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 2020 Afghanistan 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, 2020 Pop Culture Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2007) Wolf Hall, PBS Syria 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, 2020 OSD Lara Seligman and Daniel Lippman, "Civilian Vacancies at Trump's Pentagon Hit New High," Politico, March 6, 2020