The Evening CSIS: Defense Transition, Park’s Fate, Mystic Eyes & 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.

Defense Transition 45

As the Trump administration prepares to govern, CSIS’s T45 series will provide insights and recommendations from our scholars on where change in US defense strategy, forces, operations, and institutions would be most valuable to the nation.

Korean Vote on Impeachment

South Korea’s national legislature is preparing to vote on the possible impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, who has been engulfed in a massive scandal involving allegations of corruption, influence peddling, and ties to a cult. The measure is coming up for a vote on Friday, a week and a half after Park said she would be willing to step down, but declined to resign, as NPR reports.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Victor Cha on the political crisis in South Korea.

No Help

The Philippine defense secretary said today it is highly unlikely his country will allow the US military to use it as a springboard for freedom-of-navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea, to avoid antagonizing China, as the AP reports.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) has an interactive micro-website that monitors activities in the South China Sea.


Assad Advances in Aleppo

The Syrian Army has plunged further into rebel-held areas in the devastated city of Aleppo. Reuters says that victory for Assad is “firmly in sight.” Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says that military activity has been halted in order to allow civilian evacuation, while Reuters journalists on the ground report that the shelling has not stopped.

Dive deeper: The BBC has a series of maps and charts that show the slow advance of Syrian government forces against Syrian rebels from the beginning of the year up to the present.

In That Number

$60

The size of a new fine approved by the city council of Buenos Aires that will punish catcalling and other forms of sexual harassment. Source: BBC News.

Critical Quote

“Vietnam knows it can't compete with China but it does want to improve its ability to keep an eye on them.”

—CSIS’s Gregory Poling on Vietnam’s activities in the South China Sea. Source: Reuters.

One to Watch


Andrea Kendall-Taylor is a deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council and a senior associate in CSIS’s Human Rights Initiative. Andrea authored a piece in Foreign Affairs this week, “How Democracies Fall Apart: Why Populism Is a Pathway to Autocracy,” and last week authored “When ailing dictators die in office, what happens next?” in the Washington Post.

Optics


(Photo Credit: TONY RANZE/AFP/Getty Images)
A true American hero—Senator John Glenn.

Highly Recommended

A new study by the Pew Research Center on “Information Overload” finds that, for the most part, the large majority of Americans do not feel that information overload is a problem for them. Some 20% say they feel overloaded by information, a decline from the 27% figure from a decade ago, while 77% say they like having so much information at their fingertips. Two-thirds (67%) say that having more information at their disposal actually helps simplify their lives.

CSIS Today

CSIS’s Strategic Technologies Program hosted “The State of Cybercrime: A Look Back and a Look Forward,” with Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell, Criminal Division, Department of Justice.

And CSIS’s International Security Program hosted “Implementing Innovation Series: Leading Innovative Organizations,” with Dr. Harold Brown, former secretary of defense, on the Department of Defense’s Second Offset.


CSIS Tomorrow

Join CSIS’s International Security Program at 9:00 a.m. for “Future Vertical Lift: Service Perspectives on Requirements.”

And join CSIS’s Project on Prosperity and Development at 1:00 p.m. for “Combating Child Trafficking and Supporting Survivors through Strategic Development.”


This Town Tomorrow

Join Brookings at 10:00 a.m. for “Cities in the age of Trump and Brexit” with Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and British MP Tristram Hunt.

And join the Hudson Institute at 11:45 a.m. for “The New Peace Agreement in Colombia” with former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe.

CSIS On Demand

In April, General James Mattis spoke on Iran and the Middle East at CSIS. The full video and transcript are available on Medium.

Sounds

China is the world’s largest consumer of energy, the largest producer and consumer of coal, and the largest emitter of carbon dioxide. ChinaPower’s new podcast examines the risks involved with China’s foreign energy dependence and the ways in which Beijing is attempting to mitigate them.

I Like It Like That

Did you know CSIS has a site on Medium of curated content?

Smiles

The Sopranos, HBO’s megahit series launched the whole premium television movement. A truly groundbreaking show, Sopranos launched in January, 1999 and ran for six seasons containing 86 episodes.

The show’s creator, David Chase, masterfully weaved together a psycho-crime drama focused on the fictional character, Tony Soprano, played by the late (and greatly missed) James Gandolfini.
Chase, a music fan with superb taste, used music throughout the series to underscore feelings and emotions, and to unwind the souls of the show’s characters.

Episode 7, “Down Neck,” brilliantly uses Van Morrison and Them’s “Mystic Eyes” to propel a flashback to Tony Soprano’s childhood, when little Tony first comes to understand that his father, “Johnny Boy” Soprano is part of the mafia. “Mystic Eyes” is a haunting tune indeed but what a smile it is to watch Van and Them perform it live with this incredible film taken in 1965 in a French theater.

Feedback

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