Sirens: A Bombshell production

Erin, Radha, and Loren mull over 2019, muse about 2020, and debate Rise of the Skywalker. We will be with you again.

This week Radha and Erin lead a special live episode from the NatSec Girl Squad Conference. They are joined by Dana Stroul, Kim Kagan, and Mara Karlin who all recently participated in the Congressionally mandated Syria Study Group. Listen in as the ladies discuss Syria policy, study group process, and answer audience questions!   Links "," USIP, September 24, 2019

This week Radha, Erin, and Loren reunite to drink eggnog (or not!) and talk about events in London, from interrupting violent attacks with narwhal tusks to interrupting NATO ministerials with middle school-esque drama. The ladies then turn to protests in the Middle East, predictions on China trade deals, and Hong Kong legislation. Rounding it out is a lively discussion of all the mayhem that ensued when Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer (not that Richard Spencer) resigned. After that, the ladies have a much-needed pop culture discussion on all the holiday movies they're looking forward to watching.   Links London Terrorist Attack Catherine Kim, "," Vox, December 1, 2019 Peter Bergen, "," CNN, November 30, 2019 Iran Hannah Brown, "," Vox, December 2, 2019 Farnaz Fassihi and Rick Gladstone, "," New York Times, November 26, 2019 China/Hong Kong Yen Nee Lee, "," CNBC, November 28, 2019 Gina Heeb, "," Markets Insider, November 29, 2019 Michael Bociurkiw, "," CNN, November 29, 2019 Keith Bradsher, Javier C. Hernandez, and Alexandra Stevenson, "," New York Times, November 28, 2019 NATO "," North Atlantic Treaty Organization, June 27, 2018 Steven Erlanger, "," New York Times, November 28, 2019

This week Loren, Erin, and Radha are joined by the peerless Mira Rapp-Hooper. Taking a break from stalking her perfect oat milk, Mira walks the ladies through alliances and shifting demands with Japan and Korea. The ladies do a whirlwind review of Hong Kong, Bolivia, auto tariffs, and pardons. After 5 words (plus margin of error) on impeachment stories of note, Erin and Radha (yup Radha) discuss the new Star Wars series where to Loren's dismay Radha declares her love of Star Wars puppets (especially those teddy bears).   Links Mira Rapp-Hooper, , (Harvard University Press, 2020) Asia Simon Denyer and Min Joo Kim, "," Washington Post, November 4, 2019 Phil Stewart and Joyce Lee, "," Reuters, November 15, 209=19 Maggie Shum, "," Washington Post, November 14, 2019 Anna Kam, Casey Quackenbush, and Ryan Ho Kilpatrick, "," Washington Post, November 11, 2019 Bolivia  "" BBC, November 13, 2019 Natasha Bennett, "" Washington Post, November 15, 2019 Santiago Anria and Jennifer Cyr, "," Washington Post, October 30, 2019 Trade Ben White and Doug Palmer, "," Politico, November 11, 2019 David Shepardson, "," Reuters, November 15, 2019 Camila Domonoske and Avie Schneider, "," NPR, May 17, 2019 Reuters, "," New York Times, November 11, 2019 Pardons Dave Philipps, "," New York Times, November 16, 2019

This week the ladies of Bombshell go deep on the Syria raid and the “value” of high-value targeting, before turning their attention to popular protests in Iraq and Lebanon. Of course, no episode would be complete without a Brexit update! Radha regales us with CFIUS tales and we all lament the attacks on LTC Vindman. Also, will the NDAA ever pass?   Links Tamara Qiblawi, "," CNN, November 2, 2019 Sara Khairat, "" Aljazeera, November 1, 2019 Alissa Rubin, "," New York Times, November 1, 2019 Jen Kirby, "," Vox, October 29, 2019 Mark Landler and Stephen Castle, "," New York Times, November 2, 2019 Leo Shane III and Joe Gould, "" Defense News, October 30, 2019 John M. Donnelly, "," Roll Call, November 1, 2019 Joe Gould, "," Defense News, October 25, 2019 Greg Roumeliotis, Yingzhi Yang, Echo Wang, and Alexandra Alper, "," Reuters, November 1, 2019

Melissa Dalton from CSIS joins Loren, Radha, and Erin to offer a thorough, if morose, update on the U.S. military withdrawal from northern Syria and where that leaves Syrian Kurds. Bombshell returns to the topic of the United Kingdom which....might have a Brexit deal? The ladies also dive into the implications of recent NBA/China drama and what's going on with the impeachment inquiry, and amazingly have a disagreement about political speech by uniformed and retired military.   Links Cameron Abadi, "" Foreign Policy, October 17, 2019 Benjamin Mueller and Matina Stevis-Gridneff, "" New York Times, October 17, 2019 Adam Taylor, "," Washington Post, October 17, 2019

Bombshell takes a step back to offer some context to the whirlwind of Ukraine and related investigations: what’s with Ukraine’s political trajectory, why is it a magnet for crises involving external actors these days, and how is it being impacted by today’s scandals?  In Trump’s trade negotiations with China, how have elections become intertwined with those discussions? Turning to the White House, President Trump has had multiple crises emerge from calls with foreign leaders - how does his process shape those results. The NSC staff is wrapped up with today’s whistleblower investigation - who are they, and how can their role be politicized? In reacting to these events, President Trump’s language has taken an authoritarian tinge—what does political science tell us about his actions? And lastly, the president has suggested violence may erupt if he’s pushed out of office - how should we think about the military’s role in such scenarios?   Links Ukraine Philip Bump and Aaron Blake, "," Washington Post, October 4, 2019 Bryan Bender and Wesley Morgan, "," Politico, September 30, 2019 "," BBC, September 10, 2019 Alex Ward, "," Vox, October 4, 2019 Impeachment legal Counsel Advice Radha Iyengar, , October 2, 2019 Trump Leader Calls Carol D. Leonnig, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey, "," Washington Post, October 4, 2019 Authoritarianism Barbara Geddes, Joseph Wright, and Erica Frantz, , (American Political Science Association, June 2014) Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, "," Guardian, January 21, 2018 Ari Berman, "" New York Times, April 13, 2018 Jennifer Mercieca, "," Just Security, May 1, 2019

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