The Evening: Russia Turkey Deal, Brexit, Ramble On and More
October 22, 2019
Putin and Erdogan Strike Deal
Syrian and Russian forces will deploy in northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey under a deal agreed on Tuesday between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, as Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, Kurdish forces have told the Trump administration that they have completed their withdrawal from a safe zone along the Turkey-Syria border, as the WSJ’s Jessica Donati reports.
Dive Deeper : “Syria: Looking Beyond the Kurdish Crisis to Long Term Instability and a Near Certain Future of Civil Violence,” by CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman.
“CSIS Experts React: Turkey’s Intervention, U.S. Diplomacy, and the Crisis in Syria.”
“Bipartisanship on Syria: Episode or enduring?” by the Atlantic Council’s Frederic Hof.
UK Parliament Votes in Favor of Johnson’s Brexit Bill
The House of Commons today voted to support Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill in principle in a major victory for the prime minister. However, MPs have rejected his plan to push the measure through at a rapid pace. The FT has all of today’s coverage.
Dive Deeper : “Brexit: The Race to October 31st,” by CSIS’s Heather Conley.
Trudeau Hangs On
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hung onto power on Tuesday, after a tight election reduced his Liberal government to a minority and as a result looks set to govern with support from the left-leaning New Democratic Party, 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
170
Preliminary results indicate Justin Trudeau’s Liberals had won or were leading in races for 157 seats in the national legislature, short of the 170 required for a majority.
Source: WSJ
Critical Quote
“If the promises given to us by America are not kept, we will continue our operation from where it left off, this time with a much bigger determination.”
— Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
iDeas Lab
As regional security threats continue to mount, bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea grow increasingly strained. To provide context for the issues complicating the relationship, CSIS has created a timeline of events documenting decisions each government made over the last year.
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: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images). James Jeffrey, State Department special representative for Syria engagement and special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, testifies about Turkey's actions in Syria during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today on Capitol Hill.
Recommended Reading
“What a Withdrawal From Afghanistan Would Look Like,” by Carter Malkasian for Foreign Affairs.
This Town Tomorrow
At 10:00 a.m., CSIS will host a panel discussion on the effectiveness of sanctions against the Maduro regime in Venezuela as well as the implications for U.S. foreign policy, the energy sector, and the impact on Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis.
Later, at 2:00 p.m., CSIS will hold an event examining how different states in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa regulate religion.
And, at 10:30 a.m., the Carnegie Endowment will hold a panel discussion on U.S.-Japan coordination with regards to China.
Video
Historical sensitivities, trade friction, and tensions over territorial sovereignty are contributing to a breakdown in Japan-South Korea relations. CSIS's Victor Cha and Mike Green explain the roots of the conflict, the current state of play, and where we go from here in the latest episode of "What's Happening."
Podcasts
In the latest episode of "The Asia Chessboard," Mike interviews Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser from 2005-2009. After discussing his journey to the senior national security position in the White House, Mike and Steve dive deep into U.S.-China competition. Is the Washington panic on China out of step with how the rest of the country views China?
Tune in on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Smiles
“Ramble on
And now's the time, the time is now
To sing my song”
A journalist I admire, Michael Fabey, sent me a fun email yesterday:
“Tell you what makes me smile this time of year
cycling thru a crisp headwind listening to Zep's ‘Ramble On’
To me that song signifies that fall is here.”
With that, I couldn’t agree more. Today marks fifty years since Led Zeppelin released their masterpiece second album, “Led Zeppelin II,” which among other standout tracks features “Ramble On.” Fall is most definitely here.