The Evening: Covid Relief Package, Chinese Hackers, Workingman’s Dead 2 and More

July 21, 2020

Coronavirus Relief Package

Republicans’ opening proposal for the next coronavirus relief package will include $105 billion for schools, additional funding for a popular federal loan program for small businesses, and another round of direct payments to American families, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said today. But as the NYT reports , in addition to opposition from Democrats, Republicans faced an added challenge: coming to terms with their own president on the details of their legislation.

Chinese Hackers

The Justice Department accused a pair of Chinese hackers todayof targeting vaccine development on behalf of the country’s intelligence service as part of a broader years-long campaign of cybertheft aimed at industries around the world, including defense contractors, high-end manufacturing, and solar energy companies, as the NYT reports.

Global Coalition to Counter China

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today the United States wants to build a global coalition to counter China as he accused Beijing of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to further its own interests, as Reuters reports.

And, as the WSJ reports, the United States is equipping and positioning its forces across Asia for a possible confrontation with China, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said today in remarks outlining the military component of the Trump administration’s hardening stance toward Beijing.

EU Recovery Deal

EU leaders have struck a deal on a landmark coronavirus recovery package, €750 billion, that will involve the European Commission undertaking massive borrowing on the capital markets for the first time, as the FT reports.

CSIS Executive Education

Rolling applications are still open for the CSIS and Syracuse University’s joint Executive Master’s in International Relations, a first-of-its-kind degree allowing working professionals in the nation’s capital to benefit from the strengths of the #1 graduate school in public affairs and the #1 think tank in the United States.

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

2-13

The number of actual coronavirus infections is likely far higher—by 2 to 13 times—than the reported cases, according to the CDC.

Source: Washington Post

Critical Quote

“We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

The United States is experiencing a nationwide surge in Covid-19 cases with implications for the defense sector. The Defense360's Combating Covid-19 series presents a weekly roundup of the military's response to the pandemic and how it has been affected by the virus, including data that demonstrates rising new cases among Department of Defense personnel.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.

Optics

(Photo credit: John Thys/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron leave their joint video press conference at the end of the European summit today.

Recommended Reading

“China and Russia: Economic Unequals,” by CSIS’s Jonathan Hillman.

This Town Tomorrow

At 10:00 a.m., Timur Gul of the International Energy Agency joins the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program to discuss the IEA’s newly released report on energy technology perspectives.

Later, at 3:30 p.m., CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security Julie Gerberding will hold a panel discussion with Mark Lowcock, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Representative Susan Brooks (R-IN); and Representative Ami Bera (D-CA) on U.S. leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic.

And, at 9:00 a.m., the United States Institute of Peace will host a webinar discussion with Representative Ted Yoho (R-FL) and Representative Ed Case (D-HI) on the next era of U.S.-Pacific Islands engagement.

Video

CSIS's Suzanne Spaulding testified in front of two congressional committees last week about recommendations from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. She explains more about her testimonies in the latest episode of Testify.

Podcasts

My colleague Steve Morrison and I spoke with David Sanger of the New York Times to discuss the Times’ investigation of the decisions made by the White House in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in April that pushed the states into leadership roles.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

Thanks for your notes about the 50th Anniversary of “Workingman’s Dead.” The album is a masterpiece, really. Its sepia-toned cover depicting the Dead and their lyricist Robert Hunter looking like they stepped out of the old west conveys a timelessness—the photo was taken in the Hunter’s Point neighborhood in San Francisco. The music on the record is timeless, songs like “Uncle John’s Band,” “Casey Jones,” “New Speedway Boogie,” Dire Wolf,” and “Cumberland Blues” were band staples for three decades and are now being transmitted to a new, young audience via the Dead & Company and scores of new bands that never got to see Jerry Garcia in person.

As I mentioned yesterday, the 50th Anniversary edition of “Workingman’s Dead” contains a high quality previously unreleased live performance recorded in Port Chester, NY in ’71. One of the many highlights from this show is Pigpen’s signature tune “Easy Wind.”

Before the Dead became anything, they were a blues band. And they were one of the best blues bands anywhere. Pigpen taught the band the blues. He was as pure and raw a blues singer and harmonica player as they come. Robert Hunter wrote “Easy Wind” for Pigpen as a Robert Johnsonesque shuffle and the Dead made it something Johnson would have tapped his toes to. For those of you out there who are keeping score, “Easy Wind” is one of two songs that Hunter wrote both the words and music for. This live version is one of the best I’ve heard, the recording sounds so good it could have been captured yesterday.