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First, Tommy and Ben discuss Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s foreign policy speech and Trump’s ongoing and bizarre coddling of noted relative murderer Kim Jong Un. Then they discuss the brave activists and journalists protesting in Hong Kong and Russia, the tariff fight with Mexico, Venezuela, wonder again why we do business with Saudi Arabia, LGBT pride at the State Department, how a fake Iranian author got published, and how a dead tree is a metaphor for our alliances. Then Sudanese activist Wafa May Elamin joins to discuss the crackdown on protestors in Sudan.

Show Notes

Recent events in Sudan

• NYT: The Fall of Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the ‘Spider’ at the Heart of Sudan’s Web
• NYT: Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir Is Ousted, but Not His Regime
  
• NYT: Sudan’s Protesters Reject Military Plan After Crackdown Kills Dozens
  
• NYT: 100 Killed in Sudan and Dozens of Bodies Are Pulled From Nile, Opposition Says
  
• NYT: Sudan Protesters, Devastated but Defiant, Regroup Underground After Crackdown
  
• Reuters: Sudan sit-in bloodshed cripples uprising
  
• BBC: Is Sudan a new regional battleground?
  
• The Guardian: Sudan protesters reject army takeover after removal of president
  
• The Guardian: Saudi influence in spotlight as US calls on Riyadh to end Sudan violence
  
• U.S. Department of State: Under Secretary Hale’s Call With Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman
  
• The Guardian: The Observer view on the crisis in Sudan
  
• BBC: Sudanese businesses shut in strike against military rulers

Other recent news coverage

• BBC: Sudan crisis: Return of the feared Janjaweed
• NPR: Mass Civil Disobedience In Sudan Is Latest Effort To End Military Rule

Background reading

• WSJ: Protests Intensify in Sudan, Threatening Longtime President (January 14)
  
• International Crisis Group – Improving Prospects for a Peaceful Transition in Sudan (January 14)
  
• AP: Hundreds Rally in Sudan’s Capital for Al-Bashir’s Ouster
  
• Al Jazeera (January 13) – Sudan official: Death toll from protests rises to 24
  
• AP: Sudan activists: 3 protesters killed in clashes with police (January 10)
  
• WaPo: ‘Bashir will not budge:’ Nationwide protests in Sudan take aim at the president (January 6)
  
• AP – Sudanese Police Try to Break Up Swelling Protests Against Bashir (December 25)
  
• Al Jazeera (December 24) – Sudan trade unions call for march to presidency as protests grow
  
• Voice of America – The 2019 Outlook for Africa – Straight Talk Africa