The Evening CSIS: Veto Override, Chinese Firm Charged, Buckwheat Zydeco & 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 .

Override Vote

The Senate will vote Wednesday on overriding President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill allowing families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, according to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). A House vote has not yet been scheduled. It would be the first veto override of Obama’s presidency, as the Associated Press reports.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman recently authored a report: Saudi Arabia and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.

Dozens of Air Attacks

Secretary of State John Kerry defended his efforts to negotiate with Moscow over the war in Syria today, despite the collapse of a cease-fire that has led to a massive Russian-backed assault on the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo. The New York Times’ Rick Gladstone and Somini Sengupta have this report on the grim situation in Aleppo.

Dive Deeper: Chatham House’s Keir Giles authored a new commentary: “NATO Must Work Harder to Debunk Russia’s Claims of Provocation.”

Also see CFR’s interactive on the “Civil War in Syria .”

Chinese Firm Charged by US

US prosecutors charged four Chinese individuals and a Chinese company with conspiring to evade US economic sanctions on North Korea by establishing a web of shell companies that funneled hundreds of millions of dollars through the US financial system, as the Financial Times’ David Lynch reports.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s micro-website Beyond Parallel examines North Korea and its motivations in an interactive format.

In That Number

5

Today, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on four individuals and one company for supporting North Korea’s WMD proliferation efforts. Source: US Department of the Treasury.

Critical Quote

“The United States is the major global military power, but it now faces a world in which it can—at best—exert sustained influence, and cannot possibly control the end state of a given conflict it is involved in. In the real world, conflict termination almost never has an ‘end state.’”

— CSIS’s Anthony H. Cordesman in his latest commentary, “The ‘End State’ Fallacy: Setting the Wrong Goals for War Fighting.”

One to Watch

Sarah Ladislaw is the director of CSIS’s Energy and National Security Program. Sarah previously served in the Office of the Americas in the Department of Energy’s Office of Policy and International Affairs, where she covered a range of economic, political, and energy issues in North America, the Andean region, and Brazil. Sarah authored a new commentary on Friday, “The Case for Strategic Multilateral Engagement on Low-Carbon Development in India.”

Optics

(Photo Credit: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images for Golf Week.)

I loved Arnold Palmer and I bet you did too. Shown here, he watches his ceremonial first tee shot to start the 2011 Masters in Augusta.

Highly Recommended

Great story by Politico’s Hadas Gold about how moderator Lester Holt (and presidential debate moderators in general) should approach tonight’s debate. Lots of input from Bob Schieffer & Jim Lehrer.

CSIS Tomorrow

Join CSIS’s Proliferation Prevention Program at 9:30 a.m. for “Nuclear Issues at the United Nations: What’s Next?”

Join CSIS’s Transnational Threats Project and Africa Program at 1:30 p.m. for “Militancy and the Arc of Instability: Violent Extremism in the Sahel.”

Join CSIS’s Scholl Chair in International Business and Freeman Chair in China Studies at 3:30 p.m. for a book launch of Developing China: The Remarkable Impact of Foreign Direct Investment by Michael Enright.

Join CSIS’s Simon Chair in Political Economy and the Asia Foundation at 3:30 p.m. for “Advancing Women's Economic Opportunities: Lessons from Japan, South Korea, and the United States.”

And join us tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. for the book launch of Doomed to Cooperate by Dr. Siegfried Hecker.

This Town Tomorrow

Join the New America Foundation tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. for “Cybersecurity in the Asia-Pacific,” featuring CSIS’s Denise Zheng, deputy director and senior fellow of the Strategic Technologies Program.

And join the Atlantic Council at 11:15 a.m. for “Saving Syrians: A Discussion with Raed al-Saleh, Head of the White Helmets.”

CSIS On Demand

Watch “The Modern Origins of China’s South China Sea Claim” hosted by CSIS’s Southeast Asia Program last week.

Sounds

Listen to the latest podcast from Russian Roulette, "Of Ceasefires and Successions.”

I Like It Like That

In case you didn’t see this, Snapchat is going to roll out video-sharing sunglasses.

Smiles

Someone who made me smile a lot passed away this weekend. Well, two people did. Arnold Palmer. My grandfather loved Arnold Palmer, so did my dad and I did too. Who didn’t? He always made you smile.

Another guy like that who is less well known left us this weekend, too. Stanley Dural, Jr., also known as Buckwheat Zydeco died Saturday in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Buck was one of the greatest Zydeco musicians who ever lived. Most Zydeco music experts believe he is only eclipsed by his mentor, Clifton Chenier. Chenier practically invented the genre, but it was Buck who brought it mainstream.

Simply put, Buckwheat Zydeco was one of the most electrifying performers I have ever seen and he always made me smile. And dance. And smile again.

Clifton Chenier’s son, the incredible C.J. Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band performed at my wedding. C.J. blew the doors down with music that kept everyone on the dance floor all night. Why C.J. and not Buckwheat Zydeco you ask? Well, Buck was already booked for that night of course!

Buckwheat Zydeco was an incredible musician who made people smile everywhere he went with sounds and performances like this one.

Feedback

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