This week the ladies dive into the recent Iran drama with Ariane Tabatabai. Next, they revisit some recent election results before turning to whirlwind trade developments, as talks with China fall apart and new restrictions are levied against Huawei. White House Mayhem never disappoints, and the ladies sound off on the moral and strategic bankruptcy of pardoning war criminals. Pop-culture brings us home.

Links

Elections

• Damien Cave, "Australia Elections Results: Prime Minister Scott Morrison Seizes a Stunning Win," New York Times, May 18, 2019
• Hywel Griffith and Jay Savage, "Scott Morrison: How Australia's PM Built a 'Miracle' Election Win," BBC, May 19, 2019
• Douglas Schorzman and Kai Schultz, "Polls Are Closed in India's Election: What Happens Next?" New York Times, May 19, 2019

Trade

• Brendan Murray, "Tariff Man Trump Just Had Himself a Week. Here's a Recap," Bloomberg, May 19, 2019

China

• Chris Buckley and Keith Bradsher, "How Xi's Last-Minute Switch on U.S.-China Trade Deal Upended It," New York Times, May 16, 2019
• Eamon Barrett, "China is Running Out of U.S. Good to Tariff, Has Other Trade War Weapons to Unleash," Fortune, May 18, 2019
• Michael Schuman, "To China, Alls' Fair in. Love and Trade Wars," Atlantic, May 18, 2019
• Julia Horowitz, " Huawei Takes the U.S.-China Trade War to a Dangerous New Level," CNN, May 16, 2019

Mexico – Canada

• Kayla Tausche and Jacob Pramuk, "US Reaches Deal to Lift Steel and Aluminum Tariffs on Canada and Mexico," CNBC, May 17, 2019

Iran

• "Iran Nuclear Deal: Tehran May Increase Uranium Enrichment," BBC, May 08, 2019
• Becca Wasser and Ariane Tabatabai, Washington Post, "Irans Network of Fighters in the Middle East Aren't Always Loyal to Iran," May 21, 2019
• Eric Brewer, Elisa Catalano Ewers, Ilan Goldenberg, Peter Harrell, Nicholas Heras, Elisabeth Rosenberg, and Ariane Tabatabai, "A Realistic Path for Progress on Iran," CNAS, January 29, 2019
• Ariane Tabatabai, "Can Anyone Save the Iran Nuclear Deal?" New York Times, May 10, 2019

Huawei

• Frank Bajak and Tali Arbel, "Huawei Hit by US Export Controls, Potential Important Ban," AP News, May 16, 2019
• Emily Feng, "S. Move to Isolate Huawei Sends Ripples Through Global Supply Chain," NPR, May 16, 2019
• Emily Stewart, "The US Government's Ongoing Battle With Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei, Explained," Vox, May 21, 2019

War Crimes

• Dave Philipps, "Trump May Be Preparing Pardons for Servicemen Accused of War Crimes," New York Times, May 18, 2019

This week Erin and Radha hold down the fort and return to some of Bombshell's greatest hits topics, starting with North Korean missile tests and a double feature from ISIS (a new video from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the horrific attacks in Sri Lanka), and spinning some militias in Libya and new Iran sanctions for good measure.  With the continuing mayhem in Washington, they turn to the chaos in Venezuela, lack of data from Afghanistan, and of course the “clash of civilizations” on the horizon with China.  With Loren out, Erin has to skip Game of Thrones coverage and talk princess TV and tiaras with Radha.

Links

Libya

• Mieczyslaw Boduszynski and Christopher Lamont, "Trump Changed US Policy Toward Libya. This is Why it Matters," Washington Post, May 03, 2019

Al Baghdadi/Sri Lanka

• Frank Gardner, "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: Why is it So Difficult to Track Down IS Leader?" BBC, May 01, 2019
• Souad Mekhennet "In ISIS Leaders Video Appearance, Messages to Followers, Rivals, and the West," Washington Post, May 02, 2019

Iran Sanctions

• "Six Charts That Show How Hard US Sanctions Have Hit Iran," BBC, May 02, 2019
• Osama Bin Javaid, "Iran Sanctions Explained," Aljazeera, May 04, 2019
• Matthew Lee, "US Renews Iran Sanctions Waivers for Civilian Nuclear Work," AP, May 03, 2019

"Clash of Civilization"

• Daniel Drezner, "Let's Grade the State Department's Director of Policy Planning on Her Grand Strategy Musings," Washington Post, May 01, 2019
• Paul Musgrave, "The Slip That Revealed the Real Trump Doctrine," Foreign Policy, May 02, 2019
• "A Better Reading of History Must Bring Home the Truth That the Basic Factor in Human Affairs is Not Politics, But Race," Lawyers Guns Money Blog, May 03, 2019
• Jessica Chen Weiss, "No China and the US Aren't Locked in an Ideological Battle. Not Even Close," Washington Post, May 04, 2019

Afghanistan

• "US Military Stops Releasing Information Tracking Progress in Afghanistan," CBS, May 01, 2019

Sri Lanka

• James Griffiths, "A Weeks After the Easter Sunday Attacks, Sri Lanka is No Closer to Understanding or Healing," CNN, April 28, 2019

Venezuela

• Karen DeYoung, "US Officials Weigh Options for Venezuela as Trump Describes Positive Call with Putin," Washington Post, May 03, 2019
• Anthony Faiola, "Guaido Says Opposition Overestimated Military Support Before Failed Uprising," Washington Post, May 04, 2019