U.S. Says It Would Meet for Nuclear Talks With Iran, Other Powers

U.S. and Iranian officials could hold talks within coming weeks under a plan by the European Union to bring the two sides together for nuclear talks for the first time since President Biden took office, as the WSJ reports.

White House Announces $4 billion in Funding for Covax

The White House is throwing its support behind a global push to distribute coronavirus vaccines equitably, pledging $4 billion to a multilateral effort, as the Washington Post reports.

NASA Lands Rover on Mars

NASA safely landed a new robotic rover on Mars today, beginning its most ambitious effort in decades to directly study whether there was ever life on the now barren red planet, as the NYT reports.

Climate Corner

In the latest episode of CSIS's Energy 360 podcast, Justin Wu of BloombergNEF and Lachlan Carey of CSIS take a tour of all things climate and energy related across Asia.

Executive Education

CSIS is now accepting applications for the Spring 2021 Belt and Road Executive Course. Drawing insights from leading experts and the CSIS Reconnecting Asia Project, this course reveals how China's $1 trillion foreign policy effort is impacting commercial and strategic realities on the ground.

Coronavirus Crisis Update

The Coronavirus Crisis Update podcast brings you the latest updates and analysis from CSIS experts and the leaders directing the global response. Past guests include NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, IHME Director Dr. Chris Murray, Covid-19 Advisory Group members Dr. Luciana Borio and Dr. Celine Gounder, chef Jose Andres, and more. Listen on Apple Podcasts & Spotify.

Video Shorts

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

In That Number

1/3

About one-third of US troops are refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine according to the Pentagon.

Source: Business Insider

Critical Quote

“Our economy cannot fully recover unless women can participate fully.”

— Vice President Kamala Harris

iDeas Lab

New satellite imagery from Beyond Parallel indicates that North Korea's Yusang-ni missile base is operational and that minor development (i.e., construction, etc.) has continued since our last report on May 9, 2019.

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: Alex Kolomiensky/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stands by the 4,000,000th person in the country to be vaccinated.

This Town Tomorrow

Tomorrow, at 12:00 p.m., CSIS's Defense Industrial Initiatives Group and the National Defense Industrial Association host a panel discussion on Title XVIII of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.

And, at 10:00 a.m., the Munich Security Conference assembles Joe Biden, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson, and other global decisionmakers for a special event about transatlantic cooperation.

Later, at 12:00 p.m., the Brookings Institution and the American Academy of Diplomacy hosts a panel discussion to review the findings and recommendations of a new report assessing how to shape a more resilient and flexible foreign service.

Video

CSIS yesterday invited Mauricio Claver-Carone, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, for an armchair conversation about his first months in office and new priorities for the Bank as it seeks to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the region and lay the foundation for recovery and sustainable growth. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

In this inaugural episode of CSIS's newest podcast, host Mariana Campero speaks with Kim Breier, former assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, and Luis de la Calle, the former under secretary at the Mexican Ministry of Economy, to discuss Mexico’s economic and political priorities.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

I’m so glad a bunch of you wrote that you enjoyed seeing The Band clip that I posted yesterday of their performance in 1971 at New York’s Academy of Music. These famous performances are known as the “Rock of Ages” shows, and they are regarded as the “other” great document of the group when stacked up to The Band’s more famous live record and film, “The Last Waltz” (1976).

I love the Academy performances because they’re a window into The Band in their prime, just coming off of their first four albums “Music From Big Pink” (1968), “The Band” (1969), “Stage Fright” (1970) and “Cahoots” (1971), the first three of which were monumentally successful.

While not as groundbreaking as the first three records, “Cahoots” had its moments, most notably, “Life is a Carnival” and the Dylan cover “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” Perhaps the track associated with “Cahoots” that was most notable, though, was the cut that didn’t make the original album, “Don’t Do It,” a song written by the Motown team of Holland, Dozier and Holland and made famous by Marvin Gaye. While it didn’t find its way onto wax, “Don’t Do It” would become a rollicking staple of The Band’s live act for years to come.

Watching this clip of “Don’t Do It ” performed at the Academy of Music, you can see the energy The Band brought and how so much was happening musically on stage simultaneously. In addition to Helm, Robertson, Danko, Manuel and Hudson, Allen Toussaint arranged an all-star horn section to accompany The Band at the Academy (and again at The Last Waltz), which took things to another level.

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 Kendal Gee.