Candlesticks Always Make a Nice Gift

This week on Bombshell we talk with Mieke Eoyang about, well, basically everything. We take a rapid fire tour of political dramas in Zimbabwe, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. Stop for a bit to bask in the crazy sunshine of Turkish plots and then return to the United States just to ask: Exactly how many troops do we have overseas? Then just for kicks, we debate what a lawful order for a nuclear first strike would look like. We wrap up with Mieke's Twitter conversation with John Cusack and Erin's dream for a Master and Commander sequel.   Episode Reading Ben Freeman and Mieke Eoyang, "Public Opinion and Narrowing the Security Gap in 2016," Third Way Sisonke Msimang, "The Fall of Africa's Most Hated First Lady," New York Times Von Marcus Gatzke and Marlies Uken, "Relax, Germany Is Not Facing a State Crisis," Zeit Online Andreas Rinke and Madeline Chambers, "Merkel's CDU agrees to pursue grand coalition in Germany," Reuters Marwa Eltagouri, "What we've learned about the North Korean soldier whose daring escape was caught on video," Washington Post Erin Cunningham and Louisa Loveluck, "Hezbollah, on the rise in Lebanon, fends off Saudi Arabia," Washington Post Thomas L. Friedman, "Saudi Arabia's Arab Spring, at Last," New York Times Borzou Daragahi, "Saudi Arabia Has Shaken Up The Middle East - This Is How," BuzzFeed News Reuters Staff, "Turkey has completed purchase of Russian missile defense: defense minister," Reuters Alex Horton, "The Pentagon struggles to provide accurate numbers for deployed troops," Washington Post Luis Martinez, "Thousands more US military service members in Iraq and Syria than believed," ABC News Azmat Khan and Anand Gopal, "The Uncounted," New York Times Magazine Michael Barbaro, "Targeting ISIS, and Killing Civilians," New York Times, 'The Daily' Karoun Demirjian, "Trump's nuclear authority divides senators alarmed by his 'volatile' behavior," Washington Post Stewart Baker, Jim Lewis, and Brian Egan, "Interview with Mieke Eoyang and Jamil Jaffer," Steptoe, The Cyberlaw Podcast Chris Evangelista, "'Master and Commander' Sequel Still A Possibility, Says Russell Crowe," Slash Film Disney-Pixar, "Incredibles 2 Official Teaser Trailer," Disney-Pixar