Good Evening,
It's Wednesday, August 5th.
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Deaths Pass 700,000
The number of virus deaths around the world passed 700,000 today. The virus has sickened more than 18.5 million people, as the NYT reports. |
Beirut Explosion
The death toll from an enormous blast in Lebanon’s capital surged past 100, as public anger over the explosion mounted and Lebanese authorities investigated why thousands of tons of explosives were stored for years in Beirut’s heavily populated city center, as the WSJ reports. |
Stimulus Nowhere Close
Top lawmakers remain nowhere close to an agreement for a new economic rescue package amid the recession, with disputes over funding for the United States Postal Service rising to join expanded unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments on the list of issues dividing Democratic leaders and the Trump administration, as the NYT reports. |
CSIS Executive Education
Rolling applications are still open for the CSIS and Syracuse University’s joint Executive Master’s in International Relations, a first-of-its-kind degree allowing working professionals in the nation’s capital to benefit from the strengths of the #1 graduate school in public affairs and the #1 think tank in the United States. |
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
10 Million
About one-third of Afghanistan’s population, or roughly 10 million people, have likely been infected by the coronavirus and recovered.
Source: NYT |
Critical Quote
“This thing is going away. It will go away like things go away.”
— President Donald Trump |
iDeas Lab
China’s maritime forces deployed around the contested Senkaku Islands have become more capable and more determined. In response, Japan has enhanced its island defense capability through the deployment of anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles throughout the nearby Southwest Islands.
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: AFP via Getty Images.) An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around them one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. |
Recommended Reading
“Pentagon action to withdraw from Germany benefits our adversaries,” by CSIS’s Heather Conley and Kathleen Hicks for The Hill. |
This Town Tomorrow
Tomorrow, at 2:15 p.m., CSIS’s Economics Program will hold the sixth episode in their Economy Disrupted Series, featuring a discussion with Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
And, at 10:00 a.m., the Middle East Institute will be host a webinar exploring Iran's strategy in the Middle East after the death of Qassem Soleimani.
Later, at 12:00 p.m., the Hudson Institute will hold a panel discussion about India's role in countering China's growing technological ambitions. |
Video
Part two of a mini documentary series on climate change adaptation from CSIS's Global Food Security Program and iDeas Lab explores how farmers in El Salvador are planting a diverse array of crops and trees to improve crop yields and restore the health of the soil. |
Podcasts
On the most recent episode of The Engine Room of Democracy, host John Hamre speaks with Michelle Howard, former vice chief of naval operations, about how U.S. military forces operate in police actions under lawful international authorization.
Listen on Spotify, Google Play, & Apple Podcasts. |
Smiles
“1930 when the wall caved in, he made his way selling red-eyed gin.”
Some of my favorite Jerry Garcia-Bob Weir-Robert Hunter compositions are songs that are set in another time like “Jack Straw,” or “Brown Eyed Women,” which take place in the Depression era. The Dead had a way of fusing their American roots music with a soul-stirring American prose that is timeless. Maybe that’s why in an admittedly unconventional way, Jerry Garcia and company were/are the ultimate patriots.
“Tumble down shack in Big Foot county.
Snowed so hard that the roof caved in.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrafkULgDi8 |
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I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow
me on Twitter @handrewschwartz
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