Good Evening,
It's Thursday, March 20th.
Note: The Evening will be “gone fishin’” until March 31. |
Ukraine Attacks Air Base Deep Inside Russia
Ukraine attacked an airfield deep inside Russian territory overnight, officials said on Thursday, as the two sides traded strikes amid efforts by the Trump administration to hammer out details of a partial cease-fire, as the NYT reports. |
European Military Powers Work on 5-10 Year Plan to Replace U.S. in NATO
Europe’s biggest military powers are drawing up plans to take on greater responsibilities for the continent’s defense from the U.S., including a pitch to the Trump administration for a managed transfer over the next five to 10 years, as the FT reports. |
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Network Supporting Iranian Oil Exports
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday stepped up actions to enforce sanctions against Iranian crude oil, including designating a Chinese refining company and its chief executive, as the WSJ reports. |
Executive Education
Develop agile responses to unprecedented challenges. Join Global Foresight: Preparing for Future Trends from April 8-11 to gain strategic foresight tools—from identifying drivers of change to modeling future scenarios—and learn to anticipate external challenges. Register by March 26. |
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: "Foreign Malign Influence Targeting U.S. and Allied Corporations" with CSIS's Daniel Byman. |
In That Number
2
The Israeli military said on Thursday that its renewed bombardment of the Gaza Strip had killed at least two senior Hamas officials.
Source: NYT |
Critical Quote
“Overall, we will procure, over the course of the next four years, probably half a trillion dollars’ worth of electronics in total. And I think we can easily see ourselves manufacturing several hundred billion of it here in the U.S.”
—Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive and co-founder |
iDeas Lab
Russia has rerouted large portions of its trade to emerging economies, which are gaining influence in global commerce. Read more on Russia's moves to circumvent sanctions here.
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: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images.) People gather around rubble in an area struck by a U.S. airstrike in Houthi-controlled Sanaa, Yemen, on March 20, 2025. |
Recommended Reading
"The Gaza War Resumes" by CSIS's Jon B. Alterman. |
This Town Tomorrow
At 9:00 a.m., the CSIS Wadhwani AI Center welcomes Hiroki Habuka to unpack insights from his recent report on Japan's AI regulation shift and its implications for Japanese and international AI governance.
Earlier, at 8:30 a.m., the Peterson Institute for International Economics explores whether or not sanctions can change a country's policy, specifically in the case of China and Russia.
Later, starting at 9:30 a.m., the Atlantic Council hosts a half-day conference on the future of the US-Turkish relationship under the new era. |
Video
Today, Colonel Matthew Slusher, CSIS Defense and Security Department U.S. Air Force fellow, sat down with Austin Gray, former U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer and co-founder of Blue Water Autonomy, and Major General Gregory Gagnon, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence for the U.S. Space Force, to discuss the impact of autonomous vehicles in warfare and the role of space in modern conflict. Watch the full video here. |
Podcasts
CSIS’s Catherine Nzuki is joined by Dr. Constantine Manda, the co-founder and inaugural Director of the IE Lab at ESRF, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. They discuss what impact evaluation is, why it’s important for every Tanzanian to be introduced to impact evaluation methods, and how the IE Lab tailors its training for policymakers and local authorities.
Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. |
Smiles
Last week I mentioned that, to celebrate their 60th anniversary, the Grateful Dead are releasing a mammoth 60 CD boxed set in late May that retails for $600. It looks like a powerful collection of Dead history in the highest possible sound quality. For those that don’t feel like dropping so much cash for the comprehensive set, the Dead will offer a three CD release called “The Music Never Stopped” that features 27 tracks spanning the band’s history. To get a sense of what it sounds like, here’s a sampler of three songs from a 1984 performance in Berkeley. |
| I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz |
