This week Erin, Loren, and Radha reunite after a midwinter break to talk pandemics. They then turn to the Afghanistan “peace” deal, Israeli elections (third time’s the charm?), and recent developments in Syria. As always, there’s plenty of White House mayhem with a new chief of staff, and vacancies as far as the eye can see in Pentagon civilian leadership. Thankfully, Hilary Mantel books and Love is Blind provide a pop culture escape to soothe (or at least distract) the soul.
Links
Coronavirus
Matthew Herper, “Susan Desmond-Hellmann: The Coronavirus is Alarming. Here’s Why You Should Not Panic,” Stat, March 6, 2020 “Covid-19 is Now In 50 Countries, and Things Will Get Worse,” The Economist, February 2020Afghanistan
Diaa Hadid and Scott Neuman, “US, Afghanistan and Taliban Announce 7-Day Reduction in Violence,” NPR Morning Edition, February 21, 2020 Shereen Qazi, “Will the Ghani-Abdullah Rivalry Undermine Afghan Peace Process?” Aljazeera, March 9, 2020 Kathy Gilsinan, “The US Once Wanted Peace in Afghanistan,” Atlantic, February 29, 2020 David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt, and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “A Secret Accord With the Taliban: When and How the US Would Leave Afghanistan,” New York Times, March 8, 2020 Susannah George, “Thrown Under the Bus: Some Afghans View US-Taliban Peace Deal with Mix of Disbelief and Anger,” Washington Post, March 7, 2020 Courtney Kube, Ken Dilanian, and Dan De Luce, “US Has Persuasive Intel Taliban Do Not Intend to Abide by Terms of Peal Deal, Officials Say,” NBC New, March 6, 2020 Elizabeth Threlkeld, “Reading Between the Lines of Afghan Agreement,” Lawfare, March 8, 2020Pop Culture
Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On, (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007) Wolf Hall, PBSSyria
Jen Kirby, “Turkey and Russia Reached a Ceasefire in Syria. Will it Hold?” Vox, March 6, 2020 “Water Cannon and Tear Gas at Turkish-Greek Border,” BBC, March 7, 2020OSD
Lara Seligman and Daniel Lippman, “Civilian Vacancies at Trump’s Pentagon Hit New High,” Politico, March 6, 2020Then One Foggy Christmas Eve
One for the Road
Anticipation Is Making Me Late
Final Countdown
Karma Puh-leeze
When There are Nine
I'm a Loser, Baby
It's Fun to Stay in the JCPOA
Tik Tok Ya Don’t Stop
Simple Joys of Maidenhood
People Try to Put Us Down
Revenge of Cartography
China, All the Way to New York
I'm On A Boat
Burning Out Our Fuse Up Here Alone
I Do My Hair Toss, Check My Emails
The One Where We Talk About Our Feelings
This is Fine
Let Us Be Elegant or Die
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It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
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