Subject: The Evening: Macron, ISIS in Afghanistan, Cornell ’77 and more
From: "Andrew Schwartz" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 May 2017 21:39:06 +0000
List-Id: 833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaacmc list <833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaac.212205.list-id.mcsv.net>

The Evening: Macron, ISIS in Afghanistan, Cornell ’77 and more
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** Good Evening,
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It's Monday, May 8th.

** Macron Victory
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President-elect Emmanuel Macron of France, a consummate internationalist, heads into office primed for clashes with two nationalist rivals on the world stage: U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, as the
Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Dalton and Paul Sonne report (https://www.wsj.com/articles/frances-emmanuel-macron-set-to-clash-with-rivals-on-world-stage-1494198270?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

And as the AP’s Sylvie Corbet and John Leicester report (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-presidency-for-macron-name-change-for-far-right/2017/05/08/65e9d998-33b8-11e7-ab03-aa29f656f13e_story.html?utm_term=.7228f87cbaf2&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) , now comes the equally difficult Act II for Emmanuel Macron: securing the parliamentary majority he needs to make good on his campaign promises to lift France out of economic gloom.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Jeffrey Rathke was interviewed this morning on Fox Business Channel’s Mornings with Maria on the question of “What does the French election mean for the US? (http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5425814772001/?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789#sp=show-clips) ”

And see CFR’s Charles Kupchan on the political challenges Macron faces following his victory (http://www.cfr.org/france/after-macron-win-political-challenges-await/p39122?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

** ISIS in Afghanistan
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Seeking to capitalize on the death of a top Islamic State commander, Afghan forces have surged through districts in eastern Afghanistan long held by the radical Islamist group as warplanes have pounded militant hideouts in the past week, as the
Washington Post’s Pam Constable reports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/after-killing-of-top-emir-afghan-forces-make-inroads-into-islamic-state-territory/2017/05/08/aaaafc42-33d1-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html?utm_term=.e75ee4896426&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

Dive Deeper: See a new report by CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman: The Afghan War: Creating an Afghan Capability to Win (https://www.csis.org/analysis/afghan-war-creating-afghan-capability-win?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

** Syria's De-escalation Zones
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Syria's foreign minister said today in Damascus that the government supports a new Russian-backed deal to create "de-escalation zones," though it does not support the presence of international forces to enforce them, as NPR’s Merrit Kennedy reports (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/08/527411462/syrian-foreign-minister-says-damascus-supports-deal-creating-de-escalation-zones?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said today the United States would closely examine proposed de-escalation zones aimed at easing Syria's civil war but warned "the devil's in the details" and that much needed to be worked out, as Reuters’ Phil Stewart reports (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-mattis-idUSKBN184162?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

Dive Deeper: See the Institute for the Study of War’s “America’s Way Ahead in Syria (http://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/americas-way-ahead-syria?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .”

** In That Number
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** 162
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The number of suspected jihadi activists that Spanish police have arrested since June 2015. Source: AP (https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/05/08/world/europe/ap-eu-spain-arrests.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Faponline-news&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

** Critical Quote
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** “It is more apparent than ever that Erdogan cares little about what Europeans think or say, but relations with the United States is another matter entirely.”
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—CSIS’s Bulent Aliriza authored a new commentary today, “After the Referendum (https://www.csis.org/analysis/after-referendum?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .”

** iDeas Lab
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See Missile Threat’s new interactive analysis on the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (https://missilethreat.csis.org/system/aegis/?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) , featuring a 3-D model of the Arleigh Burke-class Guided Missile Destroyer, the U.S. Navy’s primary ballistic missile warship.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and video.

** Optics
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(Photo Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.)
French president-elect Emmanuel Macron and outgoing French president Francois Hollande attend a ceremony today to mark the Western allies’ World War II victory in Europe at the Arc de Triomphe.

** Recommended Reading
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“Trump goes to Riyadh (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/trump-visit-saudi-arabia-king-salman-relationship-fdr.html?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789#ixzz4gVhidsL6) ,” from Brookings’ Bruce Riedel who says “there are useful lessons to be learned from previous presidents' trips to the kingdom about how to successfully court the royal family.”

** This Town Tomorrow
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Join CSIS’s International Career Advancement Initiative at 3:00 p.m. for its inaugural event, “New Voices in Foreign Affairs: 40 Under 40 Latinos in Foreign Policy (https://www.csis.org/events/new-voices-foreign-affairs-40-under-40-latinos-foreign-policy?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .” A panel of six foreign policy experts will discuss current political and economic developments in Latin America, U.S. business interests in the Middle East, and the new Latinos in Foreign Policy Association.

And join the Middle East Institute at 12:00 p.m. to discuss Iran’s upcoming election (http://www.mei.edu/events/irans-voters-go-polls?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) , its political context, and the potential consequences of the impending vote for Iran, its neighbors, and the United States.

** On Demand
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Last week, CSIS’s Russia and Eurasia Program hosted “Influence and Identity on Europe's Tense Frontiers (https://www.csis.org/events/influence-and-identity-europes-tense-frontiers?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) ,” which explored how Russia’s involvement in regional conflicts affects the surrounding societies.

** Sounds
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Today CSIS’s Energy 360 released a new podcast as part of its Energy and Geopolitics series: Venezuela’s deteriorating economic crisis and the implications for the oil sector.

You can listen on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/energy-360/id1227481277?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) or SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/csis-57169780/venezuela-energy-and?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) .

** Smiles
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Serious fans of the Grateful Dead will know that the band has just released an audio recording of one of their most legendary shows “Cornell ‘77.”

That performance, on May 8, 1977 at Cornell University’s Barton Hall is held out as an absolute gem—some even call it the greatest rock concert of all time. Now that it is available in extraordinarily high quality audio thanks to legal matters over the show’s sound board tapes being resolved, we can all hear just how spectacularly good the Dead played that night. Personally, I’ve been enjoying it nonstop.

Alas, there is no video available of “Cornell ’77.” The good news is that film from the Winterland show on New Year’s eve 1977 is available. The band’s version of “Not Fade Away (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkfiQxh6Xig&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789) ” that night was remarkable—maybe not as remarkable as the version performed during “Cornell ‘77” but my oh my is it still a smile.
I invite you to email me at [email-masked] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz (https://www.twitter.com/handrewschwartz?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=21f62e830f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-21f62e830f-145367789)

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The Evening 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, and Jackie Ramsay.

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