The Evening: Secret Sabotage of Iran, Venezuela, You’re No Good and More
February 13, 2019
U.S. Revives Secret Program to Sabotage Iranian Missiles
The Trump White House has accelerated a secret program to sabotage Iran’s missiles and rockets, according to current and former administration officials, who described it as part of an expanding campaign by the United States to undercut Tehran’s military and isolate its economy, as the New York Times’ David Sanger and William Broad report.
Meanwhile, as the WSJ’s Aruna Viswanatha and Dustin Volz report, a former U.S. Air Force special agent was accused of providing Tehran with highly classified information about American intelligence operations overseas after she defected to Iran, according to an indictment unsealed today.
Venezuela Options
President Trump today said that he's looking at "all options" to deal with the crisis in Venezuela, as CBS News reports.
On Capitol Hill, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Congress will not support U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, as Reuters reports.
And, as Reuters reports, Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress named new temporary boards of directors to state-oil firm PDVSA today, in an effort to wrest the OPEC nation’s oil revenue from President Nicolas Maduro.
Dive Deeper: “What Comes Next for Venezuela’s Oil Industry?” by CSIS’s Andrew Stanley and Frank Verrastro.
Xi to Meet with Mnuchin and Lighthizer
Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Friday as both sides pursue a trade deal before an early March deadline, the South China Morning Post reports.
Dive Deeper: Listen to the latest episode of the CSIS podcast, “The Trade Guys.”
“Trump’s Trade Warrior Takes the Fight to Beijing,” by CFR’s Edward Alden.
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.
By The Numbers
Sign up to receive CSIS’s new Sunday morning newsletter By The Numbers. Each week, we’ll share with you some of the most compelling numbers, statistics, and data in our studies. Subscribe here.
In That Number
$8 Billion
The U.S. military spends more than $8 billion a year on vertical lift aircrafts.
Source: CSIS brief, “Beating the Air into Submission: Investing in Vertical Lift Modernization.”
Critical Quote
“I'm going to give this order to the armed forces: Allow in the humanitarian aid. That's an order.”
— Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó
iDeas Lab
CSIS's Judd Devermont discusses Nigeria's upcoming elections in the new short video, “What’s Happening in Nigeria.”
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: Alex Wong/Getty Images). U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams testifies during a hearing before House Foreign Affairs Committee today on Capitol Hill.
Recommended Reading
“Congress Poised to Help Veterans Exposed to ‘Burn Pits’ Over Decades of War,” by the NYT’s Jennifer Steinhauer.
This Town Tomorrow
At 3:30 p.m., join CSIS for a career discussion with Clarence D. Edwards, senior adviser for the Embassy of Australia's International Development Policy.
At 12:00 p.m., the Center for American Progress will hold a panel discussion with U.S. diplomats who served in key roles during the Arab Spring to offer suggestions for U.S. policy in the region.
And, at 4:15 p.m., the Woodrow Wilson Center will host President Iván Duque Márquez of Colombia to discuss the main goals of his administration.
Video
CSIS today hosted an armchair discussion on the intersection of digital repression and human rights. Watch the full event here.
Podcasts
Trade experts Scott Miller and Bill Reinsch break down the buzz around trade, how it affects policy, and how it impacts your day-to-day. In this episode, the Trade Guys discuss obstacles in the US-China talks and offer predictions on the fate of the USMCA.
Listen on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Smiles
I’m one of the biggest Linda Ronstadt fans this side of Jerry Brown. And I’m smiling because her first ever live album, “Live in Hollywood” was just released this month. It’s hard to believe she’s never released a live album given that she was such an extraordinary live performer who assembled fantastic bands.
“Live In Hollywood” is comprised of the music from a 1980 HBO special Ronstadt taped. It took so long to release as a album because until recently the master tapes were missing.
It’s a good thing they found them. Watch this.