Finland Joins NATO

Finland’s flag was raised on Tuesday afternoon at NATO headquarters, a deeply symbolic moment marking the Nordic nation’s official welcome into the group and the shifting power calculations as the West shores up its allegiances in response to the war in Ukraine, as the NYT reports.

DoD Announces $2.6 Billion Weapons Package to Ukraine

The Pentagon will send another $2.6 billion in weapons to Ukraine, U.S. defense officials said on Tuesday, as they pledged to send $500,000 from U.S. military stocks and $2.1 billion in arms after purchasing them from defense contractors, as The Washington Post reports.

IS Commander Killed in Syria

A drone strike carried out by the American-led coalition in northwestern Syria has killed a senior member of the Islamic State group who was in charge of planning attacks in Europe, the United States military said Tuesday, as the AP reports.

Executive Education

In Red Teaming: Alternative Analysis and Risk Assessments for a Changing World, participants will work with CSIS scholars and learn how to apply time-tested techniques like argument mapping, assumption checks, pre-mortem analysis, and other methods to update baseline forecasts and better their decision-making..

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “The Recap,” “Data Unpacked,” “Testify,” “What's Happening,” “Preview,” and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

500,000

The central Iraqi government and Kurdish authorities struck a deal Tuesday to end a standoff over oil sales that had blocked nearly 500,000 barrels a day in exports and sent crude prices rising.

Source: WSJ

Critical Quote

“We are removing the room for miscalculation in Moscow about NATO’s readiness to protect Finland, and that makes Finland safer and stronger, and all of us safer.”

—Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general

iDeas Lab

Last month, OPEC+ made a surprise production cut, suggesting concerns about a rapid price sell-off and shift in market sentiment, writes CSIS expert Ben Cahill.

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: Johanna Geron/AFP/Getty Images.) Brazil's Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto (L) shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, flanked by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (C), as he hands over Finland's accession to NATO documents at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, on April 4, 2023.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:00 a.m., the CSIS International Security Program hosts the 2023 Global Security Forum on transatlantic defense.

After, at 9:30 a.m., the Atlantic Council holds a discussion on the impact of geo-economic fragmentation.

And, at 10:30 a.m., AEI hosts a conversation on the current challenges and opportunities in the United States’ North Korea policy.

Video

CSIS's Dr. Kathleen McInnis hosted Admiral Linda L. Fagan, the 27th commandant of the United States Coast Guard, for a conversation on the U.S. Coast Guard's growing presence beyond America’s immediate maritime borders. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

CSIS's Ben Cahill and Joseph Majkut discussed reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, and what we can expect for the EU and the U.S. as next steps in the months leading up to COP28.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

Phil Lesh and Friends are a big smile for me (as you know.) Just today Relix put out a new clip of the all-star band performing “Jack Straw” last fall, featuring guitar wizard Marcus King. Check it out.

I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz

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: Paige Montfort, Claire Dannenbaum, and Claire Smrt.