The Evening: Vatican Calls Out Russia, EU Gas Disruption, Playing For Change, and More

Vatican Calls Russia the Aggressor

The Vatican on Tuesday for the first time said that Russia was the aggressor in the Ukraine war, condemning Moscow’s invasion in strong terms after earlier comments by Pope Francis prompted criticism from Kyiv, as the NYT report.

Ukraine’s Dummy Targets

Ukraine may be outgunned but in the latest sign it is not yet outfoxed, a fleet of decoys resembling advanced U.S. rocket systems has tricked Russian forces into wasting expensive long-range cruise missiles on dummy targets, as the Washington Post reports ​.

Europe Braces for Gas Disruption

Russia is set to shut its key Nord Stream natural-gas pipeline Wednesday for maintenance, leaving Europe guessing again about whether supplies will restart, as temperatures fall and demand for the fuel grows, as the WSJ reports​​​​​​.

Executive Education

Join the CSIS Trade Guys for a two-day online crash course in trade policy, expanding your professional network as well as your knowledge of U.S. economic policy implementation and trade laws.

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

1/3

One third of Pakistan is now underwater amid devastating floods.

The Washington Post

Critical Quote

“I would call it quite apocalyptic."

— Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s climate change minister

iDeas Lab

New satellite imagery analyzed by CSIS shows efforts to mitigate flood damage at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility, where North Korea has finished all preparations for conducting a seventh nuclear test.

Optics

(Photo credit: CSIS.) Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, joined CSIS today for a fireside chat on the role of the CDC in pandemic preparedness and response, plus details on recently announced internal reforms.

Recommended Reading

“The Latest Aid Packages to Ukraine: New Systems, Trade-Offs, Mysteries, and the Long Game,” by CSIS's Mark F. Cancian.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:00 a.m., the Peterson Institute hosts an event on how more global coordination can make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and safer.

Later, at 1:00 p.m., the Wilson Center hosts a fireside chat with Space Force General John “Jay” Raymond, to reflect on the Space Force's progress, and offer insight to the road ahead.

And, at 2:45 p.m., the Atlantic Council hosts a conversation with Danish Minister of Defense Morten Bødskov to discuss the next steps for Ukraine and the transatlantic community.

Video

Today, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security hosted a fireside chat with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

This week on The Truth of the Matter, CSIS’s Seth Jones joins the podcast to assess Ukraine after six months of war with Russia, plus, the assassination of Russian nationalist Daria Dugina, and more.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

There is so much music I want to share with you after our August hiatus. And we’ll get to it in coming days. But today, Playing For Change in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) posted a new video to the “Songs Around the World” collection that we all love so much. This one is a cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” in honor of the International Day of the Disappeared. The guys from U2 don’t appear in this one but their producer Daniel Lanois does, as well as a host of fantastic musicians from around the world .