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

This week, Loren, Radha, and Erin explore the world's many recent elections - in Israel, India, Indonesia, and Ukraine. They then return to Northern Ireland, not to talk about Brexit, but to unpack resurgent sectarian violence. The recent coup in Sudan rounds out a very sporty Keeping up Foreign Relations. Radha notes we're still waiting on a big trade summit with China before we dive headfirst into the Mueller report and speculate wildly on the ongoing counter-intelligence investigation(s). DoD remains opaque as ever, while DHS gets purged. Finally, a lively Pop Culture round-up to take our minds off all this mayhem.   Links Trade Enda Curran "," Washington Post, April 18, 2019 Jeff Cox, "," CNBC, April 17, 2019 DHS:  Ronald Brownstein, "," Atlantic, April 11, 2019 Sudan Nandita Balakrishnan, "," Washington Post, April 17, 2019 Mai Hassan and Ahmed Kodouda, "," Washington Post, April 15, 2019 Protests "," Washington Post, April 10, 2019 "," Washington Post, April 16, 2019 Election "," Foreign Policy, April 18, 2019 Arys Aditya, ," Bloomberg, April 20, 2019 Ilan Goldenberg, "," April 08, 2019 Northern Ireland "," BBC, April 19, 2019 "," Guardian, April 19, 2019 Ed O'Loughlin and Richard Perez-Pena, "," New York Times, April 19, 2019 Bonnie Weir, "" New York Review of Books, April 11, 2019 Mueller Benjamin Wittes, "," Lawfare, April 19, 2019 Joshua Geltzer and Ryan Goodman "," New York Times, April 19, 2019 Pop Culture Spencer Kornhaber, "," April 12, 2019 Andrew Dyce, "," Screen Rant, April 20, 2019

The ladies of Bombshell take on proteins and Afghanistan policy all in one segment with special guest Frances Brown. Across the pond, Brexit is going nowhere fast and NATO is celebrating a grand birthday while the American president is questioning whether he wants to keep paying dues.  In It’s Aghast, 5G is fast, the future, and not so much fun for American competitiveness. And in White House mayhem, the Congress mustered up some war powers energy to get the US out of the military operations in Yemen that the administration claims we aren’t in, while the president visited the border just defenestrating his Homeland Security Secretary.   Links Huawei/5G Ahiza Garcia, "," CNN, April 3, 2019 Milo Medin and Gilman Louie, "," Defense Innovation Board, April 2019 Zak Doffman, "," Forbes, April 5, 2019 Keith Johnson and Elias Groll, "," Foreign Policy, April 3, 2019 Saudi Human Rights Vivian Yee and David Kirkpatrick, "," New York Times, April 5, 2019 Alex Ward, "," Vox, April 5, 2019 ALQST, , April 4, 2019 Joyce Lee and Dalton Bennett, "," Washington Post, April 1, 2019 Brexit Heather Stewart and Daniel Boffey, "," Guardian, April 5, 2019 Afghanistan Fahim Abed, "," New York Times, April 4, 2019 Barbara Walter, "," Washington Post, January 30, 2019 Mexico Border Molly O'Toole, Noah Bierman, and Eli Stokols, "," Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2019 Maegan Vazquez, "," CNN, April 6, 2019 NATO Karen Donfried, "," Defense One, April 2, 2019 Rachel Rizzo and Carrie Cordero, "," CNAS, March 20, 2019 Yemen Elisa Catalano Ewers and Nicholas Heras, "," CNAS, February 27, 2019

Join Bombshell for a rousing discussion of the fathomless train wreck that is Brexit and the increasing lack of predictability of the upcoming Israeli elections. Believe it or not, China trade talks are not going as well as they might, as we discuss in "It's Aghast." In White House mayhem, President Trump issued a tremendous press release on the fourth or fifth defeat of ISIL with some bombast and a little general life advice, while recognizing the generally illegal Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, crapping on his own North Korea policy, and putting out a DOA defense budget. We're all fine here, how are you?   Links Ana Swanson, "," New York Times, March 22, 2019 Ian Austen, "," New York Times, March 22, 2019 Yen Nee Lee, "," CNBC, March 24, 2019 Kathy Gilsinan, "," Atlantic, March 23, 2019 Tamara Cofman Wittes and Ilan Goldenberg, "," Politico, March 22, 2019

Erin, Radha, and Loren made the trip to Duke University to join the Carlucci National Security Symposium at the Sanford School of Public Policy.  On the agenda for this special live show: topics we want presidential candidates to debate, big ideas we want to stop hearing about in foreign policy and what big issues that bridge the public and private sectors should we be worrying more about. It is unclear whether Erin has performed enough penance for visiting Duke in basketball season.

