Susan Hennessey of Lawfare and Rational Security fame joins Radha and Erin to wade through recertifying the Iran deal, social media shenanigans in the Persian Gulf, and whither the new Russia sanctions. Also on tap: all the leaks! and how we forgot about our $1 billion in foreign loans. Radha swoons over a baby hippo and Erin begs Loren to return so we can talk about Jon and Sansa.

Reading:

• Peter Baker, “Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, But Only Reluctantly,” The New York Times.
• Monika Nalepa, “The attack on Poland’s judicial independence goes deeper than you may think. Here are 5 things to know,” The Monkey Cage.
• M. Taylor Fravel, “Danger at Dolam,” The Indian Express.
• Barkha Dutt, “Could a war break out between India and China — again?” The Washington Post.
• Mark Champion and Marek Strzelecki, “When Trump Goes Abroad, Radical Change Follows in His Footsteps,” Bloomberg.
• Jana Winter, Robbie Gramer, and Dan De Luce, “Trump Assigns White House Team to Target Iran Nuclear Deal, Sidelining State Department,” Foreign Policy.
• Robert Windrem and William Arkin, “Who Planted the Fake News at Center of Qatar Crisis?” NBC News.
• Karen DeYoung and Ellen Nakashima, “UAE orchestrated hacking of Qatari government sites, sparking regional upheaval, according to U.S. intelligence officials,” The Washington Post.
• “While Fighting the Odds, Fiona the Hippo Becomes a Social Media Star,” NPR.

Special guest Amy Shafer joins us for the full show and highlights her fabulous research on the civil-military divide in America (and dishes on the Air Force Tops in Blue). Then we celebrate the liberation of Mosul, walk through the North Korean missile test, and wonder what exactly happened at the G20 meetings. Also on the table: Whither our Afghan strategy? And Erin gets giddy over space marines. Stick around for our “Game of Thrones” preview!*

*By which we mean fan-girl shouts of joy and anticipation.

Reading:

• Generations of War, Amy Shafer, CNAS
• “The ISIS Killers,” Mike Giglio, Buzzfeed 
• “Mosul: What the Decade's Largest Battle Says About the Future of War,” Defense One Staff, Defense One 
• “These Mindblowing Photos Reveal the Horror of the Islamic State War,” Liz Sly, The Washington Post 
• “ISIS: A catastrophe for Sunnis,” Liz Sly, The Washington Post
• “Inside the Collapse of the Iraqi Army’s 2nd Division,” Yasir Abbas and Dan Trombly, War on the Rocks
• “Scared About North Korea? You Aren't Scared Enough,” Toby Harshaw, Bloomberg
•  “North Korea’s ICBM: A New Missile and a New Era,” Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, War on the Rocks
• “Looking For Details On Syria Ceasefire? Don’t Ask US Military,” Nancy Youssef, Buzzfeed 
• “A proposed new military branch would send US troops to guard the galaxy,” CNN
• “My Top Ten Favorite Space Marines,” A Space Blog Odyssey