The Evening: Trick Talks, Tenuous Truce, Looks Like Rain and More

NK Accuses U.S. of Trick Talks

North Korea said on Thursday that the United States had proposed resuming talks on denuclearization in December, but warned that Pyongyang was not interested unless Washington was ready to meet its terms. And a top envoy said he believed the proposal was merely “a trick to earn time,” as the NYT’s Choe Sang-Hun reports.

China Lifts Chicken Ban

China has agreed to lift a more than four-year-old ban on U.S. poultry imports, both governments said, in what a U.S. industry group said could lead to sales of about $2 billion of poultry, as the WSJ’s Josh Zumbrun reports.

And, as the FT’s James Politi and Tom Hancock report, the U.S. and China are struggling to complete a “phase one” deal to halt their trade war, with senior officials in Washington and Beijing still jostling over intellectual property provisions, agricultural purchases and tariff rollbacks.

Tenuous Truce in Gaza

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and Israel declared a halt to hostilities across the Gaza Strip border on Thursday but a lasting ceasefire appeared tenuous as they differed on terms, as Reuters reports.

CSIS Executive Education

Join CSIS December 9-11 for our course, Unpacking the Defense Enterprise. Get a competitive advantage in analyzing the changes within the defense domain and better understand the future of the U.S. defense enterprise.

Video Shorts

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

In That Number

1,567

On Tuesday, Hong Kong police fired 1,567 tear gas canisters, 1,312 rubber bullets and 380 beanbag rounds when dealing with protests.

Source: AP

Critical Quote

“The fight is not over. ISIS is still a threat. The situation in northeastern Syria remains fragile and difficult.”

— NATO Secretary-General Jen Stoltenberg

iDeas Lab

Recent Pentagon actions have produced considerable uncertainty in the future of homeland ballistic missile defense. Read the CSIS Missile Defense Project analysis to understand the implications of cancelling the Redesigned Kill Vehicle and options for replacing it with the Next Generation Interceptor.

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: Frank Augstein - WPA Pool/Getty Images). British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Castle Cary Station on his way to an election campaign event today in Somerset, England.

Recommended Reading

“Assessing the Affordability of the Army’s Future Vertical Lift Portfolio,” by CSIS’s Rhys McCormick, Gregory Sanders and Andrew Hunter.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:00 a.m., The Brookings Institution will hold a discussion on taxing capital income, focusing on challenges of mark-to-market taxation and how assets would be valued each year.

Also, at 9:00 a.m., The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) will hold its Women Lead Conference on advancing women’s leadership in peace and security.

Later, at 2:00 p.m., CSIS will host an armchair discussion with the First Lady of Afghanistan Rula Ghani. This conversation will focus on the progress of women and their role in the peace process in Afghanistan.

Video

CSIS hosted the Honorable James Risch (R-ID), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for a discussion on China’s growing economic and political influence in Europe and the need for a cohesive transatlantic strategy and policy response. Watch the event here.

Podcasts

The Trade Guys are joined by Nancy McLernon, President & CEO of the Organization for International Investment (OFII), to investigate foreign direct investment: where and who it comes from, where it goes, and why it matters.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

I was explaining to someone today that I prefer organic music that comes from the soul above all else. American roots music is a fusion of blues, country, bluegrass and jazz among other sounds. I love it because you can feel everything that we are and what came before us in each note of this music.