The Evening: Iran Latest, UN on Khashoggi, Rhiannon and More
June 19, 2019
UN Investigator Calls for Probing Saudi Officials in Khashoggi Killing
Suspicions over the role of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi returned to the spotlight Wednesday, as a special U.N. investigator called for a criminal investigation of high-level Saudi officials, as the Washington Post’s Carol Morello and Kareem Fahim report.
Iran Has Ties to Al Qaeda, Trump Officials Tell Skeptical Congress
Administration officials are briefing Congress on what they say are ties between Iran and Al Qaeda, prompting skeptical reactions and concern on Capitol Hill that the White House could invoke the war authorization passed in 2001 as legal cover for military action against Tehran, as the NYT’s Edward Wong and Catie Edmondson report.
And, as Reuters reports, the U.S. on Wednesday displayed limpet mine fragments it said came from a damaged oil tanker and saying the ordnance looked Iranian in origin.
Dive Deeper: “Iran Is Winning, but U.S. Has Options, in Gulf Crisis,” by the Washington Institute’s Simon Henderson.
“Oil Market Responds to Iranian Threats (Spoiler Alert: It’s a Yawner, So Far),” by CSIS’s Frank Verrastro.
Ahead of Trump-Xi Talks
USTR Robert Lighthizer told lawmakers on Wednesday that he plans to contact his Chinese counterpart as the Trump administration gears up for a high-level meeting next week to chart a path forward in the two nation’s trade dispute, as the WSJ’s William Mauldin reports.
Dive Deeper: “Will There Be a Trade Truce at the G20?” by CFR’s Andrew Chatzky.
Your Questions
Do you have any questions about trade and how a changing U.S. trade policy may affect your life? If you do, please email me your question(s) to aschwartz@csis.org. We’ll publish some of the best questions and get our experts to answer them on an upcoming CSIS podcast.
Video Shorts
Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify” and “High Resolution.” In under 90 seconds, CSIS experts tell you what they told Congress in testimony, or use high-resolution satellite images and advanced mapping to break down national security issues. And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!
In That Number
11 Billion
The world population could reach its peak at nearly 11 billion around the end of the century. A new report by the UN said that the world’s population is slowing down and could stop growing — or even begin decreasing — by 2100.
Source: United Nations World Population Prospects 2019
Critical Quote
“We will never get to our destination if we don’t know where we are going.”
— U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun
iDeas Lab
The current technological revolution, more commonly referred to as The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), is rapidly disrupting and transforming economic institutions, social norms, and political systems.
The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and video.
Optics
(Photo credit: Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images). Kelly Craft, President Trump's nominee to be Representative to the United Nations, testifies at her nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Recommended Reading
"G20 Osaka: Inside and Out," by CSIS's Matthew Goodman.
This Town Tomorrow
At 8:30 a.m., join the Wilson Center for the Sixth Annual Building a Competitive U.S.-Mexico Border Conference which will focus on improving border management in order to strengthen the competitiveness of both the United States and Mexico.
And, at 9:00 a.m., join CSIS’s Human Rights Initiative for the launch of the Global Peace Index (GPI), which serves as the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness and ranks 163 countries and territories according to their level of relative peacefulness.
Also, at 9:00 a.m., the Atlantic Council will host a discussion on how the United States should address Russia’s involvement in Venezuela.
Video
On Tuesday, CSIS hosted a conversation with Dr. Alexis Lasselle Ross about the US Army’s new policy on intellectual property (IP). Watch their discussion here.
Podcasts
The Asia Chessboard – CSIS’s new podcast – goes beyond the headlines of the day to explore the historical context and inside decision-making process on major geopolitical developments from the Himalayas to the South China Sea.
Listen on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Smiles
Thanks for all of your notes about Stevie Nicks. I know you all want more Stevie—who doesn’t?