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

The ladies of Bombshell take on proteins and Afghanistan policy all in one segment with special guest Frances Brown. Across the pond, Brexit is going nowhere fast and NATO is celebrating a grand birthday while the American president is questioning whether he wants to keep paying dues.  In It’s Aghast, 5G is fast, the future, and not so much fun for American competitiveness. And in White House mayhem, the Congress mustered up some war powers energy to get the US out of the military operations in Yemen that the administration claims we aren’t in, while the president visited the border just defenestrating his Homeland Security Secretary.

Links

Huawei/5G

• Ahiza Garcia, "Verizon Launches First 5G Phone You Can Use on a 5G Network in US," CNN, April 3, 2019
• Milo Medin and Gilman Louie, "The 5G Ecosystem: Risks and Opportunities for DOD," Defense Innovation Board, April 2019
• Zak Doffman, "Huawei May Have Claimed 5G Victory Over the US But Is Now In A Street Fight," Forbes, April 5, 2019
• Keith Johnson and Elias Groll, "The Improbable Rise of Huawei," Foreign Policy, April 3, 2019

Saudi Human Rights

• Vivian Yee and David Kirkpatrick, "Saudis Escalate Crackdown on Dissent, Arresting Nine and Risking US Ire," New York Times, April 5, 2019
• Alex Ward, "Saudi Arabia Is Detaining American Activists 6 Months After Khashoggi's Murder," Vox, April 5, 2019
• ALQST, Tweets, April 4, 2019
• Joyce Lee and Dalton Bennett, "The Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi," Washington Post, April 1, 2019

Brexit

• Heather Stewart and Daniel Boffey, "Hopes of Brexit Progress Fade as Labour Says May Has Failed to Compromise," Guardian, April 5, 2019

Afghanistan

• Fahim Abed, "Taliban Attack Kills Dozens in Afghanistan Despite U.S. Efforts in Peace Talks," New York Times, April 4, 2019
• Barbara Walter, "Hoping That Peace Comes to Afghanistan? Dream On," Washington Post, January 30, 2019

Mexico Border

• Molly O'Toole, Noah Bierman, and Eli Stokols, "As Trump Threatens to Close Border, Experts Warn of Billions in Economic Damage," Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2019
• Maegan Vazquez, "Trump Heads to US-Mexico Border After a Week of Confusing Threats," CNN, April 6, 2019

NATO

• Karen Donfried, "3 Ways Europe Is Looking At A Fray NATO," Defense One, April 2, 2019
• Rachel Rizzo and Carrie Cordero, "Bolstering Congressional Support for NATO," CNAS, March 20, 2019

Yemen

• Elisa Catalano Ewers and Nicholas Heras, "Congressional Action on Yemen Isn't Only About Yemen," CNAS, February 27, 2019