The Evening CSIS: Contained or Not, Red Alert, Paperback Writer & 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 click here and if you want to view this in your browser, click here.

Contained or Not Contained
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee today and said that ISIS in Iraq and Syria is contained tactically, but not strategically, as CBS News’s Rebecca Shabad reports.

CNN’s Tom LoBianco, Barbara Starr, and Jamie Crawford have more on the story including a video clip of Secretary Carter’s response to Senator McCain on containing ISIS.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Jon Alterman published an essay in the CSIS 2016 Global Forecast, “ ISIS (Re)Writes History."

The Institute for the Study of War today published a “ Control Map of Ramadi."

Via Chatham House’s Hassan Hassan “ The Rebels Can Defeat ISIS - and the UK's Involvement in Syria Will Help ."

Beijing Red Alert
Beijing had another day under an air quality “red alert” today, with schools still closed, half of all cars kept off the roads and factories shut, as theNew York Times' Edward Won reports.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Jane Nakano today published a new Critical Questions (CSIS’s signature series of asked & answered short papers), Red Alert—Air Quality in China has no easy solution .

CFR’s Elizabeth Economy published, “ China Recalculates Its Coal Consumption: Why This Really Matters ” in November.

And, from Brookings’s Timmons Roberts, “ A historic climate agreement hangs in the balance: A dispatch from the Paris climate conference .”

What are the World's Young People Doing?
This is exciting: a new infographic in which CSIS’s Youth, Prosperity and Security Initiative has collaborated with the International Youth Foundation (IYF).

This infographic, " What are The World's Young People Doing? ," draws from data gathered by the World Bank, ILO, and United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to offer a snapshot of young people's activities, including education, employment, and forced work. One of its critical findings: “more young people are in illegal, forced, and/or hazardous work than are enrolled at the university level.”

In that Number
2.5%
The percentage of Puerto Rico’s population that emigrated last year.
Source: US Department of the Treasury

Critical Quote
“They had to catch up, and the quickest way to do that is to take technology from Western companies.”
—James A. Lewis, on the roots of Chinese cyberespionage.
Source: Poli tico .

One to Watch

(Photo Credit: LinkedIn.)
Connor O’Brien (@connorobrienNH) will be joining POLITICO as a defense reporter next year. Connor previously served as a defense policy reporter at CQ. For the latest defense news, Connor is one to watch.

Optics
Today the Atlantic released part two of its three-part series, 2015: The Year in Photos. Part two focuses on May-August, a summer steeped in chaos.

Highly Recommended
“DoD CIO Says [electromagnetic] Spectrum May Become Warfighting Domain,” by Breaking Defense’s Sydney Freedberg Jr.

CSIS Today
CSIS hosted Vice Admirals Bill Moran and Peter Daly for a discussion on the particular challenges facing the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, from national-level maritime policy to naval concept development and program design. And later, panelists discussed “Enhancing EU-U.S. Cooperation in Space,” an event focused on identifying opportunities to enhance EU-US policy coordination.

CSIS Tomorrow
Tomorrow at 3:00 p.m., the CSIS Global Food Security Project will host a discussion on urban hunger, as the international community pursues a “zero hunger goal.” Register here or watch live. And at 5:00 p.m., join us for “1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History,” a book event with author Jay Winik; you can register here.

This Town Tomorrow
Tomorrow at 3:00 p.m., the Carnegie Current Affairs Institute and the European and Eurasian Studies Program will host a debate on “Russia: Adversary or Ally?” Sign up for the event here.

CSIS on Demand
Earlier this week, Tinatin Khidasheli, defense minister of Georgia, joined CSIS for a Statesmen’s Forum discussion on the West’s relationship with the Kremlin following Russia’s military intervention in Syria and terrorist attacks in Paris, as well as Georgia’s security future and its relationship with NATO.

Sounds
This week’s CSIS Podcast discusses the COP21 summit in Paris and how world leaders are coping with climate change.

I Like It Like That
Eye-catching things in CSIS's orbit
The always interesting annual Time magazine’s person of the year doesn’t disappoint; it’s German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Smiles
Encore. Back to Paul McCartney and his incredible band: Brian Ray, Rusty Anderson, Abe Laboriel Jr. and Wix Wickens.

I’m an Abe Laboriel fan—he hits the skins with the best of them. Ray and Anderson positively rock out with Paul in front. But the other guy in back, Wix, on keyboards helps recreate the orchestral and production wizardry majesty the Beatles achieved in the studio with George Martin.

“I’ve Got a Feeling” and “Paperback Writer” were recorded at different times in the Beatles progression decades ago. Paul and the band make them sound fresh as reimagine these two of my all-time favorite Beatles songs in the “Live from New York City” video.

Feedback

I always welcome and benefit from your feedback. Please drop me a line at aschwartz@csis.org.