Subject: The Evening CSIS: Talks On, Red Carpets Replace Sanctions, Heart of Gold & More
From: "Andrew Schwartz" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2016 22:35:49 -0000

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 Good Evening, 

Welcome to  The Evening CSIS —my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day plus HIGHLY RECOMMENDED content from around the world. If you want to view this in your browser, click here [ http://CSIS.informz.net/InformzDataService/OnlineVersion/Individual?mailingInstanceId=5319042&subscriberId=1062005454 ] .

 Talks On
 The main Syrian opposition grouping agreed to attend UN-sponsored peace talks that began in Geneva on Friday, reversing a boycott that had threatened to wreck the first attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the war in two years, as Reuters reports [ http://reut.rs/1SNFiQK ] .

Meanwhile, as Michael Schmidt and Helene Cooper of the  New York Times  report [ http://nyti.ms/1VuBm5y ] , Pentagon officials have concluded that hundreds more trainers, advisers, and commandos from the US and its allies will need to be sent to Iraq and Syria in the coming months as the campaign to isolate the Islamic State intensifies.

 Dive Deeper:  CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman authored a new commentary [ http://bit.ly/1SgMuFC ] : “Creeping Incrementalism: U.S. Forces and Strategy in Iraq and Syria from 2011 to 2016: An Update.”

Also, from the Institute for the Study of War, see “Competing Visions for Syria and Iraq: The Myth of an Anti-ISIS Grand Coalition.” [ http://bit.ly/1QpYTVD ] 

 Red Carpets Replace Sanctions
 Smart article by Bloomberg’s Ladane Nasseri: “Key Facts About Iran’s Economy as Red Carpets Replace Sanctions.” [ http://bloom.bg/1TskH3V ] 

 Dive Deeper:  CSIS’s Jon Alterman’s “Beyond the Iran Deal”  [ http://bit.ly/20bXfgG ] is a smart read on the large set of questions having to do with emerging global commercial ties with Iran.

 What's a little spying among friends?
 A new report [ http://bit.ly/1TqZeIJ ]  from the  Intercept , based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden, indicate that US and UK intelligence secretly tapped into live video feeds from Israeli drones and fighter jets in order to monitor Israeli actions in Gaza and look out for a potential strike against Iran.

Israeli officials downplayed the  Intercept  report, as Gili Cohen of  Haaretz  reports [ http://bit.ly/1KL9owG ] .

Meanwhile, as CNN reports [ http://cnn.it/1QLNnEm ] , Iran flew a drone over a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf recently, an incident the Navy calls “abnormal and unprofessional.”

 Don't Miss Defense 360
 This week, CSIS’s International Security Program released a new micro website, “Defense 360,” [ http://defense360.csis.org ]  our latest platform for showcasing analysis by top CSIS experts, including a special column to appear regularly by CSIS’s president and CEO, John Hamre.

 In that Number
  3 - 4 million 
The estimated number of Zika virus infections in the Americas region over the last 12 months.
Source: CNN [ http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/28/health/zika-virus-global-response ] 

 Critical Quote
 “The United States still clearly lacks any overall strategy that can defeat the broader forces of Islamist extremism even if it can drive ISIS out of its proto-state." 
—Anthony Cordesman, CSIS Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, on the situation in the Middle East and the US strategy to defeat ISIS.
Source: CSIS [ http://csis.org/publication/creeping-incrementalism-us-forces-and-strategy-iraq-and-syria-2011-2016-update ] .

 One to Watch 

 

 

( Photo Credit: Twitter. )
 The Evening CSIS  congratulates Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt [ https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt ] ) on his latest career move. Today, Peter was named the Jerusalem bureau chief of the  New York Times .

 Optics

 

 

( Photo Credit: US NAVY, Petty Officer 3rd Class Anderson W. Branch. )
Sailors aboard the USS  Dwight D. Eisenhower  performing [ http://www.defense.gov/Media/Photo-Gallery?igphoto=2001338172 ]  a preflight check on an F/A-18E Super Hornet in the Atlantic Ocean.

 Highly Recommended
 “France, Iran, and the Affair of the Lunch Wine,” [ http://bit.ly/1NG1y7u ]  by the  New Yorker ’s Adam Gopnick.

 CSIS Today
 Today, the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development hosted an event on “Bridging the Gap: Developing Resilience in Northern Syria [ http://csis.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01MzE1Nzg4JnA9MSZ1PTEwNjQ2OTgzNTkmbGk9MzMwNzE4MzY/index.html ] .” And catch “The Navy’s Vision for Unmanned Systems [ http://csis.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01MzE1Nzg4JnA9MSZ1PTEwNjQ2OTgzNTkmbGk9MzMwNzE4Mzg/index.html ] ,” as Rear Admiral Robert P. Girrier (USN) discusses the Navy’s ongoing strategic adjustments and significant maritime forces changes in the coming decades. Afterward, watch Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba of the United Arab Emirates speak on the “Middle East at an inflection point [ http://csis.org/event/middle-east-inflection-point ] ”—the view from the region. Finally, listen to “US Economic Statecraft and the Global Order [ http://csis.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01MzE1Nzg4JnA9MSZ1PTEwNjQ2OTgzNTkmbGk9MzMwNzE4NDA/index.html ] ,” a discussion that highlights the strategic role of economies in foreign policy, featuring former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers.

 This Town Monday
 Monday at 10:00 a.m. join [ http://www.brookings.edu/events/2016/02/01-next-president-defense?rssid=UpcomingEvents&utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Defense+strategy+for+the+next+president ]  the Brookings Institution as panel of experts examines options for defense strategy for the next president of the United States.

 CSIS on Demand
 Yesterday, CSIS hosted the latest Schieffer Series, “A Discussion on Terrorism [ http://csis.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01MzE1Nzg4JnA9MSZ1PTEwNjQ2OTgzNTkmbGk9MzMwNzE4MzQ/index.html ] .” Bob Schieffer moderated the event with Fran Townsend, Juan Zarate, and Mary Louise Kelly.

 Sounds
 The latest War College podcast [ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1023774600 ]  from Reuters covers the Iran-Saudi showdown, why it’s a gift to ISIS, and what will happen next.

 I Like It Like That 
 Eye-catching things in CSIS's orbit
 Coda Story is a new single-issue web platform that puts a team of journalists on one crisis at a time and stays with it. Their inaugural edition covers “Russia’s War on LGBTQ Rights.” [ http://codastory.com ] 

 Smiles
 Neil Young, “Live at the BBC” in 1971, showcased the artist as my friend Brian says “at the top of his game.” 

Not many artists have spanned the decades like Young.  His creativity and expertise extends beyond music and into classic car restoration, Lionel trains, the science of sound and climate just to name a few areas he dabbles in. Jimmy McDonough wrote about this in his mammoth 2002 Young biography, “Shakey.”

Neil Young is indeed a complex artist. But very few artists can do what he did in this 1971 performance [ http://bit.ly/1vXn4xD ]  with just his guitar, harmonica and voice. He makes it look so effortless, and it’s spellbinding to watch Young strum and sing along with lyrics like “I’m a miner for a heart of gold.” 

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