The Evening CSIS: Brexit, Fed Watch, Long Time Gone & More

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 sign up here.

Brexit Calling

The UK faced renewed pressure to set out its Brexit plans in more detail after its resigning ambassador to the EU expressed frustration over its approach, as the Wall Street Journal’s Nicholas Winning and Jenny Gross report.

Dive Deeper: In CSIS’s 2017 Global Forecast, Heather Conley, Matt Goodman, and Scott Miller discuss the global economic risks the US faces.

Plus, see the Peterson Institute’s Simeon Djankov on “Why a ‘Soft Brexit’ Is in the Interest of Both London and Brussels.”

Symptom of War

For millions of Damascus residents, long-term concerns about the direction of the war in Syria have been replaced by worries about where to get enough water to do the dishes, wash clothes, or take a shower, as the New York Times’ Ben Hubbard reports.

Dive Deeper: See Chatham House’s Georges Fahmi on “Most Syrian Christians Aren’t Backing Assad (or the Rebels).”

Fed Minutes

Uncertainty was a dominant theme at the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, making it that much more difficult to predict the central bank’s next moves and dampening the market’s reaction to the minutes released today from that meeting, as the Financial Times’ Sam Fleming reports.

And, Bloomberg’s Christopher Condon and Craig Torres report this afternoon that Federal Reserve officials focused on the impact of potential fiscal stimulus during their December policy meeting, with many starting to worry that the central bank might eventually be forced to quicken the pace of interest-rate increases to head off higher inflation.

In That Number

150

The number of inmates that escaped from a prison in the Philippines after 100 armed men stormed the facility. Source: BBC News.

Critical Quote

Moscow hopes to scale back tensions with the United States and secure Washington's assent for a new, multipolar world order based on the spheres of influence of the great powers rather than on the liberal norms and institutions that dominated the post-Cold War era.

— CSIS’s Jeffrey Mankoff authored a new piece in Foreign Affairs today, “Rapprochement on Russia's Terms,” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2017-01-04/rapprochement-russias-terms.

One to Watch

(Photo Credit: Big Speak.)
Nicholas Thompson (@nxthompson) is returning to Wired to serve as editor in chief. Nicholas previously served as the editor of newyorker.com. He is also the author of The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War.

Optics

(Photo credit: Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images.)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks to Secretary of State Nominee Rex Tillerson today on Capitol Hill.

Highly Recommended

“My Reunion with a Lebanese Hijacker,” by Robin Wright for the New Yorker.

CSIS Next Week

Join CSIS's Burke Chair in Strategy on January 11 at 10:00 a.m. for "Afghanistan Reconstruction: Enduring Challenges for the New Administration and Congress," featuring a conversation with Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John F. Sopko.

Join CSIS's Simon Chair in Political Economy on January 13 at 10:00 a.m. for "The Future of Global Trade," featuring an armchair conversation with Ambassador Michael Froman, outgoing US trade representative.

And join CSIS's Russia and Eurasia Program on January 13 at 10:00 a.m. for "Russia's Intervention in Syria: Lessons Learned."

CSIS On Demand

CSIS’s Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski were keynote speakers at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Oslo, Norway, in December. The topic of the Forum was "The United States and world peace after the Presidential Election." Watch the event on demand here.

Sounds

Dr. Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA, joined Smart Women, Smart Power to discuss international collaboration in space exploration and NASA’s use of technology to explain the impact of climate change.

I Like It Like That

I still love Medium, but I don’t like their layoffs today.

Smiles

I loved getting mail from so many of you about CSN yesterday, thank you! One of my friends wondered if David Crosby was actually singing in “Suite Judy Blue Eyes.” Reasonable question. Croz has appeared to be, and has been pretty spaced out over the years. And let’s face it, Croz has, at times, evidenced a troubled soul.

However, at 75 he’s still making great music and performing. In late October he released “Lighthouse” which I love. I love his 2014 album “Croz” even more—it’s his best solo work since the 1971 masterpiece “If I Could Only Remember My Name.”

Most of all, I love Croz best when he’s signing with CSN. This clip of “Long Time Gone” featuring Crosby on vocals comes from the same performance as the “Judy Blue Eyes” clip I played yesterday. It appears that Croz was indeed singing.

Feedback

I always welcome and benefit from your feedback. Please drop me a line at [email protected]