The Evening: Blinken Meets MBS, U.S. Bases Targeted, Exodus, and More

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Good Evening,

It's Monday, February 5th.

Blinken Meets MBS

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrived in the Middle East on Monday and met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the hopes of preventing escalating tit-for-tat attacks with Iran-backed militias from spiraling into a broader regional war, and to rally allies around a proposed cease-fire agreement for Gaza, as the NYT reports

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Iran-Backed Groups Continue to Target American Bases

A strike near a U.S. base in Syria killed six members of a U.S.-allied militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-allied Kurdish militia, Monday, despite the U.S. pounding Iran-allied militia sites with airstrikes over the weekend, as the WSJ reports

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Independent Review of UNRWA

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has appointed an independent group to review the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, as The Washington Post reports

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Executive Education

Ready to take the next step towards policy success in Washington? Join CSIS experts March 18-21, 2024, at CSIS Headquarters for "Decoding D.C.: Policy, Power, and People

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," to unlock the secrets to thriving in the capital's unique policy landscape. Register here

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by March 4.

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: "Testing Europe’s Resilient Support for Ukraine

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" with CSIS's Max Bergmann.

In That Number

$5 billion

Yandex, often referred to as "Russia's Google," has agreed to sell all its assets in the country for about $5 billion, which would be one of the largest corporate exits from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Source: NYT

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Critical Quote

“Iran is not seeking to increase the tension and crisis in the region—we don’t support tension and chaos. Iran has shown that it will react forcefully to any threats against its sovereignty and will not hesitate to deploy all its capabilities for a reply that will bring them regret.”

—Nasser Kanaani, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman

iDeas Lab

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CSIS's Dr. Kathleen McInnis discusses her 2024 Global Forecast article on the importance of allied defense spending in Ukraine to U.S. interests. Watch the full video here.

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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: Hashd al-Shaabi Media Office/Handout/Anadolu/Getty Images.) A view of destruction after U.S. warplanes carried out an airstrike on the headquarters of Hashd al-Shaabi in Al-Qa'im city of Anbar, Iraq, on Saturday, February 3, 2024.

Recommended Reading

"Biden Walks a Fine Line With Airstrikes on Iran-Backed Militants

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" by CSIS's Daniel Byman in Foreign Policy.

This Town Tomorrow

At 12:00 p.m.

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, CSIS welcomes Chief Information Security Officers of FCEB agencies to discuss strategies in federal cybersecurity.

Earlier, at 11:00 a.m.

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, Brookings holds a conversation with National Credit Union Administration Chairman Todd M. Harper on the future of credit union regulation in America.

Then, at 11:30 a.m.

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, the Middle East Institute hosts a conference on the Houthis, Iran, and Red Sea security.

Video

The CSIS Renewing American Innovation Project released a new video in its Innovation Insights series examining how technology powers innovation. Watch the full video here.

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Podcasts

CSIS's Joseph Majkut is joined by Tim Gould, Chief Energy Economist at the International Energy Agency, to discuss highlights from the World Energy Outlook, energy transitions, and more.

Listen on Spotify

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& Apple Podcasts

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Smiles

CBS went big on music this weekend—the network hosted the 66th Grammy Awards last night. Everyone is talking about stellar performances/appearances by Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs, Joni Mitchell, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and more. Those clips aren’t readily available yet but we’ll share them when they are.

In the meantime, it was the CBS Sunday Morning Show that got me really hyped up. The show spotlighted the forthcoming Bob Marley biopic, “One Love” starring Kingsley Ben-Adir. I can’t wait to see it. The movie focuses on Marley’s message of peace during Jamaican political unrest as well as the making of Marley and the Wailers’ classic 1977 record, “Exodus.” The album is widely regarded as an all time best—Rolling Stone magazine has it ranked at 48 on its “500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.” On the list of artists living or dead that I haven’t seen perform live, Marley is at the very top of the list. Here’s why.

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I invite you to email me at [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz

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The Evening is my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day. It is composed by Lauren Adler, Ava Rose, and the External Relations team.

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