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, "Saudi Arabia to Wait for Investigation Before Responding to Attacks: Minister," Reuters, September 21, 2019
• Lara Seligman and Elias Groll, "In Muted Response to Iran Strikes, US to Send Reinforcements to Saudi Arabia," Foreign Policy, September 20, 2019
• Suzanne Maloney, "Why Iran's Leadership Thinks Escalation Can Pay Off," Washington Post, September 18, 2019
• Eric Schmitt, Julian E. Barnes, and David D. Kirkpatrick, "To Find Clues in Saudi Oil Attacks, US Examines Missile and Drone Parts," New York Times, September 17, 2019

Israeli Elections

• Jeremy Sharon, "Liberman Declines to Recommend Gantz or Netanyahu to Form Government," Jerusalem Post, September 23, 2019
• Oren Libermann, "Why No One is Israel Seems Able to Win an Election," CNN, September 22, 2019
• Aaron Heller, "Arab Lawmakers in Israel Endorse Gantz for Prime Minister," ABC News, September 22, 2019

New National Security Advisor

• John Hudson and John Wagner, "Trump Realigns National Security Team with a Low-Profile Adviser," Washington Post, September 18, 2019
• John Gans, "The Dangers of a Weak National Security Adviser," 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, "Trump and His Team Send Clashing Messages on US Troops in Afghanistan," Daily Beast, August 30, 2019
• Mujib Mashal, "US Deal with Taliban Meets Afghan Resistance as Violence Intensifies," New York Times, September 5, 2019
• Jennifer Jacobs, Nick Wadhams, and Eltaf Najafizada, "Trump Says He Canceled Secret Camp David Talks with the Taliban," Bloomberg, September 7, 2019
• Mujib Mashal, "Taliban Talks Hit a Wall Over Deeper Disagreements, Officials Say," New Yorkt Times, September 8, 2019
• "President Ghani's Visit to Washington Postponed: Sources," TOLO News, September 6, 2019

Brexit

• "How Bad is Boris Johnson? We Can't Even Find the Words," Globe and Mail, September 5, 2019
• Amanda Sloat, "Brexit Endgame: Boris Jonson Loses Control," Lawfare, September 6, 2019
• "Brexit Extension: PM to 'Test Law to Limit' to Avoid Delay," BBC News, September 8, 2019

Yemen

• "The Latest on the Situation in Yemen," NPR, September 4, 2019

Hong Kong

• Mike Ives, Tiffany May, and Elaine Yu, "Hong Kong Protesters Return to Streets After Leader Announces Concessions," New York Times, September 7, 2019

Saudi/UAE

• Aziz El Yaakoubi, David Evans, Ros Russell, and Tuqa Khalid, "Saudi Arabia, UAE Urge Yemen Government and Separatists to Halt Fighting," Reuters, September 8, 2019

Iran

• Eric Adams, "Everything We Know About America's Secret KH-11 Recon Satellites," Popular Mechanics, September 6, 2019

MILCON

• Chantal Da Silva, "Here's Every Military Construction Project in the US Being Pushed Back to Fund Trump's Border Wall," Newsweek, September 5, 2019