Sirens: A Bombshell production

Radha, Loren, and Erin invite Alex Bell to preview the Singapore Trump-Kim summit, explaining that while there's more than staring into one another's eyes for arms control, chemistry is a good start. When we recorded, the G7 had wrapped but not yet crashed and burned into a playground taunt with Canada, so Radha gives a good lesson on tariffs instead of assessing border skirmishes along the Great Lakes. If you've been distracted you may have not noticed the absurd amount of Chinese espionage activity as the OPM hacks bear fruit. The show recommends everyone keep an eye on the Pompeo-Bolton tea leaves and how Pompeo's embrace of State bureaucracy may be hamstrung. Erin kicks off a new segment, the Soapbox, on Google's rejection of military AI work and what that means for future advances in military technologies. Conflicting Civilian casualty reporting, protests in Jordan, and SOF in Somalia are somehow the lesser included events in the crazy three ring goat rodeo of a week. Credit for this week's title and general approach to life go to Jeffrey Lewis. Alexandra Bell and James McKeon, Three strikes means Bolton should be out, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The Once and Future Framework, The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation R Scott Kemp, North Korean disarmament: build technology and trust, Nature John Lyons, "From 'Punk Kid' to 21st Century Tyrant: Kim Jong Un Seizes His Moment," Wall Street Journal Zainab Fattah, "Saudis to Host Jordan-Support Meeting After Tax Bill Protests," Bloomberg Barbara Starr and Ryan Browne, "US service member killed in Somalia," CNN U.S. Africa Command, "U.S. Statement on Situation in Somalia," AFRICOM Shawn Snow, "One US special operations member killed, several wounded in attack in Somalia," Military Times Aruna Viswanatha, "Ex-CIA Officer's Case Highlights Fears About Reach of Chinese Spying," Wall Street Journal Adam Goldman, "Ex-C.I.A. Officer Is Convicted of Spying for China," New York Times Mike Ives, "U.S. Army Veteran Tried to Spy for China, Officials Say," New York Times Ellen Nakashima and Paul Sonne, "China hacked a Navy contractor and secured a trove of highly sensitive data on submarine warfare," Washington Post Ian Brown, "Imagining a Cyber Surprise: How Might China Use Stolen OPM Records to Target Trust?" War on the Rocks Thomas Wright, "Trump Is Choosing Eastern Europe," Atlantic Susan B. Glasser, "Under Trump, "America First" Really Is Turning Out to Be America Alone," New Yorker Neil Irwin, "What Is the Trade Deficit?" New York Times Kai Ryssdal, "How U.S. trade policy has changed over 30 years," Marketplace Heather Long, "There are 'nuggets of truth' to what Trump says about trade," Washington Post Robbie Gramer, Pompeo's Pledge to Lift Hiring Freeze at State Department Hits Big Snag, Foreign Policy Casualty Records, Department of Defense "Syria: Raqqa in ruins and civilians devastated after US-led 'war of annihilation,'" Amnesty International Helene Cooper, "U.S. Strikes Killed Nearly 500 Civilians in 2017, Pentagon Says," New York Times Sundar Pichai, "AI at Google: our principles," Google Kate Conger, "Google Backtracks, Says Its AI Will Not Be Used for Weapons or Surveillance," Gizmodo

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