UK Warship Stops Iranian Attempt to Impede BP Tanker

A British Royal Navy warship has rebuffed an attempt by Iran to “impede” the passage of a British oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, escalating already high tensions in the Gulf, as the FT’s Anjli Raval, Andrew England and Najmeh Bozorgmehr report.

Dive Deeper: “There’s a Deal to Be Had Between the U.S. and Iran,” by the Washington Institute’s Dennis Ross.

Hezbollah: New Sanctions Widen U.S. Assault on Lebanon

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on Thursday that new U.S. sanctions against three of its officials, including two MPs, have widened Washington’s assault on Lebanon, as Reuters reports.

France Presses On with Digital Tax

France’s legislature gave final approval to a new tax on large tech companies shrugging off the threat posed by a new U.S. trade probe into whether the measure discriminates against American firms, as the WSJ’s Sam Schechner and Paul Hannon report.

Dive Deeper: “Home and Abroad: Building U.S. Global Economic Leadership on Strong Domestic Foundations,” a new CSIS report edited by Matthew P. Goodman.

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

$700 million

Amazon plans to spend $700 million to retrain a third of its U.S. workforce, as technology threatens to upend the way many of its employees do their jobs.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Critical Quote

“France is a sovereign state. It makes sovereign decisions on tax matters and will continue to make sovereign decisions on tax matters.”

— Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire of France

iDeas Lab

Since 2014, China has substantially expanded its ability to monitor and project power throughout the South China Sea. CSIS's Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative is tracking China's dual civilian-military bases in the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands.

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: Mark Wilson/Getty Images). U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley prepares to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on his nomination to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This Town Tomorrow

At 11:00 a.m., the Wilson Center will host former deputy secretary of energy Daniel Poneman for a discussion on his new book, Double Jeopardy: Combating Nuclear Terror and Climate Change.

And, at 12:00 p.m., the Wilson Center, in partnership with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, will host a seminar discussing the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires 25 years ago and global counterterrorism challenges.

Video

In the latest episode of "High Resolution," CSIS's Victor Cha and Joseph Bermudez analyze satellite imagery of the Yusang-ni missile operating base. Watch the short video here to learn more about North Korea's missile capabilities and the prospects for denuclearization.

Podcasts

In the latest episode of AIDS 2020, iconic fashion designer and HIV/AIDS activist Kenneth Cole discusses his unprecedented advertising campaign to confront the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS in New York City. He shares what motivated him to become an HIV activist.

Listen on SoundCloud, Spotify, & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

During the new Robert Plant podcast “Digging Deep with Robert Plant,” he said that a friend of his didn’t want to be left alone while listening to “Presence” because she was too disturbed by its scale. I get that. It’s intimidating, powerful music. My friend lives in an ancient castle in Germany, and the next time I visit him I’m going to ask him to drop a needle on “Presence” so we can listen to it echoing throughout the citadel.

“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” is another monster “Presence” track. Robert Plant’s harmonica part is the highlight for me.

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.