When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

This week Paula Garcia Tufro joins the Radha, Loren, and Erin to discuss the brewing crisis in Venezuela. Then the ladies fashion an update on Brexit, explore uncharted waters in Iraq, and ask what is the point of a second North Korea summit when nothing has happened since the first! Radha unpacks recent trade negotiations with China before the group asks the unanswerable question: just how much money can you shove into OCO? Finally, Erin and Loren profess their undying love for Matthew Goode.

Links

Venezuela 

• Ethan Bronner, “Venezuela’s Maduro Is Doomed? They Said That About Syria’s Assad,” Bloomberg

Keeping up Foreign Relations

Brexit

• William James, “May to Promise New BExit Debate in Push for More Negotiating Time,” Reuters
• Jon Henley, Jennifer Rankin, and Richard Partington, “Countdown to Brexit: The Key Dates as UK’s EU Exit Approaches,” Guardian
• Peter Flanagan, “Why Ireland’s Border Commands Its Own Brexit Backstop,” Bloomberg

Iraq

• Simona Foltyn, “Will Iraq’s Old Divisions Undermine Its New Prime Minister?” Foreign Policy
• Jennifer Hansler, “Trump’s Iraq Comment Prompts Confusion and Condemnation,” CNN

North Korea

• Bruce W. Jentleson, “Trump, Kim, and the Three P’s of Summit Diplomacy,” War on the Rocks
• Robert E. Kelly, “The Second Trump-Kim Summit: Getting Beyond the Photo Op,” War on the Rocks
• Uri Friedman, “South Korea Becomes a Testing Ground for Trump’s Grievances with Allies,” Atlantic
• Russell Goldman, “A Guide to Trump and Kim Jong-un’s Next Summit Meeting,” New York Times

It’s Aghast

China Trade      

• Jeff Mason, “S.-China Trade Talks Resume Next Week, Focus on Intellectual Property,” Reuters
• Patti Domm, “Trade War Headlines Could Get Much Worse Before They Get Betters As the US Looks to Europe,” CNBC

White House Mayhem

Defense Budget

• Tony Bertuca, “Pentagon Planning a Mammoth FY-20 War Budget to Avoid Spending Cap,” Inside Defense

Fitzgerald

• Bryan McGrath, “The Fitzgerald Collision: In Search of the Onus,” War on the Rocks