Comedy or Chocolate

This week, Loren, Radha, and Erin explore the world's many recent elections - in Israel, India, Indonesia, and Ukraine. They then return to Northern Ireland, not to talk about Brexit, but to unpack resurgent sectarian violence. The recent coup in Sudan rounds out a very sporty Keeping up Foreign Relations. Radha notes we're still waiting on a big trade summit with China before we dive headfirst into the Mueller report and speculate wildly on the ongoing counter-intelligence investigation(s). DoD remains opaque as ever, while DHS gets purged. Finally, a lively Pop Culture round-up to take our minds off all this mayhem.

 

Links

Trade

• Enda Curran "How the US-China Trade War Reached A Turning Point," Washington Post, April 18, 2019
• Jeff Cox, "US Trade Deficit Falls in February As Shortfall with China Decreases 28%," CNBC, April 17, 2019

DHS: 

• 
  Ronald Brownstein, "Trump's Immigration Policies Unify White Republicans," Atlantic, April 11, 2019

Sudan

• Nandita Balakrishnan, "Sudan's Upheaval is the Latest Examples of a Gray Zone Coup," Washington Post, April 17, 2019
• Mai Hassan and Ahmed Kodouda, "Sudan Ousted Two Autocrats in Three Days. Here's What's Next," Washington Post, April 15, 2019

Protests

• "Protests in Sudan Are Escalating. Here's What You Need to Know," Washington Post, April 10, 2019
• "Generals Overthrew Sudan's President Bashir, But They Can't Agree On What Comes Next," Washington Post, April 16, 2019

Election

• "FP's Guide to the Indian Elections," Foreign Policy, April 18, 2019
• Arys Aditya, "After Record One-Day Indonesia Election, Result Still Weeks Away," Bloomberg, April 20, 2019
• Ilan Goldenberg, "The Future of the Two-State Solution is at Stake," April 08, 2019

Northern Ireland

• "Lyra McKee Murder: Journalist Shot Dead During Derry Rioting," BBC, April 19, 2019
• "Petrol Bombs Thrown at Police in Derry As Journalist Kill," Guardian, April 19, 2019
• Ed O'Loughlin and Richard Perez-Pena, "Lyra McKee, Northern Ireland Journalist, Is Killed in 'Terrorist Incident,' Police Say," New York Times, April 19, 2019
• Bonnie Weir, "Brexit and a Border Town: Troubles Ahead in Northern Ireland?" New York Review of Books, April 11, 2019

Mueller

• Benjamin Wittes, "Notes on the Mueller Report: A Reading Diary," Lawfare, April 19, 2019
• Joshua Geltzer and Ryan Goodman "Mueller Hints at a National-Security Nightmare," New York Times, April 19, 2019

Pop Culture

• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Teaser
• Spencer Kornhaber, "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Might Spark and Old Fight," April 12, 2019
• Andrew Dyce, "Star Wars Already Made Rey a True Skywalker (You Just Missed It)," Screen Rant, April 20, 2019