Subject: The Evening CSIS: Meeting Myanmar, Oil Slick, Thunder Road & More
From: "Andrew Schwartz" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2016 22:57:02 +0000
List-Id: 833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaacmc list <833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaac.212205.list-id.mcsv.net>

The Evening CSIS: Meeting Myanmar, Oil Slick, Thunder Road & More
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** Good Evening,
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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 sign up here (http://bit.ly/ecs1s) .

** Meeting Myanmar
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President Barack Obama will discuss possible further relief of US sanctions on Myanmar when the de facto leader of the nation’s new civilian government, Aung San Suu Kyi, visits Wednesday, White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said today at CSIS, as the Associated Press’s Matthew Pennington reports (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-discuss-sanctions-policy-myanmars-suu-kyi-42058786) .

Dive Deeper: Watch today’s event with Ben Rhodes On Demand (https://www.csis.org/events/united-states-and-myanmar-next-steps)  or read a transcript (https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/event/160913_Keynote_Ben_Rhodes_Myanmar_transcript.pdf) of Rhodes’s remarks.

Plus, CSIS’s Zoltan Barany and the University of Texas’s Frank C. Erwin today released a report: Armed Forces and Democratization in Myanmar: Why the U.S. Military Should Engage the Tatmadaw (https://www.csis.org/analysis/armed-forces-and-democratization-myanmar-why-us-military-should-engage-tatmadaw) .

** Shifting Alliance
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President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines signaled an abrupt departure from his nation’s longstanding military reliance on the US, ordering his defense secretary to seek gear from suppliers in China and Russia to fight drug traffickers and insurgents, as the
Wall Street Journal’s Trefor Moss reports (http://www.wsj.com/articles/duterte-signals-shift-in-u-s-philippine-military-alliance-1473774873) .

Meanwhile, the New York Times’ Felipe Villamor reports (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/asia/philippines-us-duterte-troops-mindanao.html?emc=edit_ae_20160913&nl=todaysheadlines-asia&nlid=46504935&_r=1) that military cooperation between the Philippines and the US appeared to be undisturbed today as the Southeast Asian country sought to temper comments by its president suggesting US troops should leave Mindanao, where they have been helping to fight an insurgency.

Dive Deeper: CSIS will host the Philippines’ secretary of foreign affairs this Thursday for remarks that will be webcast live (https://www.csis.org/events/philippines-csis-forum-foreign-secretary-perfecto-yasay-jr) .

** Oil Slick
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A day after the S&P 500 clocked its best day in two months, the benchmark index fell 1.5 percent to 2,127.02 led by a sell-off in energy shares, which finished the day 2.9 percent lower, as the
Financial Times’ Mamta Badkar reports (https://www.ft.com/content/dfb45ff0-7a39-3d96-bd4d-fa4ec81b8269) .

Dive Deeper: Last month, CSIS’s Frank Verrastro, Guy Caruso, Kevin Book, and Larry Goldstein authored a commentary: “Oil Price Movements in Perspective (https://www.csis.org/analysis/oil-price-movements-perspective) .”

**
On Syria Tomorrow Morning
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In an interview that will air tomorrow morning with NPR’s Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, Secretary of State John Kerry defends the negotiated Syrian cease-fire deal as the best option, suggesting the alternative would be an increased death toll.

Kerry says: “What’s the alternative? The alternative is to allow us to go from 450,000 people who’ve been slaughtered to how many thousands more; that Aleppo gets completely overrun; that the Russians and Assad simply bomb indiscriminately for days to come and we sit there and do nothing? That’s the alternative to trying to get this done, if America is not going to go in with their troops and America’s made the decision we’re not going in with our troops. And the President’s made that decision.”

** In That Number
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** 3
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The number of Syrians that were arrested in Germany today under the suspicion of being part of an ISIS sleeper cell. Source: AP (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/germany-3-arrested-in-raids-seeking-islamic-extremists/2016/09/13/eb042776-7984-11e6-8064-c1ddc8a724bb_story.html) .

** Critical Quote
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** “The concern is China's ability to insert trap doors into critical telecommunications infrastructure, giving Beijing potential access to our national communications.”
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—CSIS’s Andrew Shearer in “U.S. Spies Think China Wants to Read Your E-Mail (https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-13/u-s-spies-think-china-wants-to-read-your-e-mail) ” via Bloomberg View’s Eli Lake.

