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The Evening CSIS: Cash to Iran, New Egypt Report, Slow Turning & 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) .


** Cash to Iran
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The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million in cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran. The money represented the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration reached with Iran to resolve a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal signed just before the 1979 fall of Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, as the
Wall Street Journal’s Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee report (http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-sent-cash-to-iran-as-americans-were-freed-1470181874) .

And, late today, The Journal’s Devlin Barrett reported (http://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-officials-raised-objections-on-u-s-cash-payment-to-iran-1470262789?mod=djemalertNEWS) that senior Justice Department officials objected to sending a plane loaded with cash to Tehran at the same time that Iran released four imprisoned Americans, but their objections were overruled by the State Department.


** Aleppo Siege
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The BBC reports (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36961184) that government forces have gained ground after a rebel offensive in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Intense fighting has continued since the weekend, when rebels started trying to break a government siege of rebel-held areas.

Dive Deeper: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Dennis Ross and Andrew Tabler today released new commentary: “The Case for (Finally) Bombing Assad (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-case-for-finally-bombing-assad) .”


** A Sense of Gloom
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ICYMI, the
New York Times’ Liam Stack reported (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/world/middleeast/egypt-sisi-foreign-policy.html) yesterday that after five years of political and economic turmoil, a sense of gloom hangs over Egypt, a country who has seen its international influence “wither away.”

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Jon Alterman has written an important new report, Making Choices (https://www.csis.org/analysis/making-choices?block1) , which assesses the future of the US-Egyptian relationship.


** New Brookings Website
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Congratulations to our friends at Brookings who have launched a new website (https://www.brookings.edu/) .


** In That Number
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** 300
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The number of passengers and crew aboard an Emirates jetliner arriving in Dubai from India today, which caught fire after slumping onto the runway. One firefighter was killed in the intense blaze.
Source: Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-emirates-airplane-crash-idUSKCN10E0Z7) .


** Critical Quote
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** “I think the Budget Control Act is probably the biggest challenge that the next administration faces, and not just for defense. Whoever the next administration is, they are likely going to want to exceed those caps. They’re going to be put in the same situation the Obama administration has been in: that they have to strike a deal with Congress.”
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— CSIS’s Todd Harrison on the next administration’s looming defense spending challenge. Source: Defense One (http://www.defenseone.com/business/2016/08/neither-clinton-nor-trump-will-be-able-fix-pentagons-budget/130420/) .


** One to Watch
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Reid Hamel (@ReidHamel (https://twitter.com/reidhamel) ) is a research fellow with CSIS’s Global Food Security Project. Today Reid authored a new commentary, “Drought-Ravaged Malawi Faces Largest Humanitarian Emergency in its History (https://www.csis.org/analysis/drought-ravaged-malawi-faces-largest-humanitarian-emergency-its-history) .”


** Optics
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(Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images.)

Olympian Michael Phelps was chosen today as Team USA’s flag bearer in Rio. Phelps is shown here celebrating his historic win in the 100-meter butterfly in Beijing, 2008, which tied Mark Spitz’s record of winning seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games.


** Highly Recommended
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A new report out today by the
New York Times’ Rukmini Callimachi on “How a Secretive Branch of ISIS Built a Global Network of Killers (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/middleeast/isis-german-recruit-interview.html?emc=edit_ta_20160803&nlid=46504935&ref=headline&_r=1) ,” in which a jailhouse interview with a German man who joined ISIS reveals the workings of a unit whose lieutenants are empowered to plan attacks around the world.


** CSIS Today
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CSIS’s Global Health Policy Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation cohosted “Outcomes from the Durban International AIDS Conference (https://www.csis.org/events/outcomes-durban-international-aids-conference) ,” featuring Deborah Birx, the U.S. special representative for global health diplomacy.


** This Town Tomorrow
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At 10:00 a.m., New America will host “From Blue Skies to Black Starts: Energy Security and the Department of Defense (http://www.newamerica.org/resource-security/events/blue-skies-black-starts/) ,” featuring Deborah Lee James, secretary of the air force.


** CSIS On Demand
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On Friday, CSIS’s International Security Program hosted, “The Missile Defense Agency and the Color of Money (https://www.csis.org/events/missile-defense-agency-and-color-money) ” to discuss a new report on the fiscal challenges that impact the US missile defense posture.


** Sounds
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The latest Russian Roulette podcast (https://www.csis.org/podcasts/russian-roulette) features an in-depth discussion on Russian nationalism and identity.


** I Like It Like That
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Good Morning Ukraine! NPR’s David Welna with this great story about Spirit of America with “American Charity Backs Military Radio Station in Ukraine (http://www.npr.org/2016/08/01/488273997/american-charity-backs-military-radio-station-in-ukraine) .”


** Smiles
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“Now I'm in my car, I got the radio on. I'm yellin' at the kids in the back seat, ‘cause they're bangin' like Charlie Watts.”

For me, one of the kings of plainspoken American rock and roll is John Hiatt. My buddy Keith sent me a text the other day with one of Hiatt’s catchy lyrics just like the one above—the kind that are never far away. Keith’s text, just that one lyric, instantly made me crave Hiatt’s music.

Without hesitation, I called up one of Hiatt’s masterworks “Slow Turning.” Recorded over four days Nashville in the spring of 1988, the album is a timelessly satisfying organic blend of country, blues and rock.

“Slow Turning” harkens to the early country-rock of The Eagles and is produced by Glyn Johns—the Brit who famously locked The Eagles into harmony for their debut eponymous album and their follow up “Desperado.” Bernie Leadon, one of the original members of The Eagles even plays banjo and mandolin on “Slow Turning,” but Louisiana guitarist Sonny Landreth’s slide and National Steel guitar stand out for me.

This clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep3HbeNAW4g) , with the David Letterman Band and Landreth on slide guitar is one of my favorite Hiatt performances. Hiatt, like Letterman, is from Indiana and the two talk about their hometown at the end of the song.


** 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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