The United States and South Korea hold joint military drills amid mounting tough rhetoric from North Korea; nuclear deal negotiations continue as Iran responds to the European Union’s most recent draft of a revived agreement; and Ukraine marks its Independence Day six months after the Russian invasion began.

Mentioned on the Podcast

Max Boot, “Why Kyiv’s ‘Thousand Bee Sting’ Strategy is Costing Russia Dearly,” Washington Post

Jessica Chen Weiss, “The China Trap,” Foreign Affairs

Steven Cook and Martin Indyk, “The Case for a New U.S.-Saudi Strategic Compact,” Council on Foreign Relations

Nicholas Pelham, “MBS: Despot in the Desert,” The Economist

Karim Sadjadpour, “What the U.S. Gets Wrong About Iran,” New York Times

Stephen Sestanovich, “Putin’s Strategy in Ukraine,” The President’s Inbox

Scott Snyder, “Why North Korea Might Reject Yoon Suk-yeol’s Audacious Initiative,” CFR.org