The Evening CSIS: Stocks Slide, Sorry Sailors, Into the Mystic & 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. If you want to view this in your browser, click here.

Slip Slidin' Away
A broad selloff in stocks accelerated today, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest level since late September. And as theWall Street Journal’s Saumya Vaishampayan reported late this afternoon, “Stocks have swung intraday in recent sessions, as investors remain ultrasensitive to changes to the price of oil and updates on global growth.”

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Frank Verrastro published “ Implications of Sustained Low Oil Prices ” for CSIS’s 2016 Global Forecast.

NK Provocations
North Korea's UN mission claimed today that its successful nuclear bomb test showed that it could now "wipe out" the United States, as the UN Security Council grappled with a response to the underground blast. Meanwhile, AP reports South Korea's President Park Geun-hye called for Chinese help to launch what she calls the "strongest" international sanctions on North Korea over the nuclear test.

And in Washington, CSIS experts Bonnie Glaser and Victor Cha told a panel of Capitol Hill lawmakers that China is key to blunting North Korea’s provocations, as VOA reports .

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Bonnie Glaser and Victor Cha testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific today on the US response to North Korea’s aggression. Their statements and video of the House hearing can be accessed here.

Also, CSIS iDeas Lab producer/photographer Sam Ellis accompanied Glaser and Cha to Capitol Hill today and put together this photo essay that provides a glimpse of what he saw.

Iran Did What???
A video, aired today by Iranian state television, shows an American sailor apologizing for entering Iranian waters, as CNN reports.

And, the Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung reports Iranian videos showed the US sailors on their knees, with hands locked behind their heads, while the ship was searched by armed Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval forces.

In that Number
$500 million
United Nations education envoy Gordon Brown appealed for $500 million to allow half the 2 million Syrian children who are refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan to go to school and offer their families an alternative to fleeing to Europe.
Source: Reuters.

Critical Quote
“The problem is that North Korea is not interested in talking.”
—Victor Cha, CSIS Korea Chair, during his testimony today to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the US response to North Korea’s nuclear provocations.
Source: CSIS.

One to Watch

(Photo Credit: Twitter.)
Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) is joining the Washington Post’s national security team where he will cover the Justice Department. Matt began with WaPo as a summer intern nine years ago and most recently led their coverage of the federal courts in Virginia. For news at the intersection of law and national security, Matt is one to watch.

Highly Recommended
The End of Al Jazeera America ,” by the Atlantic’s Krishnadev Calamur.

CSIS Today
Today the CSIS Europe Program hosted Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME) for a half-day conference on “ National Security Challenges and Icebreaking Operations in the Arctic .” And afterward, watch “ The Future of Arctic Shipping Considered,” as participants analyze the current and future state of play related to destination shipping and transshipment across the Arctic region.

CSIS Tomorrow
Join us tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. for “Impact Investment: An International Development Opportunity?” The half-day conference will survey the growing impact investment field and identify opportunities for collaboration with traditional development stakeholders. Register and watch live here. And afterward, CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power will host Deborah Lee James, secretary of the US Air Force, to discuss present and future threats to the United States and homeland security.

This Town Tomorrow
As the long-standing rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran heats up, the new element of instability threatens US goals against the Islamic State. Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., the Wilson Center hosts a discussion on “ The Iranian-Saudi Crisis: Implications for 2016 and Beyond .”

CSIS on Demand
Will Asia be an issue in the 2016 US election? What will happen to TPP this year? Will tensions between North Korea and the rest of region continue to escalate? Listen as CSIS experts give us the forecast for Asia in 2016.

Sounds
Ahead of Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s US visit next week, the latest CogitAsia podcast explores Australia’s future strategy, including the strategic choices it faces with respect to terrorism, balancing China ties, and reinvigorating its economy.

I Like It Like That
Eye-catching things in CSIS's orbit

The virtual reality wars are accelerating. Google’s latest move screams “game on.”

Smiles
I always listen to Van Morrison. There are certain artists that always make me smile, that I can always return to, that rock my soul. Van Morrison is at the very top of the list.

When discussing Morrison’s most memorable performances captured on film or video in his prime, most people immediately think of his Last Waltz appearance where he was backed by The Band. Indeed, his Last Waltz “Caravan” is among the most memorable performances in the history of rock and roll.

Van had another band backing him in 1974 which included Jerome Rimson on bass, Pete Wingfield on keyboards and Peter van Hooke on drums. You probably don’t recognize any of these names. But you won’t forget this clip of Van signing “Into the Mystic” in his prime with these guys, captured here on the German television show Musik Laden (Music Shop). And I bet you will return to this clip time after time, and smile.


Feedback

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