This week Dr. Tanvi Madan joins the ladies to explain the brewing crisis between India and Pakistan in Kashmir. Then Radha breaks down last week’s trade negotiations with China (what really is an MOU anyway and what happened to our leverage?). We revisit Venezuela as the Vice President prepares for a trip to the region and then discuss the humanitarian and policy implications of the “ISIS wives.” White House Mayhem lives up to its name with uncoordinated Syria policies, rogue nuclear reactor deals, and sad faces in Munich. We’re all enjoying the many escapes offered by Pop Culture.   Links   Kashmir Emily Lalwani and Emily Tallo, "," War on the Rocks Sumit Ganguly, "," Foreign Policy It's Aghast Bob Davis, "," Wall Street Journal "," CNBC KUFR Venezuela  Dennis Romero, "," NBC News ISIS women Meghna Chakrabarti, "," WBUR "," Washington Post Vira Mironova " New York Times Jayne Huckerby, "," New York Times White House Mayhem Syria "," NPR Saudi Nuclear tech "," Oversight Alex Ward, "," Vox "," Washington Post Munich Thomas Wright, "," Atlantic Daniel Estrin, "," NPR

This week Paula Garcia Tufro joins the Radha, Loren, and Erin to discuss the brewing crisis in Venezuela. Then the ladies fashion an update on Brexit, explore uncharted waters in Iraq, and ask what is the point of a second North Korea summit when nothing has happened since the first! Radha unpacks recent trade negotiations with China before the group asks the unanswerable question: just how much money can you shove into OCO? Finally, Erin and Loren profess their undying love for Matthew Goode.   Links Venezuela  Ethan Bronner, "," Bloomberg Keeping up Foreign Relations Brexit William James, "," Reuters Jon Henley, Jennifer Rankin, and Richard Partington, "," Guardian Peter Flanagan, "," Bloomberg Iraq Simona Foltyn, "?" Foreign Policy Jennifer Hansler, "," CNN North Korea Bruce W. Jentleson, "," War on the Rocks Robert E. Kelly, "," War on the Rocks Uri Friedman, "," Atlantic Russell Goldman, "," New York Times It's Aghast China Trade       Jeff Mason, "," Reuters Patti Domm, "," CNBC White House Mayhem Defense Budget Tony Bertuca, "," Inside Defense Fitzgerald Bryan McGrath, "," War on the Rocks

It's our 2nd annual Manniversary episode! We dug deep to find the most smoldering hot takes from the men in the national security arena. Join us for a far-ranging discussion with Stan McChrystal, Jeffrey Lewis, and Clint Watts!   Links Stanley McChrystal, Jeff Eggers, Jay Mangone, , (Portfolio 2018) Jeffrey Lewis, , (Mariner Books, 2018) Clint Watts, , (Harper, 2018)

Bombshell returns in 2019 with a new set of Bombshell questions and a guest, Dana Stroul, to give our best shot at explaining US-Syria policy. Secretary Pompeo has finished a whirlwind tour (while his staff are unpaid) trying to do the same, and at least one of the parties to potential US-North Korea summit seems to be doing its homework (guess which). The team digs deep into the longest government shutdown in history and considers just what kind of emergency it would be if Trump used national emergency powers to build a wall. Plus, lots of pop culture for the new year. Syria Policy Robbie Gramer, "," Foreign Policy Keeping up Foreign Relations North Korea Jon Herskovitz and Youkyung Lee, "," Bloomberg It's Aghast Brexit "," BBC China Marilyn Haigh, "," CNBC "," Wall Street Journal White House Mayhem Shutdown Javier Zarracina and Li Zhou, "," Vox "," Washington Post National Emergency Elizabeth Goitein, "," Atlantic Quinta Jurecic, "," Lawfare

Loren and Erin travel to Kansas City for a special live recording at the National World War I Museum. Joined by John Ismay and Steve Leonard, they dig into the many aspects of the Forever Wars including some Civ-Mil 101, opportunities for oversight and accountability, and everyone's favorite GWOT film. Links Amy Schafer, "," CNAS , Pew Research Center Nikki Wentling, “," Stars and Stripes