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The Evening CSIS: Syria’s Chemical Weapons, India-Pakistan Talks, Let’s Go Crazy & More
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Good Evening,

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 send me an email at aschwartz@csis.org (mailto:aschwartz@csis.org) .


** Improving Relations
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Senior officials from India and Pakistan gave no clear idea of when their countries will resume a peace dialogue, but foreign secretaries from both nations met today in New Delhi and agreed on ideas to move dialogue forward—no small development among two nuclear armed neighbors who have fought three wars since 1947, as the New York Times’s Hari Kumar and Geeta Anand report (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/world/asia/india-pakistan-foreign-secretaries-meet.html?_r=0) .

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Wadhwani Chair in US-India Studies provides regular “Updates on India’s States (http://cogitasia.com/update-on-indias-states-april-21-2016/) ” and has produced an interactive website (http://csis.org/india/india.html) that keeps score of Indian Prime Minister Modi’s reform program.

Plus, CFR’s interactive Crisis Guide on Pakistan (http://www.cfr.org/interactives/CG_Pakistan/index.html ) is an excellent resource.


** Forcing NK's Hand
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South Korea is ramping up its rhetorical battle against North Korea, breaking old taboos against publicly discussing the regime’s instability that were intended to avoid raising cross-border tensions, as the Wall Street Journal’s Alastair Gale reports (http://www.wsj.com/articles/south-koreas-policy-shift-on-north-highlight-weakness-1461652911) .

Dive Deeper: CSIS hosted a Track 1.5 dialogue regarding US-ROK-China cooperation and coordination on the Korean Peninsula last week and CSIS’s Korea Chair has produced a summary (http://csis.org/files/publication/20160422_US_ROK_CHINA_Dialogue.pdf) of the dialogue.


** Escalation
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Syrian jets conducted about 40 airstrikes today near Aleppo, killing 10 people according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. And, as USA Today’s Oren Dorell reports “As Syria fighting escalates, 5 bad outcomes loom (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/26/syria-fighting-partial-ceasefire-civil-war/83358188/) .”

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Rebecca Hersman today published an essay for War on the Rocks, "Syria’s Toxic War: Chemical Weapons are Undermining Deterrence and Nonproliferation (http://warontherocks.com/2016/04/syrias-toxic-war-chemical-weapons-are-undermining-deterrence-and-nonproliferation/) ."


** In that Number
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** 13
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The number of countries with excessive maritime claims that DoD actively challenged in 2015. Source: DoD Freedom of Navigation Report (Tony%20Cordesmanhttp:/policy.defense.gov/Portals/11/Documents/gsa/cwmd/FON_Report_FY15.pdf) .


** Critical Quote
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** “The real challenge to defense acquisition, the enemy in whose service cost growth was only ever a minion, is the rapid erosion of the technological advantage upon which US national security strategy depends.”
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—Andrew Hunter, director of CSIS’s Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, in “The US Needs More Weapons That Can Be Quickly and Easily Modified (http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/04/us-needs-more-weapons-can-be-quickly-and-easily-modified/127787/) ” in Defense One today.


** One to Watch
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(Photo Credit: LinkedIn.)

Henry Johnson (@HenryJohnsoon (https://twitter.com/HenryJohnsoon) ) is an editorial fellow at Foreign Policy. Henry is one to watch (http://foreignpolicy.com/author/henry-johnson/) for the latest news on the Middle East, terrorism, and foreign policy.


** Optics
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This weekend France 24 released footage of US special forces personnel operating in Syria—the Washington Post’s Thomas Gibbons-Neff analyzed the footage and published a breakdown (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/04/25/this-video-gives-a-glimpse-of-what-u-s-special-operations-forces-are-doing-in-syria/?324234) of their equipment.


** Highly Recommended
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Charlie Rose’s interview with CIA deputy director David Cohen (https://charlierose.com/videos/27056) on the Syrian conflict, intelligence collection, CIA covert actions, and financial warfare.


** CSIS Today
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CSIS’s Energy and National Security Program hosted “US Energy Policy in the 2016 Elections and Beyond: Incremental or Transformational? (http://csis.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaac&id=fa9553fb40&e=d556e146bd) ”

CSIS’s Europe Program hosted “Minority Issues and Security Challenges in the OSCE Region (http://csis.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaac&id=f1e36894d9&e=d556e146bd) ” with OSCE high commissioner on national minorities Astrid Thors.


** CSIS Tomorrow
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Join CSIS’s Project on US Leadership in Development tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. for “Report Launch: Barriers to Bankable Infrastructure: Incentivizing Private Investment to Fill the Global Infrastructure Gap (http://csis.org/event/report-launch-barriers-bankable-infrastructure) .”

Join CSIS’s International Security Program tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. for a discussion on “NASA’s Role in International Affairs (http://csis.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=833ec271d60c6750d9c3baaac&id=6e6f560ed9&e=d556e146bd) ” with Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., NASA administrator.


** This Town Tomorrow
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Join CNAS tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. for “Army Readiness: Fight Tonight and Fit for Tomorrow (http://www.cnas.org/event/army-war-college-strategy-conference#.Vx_cyfkrJhF) .”


** CSIS on Demand
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Via CSIS’s ChinaPower micro-website, Joe Nye answers “What is Power? (http://chinapower.csis.org/what-is-power/) ”


** Sounds
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Today the Financial Times released “When a country goes bankrupt (http://podcast.ft.com/2016/04/26/when-a-country-goes-bankrupt/) ,” the first episode of a four-part series on sovereign bankruptcy.


** I Like It Like That
Eye-catching things in CSIS's orbit
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The Re/code podcasts (http://recode.net/podcasts/) are fantastic—especially Peter Kafka’s.


** Smiles
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There aren’t enough encores for Prince. If you haven’t seen his impromptu live performance at Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary after-party last year, you are in for a treat.

Former SNL cast member Tim Kazurinsky recently posted this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNKnC9K8Uo) on YouTube. He filmed Prince’s jam with a mobile phone while standing on his tip-toes. You may recognize some of the people on stage with Prince as he launches into a supersonic, hard rocking rendition of his classic “Let’s Go Crazy.”

Please forgive Maya Rudolph for her language, and enjoy Prince’s gift to SNL as he delivers an appropriate one liner parodying his song’s lyrics which clearly describe the mind-set of those surrounding him. As a unique musical moment, this performance tops the charts.


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


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