This week we ask Emma Ashford to reveal the mysteries of Trump's Middle East policy. Then Loren, Radha, and Erin dive into the recent trade dramas before pondering whether the summit with North Korea is best understood as a Rom-Com or Telenovela. Colombian elections, change of command in Afghanistan, and the toxic culture within ICE round out the conversation before we escape to the wonders of pop-culture. 

• Emma Ashford and John Glaser, “Unforced Error: The Risks of Confrontation with Iran,” CATO Institute
• Emma Ashford, “Unbalanced Rethinking America’s Commitment to the Middle East,” Strategy Studies Quarterly
• Trevor Thrall and Emma Ashford, “Power Problems,” CATO Institute 
• Runrig, Loch Lomond
• “Colombians vote for new president with peace deal, economy at stake,” Reuters
• Camila Zuluaga, “Colombia, trapped between extremes,” Washington Post
• Ana Swanson, “Trump Administration Plans to Revive ZTE, Prompting Backlash,” New York Times
• Shawn Donnan, “Trump car tariffs highlight threat of retaliatory trade war,” Financial Times
• Jonathan Landay and Rupam Jain, “U.S. sanctions on Iran threaten vital Afghanistan trade project,” Reuters
• Jeremy Diamond, “Peter Navarro and Steven Mnuchin feuded at Beijing trade talks,” CNN
• Daniel W. Drezner, “Targeted Sanctions in a World of Global Finance,” Research on Economic Sanctions
• Kanga Kong, “Budding Moon-Kim Bromance Poses Risk to Trump Pressure Campaign,” Bloomberg
• Laura Rosenberger, “Kim Jong Un is better off now than he was before Trump agreed to a summit,” Washington Post
• Ilan Goldenberg, “Trump Has No Idea How Diplomatic Deals Work,” Foreign Policy
• Patrick M. Cronin and Abigail Grace, “Trump Leaves the Door Open for Another North Korea Summit,” CNAS
• Mark Mazzetti, Ronen Bergman, and David D. Kirkpatrick, “Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election,” New York Times
• Dara Lind, “Trump’s DHS is using an extremely dubious statistic to justify splitting up families at the border,” Vox
• Dara Lind, Tweet (25 May 2018)

Lizzie Plaugic, “Amazon is adapting William Gibson’s The Peripheral into a TV series,” Verge

This week the Bombshell crew does something different. After a crazy few days in the national security world, we break down the good, the bad, and the pop-culture remedies. From Spain to Iran, to Iraq and Lebanon, to Niger and back home to the Haspel hearings and aviation mishaps we ask ourselves: what are we doing here? Also, Arnie Hammer discovered Iran-Contra and we rank order our favorite Chrises.

• Revolutions Podcast Fundraiser
• "Spain's ETA Basque terrorists disband," Economist
• Richard Nephew and Ilan Goldenberg, "Here's What to Expect Now That Trump Has Withdrawn From the Iran Nuclear Deal," Foreign Policy
• Colin H. Kahl and Vipin Narang, "Trump thinks his North Korea strategy will work on Iran. He's wrong on both." Washington Post
• Armie Hammer Tweet, May 7, 2018
• Alice Hunt Friend, "The Accompany They Keep: What Niger Tells Us About Accompany Missions, Combat, and Operations Other Than War," War on the Rocks
• Paul Szoldra, "Military Leaders Sent Them On A Hasty, Ill-Planned Mission—And Are Now Blaming Them," Task & Purpose
• Mieke Eoyang, "The CIA Needs an Independent Thinker—Not a Gina Haspel," Atlantic
• Sophie Gilbert, "Jack Melrose Is a Lacerating Tour de Force," Atlantic
• Michael Barbaro, "Listen to 'The Daily': Gina Haspel and the Shadow of Torture," New York Times

This week on Bombshell, Rebecca Lissner of Penn's Perry World House guest hosts with Radha and Loren to discuss the handshake heard round the world at the DMZ.  The Iran Deal is on the rocks yet again, despite the entreaties of a very affectionate President Macron of France and #squadgoals eye rolls of Chancellor Merkel.  The White House has some personnel wins (Pompeo's confirmation), losses (Dr. Ronny Jackson's trash fire of a VA nomination) and draws (Gina Haspel's confirmation delay).  And the ladies of Bombshell are steadfastly the only people on the planet talking Tina Brown and chick-lit vs. Infinity War.

• Diana C. Mutz and Eunji Kim, "The Impact of In-Group Favoritism on Trade Preferences," International Organization
• Jeremy Page, "North Korea's Nuclear Test Site Is Largely Unusable, Chinese Scientists Say," Wall Street Journal
• Anna Fifield, "Talk of peace with North Korea has the South wondering: Will this time be different?" Washington Post
• Richard Nephew, "Trump's Middle Ground on Iran Deal Sanctions Waivers Is a Myth," Foreign Policy
• Carol Morello, "Pompeo says Kim Jong Un doesn't care if U.S. leaves Iran deal," Washington Post
• Yasmeen Serhan, "Exit Macron, Enter Merkel," Atlantic
• Editorial Board, "Macron and Merkel have handed Trump a road map," Washington Post
• Atul Aneja, "China and India are both important foreign engines for global growth: Xi," Hindu
• Amber Phillips, "The issues surrounding Ronny Jackson's nomination for VA, explained," Washington Post
• Joe Gould, "Top 3 takeaways from Mattis on Capitol Hill," Defense News
• Corey Dickstein, "Mattis defends new transgender policy, drawing senator's ire," Stars and Stripes