Deadly Russian Strike Hits Eastern Ukraine

At least 17 people were killed and more than 30 injured on Wednesday in a Russian strike on Kostyantynivka, a city in eastern Ukraine that is close to the front lines, Ukrainian officials said. It was one of the deadliest strikes in Ukraine in months, as the NYT reports.

Blinken Pledges More Than $1 Billion in Aid on Trip to Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged an additional $1 billion in assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday during a visit to Kyiv aimed at boosting support for the country as its military makes only incremental gains against entrenched Russian forces, as the Washington Post reports.

Pentagon Plans Vast AI Fleet to Counter China Threat

The Pentagon intends to field a vast network of AI-powered technology, drones and autonomous systems within the next two years to counter threats from China and other adversaries, as the WSJ reports.

Executive Education

Beyond the Battlefield: Global Implications of Russia's War in Ukraine breaks down how the February 2022 invasion and concomitant sanctions have been altering national and regional security in Russia, Europe, and the United States.

Audio Briefs

CSIS experts give short, spoken-word summaries on the biggest takeaways from their latest reports, white papers, and commentaries—in their own words.

Listen here: "Prospects for U.S. Minerals Engagement with Africa" with CSIS's Gracelin Baskaran.

In That Number

1.5 degrees

On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization and the European climate service Copernicus announced that last month was the hottest August scientists ever recorded. August was about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial averages.

Source: AP

Critical Quote

“The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting. Climate breakdown has begun.”

—United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

iDeas Lab

Last week, CSIS's Ilaria Mazzocco testified in front of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission about China's growing electric vehicle industry and the nation's dominance in EV supply chains. Watch what she told Congress, in about 2 minutes.

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: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images.) Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky greets U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken before a meeting at Bankova in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 6, 2023.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:30 a.m., the CSIS Korea Chair holds a discussion with former National Intelligence Officer Sydney Seiler, to discuss the latest news surrounding North Korea.

Also at 9:30 a.m., the Wilson Center unpacks the urgent threat of private and state-sponsored surveillance.

Later, at 11:00 a.m., Brookings examines choices and trade-offs for the United States and its partners in managing long-term competition with China.

Video

Last week, CSIS hosted Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves to discuss Costa Rica's goals for its cyber and digital infrastructure. Watch the video here.

Podcasts

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics and host of the Inside Economics podcast, joins the podcast to talk U.S. manufacturing within the changing international economic system.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

The songs that Robbie Robertson wrote were epic. You can get swept up by them as I often do. I don’t know of any music that conjures the Civil War like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” or small-town America like “The Weight.” And there has never been a rock and roll act like The Band, whose music felt so out of time yet simultaneously familiar and present. In the late 1960s, Robertson and The Band dressed like old time medicine show men but transfixed the Woodstock generation with their influential roots music. Some critics labeled it “country-soul.” I just call it great music.

It didn’t end well for The Band. Pianist/singer Richard Manuel died at 42 by suicide after years of battling alcoholism. Bassist/singer Rick Danko’s lifestyle took him at 55. And Robbie and drummer/singer Levon Helm never spoke again after The Band broke up. Levon resented Robbie for taking all the songwriting credit and therefore the royalties. When I asked Helm about Robertson on the phone one evening in 2002, Levon yelled at me for mentioning Robbie’s name and then apologized, saying “that man makes me so angry…”

Fortunately, even though Robbie, Levon, Richard, and Rick are all gone, now survived only by keyboardist Garth Hudson, we have the best concert film of all time, “The Last Waltz,” to remember The Band during their better days. Martin Scorsese’s film puts us in that timeless moment where The Band’s performance sounds urgent, important, and timeless.

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 Ava Rose.