material to distract yourself from the world? Bombshell can help with its summer reading list.     Links G20 Megan Henney, "," Fox Business, June 29, 2019 Spencer Kimball, "," CNBC, June 29, 2019 Iran Conor Finnegan, "," ABC News, June 28, 2019 Trade Keith Bradsher, "," New York Times, June 29, 2019 Michael Martina and Jonathan Landay, "," Reuters, June 29, 2019

Bombshell welcomes back Amanda Sloat to dish on all the drama across the pond - Brexit, the selection of the new Tory leader, and Trump’s visit, which was surely not (short)waisted [sic]. Foreign relations are a-twitter with elections in the European Union and Israel (yes, again). And Kim Jong Un thumbed his nose at the world to show that he of course does not murder his failed negotiators – he just imprisons them. The Trump administration has launched another salvo in a trade war with Mexico the same week it noticed USMC-A to Congress, proving that we do indeed contain multitudes. And did you happen to hear about what’s going on with the USS John S. McCain? Also, Radha watched Good Omens and you should too.  Links Trade – Mexico Andrew Van Dam, "," Washington Post, May 31, 2019 Edward Alden, "," Council on Foreign Relations," May 31, 2019 Tom Hals and Brendan Pierson, "," Reuters, May 31, 2019 Trade - China "," Bloomberg, May 31, 2019 EU Election Jon Henley, "," Guardian, May 26, 2019 NK Executions Laura Bicker, "," BBC, MAY 31, 2019 Brexit Amanda Sloat, "," Brookings, May 30, 2019 Thomas Wright, "," Atlantic, May 31, 2019 , Brookings, May 28, 2019 Israeli Elections Bernard Avishai, "," New Yorker, June 1, 2019 Yaakov Katz, "" Jerusalem Post, June 2, 2019 USS McCain Barbara Starr and Devan Cole, "," CNN, June 2, 2019

This week the ladies dive into the recent Iran drama with Ariane Tabatabai. Next, they revisit some recent election results before turning to whirlwind trade developments, as talks with China fall apart and new restrictions are levied against Huawei. White House Mayhem never disappoints, and the ladies sound off on the moral and strategic bankruptcy of pardoning war criminals. Pop-culture brings us home.   Links Elections Damien Cave, "," New York Times, May 18, 2019 Hywel Griffith and Jay Savage, "," BBC, May 19, 2019 Douglas Schorzman and Kai Schultz, "" New York Times, May 19, 2019 Trade Brendan Murray, "," Bloomberg, May 19, 2019 China Chris Buckley and Keith Bradsher, "," New York Times, May 16, 2019 Eamon Barrett, "," Fortune, May 18, 2019 Michael Schuman, "," Atlantic, May 18, 2019 Julia Horowitz, " ," CNN, May 16, 2019 Mexico – Canada Kayla Tausche and Jacob Pramuk, "," CNBC, May 17, 2019 Iran "," BBC, May 08, 2019 Becca Wasser and Ariane Tabatabai, Washington Post, "," May 21, 2019 Eric Brewer, Elisa Catalano Ewers, Ilan Goldenberg, Peter Harrell, Nicholas Heras, Elisabeth Rosenberg, and Ariane Tabatabai, "," CNAS, January 29, 2019 Ariane Tabatabai, "" New York Times, May 10, 2019 Huawei Frank Bajak and Tali Arbel, "," AP News, May 16, 2019 Emily Feng, "," NPR, May 16, 2019 Emily Stewart, "," Vox, May 21, 2019 War Crimes Dave Philipps, "," New York Times, May 18, 2019

This week Erin and Radha hold down the fort and return to some of Bombshell's greatest hits topics, starting with North Korean missile tests and a double feature from ISIS (a new video from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the horrific attacks in Sri Lanka), and spinning some militias in Libya and new Iran sanctions for good measure.  With the continuing mayhem in Washington, they turn to the chaos in Venezuela, lack of data from Afghanistan, and of course the “clash of civilizations” on the horizon with China.  With Loren out, Erin has to skip Game of Thrones coverage and talk princess TV and tiaras with Radha.   Links Libya Mieczyslaw Boduszynski and Christopher Lamont, "," Washington Post, May 03, 2019 Al Baghdadi/Sri Lanka Frank Gardner, "" BBC, May 01, 2019 Souad Mekhennet "," Washington Post, May 02, 2019 Iran Sanctions "," BBC, May 02, 2019 Osama Bin Javaid, "," Aljazeera, May 04, 2019 Matthew Lee, "," AP, May 03, 2019 "Clash of Civilization" Daniel Drezner, "," Washington Post, May 01, 2019 Paul Musgrave, "," Foreign Policy, May 02, 2019 "," Lawyers Guns Money Blog, May 03, 2019 Jessica Chen Weiss, "," Washington Post, May 04, 2019 Afghanistan "," CBS, May 01, 2019 Sri Lanka James Griffiths, "," CNN, April 28, 2019 Venezuela Karen DeYoung, "," Washington Post, May 03, 2019 Anthony Faiola, "," Washington Post, May 04, 2019