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The Evening CSIS: Ukraine Alert, Syrian Doctors, Hercules & More
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** Good Evening,
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Welcome to
The Evening CSIS—my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day plus HIGHLY RECOMMENDED content from around the world. To subscribe, please sign up here (http://bit.ly/ecs1s) .

NOTE: The Evening CSIS will be “gone fishin’” until next Monday. Smile, it’s almost the weekend…


** High Alert
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Ukraine ordered its troops to be on the "highest level of combat readiness" today, amid growing tensions with Russia over Crimea, as CNN reports (http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/europe/ukraine-high-alert-russia-crimea/) .

And, as Foreign Policy’s Reid Standish reports (http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/11/russia-launches-naval-exercises-in-black-sea-amid-escalating-standoff-with-ukraine-putin-crimea/) , the Kremlin today announced the start of war games in the Black Sea.

Dive Deeper: A new report published today by CSIS’s Carl Hvenmark Nilsson, Revisiting the Minsk II Agreement (https://www.csis.org/analysis/revisiting-minsk-ii-agreement?block4) outlines how a strategic pattern has emerged whereby Russia dictates the conditions of the cease-fire and then actively pursues the violation of that agreement for its own political, military, and territorial gain. The report also provides an account of current realities on the ground with regard to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine, as well as the daily violations of the Minsk II accords.

Plus, the Wilson Center's Michael Kofman recently authored a new commentary: “Nato Deterrence and the Russian Specter in the Baltics (https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/nato-deterrence-and-the-russian-specter-the-baltics) .”


** Letter to President Obama
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Some of the last doctors remaining in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo have written a letter to President Obama, urging him to intervene to break the siege of the city and stop bombardments of hospitals. Their plea comes as fighting continues despite Russia’s announcement of a partial ceasefire, as ABC News’s Lena Masri reports (http://abcnews.go.com/International/syrian-doctors-write-letter-president-obama-urging-act/story?id=41298275) .

Dive Deeper: The New Yorker’s Ben Taub published a haunting article in late June, “The Shadow Doctors (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/27/syrias-war-on-doctors) ."


** Turkish Stream Redux
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A new commentary (https://www.csis.org/analysis/turkish-stream-redux) by CSIS’s Edward Chow examines if the Turkish Stream is back on track as reported by the international press or merely a continuation of the game of Eurasia pipeline politics.


** In That Number
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** 60
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The projected size of China’s attack submarine force in 2030. Source: “Asia’s Looming Subsurface Challenge (http://warontherocks.com/2016/08/asias-looming-subsurface-challenge/) ,” by John Schaus, Lauren Dickey, and Andrew Metrick via War on the Rocks.


** Critical Quote
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** “Liberation reports often turn out to be 24-hour developments and then we’re back to where we were. If you do defeat ISIS, what happens next? It’s very unlikely to be stability.”
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— CSIS’s Anthony H. Cordesman on US-backed Libyan forces wresting control of Sirte from ISIS. Source: Foreign Policy (http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/10/u-s-backed-libyan-forces-take-islamic-state-strongholds-in-sirte/) .


** One to Watch
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(Photo Credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images.)

Katie Ledecky of Bethesda, Maryland (that’s right!) set an Olympic record this afternoon in a preliminary heat of the women’s 800-meter freestyle. Can’t wait to watch what she does tonight in the final!


** Optics
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(Photo Credit: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images.)

Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter aircraft (NATO reporting name “Fulcrum”) take part in practice flights at the Air Force military base in the small town of Vasylkiv, some 40 kilometers from Kiev on August 3.


** Highly Recommended
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Via the
Financial Times, “Silk Road revival drives Chinese investment push (https://www.ft.com/content/c2f9f388-5b38-11e6-8d05-4eaa66292c32) .”


** CSIS Next Week
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Join CSIS and the US Naval Institute on Thursday, August 18, at 10:00 a.m. for a Maritime Security Dialogue (https://www.csis.org/events/future-naval-aviation) on the future of naval aviation, with Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker.


** CSIS On Demand
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CSIS’s Russia and Eurasia Program hosted “Continuity and Innovation in Russia’s Way of War (https://www.csis.org/events/continuity-and-innovation-russias-way-war) ,” featuring Chatham House’s Kier Giles, to discuss Giles’s report on Russian military capabilities in May.


** Sounds
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The latest Strategic Technologies Podcast (https://www.csis.org/podcasts/strategic-technologies-podcast) discusses the present and future capabilities of quantum computing and quantum communications. Guests include Ned Allen, chief scientist at Lockheed Martin.


** I Like It Like That
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“Understanding Medium (https://shift.newco.co/understanding-medium-3b3c995aa4a5#.b5621wj9j) .”


** Smiles
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“Live From Daryl’s House,” the extraordinary show that Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame) started on the internet in 2007 has a loyal following of music aficionado’s. The archive of shows on Hall’s website alone is a treasure featuring an eclectic mix of artists.

When Aaron Neville appeared on Live From Daryl’s about a year ago, all the ingredients were present for something extraordinary to happen. It was almost too good to be true that Aaron and Daryl decided to perform a little-known street anthem of song called “Hercules (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSrvpO0hn2w) .”

Neville first recorded the Allen Toussaint-penned masterpiece “Hercules” in 1973 with The Meters (led by Neville’s brother Art) as backing musicians. I’ll never forget the first time I heard the song—it was pure street funk grounded in the New Orleans sound but with an infectious lyrical sophistication that was immediately disarming. And, Aaron’s phrasing of Toussaint’s lyrics gives the track a mythical quality that is appropriate for a song with such a name. “Must be Hercules…”


** Feedback
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I always welcome and benefit from your feedback. Please drop me a line at aschwartz@csis.org (mailto:aschwartz@csis.org)

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The Evening CSIS is my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day. It is composed with the External Relations team: Colm Quinn, Brandon Schwartz, Jackie Ramsay, and James Dunton.

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