Subject: The Evening CSIS: China Power, Kabul Attack, Tightrope & More
From: "Andrew Schwartz" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2016 23:34:58 +0000
List-Id: 833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaacmc list <833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaac.212205.list-id.mcsv.net>

The Evening CSIS: China Power, Kabul Attack, Tightrope & More
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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. To subscribe, please send me an email at [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) .

** China Power
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As the Guardian’s David Smith reported (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/19/china-military-economy-chinapower-website) today, CSIS’s latest interactive research project “China Power” aims to “tackle questions over China’s growing military, economic and technological prowess.”

Dive Deeper: CSIS today launched "ChinaPower," an immersive micro-website that offers never-before-seen features exploring China’s lone aircraft carrier in 3D, visualizes key economic and demographic data, and measures key social factors among other indicators of Chinese power.

With the most up-to-date research, interactive graphics, expert analysis and data collection, ChinaPower is a regularly updated site that addresses critical questions surrounding China's rise.

ChinaPower is the result of a collaboration between the CSIS China Power Project, led by Bonnie Glaser, and the CSIS iDeas Lab—CSIS’s in-house multimedia and web production studio. Begin exploring our new micro-website by visiting http://chinapower.csis.org/.

** Deadly Kabul Attack
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The Taliban marked the official start of the spring fighting season with a huge truck bomb in the heart of Kabul today with at least 30 dead and more than 300 wounded as the New York Times’s Mujib Mashal and Ahmad Shakib report (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/world/asia/kabul-explosion-afghanistan.html?_r=0) .

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman published a report in early March, Afghanistan: The Uncertain Impact of a Year of Transition (http://csis.org/publication/afghanistan-uncertain-impact-year-transition-0) .

And, the Atlantic Council recently published an interview with Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, a CSIS Senior Adviser, “US Foreign Policy Needs to be ‘Balanced’ Between ‘Great Exertions’ and ‘Retreat’ (http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/us-foreign-policy-needs-to-be-balanced-between-great-exertions-and-retreat) .”

** Military Pay Raise
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House lawmakers want a 2.1 percent military pay raise for next year and a force expansion totaling 27,000 troops beyond the Pentagon's request, according to their first draft of the annual defense authorization bill released today, as the Military Times’s Leo Shane reports (http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/04/19/ndaa-house-personnel-draft-pay-raise/83226262/) .

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Todd Harrison posted a new report: Analysis of the FY 2017 Defense Budget (http://defense360.csis.org/analysis-of-the-fy-2017-defense-budget/)  on CSIS’s micro-website Defense 360.

** In that Number
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** $905 billion
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The total amount of defense-related funding in the FY2017 budget. Source: CSIS’s Todd Harrison (http://defense360.csis.org/analysis-of-the-fy-2017-defense-budget/)

** Critical Quote
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** “The US must take the lead in realigning the global power architecture in such a way that the violence erupting within and occasionally projected beyond the Muslim world—and in the future possibly from other parts of what used to be called the Third World—can be contained without destroying the global order.”
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—Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, CSIS counselor and former national security adviser, on the need for global realignment.
Source: American Interest (http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/04/17/toward-a-global-realignment/) .

** One to Watch
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(Photo Credit: Twitter.)

Catherine Traywick (@ctraywick (https://twitter.com/ctraywick) ) is an energy reporter covering Congress for Bloomberg. Catherine previously served as a fellow at Foreign Policy magazine where she focused on defense and international security. For the latest energy news, Catherine is one to watch.

** Optics
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Watch “Cautious Steps for Libya’s New Government (http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/04/19/cautious-steps-for-libyas-new-government?videoId=368190866&videoChannel=117760&channelName=World+News) ” via Reuters.

Dive Deeper: Today President Obama signed an executive order “Blocking Property And Suspending Entry Into The United States Of Persons Contributing To The Situation In Libya (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/19/executive-order-blocking-property-and-suspending-entry-united-states) .” The Treasury Department followed up with a new designation (https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0432.aspx)  of a Libyan national.

** Highly Recommended
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New essay by CSIS Counselor and Trustee Zbigniew Brzezinski “Toward a Global Realignment (http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/04/17/toward-a-global-realignment/) ” for the American Interest.

** CSIS Today
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Today CSIS’s Africa Program hosted “Public Perceptions of Violence and Current Developments in South Sudan (http://csis.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaac&id=5ce972b13a&e=d556e146bd) .”

** CSIS Tomorrow
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Join CSIS’s Energy and National Security Program tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. for “Time-Variant Electricity Pricing: Theory and Implementation (http://csis.org/event/time-variant-electricity-pricing-theory-and-implementation) .”

Join CSIS’s International Security Program tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. for “Smart Women, Smart Power: The Global Education Agenda - A Conversation with Julia Gillard (http://csis.org/event/smart-women-smart-power-global-education-agenda-conversation-julia-gillard) .”

And join CSIS’s Human Rights Initiative on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. for “Foreign Policy and Human Rights Challenges in the European Union (http://csis.org/event/foreign-policy-and-human-rights-challenges-european-unionhttp:/csis.org/event/foreign-policy-and-human-rights-challenges-european-union) ” with Stavros Lambrinidis, the EU’s special representative for human rights.

** This Town Tomorrow
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Join the Atlantic Council tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. for “From Kabul to the White House: Zalmay Khalilzad’s The Envoy.” (http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/events/upcoming-events/detail/from-kabul-to-the-white-house-zalmay-khalilzad%E2%80%99s-the-envoy)

** CSIS on Demand
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Yesterday CSIS’s Global Health Policy Center hosted “Rethinking International Drug Policy: Adopting a Public Health Approach (http://csis.org/event/rethinking-international-drug-policy-adopting-public-health-approach) .”

** Sounds
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The latest Financial Times podcast explores “What happens in Brazil if Rousseff is ousted? (http://podcast.ft.com/2016/04/19/what-happens-in-brazil-if-rousseff-is-ousted/) ”

** I Like It Like That
Eye-catching things in CSIS's orbit
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Congrats to my friend Justin P. Kenny and his team at the NewsHour for winning a Peabody Award for Desperate Journey (http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/pbs-newshour-wins-peabody/290951) , a series on refugees fleeing Syria and other war zones in the Middle East.

** Smiles
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Encore. Turns out there are some people who love the late Stevie Ray Vaughan out there. I’m one of them.

There’s a statue of Stevie Ray in Austin that people visit just to pay homage. I saw the real Stevie Ray perform live many times in New Orleans when he was in his prime. At the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Stevie Ray was colossal. Here’s a great photo (http://www.requestaprint.net/thnoc/gallery_hr/2007.0103.4.734.jpg) taken by the late Michael P. Smith (who also photographed my wedding) of Stevie Ray in 1986 at Jazz Fest.

Stevie Ray was majestic. Watch him fly in this live performance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX5ioDq1m5I) in Austin and smile.

** Feedback
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I always welcome and benefit from your feedback. Please drop me a line at [email-masked].

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CONNECT W/ H. ANDREW SCHWARTZ
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