** One to Watch
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Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen is a new visiting fellow in CSIS’s Europe Program. Today Jon authored a new commentary, “Arctic Watch: Negotiations Over the North Pole (https://www.csis.org/analysis/arctic-watch-negotiations-over-north-pole) .”

** Optics
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(Photo Credit: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images.)
A US B-1B Lancer (C) is escorted by US F-16 fighter jets as it flies over the Osan Air Base, aiming at reinforcing the US commitment to its key ally, in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, today.

** Highly Recommended
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The Year of Voting Dangerously: The Derangement of American Politics (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/maureen-dowd/the-year-of-voting-dangerously/9781455541591/) , by Maureen Dowd is out today.

** CSIS Today
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CSIS’s Energy and National Security Program hosted “IEA’s Energy & Air Pollution Roundtable (https://www.csis.org/events/ieas-energy-air-pollution-roundtable) .”

CSIS’s Southeast Asia Program hosted “The United States and Myanmar: Next Steps (https://www.csis.org/events/united-states-and-myanmar-next-steps) .”

CSIS’s Europe Program hosted “Understanding a New Ocean: The Policy Implications of a Transforming Arctic (https://www.csis.org/events/understanding-new-ocean-policy-implications-transforming-arctic) .”

**
CSIS Tomorrow
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Join us tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. for “The National Security Division at 10 (https://www.csis.org/events/national-security-division-10) ,” a full day of discussions on the evolving national security threat since 9/11, the progress that NSD has made over the past 10 years, and key issues and threats that NSD will face in the next decade.

CSIS’s Southeast Asia Program will host “Pacific Day 2016 (https://www.csis.org/events/pacific-day-2016) ” at the Embassy of New Zealand at 4:00 p.m.

**
This Town Tomorrow
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Join the Atlantic Council tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. for “After the March: What’s Next for Venezuela? (http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/events/upcoming-events/detail/after-the-march-what%E2%80%99s-next-for-venezuela) ”

And join Brookings tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. for “Global Britain: The United Kingdom after the EU Referendum (https://www.brookings.edu/events/global-britain-the-united-kingdom-after-the-eu-referendum/) .”

** CSIS On Demand
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A new documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Max3RHvm5bk) from CSIS's Global Food Security Project explores the fight for food security in Bangladesh. A team of CSIS experts researched on the ground in Bangladesh to assess the US government's Feed the Future initiative, taking a look at its progress and challenges in order to provide policy recommendations for potential improvement. Watch it on demand here.

** Sounds
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Russian Roulette has a new podcast: “Of Hacking and Ukrainian Politics (https://www.csis.org/podcasts/russian-roulette) .”

** I Like It Like That
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I had wonderful interns from my alma mater Tulane University this summer. Tulane asked me to post a blog (http://www2.tulane.edu/liberal-arts/newsletter/alumni-internships-sept-2016.cfm) about them, and I loved bragging on how great they were.

** Smiles
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Bruce Springsteen is the ultimate stadium rocker. Heck, he’s the ultimate rock and roller period.

It’s difficult to measure the impact of a Springsteen album like “Born to Run.”  Rolling Stone Magazine ranks “Born to Run” 18th on its list of the 500 greatest albums. But a list can’t do this record justice.

“Born to Run” is a recording that more than any other piece of music in the rock cannon, just feels completely alive—no matter when you listen to it. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t lived out the Boss’s line from “Thunder Road” and “rolled down the window and let the wind blow back your hair” while blazing down the highway.

I once saw the Boss onstage with Bob Dylan at the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in Cleveland. To Dylan’s shock, the crowd was yelling “Bruuucceee.” Dylan seemed to love it, too. He started yelling “Bruuucceee” into the microphone. The Boss just grinned and tried to be deferential to the Bard.

Springsteen’s seminal record “Born to Run” opens with the blistering track “Thunder Road (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5kXnq5IjdU) .” If you’re from anywhere in New Jersey, New York, Philly or Maryland, this song is your anthem (I’m pretty sure folks from all over America feel the same way but “Thunder Road” is sacrosanct in our region.)

And that’s alright with me.

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

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The Evening CSIS is my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day. It is composed with the External Relations team: Colm Quinn, Brandon Schwartz, Jackie Ramsay, and James Dunton.

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