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The Evening: Russian Alliance on Syria, Climate Pact, Jazz Fest and More
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** Good Evening,
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It's Thursday, May 4th.


** Syria Safe Zones
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Russia, Iran, and Turkey signed a memorandum today to create four safe “de-escalation zones” in Syria, which if successful would be one of the most far-reaching steps to halt bloodshed in a war now in its seventh year, as the
New York Times’ Rick Gladstone reports (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/world/middleeast/russia-iran-turkey-syria-de-escalation-zones.html?_r=0&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .

Dive Deeper: See the Institute for the Study of War’s “The Strategic Convergence of Russia and Iran (http://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/strategic-convergence-russia-and-iran?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) ” by Chirs Kozak.


** French Election
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The Paris prosecutor has opened a preliminary investigation after Emmanuel Macron filed a complaint against presidential rival Marine Le Pen following her claim during Wednesday's televised debate that he may have an offshore account in the Bahamas. Le Pen made the allegation during the final presidential debate ahead of Sunday's election, as CNN’s Maud Le Rest and James Masters report (http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/04/europe/french-election-macron-legal-action-le-pen/?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .

Dive Deeper: See Brookings’s Phillippe Le Corre’s “A bloody final debate between Macron and Le Pen as France heads toward election runoff (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/05/04/a-bloody-final-debate-between-macron-and-le-pen-as-france-heads-toward-election-runoff/?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .”

And see the French Institute for International Relations’s “Foreign Policy Challenges for the Next French President (https://www.ifri.org/en/publications/etudes-de-lifri/foreign-policy-challenges-next-french-president?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .”


** Venezuela: Enough is Enough
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Classical music maestro Gustavo Dudamel has spoken out against the Venezuelan government he has long performed for, calling on President Nicolas Maduro to listen to protesters who have taken to the streets by the millions against his socialist government. In an online essay titled “I Raise My Voice,” Dudamel urged Maduro to reduce political tensions that have left 37 people dead amid daily, sometimes-violent demonstrations. Dudamel’s rebuke followed the death of 17-year-old musician Armando Canizales during a demonstration Wednesday, as the AP’s Joshua Goodman reports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/classical-maestro-dudamel-hits-venezuela-govt-over-protests/2017/05/04/0d183ee0-30fc-11e7-a335-fa0ae1940305_story.html?utm_term=.8fffd9119ac9&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) late this afternoon.


**
Climate Pact
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Ivanka Trump will meet with EPA administrator Scott Pruitt next Tuesday morning at the White House before a crucial meeting regarding President Trump's decision to stay or leave the Paris climate accord. The president's daughter, who serves as a senior White House advisor, is passionate about combating global warming and turned heads when she brought climate activist Al Gore to Trump Tower during the presidential transition, as Axios’ Jonathan Swan reports (https://www.axios.com/ivanka-to-meet-epa-administrator-before-crucial-paris-climate-meeting-2392605333.html?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .

Dive Deeper: See CSIS’ Sarah Ladislaw’s “Energy Fact & Opinion: The Trump Administration's Rollback of Environmental Regulations (https://www.csis.org/analysis/energy-fact-opinion-trump-administrations-rollback-environmental-regulations?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .”


** In That Number
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** 7 million
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The number of people who are on the brink of famine in Yemen, according to Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Source: NPR’s Rachel Martin (http://www.npr.org/2017/05/04/526833444/millions-of-lives-at-risk-in-yemen-aid-group-official-says?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .


** Critical Quote
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** “We need to think about how to make it more painful for Russia to continue to do this.”
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—CSIS’s James A. Lewis on the possibility of deterring Russian cyber attacks by counter-leaking information that exposes corruption among Russian officials. Source: WIRED (https://www.wired.com/2017/05/us-sanctions-didnt-stop-russias-election-hacking-even-slow/?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .


** iDeas Lab
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See “Violent Extremism in the Sahel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNHTCTD29T8&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) ,” a CSIS original video on the violent extremism organizations in the Sahel and West Africa that are working to destabilize the region.

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


** Optics
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(Photo Credit: ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images.)French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National (FN) party, Marine Le Pen, and French presidential election candidate for the En Marche! movement, Emmanuel Macron, pose prior to the start of a live televised debate last night.


** Recommended Reading
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“US missile defense: Getting to 'ready' on North Korea threat (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2017/0503/US-missile-defense-Getting-to-ready-on-North-Korea-threat?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) ,” by the
Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Grier, Francine Kiefer, and Jack Detsch.


** This Town Tomorrow
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Join the Inter-American Dialogue at 9:00 a.m. for “The Outlook for Oil and Gas in Brazil (http://www.thedialogue.org/event/the-outlook-for-energy-in-brazil/?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .”

And join the Wilson Center at 11:00 a.m. to discuss U.S.-Mexico relations and the future of the Mexican economy (https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/changing-political-discourse-mexico-conversation-senator-armando-rios-piter?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) with Senator Armando Rios Piter, who recently announced his bid for the 2018 Mexican presidential election.


** On Demand
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Earlier this week, CSIS hosted “Japan's Strategy for the Trump Administration (https://www.csis.org/events/japans-strategy-trump-administration?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) ,” featuring two former Japanese ministers of defense and a former state minister of defense.


** Sounds
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“France’s Showdown Begins,” from the CSIS Podcast, unpacks the fallout from the first round of France’s presidential election, and what’s at stake for the final round this Sunday.

You can listen on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/the-csis-podcast/id383703191?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) and SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/csis-57169780/frances-showdown-begins?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) .


** Smiles
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It’s Jazz Fest time in New Orleans. For those of you who haven’t attended Jazz Fest, I hope you will have the opportunity to some time. Incredible musical moments happen in New Orleans every day—but especially during Jazz Fest. At the Fairgrounds where the daytime festivities take place, musicians put on performances that provide a lifetime of memories. Being a Tulane graduate, I have too many of these memories to list here—I am truly blessed.

During Jazz Fest, music is going on everywhere throughout the Crescent City, not just at the Fairgrounds. In the bars, in the streets, and in the record stores—does anyone remember record stores? They still have them in the Big Easy.

Located in the French Quarter, the Louisiana Music Factory is the Taj Mahal of all record stores. This time of year, Louisiana Music Factory holds free in-store performances all day long and the local legends show up to hang out and jam. If you are lucky enough to be in the know about these jams, you will be treated to rare musical alchemy. Take just last week when the First Family of Funk’s youngest Neville Brother, Cyril Neville showed up to kick it with Trombone Shorty and his band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO6-4nNWJf0&utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789) . It was magic.
I invite you to email me at aschwartz@csis.org and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz (https://www.twitter.com/handrewschwartz?utm_source=CSIS+All&utm_campaign=9e5adb0045-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f326fc46b6-9e5adb0045-145367789)

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The Evening 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, and Jackie Ramsay.

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