The Evening: Russia, Syria, River Run and More

Good Evening,

It's Tuesday, April 3rd.

Getting Along with Russia

President Trump today said he hoped the U.S. could “get along” with Russia as he met at the White House with the leaders of the Baltic states, who have voiced concerns in recent months about actions they describe as Russian aggression, as the Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Ballhaus reports.

Meanwhile, scientists at Britain’s top military laboratory said today that they cannot prove that the nerve agent used to poison a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England came from Russia, as the Washington Post’s William Booth reports.

Dive Deeper : “What’s Next for Russia’s Relations With the West?” a CFR interview with Stephen Sestanovich.

Pulling Out of Syria

Top Pentagon and State Department officials today said the U.S. won't be leaving Syria anytime soon, even as President Trump indicated the same day that he wants to pull U.S. troops, as The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports.

Meanwhile, as Reuters reports, Iran, Russia and Turkey will discuss ways to wind down the fighting in Syria on Wednesday, despite their involvement in rival military campaigns on the ground.

Dive Deeper : “Stop Falling for Assad’s Bogus Ceasefires,” an analysis by Mohammed Alaa Ghanem for Chatham House.

Iran Nuclear Deal

U.S. officials are actively planning for the likelihood that Donald Trump will announce next month the U.S. is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, as the AP’s Matthew Lee and Josh Lederman report.

And, President Trump today discussed the threat posed by Iran with the Emir of Qatar and also stressed the importance of resolving the rift among Gulf nations, the White House said, as Reuters reports.

Dive Deeper : “U.S. Strategy, the JCPOA Iranian Nuclear Arms Agreement, and the Gulf: Playing the Long Game,” by CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman.

Your Questions

We’re always providing you with our experts' answers to complex problems. Do you have any questions that you would like us to ask the experts? If you do, please email me your question(s) to aschwartz@csis.org. We’ll publish some of the best Q & A.

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CSIS & Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs offer Executive Master's in International Relations. Information here.

In That Number

50

Tomorrow, April 4, marks the 50th year since the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Source: AP.

Critical Quote

“We’re going to be guarding our border with the military.”

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

Our new CSIS Brief, “Venezuela’s Crisis Is Now a Regional Humanitarian Disaster,” unpacks what you need to know about Venezuela: the background, the next steps, and a series of recommendations for the United States and international community.

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: Reuters via NYT . ) Police officers on Tuesday responded to reports of an active shooter at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif.

Recommended Reading

“The Right Way to Coerce North Korea,” by CSIS’s Victor Cha and Katrin Fraser Katz for Foreign Affairs.

This Town Tomorrow

Join CSIS at 9:30 a.m. for a series of panels on how the recent passage of the CLOUD Act will reshape how U.S. and other law enforcement agencies can access cross-border data to conduct investigations.

At 10:00 a.m., join CSIS for a conversation on one of the most important case studies in American Grand Strategy, the Marshall Plan.

And at 5:30 p.m., join CSIS for a book talk with Christian Davenport, author of The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos .

Video

Today at CSIS, the Project on Prosperity and Development hosted a report launch for their new report, Blended Finance and Aligning Private Investment with Global Development, that evaluates the impacts, opportunities, and challenges for blended finance in global development. Watch the discussion here.

Sounds

The latest episode of Citizens in Training reflects on the UAE’s military conscription program and wider efforts to cultivate a new type of UAE citizen for a future of the country less dependent on oil.

Listen here on Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud.

Smiles

I was going to write Smiles tonight about Southern Rock and how since I was just down South, there really is nothing better when the music is simmered to perfection like the Radiators have cooked it up for over 35 years. And, since the Rads just put out their first album in a very long time last week, I was feeling especially happy.

But then somebody went over to YouTube HQ with a gun. We don’t know many of the details at the time of this writing, but I sure hope and pray for the people at YouTube. I use YouTube everyday as many Americans and people all over the world who live in free places do. And CSIS has worked with YouTube on issues such as combating violent extremism online. I pray for the safety of everyone at YouTube HQ today—this Smiles is dedicated to you all.

Back to the Radiators, because with all that is going on, we really need a Smile. This tune, “River Run,” is a Rads classic. Here, performed acoustically in New York City at the legendary “Bottom Line,” you’ll see what I mean about the alchemy of Southern Rock being so perfect. Some of the people dancing at the Bottom Line in this clip are my friends from Tulane—in case you didn’t know, the Radiators are from New Orleans.

I invite you to email me at aschwartz@csis.org and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz