ISIS Gained Ground

The Islamic State has gained ground in some areas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged on Tuesday, despite President Trump’s proclamation that the extremist group had been vanquished, as the NYT’s Rick Gladstone reports.

Italy's Government Collapses

After 14 months of bickering, Italy’s government collapsed on Tuesday, plunging a key European nation already hobbled by financial fragility and political chaos into a renewed period of crisis and uncertainty, as the NYT’s Jason Horowitz reports.

U.S. Warning to Greece

The U.S. warned Greece against assisting the Iranian tanker released by Gibraltar as it continues efforts to block the vessel and further drags its allies into escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran, as the WSJ’s Benoit Faucon reports.

EU Rebuffs Boris Johnson on Brexit

The European Union on Tuesday rebuffed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s demand that it reopen the Brexit divorce deal, saying Britain had failed to propose any realistic alternative to an agreed insurance policy for the Irish border, as Reuters reports.

Enroll for Fall

Now enrolling for the Fall, CSIS & Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs offer a new Executive Master's in International Relations. Information here.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify” and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

5

On average, North Korea carries out provocative actions five months after negotiations with the United States break down. True to form, North Korea has launched six sets of missile tests since July 25—five months after the Hanoi summit.

Source: CSIS's Beyond Parallel

Critical Quote

“We aren't scared."

— Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini

iDeas Lab

Tensions are again escalating in the Eastern Mediterranean over hydrocarbons and maritime borders. CSIS's Nikos Tsafos explains how these tensions fit into a broader political and geopolitical context.

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: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images). U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a Security Council meeting at the United Nations today in New York. Prior to the meeting on the Middle East, Pompeo acknowledged that ISIS has gained ground in some areas.

This Town Tomorrow

At 10:45 a.m., the Hudson Institute will host a panel to discuss ongoing U.S.-Iran tensions and U.S. efforts to build an anti-Iran coalition.

Video

Given the significant costs of engaging the United States in combat, and the growing range of indirect and non-military tools at their disposal, rivals are seeking ways to achieve relative gains without triggering escalation. These approaches often lie in the contested arena somewhere between routine statecraft and open warfare—the “gray zone.” Learn more here.

Podcasts

Hong Kong has again erupted in protest over frustrations with Beijing’s increasingly iron-clad rule. CSIS’s Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette and Chief Communications Officer Andrew Schwartz unpack the latest developments in this volatile conflict.

Listen on SoundCloud & Apple Podcasts

Smiles

Neil Young makes me smile. He’s 73 and he’s angry these days about streaming, Spotify, and what digital tech is doing to music (see this week’s New York Times Magazine piece by David Samuels), but I really love the guy and his music. Here he is just a couple of years ago with his backing band “Promise of the Real,” which includes Willie Nelson’s son Lukas Nelson.

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: Emma Colbran, Caleb Diamond, and Brad Honigberg.