Bombshell

Kathleen Hicks, director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and all-around superhero, joins Loren, Radha, and Erin for an all-COVID-19 episode, starting with potential contributions by the Department of Defense to addressing this crisis. The ladies explore different angles of the global pandemic, including how it's impacting other ongoing international events, the economy, and domestic politics. Thanks be they also spend a lot of time on pop culture to soothe the soul.

This week Erin, Loren, and Radha reunite after a midwinter break to talk pandemics. They then turn to the Afghanistan “peace” deal, Israeli elections (third time’s the charm?), and recent developments in Syria. As always, there’s plenty of White House mayhem with a new chief of staff, and vacancies as far as the eye can see in Pentagon civilian leadership. Thankfully, Hilary Mantel books and Love is Blind provide a pop culture escape to soothe (or at least distract) the soul.

Links

Coronavirus

• Matthew Herper, “Susan Desmond-Hellmann: The Coronavirus is Alarming. Here’s Why You Should Not Panic,” Stat, March 6, 2020
• “Covid-19 is Now In 50 Countries, and Things Will Get Worse,” The Economist , February 2020

Afghanistan

• Diaa Hadid and Scott Neuman, “US, Afghanistan and Taliban Announce 7-Day Reduction in Violence,” NPR Morning Edition, February 21, 2020
• Shereen Qazi, “Will the Ghani-Abdullah Rivalry Undermine Afghan Peace Process?” Aljazeera, March 9, 2020
• Kathy Gilsinan, “The US Once Wanted Peace in Afghanistan,” Atlantic, February 29, 2020
• David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt, and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “A Secret Accord With the Taliban: When and How the US Would Leave Afghanistan,” New York Times, March 8, 2020
• Susannah George, “Thrown Under the Bus: Some Afghans View US-Taliban Peace Deal with Mix of Disbelief and Anger,” Washington Post, March 7, 2020
• Courtney Kube, Ken Dilanian, and Dan De Luce, “US Has Persuasive Intel Taliban Do Not Intend to Abide by Terms of Peal Deal, Officials Say,” NBC New, March 6, 2020
• Elizabeth Threlkeld, “Reading Between the Lines of Afghan Agreement,” Lawfare, March 8, 2020

Pop Culture

• Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On, (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007)
• Wolf Hall, PBS

Syria

• Jen Kirby, “Turkey and Russia Reached a Ceasefire in Syria. Will it Hold?” Vox, March 6, 2020
• “Water Cannon and Tear Gas at Turkish-Greek Border,” BBC, March 7, 2020

OSD

• Lara Seligman and Daniel Lippman, “Civilian Vacancies at Trump’s Pentagon Hit New High,” Politico, March 6, 2020

This week the ladies return to regular programming and try to catch up after one of the more crazy weeks in recent political memory. They start off with the Coronavirus crisis before returning to an old-standby, Brexit. They also provide some color commentary on the recent Irish elections. And how could they forget the new Middle East Peace Plan! That’s before they get to impeachment, NSC firings, and White House Mayhem. Stick around and hear them gush about Little Women.

Links

Coronavirus

• “Deaths in China Surpass Toll From SARS,” New York Times, February 9, 2020
• Colleen Shalby, “Why Did the Government Mandate a Coronavirus Quarantine?” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2020

Brexit

• Dharshini David, “Brexit Divorce: Five Key Things the UK Must Navigate,” BBC, February 9, 2020
• “Brexit: All You Need to Know About the UK Leaving the EU,” BBC, January 27, 2020

Irish Elections

• Rory Carroll, “Ireland General Election: Sinn Féin Surges to 22% in Exit Poll,” Guardian, February 8, 2020

Middle East Peace

• Peter Beaumont, “Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan: Key Points at a Glance,” Guardian, January 28, 2020

Irish Election

• Riley Beggin, “Irish Election Yields a Three-Way Near Tie and a Sinn Féin Surge,” Vox, February 9, 2020
• “Sinn Féin is the Most Popular Party Among All Age Groups up to 65,” Journal, February 09, 2020

Travel Ban

• “Trump Travel Ban, Part II,” Wall Street Journal, February 07, 2020
• “Trump Administration Adds Six Countries to Travel Ban,” New York Times, January 31, 2020

Pop Culture

• Marlon and Jake Read Dead People, Podcast

Erin, Radha and Loren welcome three special guests for their annual "manniversary" episode: Hayes Brown from Buzzfeed, Tommy Vietor of Pod Save the World, and Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahoe join them to talk about communicating national security in this crazy world.

In this episode of Bombshell, the ladies welcome Madelyn Creedon, former deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, to discuss the state of arms control today. The crew also discusses other foreign relations goings on: North Korea won’t call South Korea on their cell phone, late at night, or otherwise; India-China drama continues; and there’s much ado in Venezuela. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering full withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan before November and you may have noticed something’s up in civil-military relations.