Good Evening,
It's Monday, May 18th.
Note: The Evening will be “gone fishin’” until Wednesday, May 20. |
Controversy at the World Health Assembly
Chinese President Xi Jinping offered his support for a "comprehensive evaluation" of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic after it "has been brought under control,” at the World Health Assembly today, as Reuters reports.
President Xi also offered to provide $2 billion in additional funding to the World Health Organization to aid the fight against the pandemic and called on other nations to increase their contributions, as the Wall Street Journal reports.
In video remarks at the World Health Assembly, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar sharply criticized the World Health Organization’s earlier handling of the outbreak in China, as the New York Times reports. |
Positive Covid-19 Vaccine Results
Drugmaker Moderna said a Phase 1 trial of a candidate Covid-19 vaccine induced immune responses in some of the healthy volunteers who were vaccinated in a clinical study, as the Washington Post’s Carolyn Johnson reports. |
FBI Finds al-Qaeda Ties to Pensacola Shooter
A Saudi aviation student who killed three people on a Florida Navy base last year had extensive ties to al Qaeda, investigators learned by accessing his iPhones, as the Wall Street Journal’s Sadie Gurman and Dustin Volz report. |
On the Horizon
The Covid-19 crisis comes at a time of worsening U.S.-India economic relations. But recovery from the pandemic offers new opportunities for positive cooperation and more resilient linkages, writes CSIS's Richard Rossow.
CSIS’s “On the Horizon” series offers insights into the more fundamental changes we might anticipate for our future social and economic world as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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CSIS Executive Education
CSIS’s flagship course on Understanding Washington is now being offered in a real-time online format from June 8 to 10. This format eliminates the need for travel and includes a reduction in tuition. We recommend this course to corporate and government professionals responsible for their organization’s government relations portfolio. Register here. |
Video Shorts
Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify,” "What's Happening,"
"Preview," and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!
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In That Number
$2 Billion
China’s President Xi today announced a $2 billion donation to the international fight against covid-19 via the WHO.
Source: Washington Post
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Critical Quote
“China takes as its responsibility not only the lives and health of its citizens but global public health.”
— Xi Jinping, Chinese President |
iDeas Lab
By 2030, households in East and South Asia will account for 55.3% of the global middle class. Over the same period, North America and Europe’s share is estimated to drop from 53.2% to 29.1%. Read the CSIS Trade Commission interactive report on why the United States must step up its trade leadership.
The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and video. |
Optics
(Photo credit: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images). Chinese President Xi Jinping is shown speaking via video link to the World Health Assembly, on a giant screen beside a street in Beijing. |
Recommended Reading
“China’s Provocations Around Taiwan Aren’t a Crisis,” by CSIS’s Bonnie Glaser and Matthew Funaiole for Foreign Policy. |
Online Events
Tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m., CSIS will an online discussion on popular nationalism in a rising China.
After, at 12:30 p.m., CSIS hosts a virtual panel that was initially scheduled to take place as a live event at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference, titled “Who Makes Cyberspace Safe for Democracy?” This panel features congressman Jim Langevin and New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent David Sanger.
In addition, at 11:00 a.m., the Atlantic Council hosts an online event on Ukraine’s defense industry.
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Video
A new Living History video features Ambassador Robert King, who served as special envoy for North Korea human rights issues from 2009 to 2017. Watch the full video here. |
Podcasts
On a new episode, Steve Morrison and I speak with John Barry, author of the bestseller The Great Influenza, about how the lessons from the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that speak to today’s coronavirus pandemic.
Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. |
Smiles
My second home, the city of New Orleans has worked hard to battle Covid-19. But as with everything else in the Big Easy, they know how to have a little bit of fun while getting the job done. Take this song and video by legendary funk master George Porter Jr., of the Meters. |
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I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow
me on Twitter @handrewschwartz
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