The Evening: Nord Stream 2, Macron Meets Putin, Cumberland Blues, and More

U.S.-Germany United Approach

After meeting with the leader of Germany, President Biden said on Monday that Germany and the United States would take a “united” approach to rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, as the NYT reports.

And, President Biden vowed Monday that if Russia invades Ukraine, “there will no longer be Nord Stream 2,” the planned natural gas pipeline from Russia into Europe, as the Washington Post reports.

Macron Meets Putin

French President Emmanuel Macron, the top Western leader to visit Moscow since Russia began massing troops on the border with Ukraine, told Vladimir Putin at the start of talks in the Kremlin on Monday that he aimed to avoid war and build trust, as Reuters reports.

North Korean ICBM base deliberately placed near China to deter preemptive strikes

A new report by CSIS’s Victor Cha reveals details about what appears to be an elaborate, undeclared North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile base about 15 miles from the Chinese border, as MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports.

Dive Deeper: “Undeclared North Korea: Hoejung-ni Missile Operating Base” by CSIS’s Victor Cha, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., and Jennifer Jun.

Executive Education

Drawing on insights from leading experts and the CSIS Reconnecting Asia Project, CSIS's “Belt, Road, and Beyond” executive education course explains what China's Belt and Road Initiative is, what it is not, and how it is impacting commercial and strategic realities on the ground.

Call for Applications: Strategy and Statecraft Fellowship

CSIS is launching the inaugural year of its Strategy and Statecraft Fellowship, an exclusive, world-class program of approximately 15 leaders. Fellows will grapple
​​​with the challenges of developing strategy and conducting effective statecraft, focusing on one of the most pressing challenges facing the United States: how to best compete with China.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Data Unpacked,” Testify,” “What's Happening,” “Preview,” and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

1,800

Ottawa’s police chief told the City Council on Monday afternoon that it will take 1,800 more police officers to end a protest by truckers that has paralyzed the city’s downtown for 11 days, leading to the mayor’s declaring a state of emergency.

Source: New York Times

Critical Quote

“If Russia makes a choice to further invade Ukraine we are jointly ready, and all of NATO is ready.”

— President Joe Biden

iDeas Lab

New CSIS satellite imagery and analysis finds that the Hoejung-ni missile operating base, located 338 kilometers north of the demilitarized zone and only 25 kilometers from the Chinese border, will, according to informed sources, likely house a regiment-sized unit equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.

Optics

(Photo credit: SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty Images.) French President Emmanuel Macron (R) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) in Moscow on February 7, 2022, for talks in an effort to find common ground on Ukraine and NATO, at the start of a week of intense diplomacy over fears Russia is preparing an invasion of its pro-Western neighbor.

Recommended Reading

“Complex Air Defense: Countering the Hypersonic Missile Threat” by CSIS's Tom Karako and Masao Dahlgren.

This Town Tomorrow

At 10:30 a.m., the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program welcomes EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson for a conversation on the future of European energy.

And, 9:00 a.m., the Atlantic Council hosts a virtual event on innovative financial engineering and its relationship to Africa's creative industries.

Also, at 10:00 a.m., the Middle East Institute holds an online event about climate change and its security implications in the Mediterranean.

Video

CSIS last Friday hosted a discussion reflecting on what has been learned over the first year of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and what more can be done to strengthen vaccine confidence in the United States and internationally.

Podcasts

The latest episode of The Trade Guys discusses the state of U.S. trade policy. Is the situation as bleak as it’s made out to be?

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

“Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues / He can’t win for losin’…”

The Grateful Dead song, “Cumberland Blues,” released on the “Workingman’s Dead” album in 1970, is one of those earthy, country-folk numbers that sticks in your soul. For that reason, it is one of my favorites, not to mention it’s one of the Dead’s ultimate “get down” songs.